Kicking off a brand-new week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will deliver a scripted speech this afternoon at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where he will elaborate on a new immigration policy. If reports are to be believed, Trump will propose “ideological tests” to filter out individuals who hold extremist belief sets. This doesn’t set the best tone after a disastrous week during which he called President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the “founder and co-founder of ISIS,” a statement he later tried to shrug off as “sarcasm.”
According to the Associated Press, Trump, who once proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States, will propose a test to evaluate potential immigrants’ stances on “issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.” The test would include social media searches, written quizzes, and interviews, through which applicants will be assessed for “values like tolerance and pluralism.” Trump is also expected to declare that the country is locked in “ideological conflict” with “radical Islam.”
His senior advisor, Stephen Miller, said that Trump’s speech “will explain that while we can’t choose our friends, we must always recognize our enemies … as he laid out in his Orlando remarks, Mr. Trump will describe the need to temporarily suspend visa issuances to geographic regions with a history of exporting terrorism and where adequate checks and background vetting cannot occur,” Miller continued.
(Via Associated Press)