In a speech on foreign policy and radical Islam delivered Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that new immigrants would be expected to assimilate to American culture — not the other way around.
Trump described a vision of inclusion different from that of the multiculturalism of the left, which has left the intolerance that many immigrants bring with them — particularly from the Islamic world — intact.
Instead, tolerance for others would be a condition of tolerance. Trump said (as prepared for delivery):
Nor can we let the hateful ideology of Radical Islam – its oppression of women, gays, children, and nonbelievers – be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries.
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Beyond terrorism, as we have seen in France, foreign populations have brought their anti-Semitic attitudes with them.
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A Trump Administration will establish a clear principle that will govern all decisions pertaining to immigration: we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people.
In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today.
In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles – or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.
Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country.
Only those who we expect to flourish in our country – and to embrace a tolerant American society – should be issued immigration visas.
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This also means we have to promote the exceptional virtues of our own way of life – and expecting that newcomers to our society do the same.
Pride in our institutions, our history and our values should be taught by parents and teachers, and impressed upon all who join our society.
Assimilation is not an act of hostility, but an expression of compassion. Our system of government, and our American culture, is the best in the world and will produce the best outcomes for all who adopt it.
This approach will not only make us safer, but bring us closer together as a country.
Renewing this spirit of Americanism will help heal the divisions in our country. It will do so by emphasizing what we have in common – not what pulls us apart.
Trump’s remarks echo those he made in the immediate aftermath of the terror attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last month, when he said: “Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American. I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people, are the targets of persecution and intimidation by Radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence.”
He made similar remarks about the need to protect the “LGBTQ community” from radical Islamic terror in his speech to the Republican National Convention last month.
(Updated to include paragraphs about Trump’s new proposed screening test.)
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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