Extract from The Guardian
The US president’s immigration orders are cruel, stupid and un-American.
Allies such as Britain must speak out against his actions
‘Many thought, without much enthusiasm, that Mrs May was doing her pragmatic duty by going to the White House.’
Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Donald Trump
has been president of the United States for 10 days. Many were prepared
to give Mr Trump a chance. But even they must conclude he has been in
office 10 days too long. Americans did a dreadful thing by electing Mr
Trump. But the reality of it is only beginning to hit home. It is not
his words that matter, awful though they are on subjects such as
torture, but his actions. These raise urgent questions about whether
America can afford to have such a president governing in such a way for
four years — and how things may realistically change.
On Friday, Holocaust Memorial Day, just after Theresa May’s white-knuckle visit to the White House, Mr Trump crossed a line that should not be crossed. He signed an executive order banning Syrian refugees indefinitely and everyone from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the United States for 90 days. It was a cruel, stupid and bigoted act, designed to hurt and divide. Hundreds of people have already been detained. It was also cowardly, as bullies’ actions sometimes are. Mr Trump’s Muslim ban – because that is in practice what it is – avoids predominantly Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan with deep terrorist connections, and ones such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Emirates in which Mr Trump has business interests.
The United States is a nation of laws, of immigrants and of freedoms. Much of the world still looks to it as a beacon. Mr Trump’s order violates all three identities, and douses the beacon. The order has been stayed by a judge in New York. But the stay is temporary. Mr Trump is not going to stop there. His instinct, to which on past intemperate experience he is likely to succumb, will be to react with further cruelty, stupidity and bigotry. Any nation, like Britain, that proclaims itself his ally risks being implicated in this, whether it wishes to be or not.
The executive order has backfired. The reaction against it in the US has been inspiring. The legal action sends a vital message about due process. So do the rallies and welcoming demonstrations at airports, which appear to be as spontaneous as anything can be in the modern world. The big challenge for the US now is political. Will anti-Trump Republicans stand up for law, justice and order, or will they bow the knee? Will Democrats mount an effective opposition? This is a stand up and be counted moment for all, and both things need to happen. Both sides should remember the concentration camp survivor Martin Niemöller’s words about the Nazis. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out … Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
World opinion can make a difference here. But who does Theresa May speak for in all this? Does she speak for Britain? Or for 21st-century appeasers? Britain is a nation of laws, decency and inclusion. Its standing in the world suffered from holding too close to the US over Iraq. The voters understood this, even if Tony Blair did not. Yet Mrs May is now teetering on the brink of making the same mistake that sank Mr Blair.
Many thought, without much enthusiasm, that Mrs May was doing her pragmatic duty by going to the White House on Friday. In the short term she seemed to emerge unscathed, even a little enhanced. Mr Trump then showed what he really thought about Mrs May. He did it in three ways: first by grabbing Mrs May’s hand to assert his masculine power, second by not saying about Nato what Mrs May said for him, and third by signing the order the moment she was out of the door. Mrs May likes to be practical. This time she has been played for a sucker. Her triumph lasted less than a day. She is deceiving herself if she thinks she can control Mr Trump.
When Mr Trump was merely a candidate whom she expected to lose to Hillary Clinton, Mrs May condemned his anti-Muslim plans as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”. She needs to be at least as plain-speaking on Monday in the Commons. Until she is, it is Sir Mo Farah, not Mrs May, who speaks for Britain. She also needs to recognise that the Trump state visit must be put on hold or truncated into a political visit. She would be a fool not to grasp that the British public does not want to see the Queen embarrassed by Mr Trump.
A line has been crossed in Washington. The public gets it. Sir Mo gets it. The prime minister needs to get it too. She needs to speak and act for Britain, alongside France, Canada, Germany and other allies. Britain must not be, or be seen as, a lackey of possibly the worst leader the US has ever elected. Time to get real, Mrs May.
On Friday, Holocaust Memorial Day, just after Theresa May’s white-knuckle visit to the White House, Mr Trump crossed a line that should not be crossed. He signed an executive order banning Syrian refugees indefinitely and everyone from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the United States for 90 days. It was a cruel, stupid and bigoted act, designed to hurt and divide. Hundreds of people have already been detained. It was also cowardly, as bullies’ actions sometimes are. Mr Trump’s Muslim ban – because that is in practice what it is – avoids predominantly Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan with deep terrorist connections, and ones such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Emirates in which Mr Trump has business interests.
The United States is a nation of laws, of immigrants and of freedoms. Much of the world still looks to it as a beacon. Mr Trump’s order violates all three identities, and douses the beacon. The order has been stayed by a judge in New York. But the stay is temporary. Mr Trump is not going to stop there. His instinct, to which on past intemperate experience he is likely to succumb, will be to react with further cruelty, stupidity and bigotry. Any nation, like Britain, that proclaims itself his ally risks being implicated in this, whether it wishes to be or not.
The executive order has backfired. The reaction against it in the US has been inspiring. The legal action sends a vital message about due process. So do the rallies and welcoming demonstrations at airports, which appear to be as spontaneous as anything can be in the modern world. The big challenge for the US now is political. Will anti-Trump Republicans stand up for law, justice and order, or will they bow the knee? Will Democrats mount an effective opposition? This is a stand up and be counted moment for all, and both things need to happen. Both sides should remember the concentration camp survivor Martin Niemöller’s words about the Nazis. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out … Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
World opinion can make a difference here. But who does Theresa May speak for in all this? Does she speak for Britain? Or for 21st-century appeasers? Britain is a nation of laws, decency and inclusion. Its standing in the world suffered from holding too close to the US over Iraq. The voters understood this, even if Tony Blair did not. Yet Mrs May is now teetering on the brink of making the same mistake that sank Mr Blair.
Many thought, without much enthusiasm, that Mrs May was doing her pragmatic duty by going to the White House on Friday. In the short term she seemed to emerge unscathed, even a little enhanced. Mr Trump then showed what he really thought about Mrs May. He did it in three ways: first by grabbing Mrs May’s hand to assert his masculine power, second by not saying about Nato what Mrs May said for him, and third by signing the order the moment she was out of the door. Mrs May likes to be practical. This time she has been played for a sucker. Her triumph lasted less than a day. She is deceiving herself if she thinks she can control Mr Trump.
When Mr Trump was merely a candidate whom she expected to lose to Hillary Clinton, Mrs May condemned his anti-Muslim plans as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”. She needs to be at least as plain-speaking on Monday in the Commons. Until she is, it is Sir Mo Farah, not Mrs May, who speaks for Britain. She also needs to recognise that the Trump state visit must be put on hold or truncated into a political visit. She would be a fool not to grasp that the British public does not want to see the Queen embarrassed by Mr Trump.
A line has been crossed in Washington. The public gets it. Sir Mo gets it. The prime minister needs to get it too. She needs to speak and act for Britain, alongside France, Canada, Germany and other allies. Britain must not be, or be seen as, a lackey of possibly the worst leader the US has ever elected. Time to get real, Mrs May.
No comments:
Post a Comment