It’s been absolute pandemonium offline and online after Trump announced his Muslim ‘ban’. I have never seen anything like this…so much outrage, virtue signaling, and holiness spiraling over something that affects relatively few people and is far from binding. The funny thing is, this is the first time the liberal media is attacking Trump for not being extreme enough, in Trump failing to include countries he allegedly does business with in his ban. But it’s a no-win situation because had he banned more countries, the left would have gone after him harder anyway. Assuming this executive order holds, there is nothing unconstitutional about it, as these visa holders and refugees are not US citizens, and denying entry does not violate any human rights either.

Section 1182(f) of Federal immigration law, ratified in 1952, contains a clause that allows the president to bar entry of certain groups, if it’s in the best interests of the United States.

From NRO: Trump’s Exclusion of Aliens from Specific Countries Is Legal:

Federal immigration law also includes Section 1182(f), which states: “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate” (emphasis added).

The left also conveniently forgets that Obama deported more immigrants than any other president:

President Barack Obama has often been referred to by immigration groups as the “Deporter in Chief.”

Between 2009 and 2015 his administration has removed more than 2.5 million people through immigration orders, which doesn’t include the number of people who “self-deported” or were turned away and/or returned to their home country at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

President George W. Bush’s administration deported just over two million during his time in office; and Obama’s numbers don’t reflect his last year in office, for which data is not yet available.

To borrow from Scott Adams, Trump may be using a persuasion technique called anchoring. By making his executive order really ‘extreme’, Trump can then dial it down and reconcile somewhere in the middle, which is more than he would have gotten had he made his initial offer weak. Trump can split the difference and still come out ahead.

Already it’s being diluted. A federal judge defied the order, and the White House put out a statement that parts of it are negotiable, “On the same day, announcing a reversal of the order’s scope, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that the order would not affect U.S. lawful permanent residents (i.e. Green Card holders),[4] and that “going forward” the order would allow exceptions on a case-by-case basis” The outrage over this also gives Trump some cover to push through other parts of his agenda, such as the tax cuts and defense spending. Trump will come out ahead on this.