Moreover, in the case of global jihad, we are provoking civilizational struggle between Islam and the West, or as the historian Niall Ferguson has put it, between “the West and the rest.” Banning Muslims from America, or even appearing to do so, apart from being unconstitutional, would give the jihadis precisely the struggle they want, with the vast and varied Islamic world caught in between, some small percentage of them vulnerable to a radicalization that we could plausibly bear some responsibility for. In fact, when word of the president’s first executive order spread on the internet shortly after ink met paper at the Pentagon on January 27, dark jihadi cul-de-sacs online filled with praise for President Trump’s “blessed ban.” And so the legitimate targets of the president’s policy found perverse pleasure in the order.
I find it difficult to believe that this could possibly have been the president’s intention. In fact, as for Trump’s executive actions themselves, I believe he is in earnest when he says that he wants to do everything in his power to defend America, her allies, and her interests—however much he may distort the dangers and manipulate the understandable fears of Americans.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member