Trump today said his administration would establish new policies for the vetting of immigrants against the threats we face today, meaning radical Islam. Trump says he calls it ‘extreme vetting’:
.@realDonaldTrump on new screening test for immigration: "I call it extreme vetting." pic.twitter.com/cRNsko8DQf
— POLITICO (@politico) August 15, 2016
Here’s the full context of his ‘extreme vetting’ comments in case you want the longer version:
.@realDonaldTrump proposes "extreme vetting" for immigrants with ideological screening test https://t.co/IS35dxGmaw https://t.co/JSQRsi8XYu
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 15, 2016
What's amazing is the part about "extreme vetting" wasn't in Trump's prepared remarks. He ad libbed the phrase.
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) August 15, 2016
Trump also said any radical Islamic networks found in the US would be stripped out, ‘viciously if necessary’:
Trump: Support networks for radical Islam in U.S. will be removed—"viciously if necessary" https://t.co/mLtz7Mbdle pic.twitter.com/uVaHW82UeH
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 15, 2016
Honestly I think this is great, at least in general, because I really don’t know what he means specifically.
But the way Trump emphasizes the vague words ‘extreme’ and ‘viciously’ is again something he’s giving the media that they will seize upon and insert their own interpretations. They will likely suggest that Trump will be too extreme, given the way he says it, and that he will want to waterboard (or worse) immigrants and Muslims. I’ve already heard them mention waterboarding on CNN (not that I am against the use of it in the right context).
My point is Trump loves over emphasizing vague adjectives and adverbs. He thinks it sounds great, but I’m not really sure that’s the best way to communication his seriousness on protecting the homeland against Islam. I think it will just feed into the narrative that he is too extreme.