Muslim lawmaker tells Democrats to vote against Trump’s ‘anti-Muslim’ message
PHILADELPHIA — The first Muslim elected to Congress warned Democrats on Monday that staying home in November would amount to a “surrender” to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his discriminatory agenda.
Rep. Keith Ellison’s remarks came as he introduced Sen. Bernie Sanders here at the Democratic National Convention, a gathering marred by intra-party divisions between the unconventional Vermonter’s supporters and backers of the presumptive nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Trump wants to divide and conquer us with his anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-worker message. They don’t want us to vote,” the Minnesotan lawmaker said. “We must push back. Not voting is not a protest. It is surrender.”
Ellison’s message may have been aimed at hardcore Sanders supporters, like some delegates to the convention who have booed almost every mention of Clinton’s name. While polls show most of Sanders’ backers have lined up behind Clinton, some Democrats worry that the margin in November could be so close, even a modest number of abstentions could be politically risky.
His reference to an “anti-Muslim” message at least partly referred to Trump’s controversial push to freeze travel by Muslims to the United States temporarily. The brash entrepreneur unveiled the policy in December 2015, calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” That language is still displayed on his official campaign website.
But in his speech to the Republican National Convention last week, Trump said the United States “must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism, until such time it’s proven that vetting mechanisms have been put in place.” Those remarks omitted the religious component of the ban.
In a weekend interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the GOP nominee denied that he was pulling back from this initial proposal.
Trump, who indicated that his proposal would apply to major countries like France, told moderator Chuck Todd: “I actually don’t think it’s a pullback. In fact, you could say it’s an expansion.”
The former reality show star added: “People were so upset when I used the word ‘Muslim.’‘Oh, you can’t use the word ‘Muslim’!’ Remember this. And I’m OK with that because I’m talking territory instead of Muslim. But just remember this, our Constitution is great.”
Yahoo News reached out to the Trump campaign to get a little clarity on the policy. But spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not answer an email asking whether the new wording meant Trump was dropping the religious test, what makes a country “compromised” by terrorism and whether the ban would apply to Britain, Russia or Israel.
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