On Friday President Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning persons from seven terror-rich nations from entering the U.S. Chaos resulted on Saturday, when foreigners were trapped at several airports. Others were blocked from leaving their home countries to travel to the U.S., even if they had appropriate paperwork.

https://youtu.be/DXFpk4jEqaE

And, on cue, Democrats, the media, the ACLU, and anti-Trump protestors went into a hissy fit.

Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer issued a tweet claiming that the Statue of Liberty had tears running down her cheeks.

Chuck Schumer of Trump's 'extreme vetting' Exec. Order: "Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight." pic.twitter.com/ONz3Ss6BJ5

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 28, 2017

An Iraqi interpreter who had worked for the US Army was detained at Kennedy Airport. The Daily Beast, screaming “inhumane!” surmised that a 77-year-old grandmother would be sent back to Iraq after being detained at Dallas-Ft. Worth International. Even a Christian family from Syria, which had all appropriate paperwork in hand, was detained at Philadelphia International.

Fresh off the Women’s March from last weekend, anti-Trump protestors were eager to vent their spleens yet again. Think Progress provided a handy list of cities that were sponsoring protests over the weekend. Because. . . resist!

(Do you recall the protests organized against President Obama when he barred Christian refugees from the Middle East? Me neither. But I digress.)

On Saturday night, after a lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a New York federal judge issued an emergency stay from deporting persons detained through the executive order. The judge, however, did not allow them to enter the country at this time. (A copy of the order can be viewed here.)

So what do we make of this kerfuffle? Is it mere sound and fury, or is something more insidious going on with this executive order?

David French, a writer at National Review and an attorney, was no supporter of Donald Trump during the primaries. However, he points out that there’s plenty of overwrought melodrama concerning the President’s executive order. To wit:

• The order halts refugee admissions for 120 days until vetting procedures are improved, and and then caps admissions at 50,000. Before accusing Trump of being inhumane with that low number, check out this chart from the Migration Policy Institute. It shows that Trump’s number is on par with the admissions of both Bush and Obama — that is, before 2016 when Obama decided to let everyone and in his brother into the nation, after he allowed Syria and Iraq to go to pot. Just as long as they called themselves “refugees.”

• The general ban is temporary, limited to 90 days and applicable only to persons coming from the terror-prone nations of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It also applies only to new immigrants and non-immigrant entries. Meanwhile, it allows for the Department of Homeland Security to determine that the persons seeking to enter are not a security risk. However, Homeland Security and the various Secretaries of State can provide for exceptions, which would likely include interpreters and those who have worked as allies. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

• Trump’s order does put on indefinite hold admission of Syrians seeking refugee status “until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made . . . to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest,” as he said. Newsflash: this is what the Obama administration did from 2011 to 2014. Between those years Obama allowed only 200 Syrian refugees to enter the U.S. In 2015, he allowed 1,682, and in 2016 he opened the floodgates only after Europe had been swarmed and genocide had left its ugly mark upon the Yazidi and Christian populations of Syria. And now the Democrats dare preach to Trump about inhumanity and a sobbing Statue of Liberty?

• And the so-called “Muslim ban”? French has read the order, and says there is no such thing. “You can read the entire executive order from start to finish, reread it, then read it again, and you will not find a Muslim ban. It’s not there. Nowhere,” he writes.  However, he notes that federal asylum and refugee law already requires that a religious test must be applied to determine whether an applicant is being persecuted.

But don’t let facts confuse reporters at CNN.

There is no basis to the claim Muslim refugees were prioritized over Christians. Fact is, refugee policy not based in religion, until now.

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 28, 2017

French counters: “False. False. False. Religious considerations are by law part of refugee policy. And it is entirely reasonable to give preference (though not exclusivity) to members of minority religions.”

But here’s the ugly part: there have been reports of permanent residents being detained at airports. The order should not apply to permanent residents, or “green card” holders, and this action should be swiftly corrected. Charles C. W. Cooke, another writer at National Review and a green card holder from Great Britain, notes that his application took one full year to complete, and much of that was taken up by dealing with the FBI. He had to supply employment history, resident history, any criminal record, and details of any organizations of which he was a member. He also had to supply fingerprints. As Cooke put it, “I had to go through the wringer before my card was issued.”

Furthermore, green card holders are not only allowed to own firearms, required to register for selective service, and are taxed like any U.S. citizen, they are expected to live in the U.S. and penalized if they don’t. So how are those green card holders who are deported under Trump’s executive order live in accordance with the law? Obviously, they can’t.

It seems that Trump didn’t think this order through. He may have assumed that the government would respond to his order like a well-oiled business, executing his wishes with efficiency, but, well, this is the government we’re talking about. Now Trump has a friendly Republican Congress, and he could’ve submitted his intents to that body for debate and redrafting before issuing the executive order. He has very competent consultants from whom he could’ve received guidance on how to best carry out this order.

But Trump’s gonna Trump. Unfortunately, for all the good intentions of this order, it appears he may have not been specific enough in his directives. Taking the bull by the horns, Trump-style, may have been his undoing. As such, he played right into the eager clutches of an antagonistic media and the Democrats. Let’s hope he learns from this stumble.