Key congressional Republicans who denounced Donald Trump’s proposed “Muslim ban” during the campaign have refused to condemn the president’s executive order barring immigrants of seven Muslim-majority countries.

On December 2, 2015, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." That proposal was repeatedly repudiated by key leaders in the Republican Party, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence, then the governor of Indiana.

Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional. — Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) December 8, 2015

What Trump signed on Friday is not the full-scale “blanket ban” he once proposed — it temporarily prohibits immigrants and visa-holders from the seven Muslim-majority countries, rather than targeting Muslims specifically. Since Muslims from other countries will still be able to enter the US, Republicans are arguing it’s substantially different from the initial “Muslim ban” — and that there’s therefore no contradiction between their two positions.

But critics say that’s ignoring the intent of Trump’s executive order. Not only does Trump’s action only affect Muslim-majority countries, but it also gives Christians and refugees of other minority religions priority over Muslims — establishing a religious test for admittance, according to the New York Times.

For now, the Republicans publicly infuriated by the “Muslim ban” appear to have no public objections to that. (So far, only a handful of Republican lawmakers have criticized Trump’s orders.) And that could allow Trump to continue to dramatically reduce refugee flows, free of interference from Congress.

Republicans who decried the Muslim ban are supporting Trump’s executive order

Trump’s executive order now allows “religious minorities” to enter the country during a temporary 120-day ban — a move widely seen as intentionally discriminating against Muslims.

At multiple points during the campaign, however, Speaker Ryan lamented the call to bar Muslims from the country on the basis of their religion.

"I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test, not a religious test,” Ryan said at a press conference in June 2016. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest.”

Ryan was also willing to break with Trump when the Republican presidential candidate feuded with Khizir Khan, the Gold Star parent who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. At the time, Ryan reiterated his opposition to the idea that there would be “a religious test for entering our country.”

A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America's fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS — Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 31, 2016

But on Friday, Ryan released a statement that could only be interpreted as offering support for Trump’s executive action:

Our number one responsibility is to protect the homeland. We are a compassionate nation, and I support the refugee resettlement program, but it’s time to reevaluate and strengthen the visa vetting process. This is why we passed bipartisan legislation in the wake of the Paris attacks to pause the intake of refugees. President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country.

Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once ripped the Muslim ban as "completely and totally inconsistent with American values," CNN reported at the time. McConnell has not criticized the executive order, and his office did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.

Like Pence, incoming Trump defense secretary Gen. James Mattis once had similarly harsh rhetoric for the Muslim ban, saying it would lead America’s allies to think “we have lost faith in reason,” according to Politico.

“They think we’ve completely lost it," Mattis said at the time. "This kind of thing is causing us great damage right now, and it’s sending shock waves through this international system."

Both Pence and Mattis were at Trump’s executive order signing on Friday, smiling as he held up the new rules.

Today Trump abandoned brave Iraqi and Afghan interpreters who saved thousands of U.S. troops' lives. Mattis stood by smiling as he did so. pic.twitter.com/HTTvaNNktO — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) January 28, 2017

The congressional GOP is falling in line behind Trump — for now

Establishment Republicans’ support for Trump’s executive order may anger liberals, but it is not particularly surprising — the party has largely fallen in line behind their president ever since the election.

They are, for instance, prepared to pay for Donald Trump’s border wall. They don’t question his unsupported claims about “voter fraud.” They express no concerns over reports that he may reopen the CIA’s controversial secret prisons abroad. They see no need to investigate his international business conflicts.

"I’m not interested in engaging in fishing expeditions — I’ll remind people that I never did a quote-unquote ‘investigation’ of Barack Obama when he was president," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview when asked why he wasn’t opening an investigation into Trump’s apparent violation of the Emolument Clause.

Republicans’ support for — or silence about — Trump’s immigration order fits this pattern.

Ryan and congressional Republicans may maintain that Trump’s executive order does not explicitly call for a ban on Muslims. And they’d be right.

But it’s very hard to see it as not violating the underlying principle Ryan and Pence once so strongly defended: that America should not be setting policy based on religion. As Vox’s Zack Beauchamp writes, Trump’s speech and the text of the executive order are overwhelmingly clear that Muslims specifically are the intended target of the order:

Trump’s executive order may not officially set up a religious test for admission. But the president’s comments make clear that this is, in fact, the intent. It’s not an accident that Trump singled out seven Muslim-majority countries for his blanket bans on immigration. There is no good justification for this policy. Trump’s stated one, fighting terrorism, collapses under the slightest scrutiny. No, I’m afraid there’s only one real reason for enacting policies that disproportionately block Muslims from entering the United States — bigotry.

Given that Republicans have control of the House and Senate, there’s nothing standing in the president’s way.