Donald Trump used to be in favor of immigrants who came to America and did well for themselves and others by becoming "job creators."
But apparently his principles are so weak that he's let himself be led in exactly the opposite direction on the issue by his white nationalist advisor Steve Bannon:
[I]n its own way the green card move is immensely worrying too. Because here, Trump was not just preventing new people from coming — he’s changing the rules for people who are already here legally. He is sending the message loud and clear that the United States is no longer a welcoming place for foreign-born people who have lived and worked here for years. ...
But for those who have followed Bannon’s career and statements over the years, this is no surprise at all. ... he is not particularly enthusiastic even about immigrants who are peaceful, successful, and economically productive.
He made that plenty clear in a Nov 2015 interview of Donald Trump on a Breitbart radio program:
The exchange (which begins around the 17 minute mark here) starts with Trump riffing about how top foreign-born Ivy league graduates should be allowed to stay in America where they can be “job creators.” But then Bannon spoke up to disagree, and he did so in a very revealing way:
TRUMP: We have to keep our talented people in this country.
BANNON: Um—
TRUMP: I think you agree with that. Do you agree with that?
BANNON: Well I got a tougher — you know, when two thirds or three quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think — on, my point is, a country’s more like, [inaudible], a country’s more than an economy. We’re a civic society.
Of course that statistic is completely untrue. But it suggests there's method behind the madness of the green card debacle.
The problem, in Trump's closest circle of advisors, isn't just foreign-born terrorists, or foreign-born criminals, but foreign-born anybody, even the most successful entrepreneurs who've added to the fabric of the country in immensely positive ways, if they’re non-white.
Journalist Josh Green, who wrote the definitive pre-White House profile of Bannon, tweeted Saturday night that he asked a friend of Bannon’s to explain what he was thinking with the immigration order. The friend replied: "America first. Americans first.”
Rudolph Giuliani proudly boasted that the Trump administration had asked him to craft a legal method for banning Muslims. I guess they're just looking for someone with even madder skills than Giuliani to help them craft a legal method for banning non-white foreigners generally.
Not that people around the world haven't already gotten the message loud and clear: America is in the grip of white nationalist fanatics who spit on the rule of law. Stay clear if you know what's good for you!