Donald Trump’s presidential campaign began — within the first five minutes — with his accusing immigrants from Mexico of being criminals. A month after that tweet, Trump declared that the United States should disallow entry to anyone who is Muslim. No other caveats or subcategories were identified, just “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” full stop. We dance around the word “racist” a lot, because calling someone a racist is a heavy charge that’s often nearly impossible to prove. Often, successful presidential candidates shed their campaign-trail rhetoric in search of a message that can be used to unify the American people behind the presidency.

Source: Washington Post January 11, 2018 23:07 UTC