On Saturday, Donald Trump stated that bringing Syrian refugees could result in one of the "biggest military coups of all time," if they send out the "young, strong people and they turn out to be ISIS." He went on to say how "This could be the ultimate Trojan horse," fearing that a majority of the refugees would, in reality, be members of ISIS aiming to destroy America from the inside. He said that President Obama wanted to take in 200,00 Syrian refugees, and added that America was "totally unprepared" for the influx of the refugees. He pledged to send the Syrian refugees back to where they came if he were to be elected president, calling for a "Safe Zone" in Syria, and saying that "We have to help them in that sense, but we don't have to help them by taking them into our country."
I found it funny how Trump compared the Syrian refugees to the Trojan horse, and tried to gain support by further spreading the fear of more ISIS members coming to America. He exaggerated the number of refugees coming to America at 200,000 people, when in reality Obama directed his team to prepare for only 10,000 of the refugees. Seems to be a huge difference right? He then went on the add that if he becomes president, he would send all of the Syrian refugees back to Syria, calling for a "safe zone" where the refugees were to settle. If this so called safe-zone were possible the refugees would most likely have stayed there instead of moving overseas. Trump himself didn't actually state where this zone would be, nor did he mention how it would come about. I'm not saying that we should accept all of the refugees that come from Syria, because that would be too impractical. America itself isn't exactly the best off economically either, with the large debt, and the dwindling resources needed to sustain the refugees. However, saying that we should deport ALL of the refugees back to where they came from isn't exactly the best idea either.
Considering that it's Trump we're talking about, I'm not surprised that he went for the America for Americans, and Syria for Syrians route. I'm just surprised that he would go so far as to say that the refugees would initiate a coup against the American government, and would use general propaganda in an attempt to gain more support.
I think Trump (and many other conservatives) definitely have enough reason to suspect a "Trojan horse" kind of situation. And creating a safe zone in Syria definitely could work - it would protect refugees and simultaneously protect the United States. However, Trump does lack an actual plan of execution, as he does with many of his other ideas. If he added specificity to his policies, he could distance himself even more from the other Republicans in polls - which is quite a scary thought.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't exclusive only to the US, the rest of the world (mainly Europe) are also denying Syrian refugees. In fact the only European nation that accepts refugees with open arms is Germany. Let that sink in, Germany relative to the rest of the world is less xenophobic. And although there is some legitimacy to the fear of this "trojan horse" I feel it's mainly just playing into the fear and leftover feelings from 9/11. If anything it could be them pandering to the xenophobic sentiments of the country (eg Trump and the wall). America loves to talk about how it has progressed and how it has become this racial paradise but it's statements like these that makes me think we haven't progressed at all.
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