Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright promised to register as a Muslim in the event Trump instituted a Muslim registry.
I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity.
— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) January 25, 2017
Albright wrote this as a response to Trump’s announcement that he would put a temporary ban on refugees and visas coming from Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan “until more aggressive vetting” is in place.
Democrats and their liberal allies have repeatedly warned that this temporary ban is the first step toward a “Muslim registry” they insist Trump floated during the campaign. That claim comes from an exchange with an NBC News reporter in which Trump was asked, “[I]s there going to be a database that tracks the Muslims here in this country?”
“There should be a lot of systems, beyond database, we should have a lot of systems, and today you can do it,” Trump replied. “But right now we have to have a border, we have to have strength, we have to have a wall. And we cannot let what’s happening to this country happen.”
“But that’s something your White House would like to implement?” the reporter asked.
“Oh I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.” Trump answered, apparently in reference to building the wall rather than the “Muslim registry.”
His transition team communications director, Jason Miller, later clarified, saying, “President-elect Trump has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion, and to imply otherwise is completely false. The national registry of foreign visitors from countries with high terrorism activity that was in place during the Bush and Obama Administrations gave intelligence and law enforcement communities additional tools to keep our country safe the President-elect will release his own vetting policies after he is sworn in.”
Albright has faced scrutiny for virtue-signaling along identity politic lines. Last year, she received criticism from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party after utilizing her famous “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other” quote to insinuate that Bernie Sanders supporters were sexist for not supporting his opponent.
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