The Trump campaign is playing the Isis songbook

The truth is that so-called home-grown terrorists have been a far greater problem in Europe and the US than any migrants or refugees

Donald Trump Jnr warned that by taking in Syrian refugees the US risks admitting terrorists (Reuters)

Nothing speaks more forcefully to the trivial and demeaning Trump campaign than the remarks of his son, likening Syrian refugees to a bowl of sweets. It combines insult with illogic, and proves once again that Donald Trump is unfit to lead the United States and the West.

The implication about terrorists smuggling their way out of Syria is insidious and wrong. It encourages hostility toward people fleeing for the lives. Literally. Fleeing, indeed, from the very Islamist extremists elements that the Trump campaign, and sometimes Trump himself, are trying to smear them with.

The truth is that so-called home grown terrorists have been a far greater problem in Europe and the US than any migrants or refugees. Naturalised or born in their countries, rich or poor, male or female, what they have in common is a radicalisation that propels them to suicidal violence. That rarely happens in their homes, in their workplaces or at school or college. It can, much more frequently, occur via the internet, and from subsequent visits to the Middle East and other areas of conflict.

Even if the offensive and insulting Skittles analogy had much substance it is of no use. The logical corollary of it – the dog-whistle element – is that, in effect, that fewer refugees should be welcome in rich nations easily able to host them. In New York we also witnessed an international summit in which some nations showed leadership but others, sadly including Britain, chose to follow a legalistic agenda aimed at burden-avoidance, not sharing. That would not be so bad if the UK and others sent more generous aid to nations such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which are bearing the brunt of the burden. Even within the EU, Italy, Malta and Greece have been left to struggle.

So offering relief and shelter to refugees, wherever they are, should be the priority. They are vastly more likely to be – and indeed already have been – attacked by Isis than to want to organise bombings on Isis’s part. In focusing on the bogus threat from refugees we undermine the legitimate urgent need to neutralise the radicalism that has been incubating much closer to home, in New York, Luton and Brussels. What’s more we play into the hands of the terrorists by stigmatising Islam, which is what they want. The Trump campaign is playing the Isis songbook extremely well, and adding to the root causes of disaffection and hostility among those vulnerable to it.

So much for Skittles.