In the wake of the deadly truck attack in Nice, France, Newt Gingrich is calling for the U.S. government to expel any Muslim in the country who believes in Sharia law. “Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be: Western civilization is at war,” the former House speaker and scorned, wannabe Trump running mate told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday night. “We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported.”
Friday morning, Gingrich is claiming that his statement has been grossly misconstrued, but if it sounds like a call for mass surveillance of Muslims, that’s because it was. “Look, the first step is you have to ask them the questions,” Gingrich explained Thursday. “The second step is you have to monitor what they’re doing on the internet. The third step is, let me be very clear, you have to monitor the mosques. I mean, if you’re not prepared to monitor the mosques, this whole thing is a joke. Where do you think the primary source of recruitment is? Where do you think the primary course of indoctrination is? You’ve got to look at the madrassas—if you’re a school which is teaching Sharia, you want to expel it from the country.”
First off: Linking the Nice attack to ISIS or Sharia is premature at this point; the driver appears to be a lone wolf, his motive remains unknown, and no terror group has yet taken credit. More importantly, though, is that Gingrich’s proposal is plainly unconstitutional (see: Amendment, First), while also painfully counterproductive since it risks alienating Muslims, both at home and across the globe, who reject the Islamic State. Furthermore, it’s also a vast oversimplification (if we’re being generous) or intentional obfuscation (if we’re not) of what Sharia is and isn’t.
Gingrich’s proposal is also the latest logical extension of the illogical national security proposals that were on display during the Republican primary. Gingrich’s best bud Donald Trump, of course, has called for an indefinite ban on Muslims entering the country, and more generally trafficked in Islamophobic fearmongering at every chance he gets. Meanwhile, Trump’s main rival in the latter half of the Republican nominating contest, Ted Cruz, reacted to the March terrorist attack in Brussels by calling for the aggressive policing of Muslim communities in the United States, a proposal that was light on specifics but very clear in terms of Cruz’s belief that it’s not a question of if a neighborhood with Muslims in it turns to terror, only a question of when.
Gingrich—who not incidentally was holding out hope that Trump would call a last-second audible and select him as his running mate—took to Twitter on Friday morning to complain that critics of his proposal were being too quick to judge it before hearing the details, which he promises are forthcoming.
