As protests continue nationwide, a roundup of the today's news on Trump's anti-American 'Muslim ban'.
• Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham objected to Trump's order today in a sternly worded statement.
“Our most important allies in the fight against ISIL are the vast majority of Muslims who reject its apocalyptic ideology of hatred," the senators said in a joint statement, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. "This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security."
Conspicuously absent from that statement: Any hint that they would work with other legislators to overturn the ban, as opposed to merely issuing press releases about it.
• This act was nevertheless enough to prompt a Trump hissyfit against the pair. After releasing a deeply dishonest press statement defending the ban, Trump himself took to Twitter to call McCain and Graham "wrong—they are sadly weak on immigration" and inexplicably claiming the two are "looking to start World War III." No, we don't know what this means. We choose to believe Trump is referring to their unwillingness to properly genuflect towards Russian president Putin, who Trump spoke to via phone call yesterday—but it may also mean that Donald Trump has less of a grasp on reality than even his harshest critics have charged.
• The Trump team's stated rationale for choosing which countries to place on the list—claiming they cribbed the list from Obama-era travel restrictions—doesn't hold up. And many if not most news outlets are seemingly pointing out the obvious, at this point: The majority-Muslim nations not included in the ban are ones that Donald Trump, personally, has business dealings in.
• As of this afternoon, court orders barring enforcement of portions of Trump's order were still being ignored in some airports. There has been no explanation as to why. Legal visa holders remain in detention tonight in airports throughout the country.
• While the British government claims to have secured an exemption for their own dual citizens, the result of "anxious calls to senior figures in Mr Trump's team," it appears to mean that British citizens would still be detained if traveling from one of the affected Muslim nations—but not if traveling from Britain itself. Which, if true, would be stupid. Meanwhile, British politicians continue to demand the Prime Minister rescind Trump's invitation to the country until the ban is lifted.
• Most observers have laid authorship of the poorly-drafted order on Steve Bannon, Trump's topmost adviser and the man responsible for guiding Breitbart.com into a vehicle for the white supremacist "alt-right." The current furor hasn't stopped Bannon from landing a historically unprecedented seat on the White House's national security team. Trump's team defended the move today by claiming that Bannon's presence on that national security team is essential to Trump's decision-making.
• Religious leaders throughout the nation are denouncing Trump's move, with Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich calling it "a dark moment in U.S. history."
• Even the Koch political network is unnerved by Trump's order.
• Michael G. Flynn, son of controversial (translation: lunatic) advisor Michael Flynn, appears to have deleted his Twitter account soon after calling the executive order a "#MuslimBan".
• Trump ally Rudy Giuliani claimed authorship of the executive order, and did not attempt to hide its origins and intentions:
"I'll tell you the whole history of it," Giuliani responded eagerly. "So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, 'Muslim ban.' He called me up. He said, 'Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.'" [...]
"And what we did was, we focused on, instead of religion, danger — the areas of the world that create danger for us," Giuliani told Pirro. "Which is a factual basis, not a religious basis. Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible. [...]
Since the order excludes multiple obvious areas of the world that "create danger for us", that "factual basis" would seem to fall apart. But he's admitting the intent of the order was, from the beginning, to specifically exclude Muslims.
• Among those who were denied re-entry to the United States: Cleveland Clinic resident Dr. Suha Abushamma, who was returning from vacation. While the Cleveland Clinic professed to be "working towards the safe return" of employees affected by the Trump order, they will still be holding a lavish fundraiser next month at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
• Ridesharing company Lyft is donating $1 million to the ACLU in response to the ban.
• #DeleteUber