Trump Takes Away Muslim Ban – Then Brings it Back

posted on: Nov 11, 2016

BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Staff Writer

What’s going on with President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial Muslim ban? No one seems to know for sure.

Back on December 7, 2015, Trump proposed a ban on all Muslims from entering the U.S. in reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. In his statement, he said there should be “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” until the country could figure out “what the hell is going on.” The ban sparked outrage among Americans of all faiths, as well as a condemnation from House Speaker Paul Ryan who said Trump’s views did not reflect those of the Republican Party.

But early Wednesday morning, the ban could not be found anywhere on Trump’s website. According to The Independent, the cached link for the webpage where the statement was originally found had redirected users to a donation page instead. The Muslim ban was available on Election Day, November 8, but was apparently removed as the results came in showing a Trump victory.

Then on Thursday, the Saudi-owned news network Al-Arabiya reported that staff from the Trump campaign reached out to several Arab embassies in Washington, DC three months after the ban was proposed. Trump staff members told the embassies to “ignore Mr. Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail.” Even though the campaign was still underway, Trump staff told the embassies “what is being said on the campaign trail is different from how he would govern.”

The Arab states contacted by Trump’s campaign were all part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. Trump has business holdings and relationships in some of these countries, and wished to assure them that they would continue to do business together during his presidency.

After its one-day disappearance, the media began questioning what happened to the Muslim ban, which mysteriously reappeared on Thursday afternoon. Trump’s campaign said it was a “glitch” that removed the webpage.

Among Trump’s most popular policy proposals among his supporters, the Muslim ban was up there. As of Friday, the Muslim ban is back in place, but if Al-Arabiya’s report is true, Trump will not be following through on the proposal during his time in office.