Each day gets worse -- a White House in chaos

I had wanted to let this blog have a day of rest from the escalating bad news being made by President Trump, but the turmoil and mounting reactions to his immigration order mandate some attention.  So along with the planned "Quotable Quotes," here's this.

There are so many terrible parts to this Executive Order, but the most immediate effects are being felt at our nation's airports where massive protests are happening.   New York cab drivers are on strike, because of Trump's orders regarding Muslims entering the country.   Not surprising since so many New York cab drivers are immigrants from Muslim countries.

Even if you agree with his policy -- which I certainly don't -- this order has been thrown together without much thought and without consultation with other agencies and affected venues.

Basically, it bans immigrants, refugees, and even travelers from seven countries:   Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- unless they are part of a religious minority in that country.  The most immediate effects of this order fall on travelers and on refugees who were about to be settled in their new homes in the U.S.

Examples are already accumulating, such as a synagogue that was sponsoring two refugee families from Syria, expected to arrive next week, only to be told -- on Holocaust Remembrance Day, no less -- that Trump's executive order would not allow the family to settle in the U.S.   Other anecdotes tell of foreign nationals who have worked with the U.S. as interpreters in some of these countries, being denied access to the U.S. and turned away at our airports.

These are the immediate effects.   But the order is far more expansive with long term problems, including the propaganda usage that ISIS and Al Qaeda will make of video footage of all this chaos.   Just imagine:   fresh evidence that "the Great Satan -- the U.S. -- hates Muslims and is at war with Islam."    Show the videos and blast it out on the internet as a recruiting ad.

As of this writing later Saturday night, major international airports like JFK, O'Hare, San Francisco, and Dulles are swarming with protesters over the bans.  Google told all its traveling staff to come back to the U.S., according to BBC News reporting.

Meanwhile, President Trump said that his immigration order "is working out very nicely."

Folks, we have rank amateurs running the country and refusing to consult with experienced hands.   Maybe this is the chaos that is necessary to force them to admit they don't know what they're doing, that governing is complicated and hard, and that experience does count.

They'd better hurry up and try to lure back those top tier career diplomats that they just fired from the State Department.

Ralph

PS:   Just heard the news that a federal judge has put a stay order on the Trump-ordered deportation of those arriving from any of the seven countries, at least as it applies to those who have visas.   That feels like a first step in the forces of our governmental system of checks and balances coming into play.   Another temporary restraining order from a federal judge in Virginia blocks deportations of those with green cards.