OPINION:
President Donald Trump reacted to the terror truck attack in New York City with a stiff pledge to keep ISIS out of this country.
He also slammed political correctness, a not-so-thinly veiled shot at the left that’s constantly devalued and derided his border controls. Can we get an amen from the Democratic Party’s many amnesty lovers, please?
“I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program,” Trump tweeted. “Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!”
It’s curious he spoke of political correctness, because in the moments after the terror attack — when he was calling it a terror attack and suggesting its roots in ISIS — media haters were already out in full force.
First, his tweets, from Tuesday, in the immediate aftermath of the terror hit.
“In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person,” Trump tweeted. “Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”
And after an initial briefing by his Chief of Staff John Kelly, Trump then tweeted, “We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!”
NBC News was quick to criticize.
“Though ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the rampage, Trump warned in a tweet [about ISIS],” NBC moaned.
And this, from the Independent: “Donald Trump has suggested Isis is behind the New York attack before any announcement from group.”
Well, lo and behold — what walks like an ISIS duck, quacks like an ISIS duck, very often is an ISIS duck.
Turns out, the now-shot suspect, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov from Uzbekistan, actually filled his truck with notes pledging his allegiance to ISIS before he attacked. That — and witnesses said to various media outlets in the minutes after the terror job that the suspect had shouted “Allahu akbar” when he emerged from the truck.
In other words: More common sense, less political correctness.
That should be the order of the day with Trump’s border security plans, as well. It’s not just politically misguided to oppose temporary bans on those seeking to come to America from known terror hotspots. It’s downright dangerous. Lives can be lost — as New York City’s latest terror strike shows, only too clearly.
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