GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is already operating "almost like a president" by listening to policy experts in several fields, campaign foreign policy adviser Walid Phares said Tuesday, while praising the candidate's "evolution" on Muslim immigration.
"He actually operates now almost like a president, listening to advisers, people in the intelligence or who worked in the intelligence, defense, diplomacy [sectors]," Phares told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
Trump, during a speech Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, expanded on his call for a temporary ban on Muslims, telling the audience he would use "extreme vetting" and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States.
He continued that as president, he plans to ask the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and point out places where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat.
Phares said the comments don't show a change in policy from Trump's original call to ban Muslim immigration, but the "evolution" of his first position.
"That exactly shows the evolution, a mature evolution, based on input, on information," said Phares. "He made the initial statement because we didn't know. We didn't know a part. Now that we know better, the response is extreme vetting."
The response also shows an "alliance with Arab moderates and most of the moderates around the world," Phares commented. "So that shows that basically there is a strategy, not just a static position."
Last month, Trump told NBC's Chuck Todd that his plan to ban foreigners coming into the United states from countries "compromised by terrorism" is an expansion of his call to ban Muslims, and could also include people coming to the United States from countries such as France and Germany.
"I'm looking now at territory," he told moderator Chuck Todd at the time. "People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can't use the word Muslim. Remember this. And I'm OK with that, because I'm talking territory instead of Muslim."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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