Dear Mr. Trump,
I am not one to usually take a public stance on anything politically polarizing. Although I am well versed in both historical and current issues in American and international politics, the knowledge I garnered throughout my studies has made me very much disenchanted in both the electoral and policy making processes. As a newly minted undergraduate political scientist myself, I have been constantly reminded that politics is in fact a science. It is a complicated study of the behavior of reactionary forces that eventually precipitate an outcome, often predictable based on prior observation of similar events. There are thousands upon thousands of people who devote their lives to becoming experts on the nuances of rhetoric, grassroots mobilization and public relations to assist candidates such as yourself in achieving your political goals. Even the position of the presidency is arguably almost a figurehead, as much of the details of the executive are run by highly educated and experienced individuals.
Thus, I am far from ignorant to the fact that your statements and behavior in debates, interviews and rallies are calculated and managed to allow you to maximize political capital and win an election. As one of my brilliant professors reminded me in his office hours one evening, we can not blame you for doing your job – as a candidate for President of the United States, you are “doing your job” by saying what you say and acting how you act in order to win an election. Like most successful politicians in history, you may or may not be advocating for what you personally believe; yet, you are always behaving in such a way that optimizes the number of votes that you must receive. You appeal to the vast number of unhappy and disillusioned Americans who believe in your cause, whether or not it is politically or morally feasible. They have a right to support you based on the tenets of a pluralistic democracy. This is the nature of the game and you are doing quite well to shift the odds in your favor. In this light, I would like to say congratulations. With very little personal experience in the American political sphere, you have used your influence to surround yourself with such brilliant expertise that has brought your campaign to this point. Not even your bitterest enemies, Republicans, Democrats and foreign leaders alike, can deny this as fact.
With this lengthy preface behind us, however, I would like to address a statement that you recently made that I believe has objectively crossed the line.
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire on an LGBTQ club, Pulse, in Orlando, FL. Over 50 people have died and many more are wounded with a ripple effect of devastated family members, friends and sympathizers around the country and the world. The gunman allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack, although his exact motivations are currently deemed uncertain and under continuing investigation by authorities and had a history of disapproval of the LGBTQ community. President Obama addressed the nation from the White House, describing the event as “…an act of terror and act of hate…” – an objective truth.
Mr. Trump, you too were quick to release a statement about this tragedy that happened early Sunday morning. It is here where you essentially “renew” your controversial “Muslim ban” policy that calls for “... a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States…” The first time I read about this policy in December 2015, I recognized it as evidently ignorant, based out of objective falsities and thus, disagreed with such a discriminatory method to eliminate terrorism on domestic soil. However, I understood that this ignorance resonates with many fearful Americans and was part of a ploy to win an election.
Nonetheless, your statement relating the absolute tragedy of Sunday morning with your hatred toward the global Muslim population has incensed me enough to speak out today.
There are more than a few excerpts from this statement that are factually misleading. My favorite of which is as follows:
“We admit more than 100,000 lifetime migrants from the Middle East each year. Since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States.”
Whether or not these numbers are correct is irrelevant to my point. This statement implies two things: all immigrants from the Middle East are Muslim, and thus, all pose a potential threat to the United States. Without digressing into too many details, specifically looking at the Central Intelligence Agency’s statistics on Syria, a country that has recently been in the spotlight to say the least, it has a religious affiliation of 13 percent Christian, Druze and Jewish. Evidently, it is a Middle Eastern country that is not entirely Muslim.
In regard to the inference that all Middle Eastern Muslim populations impose a potential jihadist threat, we must delve further into the same source you cited in your statement, the Pew Research Center. In their most recent data they referred to in the link you shared, all Middle Eastern populations surveyed expressed overwhelming negative views of ISIS. The country that had the most favorable view of ISIS (14 percent) was Nigeria – and if we need a little geography lesson, Nigeria is located in the African continent, south of the Greater Middle Eastern region. Also on the topic of geography, you made this statement about the Middle East in regard to crimes committed by a man of Afghani heritage: Afghanistan is located in the region of South Asia, which is east of the Middle East. Oh, and one more thing, this man was actually born and raised in New York, not Afghanistan. You grew up in New York too, yes? Pity you two couldn’t have grabbed a cup of coffee and a bagel before this whole ordeal.
Even with my mere undergraduate degree, I could write novels about the inaccuracies and distorted logic in this statement, as well as countless other statements, speeches, tweets, comments, etc., and have good fun with it. But as I already addressed above, that would be futile because unfortunately, many people want to hear the rhetoric over the truth. And it is their right to support this rhetoric if they so choose.
Yet, regardless of what people want to hear, there is an objective truth above all else that you refuse to recognize which implicates you in the terrorism that you so fervently condemn.
In the final paragraph of your statement, you say:
“We need to protect all Americans, of all backgrounds and all beliefs, from Radical Islamic Terrorism – which has no place in an open and tolerant society. Radical Islam advocated hate for women, gays, Jews, Christians and all Americans. I am going to be a President for all Americans, and I am going to protect and defend all Americans. We are going to make America safe again and great again for everyone.”
This “radical Islam” also advocates hatred for other Muslims. The small sliver of the Muslim population around the world that associates itself with jihadism is fighting an ideological war just as much, if not more, within its own religion than it is with the West. You call yourself a “President for all Americans” – what about the Muslims that have lived their entire lives playing on the playgrounds laid upon American soil, thriving within the public education program, attending the prized universities of this great nation and working tirelessly in their respective professions to continue to keep America great?
In the 1950's, Joe McCarthy evoked such rhetoric, ostensibly about communism, branding all those that did not believe as he did as aligned with the “Red Menace.” By threatening to deny entry to people solely based on their national origin and religion – backgrounds and harmless religious affiliations similar to so many American citizens that reside within our borders – you are shattering the foundation of the principle of liberty that this country was founded on and further regressing from every inch of progress we have made toward equality and acceptance in the past 150 years. Let me remind you that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race and sex, as well as religion and national origin.
Terrorism feeds on exactly what its name implies, terror. The threat will not cease to exist as long as there is fear. In the most basic and childlike sense, where there is fear, there is proclivity for acrimony and blame. No matter what you may believe or how you wish to make your way to the White House, you are aiding in terrorism against the West by reacting exactly how these Islamic extremist leaders need you to react in order to thrive. As the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, commented: “By giving the impression that Islam and the West are incompatible, you’re playing into the hands of the extremists.”
However, the darkest aspect of this entire statement is not its obtuse or discriminatory character. It is the sepsis of hatred that permeates out of every word you’ve written and into the American people and the rest of the world. You used the flare lit by this gunman to fuel your small-minded campaign. Beautiful lives with prospects of positive change to this anarchic world have been lost and families grieve while you use their tragedy as a platform to spew untruths about a people that took no part in what happened in Pulse that night. It was not Muslims that went into that club and gunned down innocent people. It was one terribly unstable man’s hatred for the LGBTQ community that single-handedly created this chaos that you seem to wish to uphold. Fighting fire with fire only makes a bigger flame, my friend.
The only way to combat acts of terror and hate are not by way of fear or dissolution, but by empathy and unity. Do not use the dismemberment of a community to aid in your dismemberment of the American people and further schism of the world. It is beyond the acceptable ploys for a campaign victory to feed on the pain and confusion of a nation as a way to break down the integrity and humanity of people like you and me.
I may not have a voice strong enough or loud enough to alter your campaign tactics. That is a decision only you can make. All I can hope is that this letter reaches a few members of your electorate and educates them on the dangers that your words have for this country and the threat that they pose for the potential for peace around the world.
Most sincerely,
Eryn
