In defense of Trump

Trump unleashed a generalized national rant against himself when he stated on December 7, 2015 that there should be a stop to Muslim immigration into the U.S.. The “F-bomb” was on lips and pens from all political quarters, suggesting that Trump just might be a fascist. Rachel Maddow compared Trump to Sir Oswald Mosley, an old British fascist.

Labeling an American politician a fascist is beyond mere scare talk. It’s the ultimate in establishment “dog-whistle” talk, whether democratic or republican, the very fear-mongering and carnival barking such people accuse Trump himself of doing. Though it was a moment they couldn’t resist, given their fear of this man, who has rudely crashed their party and taken the head seat at their table.

{mosads}Here’s the main question: Does the U.S. face an emergency with respect to the threat of terrorism?

If the answer is no, then a policy of laxity and business as usual may be in order. If the answer is yes, then the threat calls for a strong course of action to deal with it.

The fact is the threat from Islamic terrorism is inseparable from religion because jihadi ideologies are grounded in it. Read the numerous tracts terrorists themselves have written and make available to anyone. And jihadi fighters come from many different countries, including our own.

So, the religious designation “Muslim” in Trump’s call to action is not about religious bigotry, but a frank acknowledgement that this is the self-identification of the fighters. He never implied that all Muslims are this way, only that terrorists may hide among them. It’s a time-honored guerilla tactic for fighters to hide among a general population. So it’s reasonable to suspect jihadis to slip into the U.S. and other western countries accordingly.

How can we distinguish them from peaceful people? Much worse, how can we deal with the prospect that some will be radicalized while here, as were the two brothers behind the Boston Marathon bombing? Even those born here may become radicalized, like the husband in the San Bernardino attack. Remember Adam Gadahn who was from Oregon, or Usaama Rahim from Boston who had a plot to behead Pamela Geller but decided instead to try to behead a police officer.

The charge of religious bigotry would only be reasonable if there was no factual grounding to Trump’s call to action. But there is.

Trump also didn’t call for a permanent ban, but a temporary one until the government knows what it’s doing. There’s evidence our government has been lax and may not understand the problem well enough to stop it or may lack the resources. The suspicious activity of the husband and wife in the San Bernardino attack and the older of the two brothers in the Boston Marathon attack, which significantly pre-dated their respective atrocities, never got on the government’s radar screen.

Right now, the FBI has relevant investigations in every state, suggesting there may be jihadi sleepers all over the place.

So why did Trump offer this propaganda gift, this manna from heaven, to his opponents?

It might simply be because he’s not a professional politician. As an outsider to the well-heeled establishment ranks, he may have simply told the public what he thinks. We have an emergency, here are the facts, let’s deal with it!

Skilled politicians never do this. Their public speaking is carefully crafted, vetted and in line with momentary tactical maneuverings. As such, their rhetoric is usually empty. We don’t know what politicians really think and believe because they don’t proceed on candor and their own beliefs.

Hillary Clinton, for example, uses focus groups to find out what people want to hear so she can present a politically safe pre-packaged batch of prime time buzz words and signals to the public. Would she ever speak extemporaneously without such choreography?

Trump’s Republican contenders are no better. Before this latest, some republican candidates followed Trump’s earlier statement regarding Muslim radicalism. Even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in late November he would be willing to shut down any place where radicals gather, including mosques, but then turned on a dime about two weeks later to denounce Trump for his statement about Muslim immigration, calling it unconstitutional. Jeb Bush also tweeted the F-word in response, though he misspelled it.

This propaganda feeding frenzy makes me wonder whether it reflects fear of Trump himself or fear that he had the gall to call things what they are.

Gerace is a lawyer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Before becoming an attorney he taught political science and economics for 17 years, most recently at Assumption College, and published in both fields.