BY JOHN SHAFFER The world experienced three terrible acts of terrorism in the past few days. The Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated; a mosque in Switzerland was attacked; and, the most horrific incident of the three, a dozen people were killed and many more injured when a Islamic terrorist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Germany. There were many people in the United States, Europe and elsewhere who warned of the dangers of allowing unrestricted immigration; the political and intellectual elites have consistently rejected the use of the terms “Islamic” and “terrorism,” and react with special horror when the two terms are combined. But the ground may be shifting. In contrast to the rest of his term, the Obama administration has already said that the act “appears to be terrorism,” and some reports are that the President used the phrase “Islamic terrorism” to describe the attack. Of course, calling something a name doesn’t make it that thing; but refusing to call something what it is can be self-deluding. Terminology means a great deal, and it is particularly important to the progressive left – whose latest ploy to de-legitimatize Donald Trump’s presidency is to refuse to call him “President.” That should prove the point. Well, calling a tree an icebox doesn’t make it an icebox, but refusing to call a tree a tree doesn’t mean it isn’t a tree. Refusal to call him President says a great deal more about the progressives than about Mr. Trump, and refusing to call Islamic terrorism by its right name says more about Barack Obama than about terrorism. He may have wanted to pretend that the threat came from something else, but all he was doing was covering up the truth. President-elect Trump says “the civilized world must change their thinking” in dealing with Islamic terrorism. When he takes office, the approach of the United States will change dramatically.
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