Donald Trump Walks Back His Muslim Ban -- Again
Donald Trump's campaign spokeswoman on Monday revised the presumptive Republican nominee's proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. for the second time in three days, saying Trump is dropping the word "Muslim" from the policy and focusing on immigrants from "terrorist nations."
"It doesn't matter where you're coming from, except for fact that the terrorist nations, which is something he is adding to this policy to make it more clear, that if you are coming from a hostile nation and you can not be vetted, absolutely you should not come into this country," Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said on CNN.
The change to Trump's proposed ban on Muslims is the second since Saturday, when the campaign said Trump no longer supports a blanket ban on all Muslim immigrants, and wants to single out Muslims from "terror states." Trump told reporters he "would be fine" with Muslims from Scotland, for example.
Pierson's comments show a further shift in the policy, removing all mention of Muslims. Pierson, however, insisted that removing "Muslim" wasn't a revision.
Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson: The ban was never against ALL Muslims https://t.co/wJSgobFywz https://t.co/yTA3f6fmot
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) June 27, 2016
"There has been no change. Mr. Trump still wants to stop individuals from coming into the country who cannot be vetted," Pierson said.
Trump in December proposed a “total and complete shutdown” on Muslim immigration, in response to a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. He reiterated the proposal following this month's gun massacre in Orlando, Florida, and advocated a complete immigration ban from countries with a history of terrorism against the United States.
As is typical with Trump's policy proposals, it's unclear what the revision means and whether he will stick by it. When pressed by CNN's Brianna Keilar on Monday, Pierson did not elaborate on details of the policy, and didn't specify which countries the ban would include.
"Mr. Trump is going to be refining his policy, putting out more specific details, which everyone has been asking for, but there has been no change," Pierson said.
Keilar repeatedly asked Pierson if, by de-emphasizing Muslims, the revised immigration policy's standards would apply equally to Christian immigrants, for example. Pierson dodged the question.
"If you are coming into this country and you cannot be vetted, then you should not be allowed in until you can be vetted," Pierson said. "It's not rocket science."
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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The U.K.
"I think if he came to visit our country, he'd unite us all against him," Cameron said.
Mexico
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox called Trump a "hated gringo" and "ugly American," and said that "I'm not going to pay for that fucking wall."
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón pointed out that Trump's policy isn't just offensive -- it also doesn't make sense.
"It's going to be completely useless," Calderón said. "The first loser of such a policy would be the United States."
Trump has insisted that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are "rapists," a charge that current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto strongly condemned.
“Whoever insults or speaks badly of Mexico doesn’t know the country,” he told El Universal. “Whoever speaks badly of Mexicans doesn’t know Mexicans.”
Saudi Arabia
"For the life of me, I cannot believe that a country like the United States can afford to have someone as president who simply says, ‘These people are not going to be allowed to come to the United States,’" he said.
Canada
Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hasn't directly condemned Trump, but she's praised his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton.
Ecuador
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
