Donald Trump is helping the terrorists win

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, politico.eu

Image from, with caption: Donald Trump with Damac chairman Hussein Sajwani at the launch of the Trump International Golf Club

Counterterrorism experts will tell you that fear and Islamophobia only make the country more vulnerable to attack.

Excerpt:

Republicans may be congratulating themselves for denouncing Trump’s latest vicious buffoonery — his proposal to bar Muslims, including American citizens, from entering the country. But many of them are enjoying cruising in his slipstream. Where were they when Trump declared that the way to defeat terrorists was “to take out their families” in contravention of the laws of war and more than 200 years of United States military practice?

Comments such as these perfectly validate the part of ISIL’s narrative — which it appropriated from Al Qaeda — that says the West seeks to destroy Islam and its believers. The same is true for all the menacing rhetoric about creating national registries for Muslims in the United States and for cutting off Muslims from their families abroad. Proposals like these further undermine one of the most powerful claims America makes to Muslims abroad in its public diplomacy — namely, that the United States is a safe haven from the violent hatreds now roiling the world. ...