Shortly after court after court struck down one of President Donald Trump’s first executive actions — a moratorium prohibiting residents of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States — the White House claimed that the executive order wasn’t a travel ban, despite the phrasing that Trump previously used.
On Monday morning, Trump pretty much said that you shouldn’t listen to what his lawyers and staff are saying — that his December 2015 statement that he was calling for a “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” is his intended policy.
[salon_video id="14775511"]“The lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” he tweeted — part of a string of tweets that blasted the courts and his own Justice Department for not sticking to their guns in a losing argument.
People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court – & seek much tougher version!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
Trump’s message hasn’t veered from his 2015 proclamation, despite the fact that his administration has constantly said that it was a different thing entirely — something that MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” covered Monday morning.
When is a travel ban not a travel ban? Trump WH in their own words. pic.twitter.com/xZo6ntGCJI
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) June 5, 2017
The Monday tweetstorm was pretty much in line with his online response Saturday, when news of the terrorist attack broke. After retweeting a Drudge report link, Trump tweeted, “We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!” Before even expressing support for the United Kingdom.
On Sunday morning, Trump attacked London’s mayor on Twitter while quoting him completely out of context. Trump said that Mayor Sadiq Khan said there was “no reason to be alarmed,” when Khan was referring to “an increased police presence” that people shouldn’t fear.
