Not-So-Free Speech
The former president vowed to subject immigrants to “ideological screening” before allowing them into the United States
Donald Trump has long been painting a picture of what he’ll do to the United States should he win back the White House next November. His plans include everything from pulling America out of NATO, as Rolling Stone reported on Monday, to a sweeping, multi-faceted crackdown on immigration — which he elaborated on during a campaign speech in New Hampshire.
“I will implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants,” the former president vowed. “If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you don’t like our religion (which a lot of them don’t), if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country and you are not getting in.”
The First Amendment is widely interpreted to ensure the separation of church and state, and screening immigrants over their religious beliefs would appear to stand in pretty clear violation of the nation’s founding principles. It’s of little concern to Trump, who has made abundantly clear that his first term in office was only a warm-up for the anti-immigrant measures he’s ready to implement if he’s reelected. Rolling Stone reported in May that Trump is also planning on expanding the Muslim ban he instituted during his first term in office.
Trump spoke in New Hampshire on Monday shortly after he officially filed to participate in the state’s presidential primary. The former president wowed Granite State Republicans with his razor-sharp wit, in addition to all the xenophobia. “I’m for us,” Trump said. “You know how you spell ‘us,’ right? You spell ‘us,’ U-S. I just picked that up. Has anyone ever thought of that? I’m reading and it says ‘us.’ If you think about it, ‘us’ equals U.S.”
Trump then suggested the media wouldn’t give him credit for making such a “genius” revelation before continuing to wonder why he’s never thought of as a great speaker despite drawing tens of thousands of people to his rallies. He did have one other idea why he’s so popular. “I’m a very handsome person,” he mused. “So I guess a lot of you want to sit and look at me. It’s a beauty pageant. It’s amazing.”