Trump effect is scary

It’s a dream come true for terrorists. Without any effort of their own, they have been given the best recruiting tool possible: the U.S. president.

One constant of Donald Trump’s egomaniacal, unstable behavior is belief that he can intimidate anyone to follow his directives. Obviously it has the opposite effect on terrorists. Even before he was the presumptive Republican nominee for president, ISIS recruited terrorists using videos featuring his call to ban Muslims from the U.S.

How much more effective this recruitment will be now that he is president and has broadcast worldwide that the ban will involve seven predominantly Muslim countries, especially when Christians are allowed entry. Even if courts block the ban as violation of the Constitution’s Freedom of Religion clause, the gift has already been given to terrorists by the ban’s stated intent.

Meanwhile, patriotic, hard-working Americans from other countries of origin, or who look a little different, fear being deported or incarcerated, while the Republican congressional leadership quietly caves to Trump’s executive mandates.

When future terrorist attacks occur against U.S. interests at home or abroad and we question what radicalized the perpetrators, we should begin by carefully scrutinizing the Trump effect.

Norm Luther

Spokane