My Liberal Friends, if you want to Defeat Donald Trump

You can start by reading Sam Harris’s take on the Muslim Ban.

It’s so awesomely good.

Like Harris, I was a Hillary supporter — in spite of her flaws. And I unequivocally find many aspects of the travel ban hateful, offensive and deeply concerning.

But, says Harris:

“Most of what is being said in opposition to Trump’s order is thoroughly contaminated by identity politics and liberal delusion…

The Left seems determined to empower the Right by continuing to lie about the problem of Islamism…

When liberals insist that only fascists will defend borders, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won’t do.”

I wholeheartedly concur: It was the Obama administration's unwillingness to enforce the law that drove so many people into Trump’s camp.

And when it comes to Islamism, Harris goes on to say (and I paraphrase):

“It is perfectly possible to speak about the ideological roots of Islamism and jihadism without lapsing into bigotry or disregarding the suffering of refugees.

If liberals who refuse to speak honestly on these topics continue to march with Islamists, denigrate free speech, and oppose the work of the real reformers in the Muslim community, they will only further provoke and empower Trump.”

Harris the makes some more trenchant points that are very well worth reading.

But here is the key conclusion

If you want to combat Trump, stop calling him and his supporters bigots and haters. Not only do they not care. It actually energizes them.

No. The way to combat Trump is to support proper enforcement of the immigration and border control laws. More importantly, it is to call Islamism by it’s name and to stop labelling all people who criticize Radical Islam as haters and Islamophobes.

In other words, name calling does not help. But introspection and a genuine desire to address the fears of the so many people might.

Once we start doing that, Trump’s supporters will simply melt away.