Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump no longer subscribes to the view that there should be a ban on Muslims entering the United States, his running mate Mike Pence said in an interview to CNN. Asked why he was not speaking out against the issue raised by Trump for a temporary ban on the entry of Muslims into the US, Pence simply stated: “Well, because it’s not Donald Trump’s position now.”
Stating that he and Trump “have been very, very clear about the issue of suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism”, Pence added: “I’m honoured to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.” “I understand why you want to play the oldies, you want to talk about the where the campaign began or what statements were made, but the American people are focused on the policies that Donald Trump is articulating every day across this country,” Pence commented.
Trump’s position on his controversial prescription has been steadily shifting since last December, when he first came up with the call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.
Once he had the Republican nomination within his grasp, his position began changing. In June, the word from his camp was that he wanted to bar only those Muslims who were coming from “terror states” and not all Muslims per se.
At the Republican convention in July, Trump, without making any mention of Muslims as such, said the US “must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time it’s proven that vetting mechanisms have been put in place”.