Costello: Is Trump’s ‘Underlying Goal’ to Make Country ‘Aggressively Christian?’

Costello: Is Trump's 'Underlying Goal' to Make Country 'Aggressively Christian?' (NewsBusters)

During the 9:00 hour of CNN Newsroom Monday morning, anchor Carol Costello grilled Republican Representative Darrell Issa on Trump’s executive order to put a temporary travel ban on immigrants from certain predominantly Muslim countries. Like the rest of the media, Costello wailed about the discriminatory impact of the ban on Muslims but she didn’t stop there. Costello even suggested the ban was meant to prioritize Christians above everyone else, asking Issa if Trump’s “underlying goal” was “to make this country aggressively Christian.”

From the start of the interview, Issa pushed back against the media’s narrative that this ban was meant to punish peaceful Muslims and refugees:

DARRELL ISSA: Just to put it in perspective, for more than a decade three separate presidents banned Americans from going to Lebanon, temporary bans for reasons of security, lack of vetting capability go both ways. As you might know Jimmy Carter banned people coming from Iran, one of the seven countries we're dealing with. Although I don't want to say that this was perfectly executed by any means and there has been some confusion, I think we have to put it in perspective, it's temporary. It does not target people, per se, based on religion and, quite frankly, most of the critics are saying other countries should be added if you want to catch all terrorists. That's sort of a counter message I keep hearing.