The Atlantic magazine has attacked Donald Trump for saying he would deport anti-Israel foreign students rabble-rousing on behalf of Hamas, claiming such protests are “an essential element of American freedom.”
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump reportedly told donors earlier this month, stressing the need to stop the “radical revolution” gripping U.S. college campuses.
Atlantic staff writer David Graham branded the proposal “classic Trump: vindictive, nonsensical, disproportionate, and based on the assumption that deportation is the answer to America’s problems.”
Graham complained Trump was “[proposing] a penalty, deportation, not permitted for citizens.” He noted, “Americans can lose citizenship for treason, and naturalized citizens can be denaturalized for a small range of offenses,” but insisted “protesting U.S. foreign policy is not one [of them].”
He went on to allege Trump “has no problem violating… the basic civil rights guaranteed for other people by the Constitution.”
NO ‘TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES.’
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said, “President Trump will side with Jewish Americans and American citizens, period, and he will not tolerate terrorist sympathizers on our college campuses.” She also said Joe Biden had “empowered antisemitic protesters destroying our college campuses and threatening to undermine our democracy.”
The campus crisis has become a major electoral issue for Biden. Most voters are appalled by the disruption and occasional violence and anti-Semitic attacks they involve, but segments of the Muslim and youth vote, critical demographics for the 81-year-old Democrat, believe he has been too pro-Israel.
“I condemn the anti-Semitic protests… I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden said in April, trying unsuccessfully to appease both sides.
