President Trump was center stage when his administration hastily rolled out a sweeping travel ban targeting Muslims in late January, vowing it would ensure “we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas.”

He was out of sight on Monday as administration officials unveiled a downscaled, but still pernicious, version of the ban, which targets refugees and travelers from six predominantly Muslim nations. It’s not hard to see why. The Muslim Ban Lite is an implicit acknowledgment that the Trump administration stumbled spectacularly in its first major attempt to deliver on a campaign promise.

And yet, as administration officials made the case on Monday for the revised measures, there was no hint of contrition and plenty of reckless fearmongering. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the president was exercising his “rightful authority to keep our people safe.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned, without providing context or evidence, that more than 300 people admitted to the United States as refugees had been investigated by the F.B.I. for possible terrorism links. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, meanwhile, lamented that “our enemies often use our own freedoms and generosity against us.”