In a recent speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, former president Donald Trump renewed his indictment of Joe Biden as "the worst president, most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America without question," and tried to make the case that only a Trump presidency would keep the country safe. A central point in that claim is his promise to reinstate a ban on travel from failed states to the United States.

"I will immediately restore and expand the Trump travel ban on entry from terror-plagued countries," he said. But what followed is making the rounds today on "X," the social media platform formerly known as Prince Twitter.

Trump says that he’ll implement a religious test for immigrants if he is elected: “If you don’t like our religion…then we don’t want you in our country.” @SawyerHackett.pic.twitter.com/ddo5MuUd8m

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) December 9, 2023

I will implement strong ideological screening of all immigrants. If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you don't like our religion...which a lot of them don't...if you sympathize with jihadists then we don't want you in our country and you are not getting in.

Some people are claiming that Trump is demanding a religious test for immigration. This is "The Intellectualist," which should be called the The Lack-of-Self-Awareness-ist.

The United States has no state religion. Trump would try to change this in his second term. This Supreme Court, with its illegitimate majority, may allow him to.

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) December 9, 2023

Another classic is from the "Washington Press," claiming that it is an appeal to Christian Nationalists, who are the latest bogeymen of the left (full disclosure: I lean heavily in that direction along with having something of a flirtation with Catholic Integralism, so I'm working on the assumption that I'm on multiple FBI watch lists).

It was a shocking statement because there is no “our religion” in this country.

He is obviously referencing conservative fundamentalists including conservative Catholics in his base — which is a religion unto itself — one in which the congregants accept all of Trump’s “teachings” and somehow believe that they align with Jesus and God.

Trump is clearly not saying that; he's saying that if you have a hatred of Christianity, you can't immigrate. I'd think that religious hatred is something we can all agree we don't need here. Here, I'm assuming that the reference to "our" religion is aimed at an overwhelmingly protestant Christian crowd, and would also apply to people who hate Jews or any other religion.

That said, I think Trump's statement is hugely problematic.

I believe an ideological screening should be a part of all immigration interviews. At one time, we asked the "are you now or have you ever been" questions about memberships in the communist party, Nazi Party, etc. As best I can tell, those have disappeared. But I think we should never lose sight of the fact that an ideological screening of applicants via a "Trump" questionnaire will be a lot different than that of the "Michelle Obama" administration. I don't care if people like Israel or not; what we should all care about is their commitment to work peacefully for their political ends and foreswear violence.

The biggest problem with this is that it totally misses the mark. 

The threat to America today is not from immigrants. The threat is from native-born Americans who have rejected America in favor of violence and fascist ideology that acknowledges physical intimidation and force as legitimate. This person is not an immigrant.

This is what you get for $73,600/year at ⁦@Harvard⁩. pic.twitter.com/uNG0EGBdWZ

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) December 4, 2023

These people are not immigrants. 

Happening now at @Penn. Hundreds of students marching chanting for “Intifada revolution.”

Imagine being a Jewish student there… pic.twitter.com/8d0uEl6sQf

— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) December 4, 2023

We do have a problem with hateful ideologies taking root in this country, but they aren't imported. They are part of the school curriculum from K-Ph.D. There is no sense of reverence for the fact that America is a nation based on shared principles and not a conglomeration of hostile ethno-states trying to out-grievance each other. 

There is no common history. Kids, native (newsflash: if you were born here, you are Native American) and immigrant alike are treated much like a "fish" entering the prison system. They are immediately assigned to a group based on their race and ethnicity, taught the tribe's mythology, and expected to be loyal to that group rather than having a sense of what will "insure domestic Tranquility" and "promote the general Welfare." Except for kids who are scapegoated because their parents built this nation. Then, they are reminded that they are to blame for everything.

If you know me, you know I like throwing red meat as well as the next guy, and, let's face it, that's all Trump's speech was. Our security isn't threatened by immigrants meekly filling out questionnaires; the danger is from the 2.7 million illegal aliens who crossed in from Mexico in 2023, and millions more before them. Nothing Trump proposed makes us one whit safer. The danger to our Republican system of government doesn't come from immigrants; it comes from the government-funded insurgency camps that our schools and universities have become. Unless we return public education to one of its founding purposes, which was teaching "Americanism," and eradicate the Marxist "class consciousness" and the obscenity of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, racial and religious division and hatred will be the new America.