GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump- Love Him or Hate Him

Donald Trump (photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

With his bold and heavily controversial statements on public issues, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump draws attention not only from the American public but also from his rivals from the Republican and Democratic Parties. The outspoken billionaire always minces no words in his statements in answers to questions asked of him.

On December 8, 2015, in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shooting involving Islamic terrorists, Donald Trump made statements suggesting to “ban Muslims from entering the United States unless its representatives can figure out what is going on.” He then immediately got a lot of criticism over his words. Hilary Clinton, a Democratic Party presidential candidate commented that Trump’s remarks are “shameful” and “dangerous” and that he is playing into the hands of the ISIS by supplying it with new propaganda. Her view was echoed by the Pentagon which voiced concern on the security implication on Trump’s remarks. Fearing a backlash to the party over Trump’s comment, Republican Party presidential candidates also rebuked him. Jeb Bush, another republican presidential candidate said that Trump’s action is helping Clinton to win the presidency, and that Trump is not going to be the Republican Party nominee for president. In the academe, on December 9, 2015, the Robert Gordon University revoked Trump’s Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration for making statements that are incompatible with the ethos and values of the school.                                                

Donald Trump also received a lot of flak abroad over his anti-Muslim rhetoric. British Prime Minister David Cameroon, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Canadian Foreign Minister Stephanie Dion also expressed their criticism. In addition there is a petition in the UK which already gained half a million signatures to ban Trump in the country.

Despite the attacks leveled against him over his anti-Muslim and anti-immigration stance, Trump remains defiant and says that he will stand by with what he said. Latest opinion survey by Huffpost pollster conducted after his controversial remarks shows that his popularity in the Republican Party has not  diminished. He still leads the republican presidential hopefuls with 35.6%. His closest rivals Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio got only 14.1% and 12.3% respectively.

Donald Trump joined the presidential race with official slogan: “We are going to make our country great again.”, and commitment “to become the greatest president that God created.” His proposed policies as president include the deportation of 11 million immigrants from the United States, the construction of a substantial wall on the US-Mexican borders, and the aggressive bombings of the ISIS. He would also support the surveillance of mosques in the US.

Most often, Trump’s statements don’t sit well with the illegal immigrants to include the Syrian refugees and even the liberals. Though there are some people who disagree with his view, there are others who appreciate Trump’s candidness to speak his mind on controversial issues. He says what he feels without being constrained with political correctness. His supporters believe that his views reflect the sentiments of the majority of the Americans.  

You like him or not, Donald Trump if ever he would be elected as the next president of the United States would likely bring significant changes in the country’s policies and direction especially on matters such as immigration and the war on terrorism which are some of the key issues that could sway voters’ preference in the coming US presidential election of 2016. And the world would see a shift from a liberal oriented administration into one with conservative leanings.

Why Are Muslim Filipinos Called "Moros"?

The word “Moro” singular and “Moros” plural is a vestige of the Philippines’ colonial past and is rooted with the country’s cultural and historical ties with Spain, one of the former great imperial powers of the world.

Spain’s history has its share of relationship with Islam. In just hundreds of years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, Muslim armies crossed the Iberian Peninsula to conquer Europe for Islam. Crossing the Pyrenees, they were stopped and defeated by the forces of Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. The Muslims retreated into the Iberian Peninsula where they conquered and occupied much of the territories which comprised mostly of what is now Spain and Portugal. The marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile enabled the Christian kingdoms to recover much of the territories occupied by the Muslims. The last Moorish or Muslim kingdom in Granada, Spain fell to the Christians in 1492.

The medieval Christian Spaniards generally called the Muslims as “Moros” or Moors in reference to the Northern African Muslim tribes that crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and conquered and occupied much of the Iberian Peninsula. The Muslims in Spain were a mixture of Moors, Berbers, Arabs and even indigenous Iberians. Spanish Christian during the Muslim era generally called a person professing the Islamic faith “Moro” irrespective of his ethnicity.

The fall of Christian areas in the Middle East, Asia Minor and parts of Southern and Eastern Europe at the hands of the Muslims made it difficult for the goods from Asia to pass through the traditional land trade routes into Europe. This made the European monarchs particularly the Kings of Spain and Portugal to find alternative trade routes to the sea thereby bypassing the land areas controlled by hostile powers. This paved the way for the Age of Exploration when European powers discovered hitherto unknown lands and claimed them for themselves.

Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer in the service of the king of Spain made a voyage to reach Moluccas for its valued spices. What was significant of his voyage was that he intended to reach his destination by sailing westward instead of the usual eastward sea route.  Nearing Moluccas, he “discovered” an archipelago in 1521 which was later named as the Philippines in honor of King Philip II. The Spaniards colonized the country for over 300 years.

The Spaniards Christianized most of the inhabitants. However, the people of the Southern Philippines especially in Mindanao were not disposed of changing their Islamic faith and resisted Spanish rule. The Spaniards in the Philippines, like they did in their country, called the Muslims “Moros”. The Christians on the other hand were called “Indios”. The latter term was a misnomer because the indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines are of Malayan race and not Indians.

Spanish incursions into Muslim territories made the Moros retaliate by raiding Christian settlements in the archipelago. This conflict brought about deep seated mutual distrust and animosity between Muslim and Filipino Christians. In time, the term “Moro” was used by Christians to pejoratively refer to a Muslim. Muslims on the other hand disdained from being called of such derogatory word.                                                     

With the passage of time Filipino Muslims have become receptive of the term “Moro” to refer generally to a Filipino Muslim irrespective of his tribal group. This is apparent with the use of word “Moro” in groups such as Moro National Liberation Front, Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsa Moro. Perhaps for the members of this group the word “Moro” instead of being offensive is a source of pride. It is a symbol of the Muslims’ ever struggle for their righteous aspirations with Islam as their unifying factor.

In the Philippines, in practice, the word “Moro” to refer to Muslims is confined mostly in the print and other media. Filipinos in their conversations call their brothers who profess the Islamic faith as Muslim rather than a Moro. Alternatively, they may mention a Muslim based on his tribe such as Maranao, Tausug, Yakan, and Maguindanao among others.