The Ugly American

The Trump ban on all Muslims from 7 countries went into effect but most people had not even heard about it.  I just happened to hear about it from the Yahoo Evening News. I guess people do not care too much since there was not much of an uproar on TV.  We will sure be the Ugly Americanⁿ again.

We shall see what effect this has on terrorism but I would guess not too much inside the USA.  However, we will never hear about it since the government agencies charged with preventing terrorism will not be able to say anything but the party line.  As a result the ban will look good for the policy.  To me it seems like a retreat to McCarthyism.  I am glad I am not traveling overseas anymore since with my accent there would be a big bulls eye centered on me.

ⁿ  BTW – The Ugly American was a  multi-million-copy bestseller that coined the phrase for tragic American blunders abroad:  In the episode that lends the book its title, the “ugly American” is Homer Atkins, a plain and plain-spoken man, who has been sent by the U.S. government to advise the Southeast Asian country of Sarkhan on engineering projects. When Atkins finds badly misplaced priorities and bluntly challenges the entrenched interests, he lays bare a foreign policy gone dangerously wrong.