# Do Muslim U.S. citizens have anything to worry about?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 30, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617 "2017-01-30T22:44:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/21 "2017-01-31T05:21:15Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> So, that’s what I thought. He didn’t explicitly say that, but people interpreted what he said as meaning that.

Yeah, I think there’s roughly zero chance that Trump would issue an executive order which read “All Muslims including U.S. troops are banned from entering the U.S.”

But I do find myself having to revise upward somewhat my estimate of the odds that Trump would issue an executive order reading “All Muslims are banned from entering the U.S.” without bothering to consider that this could be interpreted to include U.S. troops.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/22 "2017-01-31T05:23:39Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> So, that’s what I thought. He didn’t explicitly say that, but people interpreted what he said as meaning that.

From [the WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/07/donald-trump-calls-for-total-and-complete-shutdown-of-muslims-entering-the-united-states/?utm_term=.3773cda03243), the same day that news release was posted on his website:

> [@](#):
>
> In an interview on Fox News Channel shortly ahead of his campaign rally, Trump was asked whether his policy would apply to Muslim military personnel stationed overseas who want to come home.
> 
> "They will come home…

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/23 "2017-01-31T05:29:28Z")

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> [@asahi](#):
>
> Here’s the danger. We’re all talking about Trump in the present, with the current set of dynamics.
> 
> People old enough to remember George W Bush in 2001 will remember that he was regarded as a weak and almost semi-legitimate president for much of that year – until September 11th. Then it all changed.
> 
> What do you think would happen if there were a national tragedy like that under Trump? I’m guessing something similar. Americans would be frightened. Trump would say “I told you so,” and everyone, from mainstream journalists to the judiciary, would defer to the Commander in Chief to protect us. It would be our Reichstag fire, our Turkish coup.
> 
> There’s a reason Bannon’s on the NSC.

That’s pretty vague. To what, specifically, are you saying the “everyone” would defer to the CiC? Putting Muslims in concentration camps as the Japanese were during WWII?

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/24 "2017-01-31T05:34:40Z")

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I think every American has something to be worried about right now. Who know who King Donald’s next target will be.

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/25 "2017-01-31T05:42:55Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> So, that’s what I thought. He didn’t explicitly say that, but people interpreted what he said as meaning that.

Well, because it _did_ mean that. Interpreting “total and complete shutdown” to mean a total and complete shutdown is an easily-defensible interpretation, surely?

If I may interpret _your_ position for a moment, are you perhaps trying to say that what Trump said was, on the face of it, so preposterous, so outrageous, that reasonably people should have understood that he did not, in fact, intend to do what he said he would do?

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**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/26 "2017-01-31T05:59:24Z")

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> [@UDS](#):
>
> Well, because it _did_ mean that. Interpreting “total and complete shutdown” to mean a total and complete shutdown is an easily-defensible interpretation, surely?
> 
> If I may interpret _your_ position for a moment, are you perhaps trying to say that what Trump said was, on the face of it, so preposterous, so outrageous, that reasonably people should have understood that he did not, in fact, intend to do what he said he would do?

I can’t speak for **John Mace** of course, but in my opinion, it’s not that it’s _too outrageous_ for Trump, I just don’t think that interpretation lines up with his black-and-white worldview. In Trump’s mind, Muslims are bad, but"the troops" are good. (But anyone who says anything bad about Trump is the worst, and this supersedes all the other rules.)

It seems more likely to me that he was expressing himself poorly, as he’s shown a tendency to do. (Unfortunately, that tendency seems to extend to executive orders.)

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/27 "2017-01-31T06:31:26Z")

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> [@UDS](#):
>
> Well, because it _did_ mean that. Interpreting “total and complete shutdown” to mean a total and complete shutdown is an easily-defensible interpretation, surely?
> 
> If I may interpret _your_ position for a moment, are you perhaps trying to say that what Trump said was, on the face of it, so preposterous, so outrageous, that reasonably people should have understood that he did not, in fact, intend to do what he said he would do?

I’m saying Trump is constantly saying things that he walks back on, as he did with that statement. Did you not see what I posted from the Washington Post in post #22? If you go back and read the original claim from **Monty** , it was clear that he meant Trump explicitly said it would apply to US servicemen. He did not. That is all.

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**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-muslim-u-s-citizens-have-anything-to-worry-about/778617/28 "2017-01-31T06:52:34Z")

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I keep enough fuel in my small plane to fly to Canada or Mexico nonstop. You never know who they’ll come for next.

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