President Donald Trump said Monday that he felt there was “nothing to apologize for” when asked about his campaign-era rhetoric about a Muslim ban.
During a joint press conference with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a reporter told Trump that “in the Supreme Court case over your travel ban, the lawyers for the opponents said that if you would simply apologize for some of your rhetoric during the campaign, the whole case would go away.”
“I was wondering if— ” the reporter began.
“I don’t think it would, number one,” Trump interrupted him.
“And there’s no reason to apologize. Our immigration laws in this country are a total disaster,” he continued. “They’re laughed at all over the world, they’re laughed at, for their stupidity and we have to have strong immigration laws. So I think if I apologize, it wouldn’t make ten cents worth of difference to them.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he continued. “We have to have strong immigration laws to protect our country.”
During oral arguments last week, attorney Neal Katyal argued that Trump’s travel ban reflected the religious animus toward Muslims that marked his 2016 campaign.
“I think the President could have disclaimed — you know, easily moved away from all of these statements,” Katyal told the court (pp. 62). “But instead they embraced them. That’s the difference.”
Later in the same exchange, Katyal agreed with Chief Justice John Roberts when Roberts asked if “[t]omorrow, [Trump] issues a proclamation disavowing those statements […] then the next day he could reenter this and your discrimination argument would not be applicable?”
This post has been updated.
From this week’s Economist. Sounds familiar:
Saudi Arabia is pushing out foreigners to create jobs for locals
Labour pains,” tuts Ahmed Kattan, the deputy labour minister. As part of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s “Saudisation” efforts, Mr Kattan has slapped monthly levies on migrants (based on the size of their families) and the Saudis who hire them. He has also barred foreigners from 12 sectors of the economy, including baking and optometry. The scheme, he says, will reduce the kingdom’s dependence on about 8m predominantly unskilled foreigners, who far outnumber Saudi workers. He reckons this will cut Saudi Arabia’s jobless rate to 10% by 2022 (from around 13% today), get more women into work and encourage automation.
Finding jobs for young Saudis—around half of whom are unemployed—is critical for Prince Muhammad, who is the power behind the throne. Having taken on the kingdom’s clerics, by loosening social restrictions, and alienated other princes by consolidating power, he is more reliant on popular support than past Saudi rulers were. Easing dress codes and increasing entertainment has won him praise. Saudisation, it is hoped, will improve his subjects’ living standards, too.
But there are drawbacks, admits Mr Kattan. Many of the kingdom’s businesses rely on cheap labour. Rather than employ Saudis, who cost more and do less, around a third of firms may close, he says. Across the country, chambers of commerce groan at the potential contraction and beg for a respite, particularly since the economy fell into recession last year. “The government is passing on its political problems to the private sector,” gripes a businessman.
Duh. Trump hasn’t once in his entire miserable, mentally ill, narcissistic, self-serving, unforgivably corrupt life EVER…NOT ONCE…felt there was anything for which he needed to apologize.
But yet people in the media seem to think everyone should apologize to him
Interesting comment. I’m sure that SG, Noel Francisco was very happy to hear that Trumpie just demolished the SG’s argument in front of the SCOTUS that what Trumpie said about Muslims and Islam in the campaign should be ignored because his outlook has transitioned with his appointment, by the electoral college, to the presidency.
But by all means, let’s light our hair on fire over something a stand-up comedian said over the weekend.