The “news” that Islam has a violence issue may not have reached the White House or editorial page of the New York Times, but it’s old news on the streets of Beirut, Baghdad and Kabul.
There is no downside for American politicians admitting the obvious about Islam, but there is a definite downside from the continuous denials: It feeds right into the Trump narrative of American weakness.
One of the most powerful pro-Trump arguments is that everyone else in American politics is too gutless and politically correct to tell the common-sense truth about the current state of Islam.
There is an incredibly easy way to undermine Trump’s case: Tell the truth about Islam. President Obama could give a speech tomorrow, surrounded by Muslim victims of Islamist violence, and talk about the divide within the Muslim world and America’s plans to help the good guys beat the bad guys (OK, so he’d have to make up that part about having a plan, but still).
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