President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim majority countries hasn't been received well thus far. In addition to the protests, the order received harsh criticism on social media, and the American Civil Liberties Union, which won a stay against the order, received more in donations this weekend than they did all of last year.
As we all know, Trump responds very well to constructive criticism (not). Trump released a statement on his Facebook page on Sunday, and unsurprisingly, it massaged the truth to make people think this order is okay—that it's all about protecting Americans and has nothing to do with racism and prejudice.
Trump also criticized the media in the statement, insisting that they are not reporting on the executive order accurately, when in fact it is Trump who is describing the order inaccurately.
"We will keep it free and keep it safe, as the media knows, but refuses to say," he continued. "My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months. The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror. To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting."
As The Washington Postexplains, the executive order is nothing like Obama's 2011 actions—Obama did not outright ban Iraqi refugees, but rather implemented new security procedures which caused a slowdown. This was in response to the discovery that two Iraqi refugees had participated in plans to bomb American troops while they still lived in Iraq. Trump's executive order, in contrast, isn't responding to any direct threat other than Islamophobia.
And when Trump says the order is not a Muslim ban, he seems to be forgetting that Muslim ban is exactly what he claimed he would do during the campaign. During a campaign speech, Trump said, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shut down of Muslims entering the United States until our countries' representatives figure out what the hell is going on," adding, "We have no choice." The promise still lives on his campaign website.
Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.
— Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) December 8, 2015
In his statement this weekend, Trump insisted that the order was not about religion.
"This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe," he said. "There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order. We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days."
But former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani called the executive order a Muslim ban in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, saying that the president asked for the assistance of a commission to help instruct him on "the right way to do it legally."
Trump also references the Syrian refugee crisis, insisting that he “has tremendous feeling for the people involved in this horrific humanitarian crisis in Syria,” even though Syria is one of the countries from which immigration has been halted.
So, Trump is not being particularly truthful in his attempts to stop people from criticizing him. What else is new?