“We Don’t Want 'Em”

The regime's new travel ban will further isolate Trump's America

Will Americans protest the new travel bans? This 2018 photo by Mark Wilson via Getty Images was taken during the previous round of bigoted restrictions.

“We don’t want ‘em,” Donald Trump said in announcing his travel ban of people from 12 countries on Wednesday. That includes citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. He also placed restrictions on people from seven other countries who won’t be able to come permanently or get visas as tourists or students, including citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

We don’t want ‘em.

“We.” Who is this “we?”

It’s surely not every single one of the 77 million people who voted for this bigot to serve a second term. Even if it were, that would still be a minority of our country. And that “we” surely doesn’t include a majority who believe Trump banning people from predominately Muslim countries keeps America safe from terrorist attacks. (In fact, far-right terrorism “significantly outpaced terrorism from other types of perpetrators.”)

Even while Trump focused on last week’s heinous antisemitic terror attack by an Egyptian in Boulder, Colorado, to illustrate “the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” note that Egypt is not on the list. To strengthen the facade of legitimacy and seek to withstand the legal backlash, his proclamation detailed the percentage of people in each country who overstayed their visas.

But let’s not doubt: Trump is still the same hateful racist who condemned so-called “shithole” countries, including Haiti, El Salvador and African nations, in 2018. The idea of banning an entire country because there’s a chance of criminal behavior is pretty rich coming from this convicted felon.

We don’t want ‘em.

There are exceptions to this ban for athletes participating in the 2026 World Cup and the Olympics in 2028, but how many athletes (and political leaders) in those and other countries will boycott Trump’s America?

Trump continues to think his version of America has the upper hand with countries from around the world. Yes, he can arrogantly flip off 19 countries and tell them they’re not wanted, but this narcissist cannot grasp that more and more countries don’t want anything to do with him and his hostile regime. That’s especially true amid his foolish and unnecessary global trade war spurred by irrational, grievance-fueled tariffs.

He could tell Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that he doesn’t hold the cards (while the Ukraine president was prepping a sophisticated plan to take out Russian aircraft with drones), but he continues to find new ways to empty America’s deck of cards. Vladimir Putin and Trump’s other dictator buddies may applaud the military parade planned for his birthday, but this gross spectacle offers one more demonstrable reason for longtime allies to worry about the future of American democracy.

And it’s not just a matter of perception or philosophical differences. The data is increasingly showing that people around the world no longer feel welcome here. Last month the World Travel & Tourism Council reported that it anticipates the U.S. economy to lose a “staggering” $12.5 billion in spending from international visitors in 2025, a “direct blow to the U.S. economy overall, impacting communities, jobs, and businesses from coast to coast.” The assault on international students—more than a million studying in America in the most recent data—will assuredly drive many to stay away from a country that no longer feels safe.

We don’t want ‘em. Who doesn’t want who? As I noted in an April essay, “Once a Magnet, Becoming a Pariah,” Trump’s America “raises the dark specter of becoming a pariah state—an outcast, increasingly isolated and despised by former democratic allies and everyone who believes in the responsibility of building civilized, respectful societies.”

One of Joe Biden’s first acts when inaugurated in 2021 was to revoke Trump’s travel bans. It’s worth reading what he said as a reminder of the country we know and love and to keep the faith that the principles he invoked will eventually be reasserted by an American president.

“The United States was built on a foundation of religious freedom and tolerance, a principle enshrined in the United States Constitution,” Biden’s proclamation began, noting that Trump’s bans “first from primarily Muslim countries, and later, from largely African countries” are “a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”

President Biden had more to say:

Beyond contravening our values, these Executive Orders and Proclamations have undermined our national security. They have jeopardized our global network of alliances and partnerships and are a moral blight that has dulled the power of our example the world over. And they have separated loved ones, inflicting pain that will ripple for years to come. They are just plain wrong.

Jeopardized our global alliances and partnerships. A moral blight dulling the power of our examples. Inflicting pain.

Yes, those actions—like the latest proclamation—are just plain wrong. Let’s not grieve this stain on our national conscience as though we cannot overcome it. Let’s hold dear the principles that will endure after this hateful regime is gone.

We have a collective responsibility is to demand change. It’s eight days until the June 14 “No Kings” protests across the country, a deeply necessary counter to Trump’s hideous military spectacle in the streets of Washington and the daily effort to expand his despotic power.

We don’t want them? No, we don’t want him.

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