President Donald Trump is a “snowflake” for being unable to handle criticism, a former top Obama administration official charged on MSNBC on Tuesday.
“The Beat” anchor Ari Melber interviewed former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal.
“Before I lose you, I did want to ask you about another story that hasn’t gotten as much attention, but a Harvard student who says he was basically denied entry to the United States is now getting to campus,” Melber said.
“This is a Palestinian student who basically says that he was questioned for hours at the Boston airport last week, a border agent searching his phone and laptop, and the student now has told Harvard’s newspaper, which has given some life to the story, that after five hours they were called into a room and there was screaming. She said she found people posting political points of views that oppose the U.S. On this incoming student’s friends’ list, and there was basically an officer’s effort to cancel, initially, the student’s visa,” he reported.
“This is one of those stories that goes to the way we live immigration now. What jumps out to you about it?” Melber asked.
“So much jumps out. First of all, this is a conscious Trump policy, since June, to say that you have to, if you’re applying for a Visa anywhere in the world, you’ve got to submit your entire social media profile,” he noted.
“And Ari, I can’t imagine something more pernicious and destructive than the idea that we’re not going to let people into this country, because we’re afraid of what their friends might say or think,” he said.
“But this is the encapsulation of Donald Trump’s snowflake presidency. He’s afraid to have people who disagree or have friends who disagree -- we don’t even know that this student disagreed -- and it’s getting out-of-control,” Katyal added.
The top result on Urban Dictionary defines “snowflake” as, “A term for someone that thinks they are unique and special, but really are not. It gained popularity after the movie ‘Fight Club’ from the quote ‘You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else.’ Began being used extensively as a putdown for someone, usually on the political left, who is easily offended or felt they needed a ‘safe space’ away from the harsh realities of the world, but now has morphed into a general putdown for anyone that complains about any subject.”
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