They ain’t done yet
by digby
| They may decide to keep us in too |
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told NBC reporter Chuck Todd on Sunday that the ban could be expanded in the future to include countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt.
Todd asked Priebus why the executive order — which prevents citizens of seven Muslim countries from entering the country for 90 days and suspends the admission of refugees for 120 days (and suspends refugees from Syria indefinitely) — did not include a handful countries that have faced terror attacks in the recent past, or countries that have fielded terrorists who have carried out attacks on American soil. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks came from Saudi Arabia — a country not covered by Trump’s recent ban, despite the fact that 9/11 is explicitly cited in the order as a reason for the ban.
“We are concerned about the issue, Chuck, and that’s why we put the seven countries initially into the executive order that were identified previously by Congress, by both the House and the Senate and the Obama administration as being the seven most watched countries in regard to harboring terrorists,” Priebus said. “But you bring up a good point. Perhaps other countries needed to be added to an executive order going forward.”
If they do this it’s hard to see how they can avoid adding Europe to the ban. How many terrorist attacks have Europe and Britain endured? Dozens. And there has actually been a terrorist attempt by a British national, Richard Reid the shoe bomber.
It sounds ridiculous, but if they continue on this path, if there is a major terrorist attack, one could see the borders closed and travel restricted for Americans.
It looks more and more like the endgame might be for that “wall” both literal and figurative, to keep us in as much as keep “them” out. Trump’s Real Americans would be fine with that.
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