Donald Trump just blew the legal argument for his Muslim Ban with one stupid tweet
Donald Trump has spent several months trying and failing to implement his Muslim ban in various incarnations. His administration keeps trying to frame it as a temporary travel restriction, while insisting that it’s not targeted at Muslims and that it’s not a ban. But the courts keep striking him down because he admitted during the campaign that it was both. This week he asked the Supreme Court to reinstate his ban. But he just blew that with a single arrogantly hasty tweet.
When a violent incident broke out near London Bridge on Saturday night, Donald Trump was so eager to use it as an argument for his Muslim Ban that he quickly dashed off a ridiculous tweet from his golf resort in Virginia: “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!
We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2017
The trouble: Trump screwed up and used the word “ban” in his tweet. In other words he just admitted that his plan is in fact a ban, and not any of the other things that his White House has been trying to frame it as being. Of course he’s not the only one who’s blown it. For instance Sean Spicer has alternately argued that it is and is not a ban. But the timing here couldn’t be worse for Trump, as he just asked the Supreme Court to definitively rule on the matter. The ACLU immediately retorted with “Glad we both agree the ban is a ban” (link), underscoring the legal repercussions of Trump’s tweet.
Considering that several Federal Judges have ruled against the constitutionality of Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban based on his own past admissions during the campaign that it was in fact an attempt at banning a group of people, it’s entirely feasible that the Supreme Court could end up taking Trump’s latest tweet into account when making its own determination. Follow Palmer Report on Facebook and Twitter. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
