By Ismail Veli……..
Donald Trump has been the US President for less than 2 weeks and the chaos he has unleashed is tantamount to a tidal wave of biblical proportions. His high publicity signings of executive orders are nothing short of a braggart inviting the media to witness the power of his pen. For once I will put aside my 
diplomatic tone and get to the point. Trump and some Americans complain the world has taken advantage of them and they are losing jobs to foreign cheap goods.
Goodness gracious me, the largest military and economic power in the world wants to feel safe by bringing trade tariffs and ban Muslims who allegedly threaten US citizens. The latest cliché is ”take control of our borders”. Okay, can someone please explain how many military personnel or bases other countries have in the USA compared to what they have across the globe? Walk into any shop across the globe and American company products are on full display. Coke, Pepsi, Colgate, Heinz, Budweiser, Gallo and Echo Falls wines, Ford cars, electronic goods, Facebook, McDonald burgers, Pizza Huts and we could really go on forever.
I find it abhorrent that a country which has pursued free trade for decades suddenly finds it hard to accept that a few countries like Mexico who are moving ahead in manufacturing are suddenly on the receiving end of a Trump offensive which is nothing short of disgusting.
In 2014 the USA owned 16.14% of world economic output, while they had only 4.4% of the population. Not much to cry about really. Perhaps what Trump really bemoans is that 25 years ago the US economy was 22.28% of the world’s total. So what does he expect – that other countries stagnate? This of-course belies the fact that the world economy has grown dramatically in the last 25 years, and not necessarily that the USA has become poorer.
Trumps banning of Muslims from seven countries to the USA is nothing short of a crusade which will have repercussions for the safety of its own citizens when travelling the world. This shameful policy has of course left out the few Islamic countries where Donald Trump has business interests and investments. HELLO IS ANYONE LISTENING? Oh while we are at it, many American experts have researched that not a single citizen of the banned countries has ever been involved in terrorist acts in the US. Trump and his supporters claim the ban is ”not a Muslim ban”, Oh really? we have heard Trump boast often enough how he will ban Muslims, perhaps they all know in their hearts that it really is racist but cannot bring themselves to admit their own bigotry. Well most of us have no such qualms, Rudy Giuliani the former Mayor of New York was televised on CNN that Trump telephoned him and asked him ”can you show me a way how do it it legally”. What the hell does that mean? The US constitution clearly forbids anyone to be discriminated on the grounds of their religion, so Trump not being an expert on the law was looking for advice on how to get around his illegal intentions. How much more proof do we need?
Trump and his followers argue that US citizens need to be protected. No argument with that, but who, and how many Americans have been murdered in the USA this century? One look at the statistics provided by the CBS Chicago from the FBI’S Violent Crime Statistics clearly gives us a sad spectacle of violent crimes committed by none other than US citizens against their own citizens. The gun laws prevailing in the 21st century are not much different to those of the 18th century.
Violent gun crimes committed
- Detroit, Michigan 1988.63
- Memphis, Tennessee 1740.51
- Oakland, California 1685.39
- St. Louis, Missouri 1678.73
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1476.41
- Baltimore, Maryland 1338.54
- Cleveland, Ohio 1334.35
- Stockton, California 1331.47
- Indianapolis, Indiana 1254.66
- Kansas City, Missouri 1251.45
How do the country’s largest cities compare? Of America’s three biggest cities, Chicago had the highest violent crime rate at 884.26 violent crimes per 100.000 people. New York City had a rate of 596.7 and Los Angeles had a rate of 490.71.
Big Cities With The Highest Murder Rates per 100.000 people
St. Louis, Missouri 49.91
Detroit, Michigan 43.52
New Orleans, Louisiana 38.75
Baltimore, Maryland 33.84
Newark, New Jersey 33.32
Buffalo, New York 23.22
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 22.43
Memphis, Tennessee 21.38
Atlanta, Georgia 20.47
Cincinnati, Ohio 20.16
Chicago had a murder rate of 15.09, New York had a rate of 3.93 and Los Angeles had a rate of 6.66
In 2013, the estimated number of murders in the nation was 14,196. This was a 4.4 percent decrease from the 2012 estimate, a 7.8 percent decrease from the 2009 figure, and a 12.1 percent drop from the number in 2004. There were 4.5 murders per 100,000 people.
The total figures for violent crimes in 2015 were 1.197.704 down from 1.911.767 in 1991.
Looking at the above statistics of 1991 when Islamic terrorism was hardly known compared to 2015 the violence seems to be coming down. So how have Muslims and refugees contributed to the threat of American lives?
Trump supports the gun lobby that gives an opportunity for Americans to own assault rifles so sophisticated that many armies in the world probably don’t have such sophisticated weapons. Many violent attacks on the streets and arms killings in schools, shopping centres etc are carried out by american born killers who are LEGALLY ALLOWED TO OWN SUCH LETHAL WEAPONS. Compare this to the fact that not a single act of terror was 
committed by a refugee on US soil whose country is on the “watch list” i.e. Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The hypocrisy and lies in the Trump administration become even more stark when countries whose citizens have committed acts of terror on US soil are not mentioned, such as Saudi Arabia for example. The 9/11 terrorist attack on the twin towers for example was carried out by 15 citizens of Saudi Arabia, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, 1 from Lebanon and 1 from Egypt. Namely Mohamed Atta being the oldest at 33 and the youngest Hamza al-Ghamdi, Salem al-Hamzi and Ahmed al-Haznami all aged 20. I would never of course advocate these countries being on this shameful ban list. Millions of people simply cannot be punished for the acts of a few terrorists, Trumps hypocrisy however is so blatant as to beggar belief, his massive investments in Saudi Arabia and UAE are well known. All this brings the Presidential seat into disrepute, and Trumps conflicts of interest should firmly be brought to the forefront.
The leader of the western democratic world is determined to pave the way for the deterioration of western values such as we have never seen. Overnight Trump has gifted anti Americanism, terrorists and above all ISIS with a gift they could not even dream of. The legacy of Donald Trump will no doubt reverberate long after his Presidency comes to an end. I personally believe it will be a damning legacy of xenophobia, hatred and misery not seen since the days of the civil rights movement which saw riots and division in American society that few of us can forget. I only hope and pray that the better half of the American character finally prevails.This article is not an American bashing opinion. It’s based on statistics and views from American journalists who themselves are shocked and dismayed at the unfolding of Donald Trumps destructive, xenophobic, racist and ill-informed carelessness which is exposing their country to international ridicule but above all anti-American sentiments.
