During the speech, Trump cited a Cold War-era ideological screening test, and said time is “overdue” to create a new, similar test. Reagan-era presidential proclamations, like the prohibition of illegal migrants by sea, have also served as precedents the Trump campaign has pointed towards for inspiration.
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His campaign aides said a new ideological test for admission to the U.S. would vet applicants for their stance on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. Instead, his statements about U.S. foreign policy and the rise of the Islamic State as well as his legally and ethically problematic call for an ideological test for immigrants should be discussed and challenged. I call it extreme vetting.
Under Trump’s new immigration policy, the government would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with friends and family or other means to determine if applicants support American values like tolerance and pluralism.
“Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country”, Trump said in a foreign policy address in Youngstown, Ohio.
But Ed Brookover, a former Trump senior adviser, countered that Monday’s speech was the latest step in a steady effort by the Republican nominee to lay out a new national security blueprint for America. The New York Times recently reported on the turmoil inside Trump’s campaign, reporting a Donald Trump that is “exhausted, frustrated and still bewildered by fine points of the political process and why his incendiary approach seems to be sputtering”.
Mr Trump has since said he was being sarcastic in accusing Mr Obama of founding IS. “We will be tough and we will be even extreme”, Trump said.
Trump did not identify the specific countries from which he said the Clinton Foundation accepted donations.
“Hillary Clinton’s policies launched ISIS on the world stage”, Trump said.
Trump said his Administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS, worldwide cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting. Clinton replied, as did Obama, that such terminology demonized the Muslim faith and risked making enemies of potential Muslim supporters and informants.
“We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people”.
What would be different under Trump’s plan?
“The rise of ISIS (the Islamic State) is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton”, said Trump, who controversially labelled Obama and Clinton as “the founders of ISIS” last week. If, in order to qualify as “compromised by terrorism”, a country must have experienced a recent attack, Mr. Trump’s list of undesirables includes citizens of France, Belgium and, well, the United States. He vowed to be quick and decisive when attacking ISIS, and is calling for the temporary suspension of immigration from risky and volatile regions in the world where terrorism is frequent. That’s because Trump, emphasizing again and again the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism, expanded upon and made explicit some of his most controversial foreign policy statements.
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With a more focused speech in Youngstown, which could be a critical battleground area, could this be the new Trump with months to go? As a country, let us figure out how to empower immigrants-those who are here already and those who still yearn for freedom-to contribute to America’s success. “Today they are fully operational in 18 countries”, he said, adding that Clinton lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on Isis.
