Those that were against the Trump administration’s temporary travel ban from seven mostly Muslim countries, received the good news, Thursday, that the stay would be continued; after being maintained by a federal appeals court which said it was determined to “stay in it for the long haul,” as Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said in Seattle.
“The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Seattle federal judge’s earlier restraining order on the new policy should remain in effect while the judge further examines its legality,” reported The New York Times.
Moreover they also noted with this action, “The panel, suggesting the ban did not advance national security, said that the administration had pointed to “no evidence” that anyone from the seven nations had committed terrorism in the United States.”
Supporting the traditional American concept of checks and balances, they emphasized that “It is beyond question,” the unsigned decision said, “that the federal judiciary retains the authority to adjudicate constitutional challenges to executive action.” In fact judges have a crucial role to play in this time honored, indeed enshrined system.
Reaction, from President Trump, was an assertion that judges were preventing the nation from being safe from the threat of terrorism, or to use his words, radical Islamic terrorists,” despite the fact that no recent acts have been committed by members of these seven countries, with many carried out by U.S. citizens, claiming influence from radical Islamic terrorists from abroad.
The panel did acknowledge, and gave defence to any president’s traditional role but also said, in no uncertain terms, “The government has taken the position,” the decision said, “that the president’s decisions about immigration policy, particularly when motivated by national security concerns, are unreviewable, even if those actions potentially contravene constitutional rights and protections.” In fact they noted, he wants far more than deference.
The angry response from the president was, in the now expected form of a tweet, “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
Accusing “them” of playing politics, was part and parcel of the Trump playbook, that takes little from the truth to advance a distinct political agenda, one that is part of his plan, much like the playbook itself, but also to keep the campaign promises that he laid out on the campaign trail that America had been badly led, was in deplorable shape, and whose very existence was threatened by the travel of even legal residents, as well as foreign exchange students from those countries.
As we have seen before, from radical politicians, like Trump,(aided by Steve Bannon, his strategist) can now send the well-honed message that these “pesky liberal activist judges are keeping the country unsafe, and that he, and he alone, can prevent disaster.”
Trump is very aware that his slim margin from the electoral college, not much higher than John Kennedy in 1960 (whose Catholicism cost him many votes) is hardly suggestive of a mandate, and it stings him. This is also why he is adamant that there were illegal voting patterns that prevented him from gaining the popular vote, lead, which Hillary Clinton received. If he can establish in the minds of his supporters that he was cheated, then it shows him, and the world, that the electorate was unequivocally behind him and not Clinton. Or, in the parlance of competitive sports, “he was robbed.”
In an earlier time, in the not too distant past, there was something called disinformation, and itself was often disguised as misinformation --- a deliberate attempt by some politicians at labelling a falsehood, as truth, often containing some elements of the truth encapsulated as a lie.
What the president, and his team, have done is taken this.and re-spun it (Yes, Dorothy one can even re-spin spin) to make not only an alternative universe, which helps, but most importantly to project a political agenda. This is what we have here, and this is what we will see more of in the balance of the 100 day tradition.
An overlooked aspect of the new administration is that it has a crusade like aspect that cannot be overlooked, and one that needs actions to rally the base to help sustain it.in its quest for dominance. The probable step of taking his fight to the Supreme Court is the next action. Subsequently, there will be speeches, by every group in the country, flags will fly, banners will wave, and the president can say, “I have fought for national security all the way to the Supreme Court. This is how much I want to protect you and make America great again!”
The truth is really irrelevant. What is dominant with this new paradigm is that the Chief Crusader for the nation is Donald J. Trump. And, don’t forget the exclusion of Christians, whh have “suffered so badly” trying to immigrate. Again, not true, but the statement fits the crusade narrative, too neatly. In fact, when reading it I thought Bannon might have take the analogy too far, but since so few people read history anymore, and since he knows that, it worked.
Chaos also has a role to help propel the agenda forward, and the madness and the protests that were seen at airports were just what was desired, and which pleased the White House to no end --- in fact tagging onto that was the president’s assertion that it all worked so well -- he almost slipped with that remark, and had to quickly amend it to say only 109.000 had been effected. False? Yes, but it helped the narrative to stay on script, and with a former reality TV star, staying on script is vital.
Now that the system of checks and balances are once more, front, and center, the administration's narrative will have a new sub-text, already there are those that are saying immigration will be the next topic of the next executive order. And, just in time. I am already hearing some people say, “They have to leave, they broke the law,” much like a veteran of the war in Afghanistan told me, of Muslims in America: “They can never, ever, come over here.”
The ensuing chaos is also part of the plan. As I have noted before Trump’s “get tough” stance is one that he has consistently portrayed, and in case, no one believed him, the proof we have seen with the ban, as he and his advisers stood tall on the parapet watching the confusion below.
Indeed, the Chicago Tribune in an earlier report said that Steve Bannon, “the former head of the far-right website Breitbart News, once said his goal was to ‘bring down everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.’”
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