Left-wing ABC News Democrat Martha Raddatz seemed confounded over President Donald Trump’s motivation for prioritizing the admission of Christians and other religious minorities seeking refuge from Muslim-majority states over Muslims.
In an interview with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Sunday’s This Week, Raddatz expressed her confusion.
Partial a transcript below:
RADDATZ: OK. The executive order also stipulates that after the refugee program is reinstated in 120 days, the government will prioritize religious minorities persecuted in their country. How will you determine what religion people are? How do you vet them?
SPICER: During this 120-day period, we’re going to put a system in place that looks country by country, group by group, and make sure we put appropriate vetting in place. Again —
RADDATZ: A religious test?
SPICER: Hold on, no. What we’re going to do is make sure that people who have been persecuted for either religious or other reasons have an opportunity to apply and go through a vetting system that ensures they’re coming to this country to seek asylum, to seek a new life for themselves or their family, but to do so with peaceful purposes.
RADDATZ: OK, President Trump said during an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network that persecuted Christian refugees should be seen as a priority. Why —
SPICER: Well, in some countries they should.
RADDATZ: Why are Christian refugees — let me finish. Why are Christian refugees more worthy of admission to the United States than Muslims or even Jewish refugees?
SPICER: Well, it’s a question of making sure that in many so of these countries they are the persecuted group. And so it’s just — it’s a fact that when they live in a majority country of another religion, they are a minority being persecuted, not able to practice their religion, in some cases under threat. And so it’s just a fact that they are being persecuted in some of these countries and we need to make sure we recognize them so that they can come to this country and be able to practice their religion in accordance with our laws and our constitution.
At no point in the interview did Raddatz ask why Trump’s executive order did not go further in tightening the admission of foreigners from Muslim-majority countries, given that only seven Muslim-majority countries were indicated for specific restrictions.
Raddatz also neglected to identify the overlap between Islamic terrorism and Muslims, a primary justification for Trump’s policies of “extreme vetting.”
In asking about “Jewish refugees,” Raddatz seems to believe that an appreciable number of Jews live in the seven Muslim-majority states whose citizens (excluding American citizens holding dual nationalities) are essentially banned from entering the United States by Trump’s executive order.
With the exception of Iran, the combined number of Jews living in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen is essentially zero. Jews in Iran are essentially not permitted to exit the country with their families, lest they defect.
Raddatz presents herself as an objective, unbiased, and nonpartisan journalist.
Watch the interview below.
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