Trump’s Muslim ban extended bipartisan precedents set by Clinton, Bush, and Obama

Evidence

Mirroring his own relationship with Islam and Islamophobia, defined primarily by resisting allegations that he himself was an undercover Muslim, President Obama’s engagement with the faith can be best characterized as strategic accommodation and intentional distance. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 319 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Perhaps nothing has made the dynamics of our current moment clearer—including how powerfully racial divides run through American Christianity and politics—than Donald Trump’s unlikely rise to power. Trump laid the groundwork for his candidacy by trolling President Barack Obama on social media and repeatedly questioning both Obama’s US citizenship and religion. For example, Trump made the following unfounded claim on Fox News in 2011: “He doesn’t have a birth certificate. He may have one, but there’s something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he is a Muslim.” And unlike Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who actually took the microphone away from a woman who made similar claims at a town hall meeting during the 2008 campaign, Trump encouraged this line of thinking among his supporters. At a rally in New Hampshire, a supporter claimed, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. You know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American.” Chuckling, Trump replied, “We need this question. This is the first question.” For Trump, this was more than made-for-TV political theater; it was a successful political strategy. Even toward the end of Obama’s second term in office, a September 2015 CNN/ORC poll found that 54 percent of Trump supporters, and 43 percent of all Republicans, believed Obama to be a Muslim. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 49 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Trump’s Muslim ban built on parallel Clinton, Bush, and Obama refugee restriction policies. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 629; Trump’s Muslim ban was an extreme version of bipartisan prior refugee restrictions.; Anti-sharia laws presaged and expanded into the Trump-era Muslim travel bans. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 290 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Elected Muslim critics of US policy challenge longstanding bipartisan stances #complicates (0.85)
• Obama’s engagement with Islam combined strategic accommodation and intentional distance. #complicates (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 319
• By late 2015 a majority of Trump supporters believed Obama was Muslim #complicates (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 49
• Congress allied with pan-Islamist Muslims to broaden its national coalition #complicates (0.70)
• Evangelical leaders condemned Clinton’s misogyny while blaming abuse victims at home. #complicates (0.70) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 335
• Hillary Clinton’s front-lines rhetoric marginalizes American Muslim political agency #complicates (0.70) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 709