Trump and Terror

The United Kingdom is mourning the loss of seven people killed in what appears to be an act of terror last night in London. The attack began when a van veered off the road and barreled into pedestrians on busy London Bridge. Three men fled the van with large knives and attacked people at bars and restaurants in nearby Borough Market. Police shot and killed the three attackers within eight minutes. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims and the citizens of our closest ally.

So far there has been no claim of responsibility, however, President Donald Trump took to Twitter right away to call on the courts to reinstate his Muslim travel ban.

Wait! What?

Yes, the President's very first reaction, prior to offering condolences or support to the British people, was to talk about his travel ban. Trump did follow up with a tweeted platitude of support but then went on with his fear mongering in a series of additional tweets.

Fear is a natural reaction to any act of terror. It is the intended reaction the perpetrators of terror are trying to solicit. Decisions based on fear usually are not well thought out. They lack the objectivity necessary to see a wide range of outcomes and consequences. The President, backed by the full resources of the United States government, has big picture intelligence available to him and all the tools necessary to make decisions based on facts not fear.  Instead, Trump played right into the hand of fear launching again into the need for his ban on Muslims coming to the U.S.  The travel ban isn't a solution to terror. At best it's a temporary band aid that unfairly singles out a specific group of people and is disproportionate to the actual threat.

The ban is easy though. It can be simply understood by the low information voters that propelled the low information President into office. It also resonates with the natural reaction of fear that many people have after event like last night's London attack.

By definition terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. The President is certainly whipping up fear as a motivator for the country to accept the Muslim travel ban. How is what Trump is doing different from terrorism? He's not laying down long term strategy; the travel ban is "temporary" in his own words. He's not offering tangible assurances to help law enforcement or local communities to remain vigilant against threats the size and scope of the London attack. In fact, he's articulated no other investment in national anti-terror efforts beyond fear mongering against Muslims.

Trump is peddling a form of terrorism. He's using fear to drive forward an ideology not a solution. He needs to stop. He needs to be serious, thoughtful and comprehensive in an approach toward building an effective strategy. Unfortunately, serious and thoughtful are not qualities the President possesses. Thus, he will be derelict in his duty. Rest assured that when he fails, the first tweet to follow will lay blame elsewhere.

Beating terror is harder than spreading it. Trump's got the spreading fear part down. If only we had a President that knew how to win.