*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
There are so many atrocities included in Trump’s religious ban, and it is a religious ban, on travelers from Muslim-majority countries that it is difficult to keep up with them all. Of course, it is establishing, by fascist edict, that America is a Christian nation and only allows Christians from the “banned” nations entry into the United States. It is also a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act that forbids discrimination founded on religion, and it violates the Constitution’s 5th and 14th Amendments because it denies due process based on the travelers worshipping the biblical god using the wrong faith. Forget for a minute that Trump is violating the Constitution and its “checks and balances” by refusing to follow several federal court orders; that is the subject of another opinion column.
There is another atrocity that would incur the wrath of Republicans, and prompt immediate articles of impeachment, if a Democrat was in the White House; using the executive office to set policy in the lust for personal profit. Trump’s ban on Muslims traveling to America is driven by which Muslim-majority nations line his pockets even as they are sending terrorists to kill thousands of Americans on American soil. Trump’s ban on Muslims isn’t to protect American lives, it is to protect Trump profits and that in-and-of-itself is why he needs to be impeached and removed from office before he gets more Americans killed or makes any more money off of his government position; a violation of the Constitution.
Here is just one fact proving that Trump’s religious ban against the wrong religion has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting Americans, a lie the Trump continues parroting to conceal his using the White House to profit himself. The very conservative Cato Institute reports that between 1975 and 2015, not one single American citizen was killed on U.S. soil by any citizen from any of the seven Muslim-majority countries cited by Trump as sending terrorists to kill Americans. It is noteworthy that that same conservative Cato Institute determined that Trump’s Muslim ban is illegal; it is not just secular humanists, federal courts, and Democrats.
Now, if Trump had been sincere about protecting Americans and felt in his black heart that Muslim-majority nations with a record of killing American citizens should be included in the religious ban, he would have included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and United Arab Emirates. He also would have included Turkey, a nation considered a hotbed of terrorist activity and a country the State Department warns Americans not to travel to if they value their lives.
Each the other nations not included in Trump’s religious ban against Muslims are not only on record as terrorist-producing countries, three of them have American citizens’ blood on their hands; they also have Trump profits in their hands the fascist in the White House is protecting.
In fact, and this is yet more proof that Trump needs to be impeached for using the office of the presidency for personal enrichment and profit: he told audiences that despite the thousands of Americans killed by Saudis on 911, he was still loyal to the terrorists because they give him money, big money. Trump said, “They [Saudi terrorists] buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
Obviously, Trump doesn’t like anyone except himself, but he revealed with that one statement that his price to “like and protect” any majority-Muslim states producing anti-American terrorists is $40 to $50 million per apartment unit sold; those are Trump’s terms. One wonders if any of the seven nations affected by Trump’s religious ban had given Trump some millions of dollars if he would have exempted them from his religious ban against Muslims coming to America.
It is noteworthy that although Saudi Arabia is not included in Trump’s religious ban, a declassified U.S. intelligence report known as the “28 pages” details the extent of the Saudi government and its wealthy citizens active funding of radicalized Islamic terrorism against American citizens through mosques and charities in the United States prior to, and after, the worst terror attack in American history.
After 15 years, only someone in a coma doesn’t know that the 19 hijackers on 911 were in constant close contact with Saudi nationals before they hijacked and flew American passenger jets into American buildings to exterminate American lives. Something perfectly acceptable to Donald J. Trump just as long as those Saudis continue forking over $40 to $50 million per apartment; then he likes the terror-funding nation. Saudi citizens are responsible for killing, in total, 2,369 American citizens on American soil between 1975 and 2015, according to CATO; but they are exempt from Trump’s religious ban because he profits from them.
Trump also has business investments in Egypt, and according to CATO, Egyptian citizens killed a total of 162 American citizens on American soil between 1975 and 2015. It is further proof that Trump’s religious ban is driven by which majority-Muslim nation gives him money and not to protect American citizens. Trump did not include terrorist-producing majority-Muslim Egypt from his unconstitutional, but profit-driven religious ban, because he profits from Egyptians.
The United Arab Emirates, although a tiny Muslim-majority nation, was reported by CATO as producing UAE citizens that killed a total of 314 American citizens between 1975 and 2015. However, Trump has licensing and management deals in Dubai for two golf courses and a whole neighborhood of luxury villas currently under construction. More money for Trump means an exemption for UAE, a nation the State Department reports has a “widespread presence of ISIS- and Al Qaeda- affiliated groups in the area and poses a serious threat to American citizens.” But not enough of a threat to American citizens to prompt Trump to include UAE in his religious ban because there is big money in it for Trump.
There is nothing good about Trump’s religious ban, and that is precisely what it is; a precursor to establishing a “Christian-only” nation. However, it is also unconstitutional and illegal according to a 1965 law legally passed by Congress, and the courts have ruled accordingly; not that Trump acknowledges the courts have any right to rule on his actions. As horrendous as those points are, they fairly pale in comparison to Trump’s executive order founded on profits to a politician from foreign governments; a gross violation of the U.S. Constitution and an impeachable offense.
This particular atrocity needs to be addressed by all the Democrats while they’re storming the Senate and scaring the crap out of Republicans with their immense power. Republicans cannot raise one point in defense of Trump’s ban that excludes the very majority-Muslim nations that are responsible for killing thousands of American citizens.
It is doubtful that even the most strident Trump supporter can justify allowing several Muslim-majority nations free rein to export terrorists to America just because it profits their hero in the White House, but these are strange days and nothing should surprise anyone any longer. There is a bonafide fascist living in the people’s house and within a week he began issuing executive orders based on profits to himself, an impeachable offense and a threat to American lives.
The above commentary is the opinion of its author and several other Americans.