Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says he would make an “exception” to the “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country he called for last December.
The lucky exceptional Muslim: newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
This past Sunday, Khan, the 45-year-old London-born son of Pakistani immigrants told TIME that he wants to “meet and engage with American mayors” as soon as possible because, “If Donald Trump becomes the President, I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith.”
Last night, Trump told the New York Times, that he was “happy” to see a Muslim elected mayor of London, and in his inimitable style of repeating monosyllabic words to express an idea, added, “I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good.”
Back in December, a Trump spokesman affirmed that the candidate meant it when he said that the ban on Muslims would apply to “everyone” except for U.S. citizens, but when speaking with the Times, Trump said, “There will always be exceptions,” seemingly indicating that he considered Khan potentially one of the good ones.
This morning, the BBC reported that Khan was not interested in being Trump’s exception, saying, “This isn’t just about me. It’s about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world.”
Reason‘s Shikha Dalmia wrote this past January of how all the since-vanquished (except for possibly Jeb Bush) Republican presidential hopefuls were “uncomfortable with Trump’s ban. But none of them were comfortable saying so…”
At no time did any of Trump’s rivals stand up to his anti-Muslim rhetoric by invoking something so obvious (the possibility of a Muslim politician wishing to visit the U.S. on official business) as just one of many reasons why beyond being immoral, such a ban is stupid and impractical.
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