Eugene Robinson: Trumps exercise in cruelty wont keep us any safer

President Trump’s refugee ban and travel restrictions are a disgraceful exercise in cruelty. They do nothing to make us safer — and may, in fact, make us less safe — but they punish Muslims, and that is his whole point.

Fear and loathing of Islam was one of Trump’s campaign themes. He appealed to those who wrongly see the fight against terrorism as a clash of civilizations between Christian and Muslim worlds — and see Muslim immigrants as a kind of fifth column intent on destroying America from within.

During the campaign, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” He later modified this position into a call for “extreme vetting” of Muslim immigrants, including Syrian refugees. But he continued to cite a discredited survey, conducted by a stridently anti-Muslim group, purporting to show that many Muslims in this country support “global jihad” and the replacement of our legal system with Islamic Sharia law.

Is Trump just playing politics or is he truly an anti-Muslim bigot who believes this rubbish? At this point, it hardly matters. He has fulfilled his campaign promise by striking a gratuitous blow against would-be immigrants and visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/robinson-trumps-exercise-in-cruelty-wont-keep-us-any-safer/