Earlier today, Donald Trump gave a speech about radical Islamic terrorism in which he proposed yet another version of his Muslims ban. A PDF of the speech is [1] and the text of the immigration-related portions is at [2].

On the plus side, what Trump's now proposing is smarter than what he's proposed in the past. On the minus side, it took him over eight months to get semi-smart, and his plan still contains dumb ideas that his opponents will use against him. If Trump were willing and able to think ahead, weren't so enmeshed in the echo chambers of his rallies, and had the ability and will to engage his opponents intellectually, he could have foreseen that and modified his plan. As we know, Trump lacks those qualities.

What Trump proposes is an ideological test for immigrants and visitors. Properly constructed, there's nothing wrong with that idea and it would be a very defensible idea.

However, the first thing Trump hasn't learned is that singling out one religion won't work when it comes to immigration screening. Although he didn't explicitly say only Muslims will have to undergo his ideological test, that's the gist of the speech and that's how the media is spinning it. If Trump were smart, he would have explicitly said the ideological test would be for everyone. Trump and his base won't understand that, but that's how you can turn a plan that's difficult to defend into one that's completely defensible. To Trump's base, someone who says things that make them feel good inside is better than someone who proposes realistic plans, but this site only supports things that can happen.

Another issue is that not admitting those "who support bigotry and hatred" is too nebulous and in the hands of the cultural far-left would be used to keep out those who could safely be admitted.

Yet another issue is that, despite many people telling Trump how his regions ban would fail, he continues to include it. As previously discussed, Trump's regions ban would let in potential terrorists from "good" countries, and keep out those who posed no danger from "bad" countries. To make matters even worse, he followed a reiteration of that dumb idea with a smart idea:

To put these new procedures in place, we will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

As soon as I take office, I will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place. We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures.

The second paragraph is a "well, duh", except that's not what Barack Obama is doing currently. If Trump were smart, he'd skip the regions ban and have a simple rule that only those who can provide a highly credible paper trail are allowed to immigrate or visit. That would rule out those who don't have a verifiable history or any cases where those histories are easily faked. That would avoid the issue of, for instance, letting in jihadis from France or keeping out persecuted Christians from Iraq.

Trump also claims that Hillary Clinton's refugees plan would have a "a lifetime cost of roughly $400 billion". That's another lifeline Trump has thrown his opponents: they love to argue about immigration economics and they almost always win.

Giving lifelines to his opponents and proposing dumb, unrealistic plans should be preventable. All Trump has to do is seek wise advice and take it, and spend time thinking things through. It took him over eight months to get somewhat smarter, how many more months will it take him before he actually thinks things through? In the unlikely event that he's elected, how many dumb plans would he promote before he refined them into something smarter?

It's clear that Trump is too big of a risk to be elected and has too many downsides. However, he can still be used to push a smart immigration agenda, and that's what you should do if you put the USA before a billionaire's egotistical quest. Demand that Trump proposes smart, thought-out plans and uses them to undercut his opponents. Tweet him at @RealDonaldTrump, and shame his proxies like @realJeffreyLord and @kayleighmcenany into demanding he does that. Out goal now should be to make President Hillary less horrible on the immigration issue, and Trump can be used to help with that goal.

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[1] donaldjtrump . com/press-releases/
donald-j.-trump-addresses-radical-islam-and-the-age-of-terror

[2] This is the full text of the immigration-related portion:

A new immigration policy is needed as well

The common thread linking the major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil – 9/11, the Ft. Hood shooting, 101 the Boston Bombing, 102 the San Bernardino attack, 103 the Orlando attack 104 – is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants.

Clearly, new screening procedures are needed.

A review by the U.S. Senate Immigration Subcommittee has identified 380 foreign-born individuals charged with terrorism or terrorism- related offenses between 9/11 and 2014, and many more since then. 105

We also know that ISIS recruits refugees after their entrance into the country – as we have seen with the Somali refugee population in Minnesota. 106

Beyond terrorism, as we have seen in France, foreign populations have brought their anti-Semitic attitudes with them. 107 In Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve, we have seen the reports of sexual violence and assault. 108

Pew polling shows that in many of the countries from which we draw large numbers of immigrants, extreme views about religion – such as the death penalty for those who leave the faith – are commonplace. 109 A Trump Administration will establish a clear principle that will govern all decisions pertaining to immigration: we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. 110 The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles – or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.

Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country. Only those who we expect to flourish in our country – and to embrace a tolerant American society – should be issued immigrant visas.

To put these new procedures in place, we will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

As soon as I take office, I will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place. We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures.

The size of current immigration flows are simply too large to perform adequate screening. 111

We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the Middle East every year. 112 Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions. 113 If we don’t control the numbers, we can’t perform adequate screening.

By contrast, my opponent wants to increase the flow of Syrian refugees by 550% percent. 114

The United States Senate Subcommittee on Immigration estimates that Hillary Clinton’s plan would mean roughly 620,000 refugees from all current refugee-sending nations in her first term, assuming no cuts to other refugee programs. This would be additional to all other non- refugee immigration. 115

The Subcommittee estimates her plan would impose a lifetime cost of roughly $400 billion when you include the costs of healthcare, welfare, housing, schooling, and all other entitlement benefits that are excluded from the State Department’s placement figures.

In short, Hillary Clinton wants to be America’s Angela Merkel, and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to Germany and the people of Germany – crime has risen to levels that no one thought would they would ever see. 116 We have enough problems in our country, we don’t need another one.

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Pride in our institutions, our history and our values should be taught by parents and teachers, and impressed upon all who join our society.

Assimilation is not an act of hostility, but an expression of compassion. Our system of government, and our American culture, is the best in the world and will produce the best outcomes for all who adopt it.