By Peter Burrows, 5/25/20 elburropete@gmail.com - silvercityburro.com

Is Islam a 'race'? Most people I know would think that is a really, really dumb question, but most people I know aren't liberals. The liberals I know have to think about that question, proving that all you have to do to turn a liberal's brains to mush is to mention the word 'race.'

For proof, see the following, from a liberal, one who even has a Ph.D.:

re: is Islam a race? As a biologist, that is a difficult question because the genetic necessity of the category does not hold up to statistical testing. In other words, if racial categories are considered statistical treatments, we find more variability within the treatments than between them. At the scale of the individual case and only considering the evidence you have presented for cause and effect (which is again a problem of scale), then I would, of course, and meaninglessly, agree with you.

I know what you're thinking: "You made that up, Burro! Nobody, NOBODY could be so creatively stupid!"

Nope. I'm flattered if you think I'm smart enough to come up with such a convoluted parody of liberal thinking. It brings to mind something George Orwell once said: "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

To clarify the above answer from my liberal friend, his PhD. Is not in biology, but Forestry, and while he ends by agreeing with me, I had proffered no opinion, so I assume he knew that I don't think Islam is a 'race.' In that he is correct.

After all, if Islam is a race than Christianity is also a race, as is Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. These 'races' must be further divided into sub-species, e.g., Islam would have the Sunni race, and the Shi'a race; Christianity would have the Catholic race and the Protestant race; and the latter would have its own subspecies, e.g. the Baptist race.

All of which would mean that my Lutheran wife and I have had a very long biracial marriage, me being raised a Methodist. Of course, if I wished to join the Muslim race, all I would have to do is repeat the shahada: "There is one God who is Allah and His prophet is Muhammad."

Voila! I have changed my race! About now you are thinking, "Enough, Burro! We get it. Nobody can possibly think a religion is a race."

Au contraire, mon frere. Trump's terrorist travel ban targets mostly Muslim majority countries and has been called "blatantly racist" by the National Council of Churches. When Trump expanded the travel ban last January, The Executive Director of The National Immigration Justice Center said, "This Muslim Ban expansion is founded on nothing more than cruelty and racism."

Sadly, the terrorist travel ban should be against all Muslims but it isn't. Trump was on the right path when he campaigned on an anti-Muslim theme, saying in 2015 that he was "calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the Hell is going on. We have no choice."

That was then. Unfortunately, while the word 'race' turns liberals' brains into mush, it also turns conservatives' SPINES into mush. Trump advisors John Bolton and Sebastian Gorka, who were familiar with Islamic ideology are gone, and Trump now sounds like so many other politically correct morons.

For example, the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, is celebrated with a dinner called Eid al-Fitr, "Festival of Breaking the Fast." The White House had hosted such diners since 1996 as a gesture of friendship to the Muslim world. Trump ended that tradition in 2017, and I had hopes there would never be another. However, he reinstated the dinner in 2018, continuing in 2019 and 2020.

This year he put out a press release that read: "On Eid al-Fitr, the First Lady and I send our warmest greetings to Muslims in the United States and around the world as they celebrate. ---Now more than ever we are reminded of the reassuring peace, uplifting love, and heartening fellowship that religion brings into our lives. We send our best wishes for a blessed and joyous Eid al-Fitr."

"Reassuring peace"? The Religion of Peace website has this tally for acts of atrocity committed by Muslims during this year's Ramadan: 718 deaths in 175 attacks in 20 countries. The site notes that this year's Ramadan didn't have any incidents "in the name of other religions or from the much-touted 'right-wing' threat."

So, what has changed Trump the realistic campaigner into Trump the delusional President? I doubt he thinks Islam is a 'race,' and I hope he is engaging in some Machiavellian strategy to lull Muslims into a false sense of security, but I'm afraid that's not the case. I think he just doesn't understand Islamic fundamentals and for political reasons is trying to refute the charge that he's a 'racist.'.

I'm saddened because I was hoping to cast a proactive vote for a president this year, instead of voting against whomever the Democrats nominate. But alas, Trump has joined his two predecessors, Obama and G.W. Bush, as just another useful idiot in the spread of Islam. I cannot vote 'for' a president who doesn't recognize that Islam is an existential threat to our country.

I wish there was a "None of the Above" on the ballot.