Indiana Governor Mike Pence is Despicable Donald’s VP choice, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was only a heart beat removed by a heart beat from the 70 year-old Trump choice as his Oval Office understudy/apprentice.
Here is what Newt has now said on Hannity’s show on Fox: “Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be. Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia, glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door.”
Does Newt intend to apply this unconstitutional religious test for deportation only to non-citizens or citizens, too? A distinction without a difference: with Newt as President Trump’s Chief of Staff, he can use the powers of the presidency—and the FBI—to intimidate Muslims citizens who aren’t ideologically kosher into leaving.
As a historian, I learned about proposals during and after WWI to deport “Jewish Bolsheviks” like Emma Goldman to an American Devil’s Island, stripped of any and all citizenship. In comparison, what was actually done to Japanese Americans during WWII was humane.
I find Sharia Law retrograde, extremely distasteful, and—in unadulterated forms—wholly incompatible with American constitutional values. However, Muslims in America, citizens and legal residents, have a right to believe what they want provided that they don’t act out their beliefs violently.
We ought to be concerned that about a quarter of American Muslims ages 18 to 29 according to a new poll approve of suicide bombings—not whether they also are Sharia addicts. Sharia, by the way, denies separation of church and state and religious equality—but does not per se preach terrorist violence.
Historians in future—if the Orangefuhrer doesn’t stifle them—will probably look back on 2016 not as a presidential election year but as a national nervous breakdown. If Trump wins—not impossible—the worst, most dangerous of the inmates will have taken over the asylum.
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