ON PREVENTING Muslim immigration:

If instead calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration, Trump had called for a 30% reduction, what would the reactions have been? I suspect they would’ve been virtually indistinguishable from the apoplectic reactions what he called for set off. The idea of restricting immigration, in any degree, from a group that has put Europe’s existential crisis in stark relief and that is at least 100 times as likely to commit fatal acts of terrorism in the US as non-Muslims are is–well, was!–off the table. . . .

The US is one of the most xenophilic countries in the world. In absolute terms, it takes in more immigrants than any other nation on earth. It is one of a handful of countries with birthright citizenship. It has 21 different guest worker programs in operation.

Yet taking a step in the direction of the rest of the world is considered extremist, while pushing the xenophilic extreme even further is the mark of a moderate!