I am posting this while Donald Trump is on my TV screen spouting the most outrageous lies and misinformation ... again! He just said, "Belgium is a beautiful city." I kid you not.
We’re
still reeling from what happened on Sunday in Orlando. Another
terrorist attack–not overseas, but here at home. Dozens of Americans
killed and wounded. A hate crime at an LGBT nightclub, right in the
middle of Pride Month. The deadliest mass shooting in the history of the
United States.
Since
Sunday, we’ve been trying to make sense of what happened and what we can
do together to prevent future attacks. Yesterday in Cleveland, I once
again laid out a plan for defeating ISIS and the broader radical
jihadist movement — around the world and online — and for combating
radicalization here at home, including detecting and preventing “lone
wolf” attacks like we saw in Orlando and San Bernardino. These attacks
are carried out by individuals who may or may not have direct contact
with an organization like ISIS but are inspired by its twisted ideology.
We
have to work with Muslim communities here at home, who are often the
most likely to recognize radicalization before it’s too late. And, as
I’ve said from the very beginning of this campaign, I believe we
Americans are capable of protecting Second Amendment rights while making
sure guns don’t fall into the wrong hands. The terrorist in Orlando was the definition of “the wrong hands.” And weapons of war have no place in our streets.
The
questions about how we deal with the threat of terrorism are some of
the most charged and important issues we face, and there are bound to be
differences of opinion.
But
I believe with all my heart that despite those differences, on a deeper
level, we’re all on the same team. That’s what we’re seeing in Orlando
and across America — people of different faiths, backgrounds, sexual
orientations, and gender identities coming together to say with one
voice, we won’t let hate defeat us. If even the families of the Orlando
victims are speaking out right now against hate and division, we should
certainly expect it from our leaders.
I’m sorry to say that’s not what we’re seeing from Donald Trump.
This
man wants to be our next Commander-in-Chief, a job that demands a calm,
collected, and dignified response to these kinds of events. Instead,
yesterday morning — just one day after the Orlando massacre — he went on
TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists.
Even
in a time of divided politics, this is beyond the pale. And I have to
ask — will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive
nominee? Or will they stand by his accusation about our president?
I’m sure they’d rather avoid that question altogether. But history will remember what we do in this moment.
What
Trump is saying is shameful. And it’s disrespectful to the people who
were killed and wounded in Orlando and to their families.
Of
course, this is a leader of the birther movement, which spread the lie
that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States. But it was one
thing when he was a reality TV personality — it’s another when he’s the
Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president.
Americans
don’t need conspiracy theories and pathological
self-congratulations — we need leadership, common sense, and concrete
plans. The barbarity we face from radical jihadists is profound, and
Americans deserve a worthy debate on the best way to keep our country
safe.
I read every word of
Trump’s speech yesterday. I sifted through all the bizarre rants and
outright lies. And what I found is, once you cut through the nonsense,
his plan comes down to two things.
First,
he’s fixated on the words “radical Islam.” Is Trump suggesting that
there are magic words that, once uttered, will stop terrorists from
coming after us? From my perspective, it matters what we do, not just
what we say. It didn’t matter what we called Bin Laden — it matters that
we got Bin Laden.
I’ve
clearly said that we face terrorist enemies who use a perverted version
of Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. We have to stop them,
and we will. What I won’t do is demonize and declare war on an entire
religion.
Now that we’re
past the semantic debate, Trump’s going to have to come up with
something better. He’s got one other idea — to ban all Muslims from
entering our country and to suspend all immigration from large parts of
the world. This approach is un-American. It goes against everything we
stand for as a country founded on religious freedom.
It’s also dangerous.
First,
we rely on partners in Muslim countries to fight terrorists. Second, we
need to build trust in Muslim communities here at home to counter
radicalization. This makes all of that harder. Third, Trump’s words will
be a recruiting tool for ISIS and help increase its ranks. And fourth,
he’s turning Americans against Americans, which is exactly what ISIS
wants.
In this instance,
though, Trump’s words are especially nonsensical. Because the terrorist
who carried out this attack wasn’t born in Afghanistan, as Trump said
yesterday. He was born in Queens — just like Donald Trump. Muslim bans
and immigration reforms wouldn’t have stopped him, and they wouldn’t
have saved a single life in Orlando.
Those
are the only two ideas Trump put forward yesterday for how to fight
ISIS. Beyond that, he said a lot of false things about me. He said I’ll
abolish the Second Amendment. Wrong. He said I’ll let a flood of
refugees into our country without any screening. Also wrong.
These
are demonstrably lies. But he feels compelled to tell them — because he
has to distract from the fact that he has nothing substantive to say
for himself.
Trump has been very clear about what he won’t do: He won’t stand up to the gun lobby.
The
terrorist who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in Orlando did it
with two guns: a handgun and a Sig Sauer MCX rifle. This man had been
investigated by the FBI for months, but we couldn’t stop him from buying
a powerful weapon he used to slaughter Americans in large numbers.
We’ve
reached the point where people can’t board planes with full bottles of
shampoo — but people being watched by the FBI for suspected terrorist
links can buy a gun with no questions asked. If you’re too dangerous to
get on a plane, you’re too dangerous to buy a gun.
Enough is enough. Now is the time for seriousness and resolve.
We
need to go after ISIS overseas, protect Americans here at home, counter
poisonous ideologies, support our first responders, and take a hard
look at our gun laws — and we need to stand with LGBT Americans and
peaceful Muslim Americans, today and always.
America
is a big-hearted, fair-minded country. We teach our children that this
is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Not just for people who look a certain way, or love a certain way, or
worship a certain way — for all.
That
fundamental American ideal is why I’m so confident that we can overcome
the threats we face. We can solve our challenges at home. And we can
build a future where no one’s left out or left behind. Because we’re
stronger together.
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