{"id":31991,"date":"2017-01-30T12:21:36","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T16:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=31991"},"modified":"2017-01-30T14:08:09","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:08:09","slug":"the-ban-is-a-republican-thing-not-just-a-trump-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/the-ban-is-a-republican-thing-not-just-a-trump-thing.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Ban Has Republican Fingerprints All Over It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On a mild Monday in November, 2015, Mike Pence, then a Republican governor, abruptly\u00a0banned Syrian refugees<\/a> from Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndiana has a long tradition of opening our arms and homes to refugees from around the world but, as governor, my first responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of all Hoosiers,\u201d Pence said in a statement.<\/p>\n

He said he was directing all state agencies to stop resettling Syrian refugees in Indiana until the federal government can provide assurances that \u201cproper security measures are in place.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There was a mad scramble after this announcement, and a Syrian refugee family initially slated for settlement in Indiana\u2014Abdullah, Fatema, and their 5-year-old son\u2014had to be rerouted<\/a>\u00a0to Connecticut when they arrived the following\u00a0Wednesday. The family had already learned about Indiana and made contacts there; all of the arrangements had been made. Being rejected by Pence and having their\u00a0plans appended was difficult for the family. \u201cIt broke our hearts,\u201d Fatema said later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the end of the week, nearly every other Republican governor\u00a0had also made statements barring\u00a0Syrian refugees from their states, twenty-nine in all. Only one Democratic governor did the same. That same week, the House passed a bill blocking<\/a> Syrian refugees. This bill was proposed by Republican leaders, and received near-unanimous support from Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n

I bring this all up because I\u2019m concerned\u00a0that Trump\u2019s executive order of last Friday<\/a>\u2014banning Syrian refugees and barring individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.\u2014is being seen as a Trump thing rather than as the thoroughly Republican thing that it is. I\u2019ve seen numerous people in my extended friend circles suggest that the Republicans should be speaking up, opposing Trump, as though this was Trump\u2019s idea and Trump\u2019s alone. I\u2019ve even seen self-identified Republicans saying this. I feel the need to set the record straight.<\/p>\n

When Trump first called for<\/a> barring all Muslims from traveling to the U.S. in December 2015, it\u2019s absolutely true that Pence spoke up against the suggestion:<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Text of tweet by @GovPenceIN: Calls to ben Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By opposing a proposed ban on Muslims Pence could look like the good guy, the reasonable person, less than a month after banning Syrian immigrants from his own state. He was so successful in pulling this off, in fact, that some newspapers are scrambling to understand<\/a> how Pence could go from that tweet to nodding and clapping as Trump signed his executive order on Friday. It\u2019s not hard to understand, though, when you look at the wording Pence used in his tweet\u00a0and bear in mind his\u00a0own executive action\u00a0barring Syrian refugees from Indiana a month before.<\/p>\n

Ever since Friday, conservatives have been arguing that the immigration restrictions Trump signed on Friday are not a \u201cMuslim ban.\u201d After all, non-Muslims from the seven targeted countries are also barred from entering the U.S., and Muslims from countries not on the list are not banned. This is extremely convenient for Republicans. It is why Paul Ryan was able to look noble and heroic in speaking out against Trump\u2019s call for a Muslim ban last year, while supporting Trump\u2019s executive order today.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Text of tweet by @SpeakerRyan: A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America\u2019s fundamental values. I reject it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, Ryan\u2019s office is telling reporters<\/a> that this is not a Muslim\u00a0ban.<\/em><\/p>\n

Speaker\u00a0Paul Ryan<\/span>\u2018s (R-Wis.) office said Saturday that President Trump\u2019s executive order limiting immigration from several Muslim-majority countries does not target Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a religious test and it is not a ban on people of any religion,\u201d AshLee Strong told\u00a0The Washington Post.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In calling for a ban on all Muslim immigration to the U.S., Trump handed the Republicans a gift. He gave even individuals like Pence, who had just barred Syrian refugees from their own jurisdictions, the opportunity to look fair, just, and open-minded by speaking out against the proposal. And then, today, Trump signing into action a less-extreme restriction allows Republicans to both argue that this is not<\/em> a Muslim ban and deflect criticism onto Trump\u2014after all, the whole Muslim ban thing was his idea to begin with, so this, too, must be on him.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear here: Trump\u2019s executive order is a Republican thing. In fact, it may be more a Republican thing than it is a Trump thing\u2014after all, his initial proposal was to ban all Muslims from entering the country; someone, perhaps even Pence himself, at some point suggested a way for him to\u00a0design an executive order\u00a0such that it would pass constitutional muster. Furthermore, top Republican politicians who decried Trump\u2019s call for a Muslim ban are\u00a0now\u00a0supporting his executive order<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As much as I\u2019d love to imagine there\u2019s a Republican majority in Congress that\u2019s going to step forward and stop Trump, we need to face the facts\u2014there isn\u2019t. For all their protestations over Trump\u2019s candidacy last year, Trump\u2019s positions tend to be\u00a0standard Republican positions. And letting Trump enact policies that\u00a0are widely unpopular so that they don\u2019t have to do so themselves and take the blame directly?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s damned convenient, really.<\/p>\n

It may be useful to think of the Republicans\u2019 opposition to Trump\u2019s candidacy last year as some combination of anger at an outsider for stepping on their turf, and concern that in advocating\u00a0standard Republican policies without the softening language Republicans tend to cloak them in, Trump would turn people against the party as a whole. Sometimes Trump gets a little ahead of things\u2014such as proposing that we ban\u00a0all Muslims\u00a0from entering the country\u2014but the Republicans are there to help make adjustments, so helpful, as in the case of Friday\u2019s executive order.<\/p>\n

This ban? This is the Republican Party. This is who they are in 2017.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I bring this all up because I’m concerned that Trump’s executive order of last Friday—banning Syrian refugees and barring individuals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.—is being seen as a Trump thing rather than as the thoroughly Republican thing that it is. I’ve seen numerous people in my extended friend circles suggest that the Republicans should be speaking up, opposing Trump, as though this was Trump’s idea and Trump’s alone. It wasn’t. <\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":32002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[431,635],"class_list":["post-31991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-uncategorized","tag-immigration","tag-republican-party"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump's Ban Has Republican Fingerprints All Over It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This ban? This is the Republican Party. 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