In her celebratory “Happy Birthday to Me!” column[1] last Wednesday, Ann Coulter finally – finally! – acknowledged and highlighted terrorism in America. But then, she quickly reversed course, urging us to “Forget the terrorism”[2] and, instead, focus on immigration.
After vigorously denying,[3] for almost a year,[4] the very existence of Islamic jihad in America,[5] Coulter suddenly spotlighted Islamic terrorism in one column.
Brief Recognition of Domestic Terrorism
An elated Coulter penned her birthday column, praising Donald Trump for her “best birthday gift this week” – his plan to stop all Muslim immigration into the U.S.
Coulter repeatedly used terms and phrases like “Muslim terrorist attacks on U.S. soil,” “radical Islamic terrorism,” and “as if the nation had come under terrorist attack,” suggesting that she now understands the threat posed by Islamists to Americans. Coulter admitted there have been “more than a dozen Muslim terrorist attacks on our soil in the last 15 years.”
Coulter even acknowledged, “there are more than a thousand active investigations of ISIS in all 50 states.” But Coulter’s only solution to terrorism is to stop immigration!
Coulter offered no ideas for what to do with terrorists who are already here. Further, she opposes stopping terrorists overseas! Coulter chided Rubio for his military solution to destroy the source of terrorism in the Middle East.[6]
Ignore Domestic Terrorism?
The very next day, Coulter reverted to norm, dismissing the process in which ISIS victories overseas translate domestic radicalization and telling Americans to “Forget the terrorism.”[7] So, Coulter’s seeming change of heart on terrorism was ephemeral, illusory, merely a trick to capitalize on the news of the day.
Why did her column last week focus so much on terrorism? She was not prompted to do so because of the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino or in Paris. Rather, Trump’s call to ban Muslim immigrants and refugees acted as a jump start to Coulter’s own anti-immigration crusade.
Coulter decries the immigration of over a million Muslims since 9/11, “as they continue to launch these terrorist attacks here in America.”[8] Coulter also attacks the folly (in her mind) of fighting ISIS overseas. Why? Because the San Bernardino terrorists (she calls them “shooters”)[9] had planned terrorist plots prior to the formation of ISIS. (Except, ISIS is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and all the Islamist terrorist groups have a shared goal of a global caliphate.)
Just as she has done all this year, adopting a very Obamaesque line of reasoning, Coulter dismisses the Islamist threat in America in order to focus on her anti-immigration agenda and to promote her book and her Chosen One: Donald Trump.[10]
For Coulter, terrorism is merely a distraction from the real threat to America – climate change. No, that’s Obama’s fear.[11] Make that, immigration.
What To Do About Domestic Terrorism?
Throughout this year, Coulter has merged domestic terrorism into the immigration crisis, when they are, in fact, overlapping concerns. Having subordinated domestic terrorism to immigration, she ignores it.
Coulter is zealous over immigration while dismissing terrorism.[12] Indeed, she refers to the San Bernardino terrorists as shooters.[13] Coulter was horrified at all of the attention paid to the Paris terrorist attack[14] (at the expense of immigration) and, in the face of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Coulter again opposed immigrants, not terrorists.[15]
Coulter claims that immigration is the answer to everything!
Coulter’s proposal – a moratorium on immigration – would do nothing to stop those Islamists who are already here in America. Coulter neglects those terrorists, Islamists, and others who could be radicalized who already have their green cards or are American citizens. Coulter has no plan for them. Nor does she have any proposals to stop the radicalization of future terrorists.
And Coulter will attack you if you raise the issue!
Instead, Coulter commands us to “Forget the terrorism.”[16]
Endnotes:
[1] Ann Coulter, “Happy Birthday to Me!” 12/9/15. (Coulter turned 54 the day before.)
[2] Ann Coulter, The Drive Home with John & Jillian, KABC, 12/10/15.
[3] See “Coulter Denies Islamist Threat” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-69.
[4] See “Adios, Ann: Fear Mexicans, Not Jihadists” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-6A.
[5] See “Ann Coulter … Dangerously Wrong!” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-7x.
[6] Ann Coulter, “Happy Birthday to Me!” 12/9/15.
[7] Ann Coulter, The Drive Home with John & Jillian, KABC, 12/10/15.
[8] Ann Coulter, Joyce Kaufman Show, WFTL, 12/8/15.
[9] Ann Coulter, Good Morning Britain, ITV, 12/9/15.
[10] See “Coulter’s Latest RINO Would Give Democrats Victory” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-8t.
[11] See “Obama’s War … on Global Warming!” at http://t.co/WmjRvUyVlw.
[12] See “Coulter Flips Out, Again!” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-aH.
[13] Ann Coulter, Studio 11LA, KTTV, 12/11/15.
[14] See “Coulter Aghast at ISIS Coverage” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-aK.
[15] See “Stop Immigrants, Not Terrorists!” at http://wp.me/p4jHFp-b2.
[16] Ann Coulter, The Drive Home with John & Jillian, KABC, 12/10/15.