Why it is absolutely correct to call Trump’s executive order a Muslim ban

On Monday night, Donald Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to enforce his executive order on immigration. The order, issued Friday night, temporarily bars the entry of anyone from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Trump and his supporters insist that the order is valid and that the Justice Department must enforce it, because its text doesn’t explicitly target a particular faith. Yates disagrees. She says the order is religious discrimination because the intent behind it, manifest in statements by Trump and his aides, is to exclude Muslims.

Yates is correct. A mountain of evidence shows Trump did this to target Islam.

Trump’s executive order doesn’t use the word Muslim, and it doesn’t apply to all Muslim countries. Based on these distinctions, Trump and his defenders in the conservative media insist it’s “not a Muslim ban.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while cautioning that we mustn’t alienate Muslim allies, says: “I’m not going to make a blanket criticism of this effort.” The office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, noting that the ban is technically “not a ban on people of any religion,” contends: “President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country.”