Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said Monday that the rollout of President Trump's temporary ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries was "sheer incompetence."
Fox Business host Dagen McDowell asked Peters whether Trump's travel ban sends a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders that he talks the talk and makes good on his word.
Peters said that he believes world leaders are still trying to figure Trump out before he criticized the executive order that the president signed on Friday putting the ban in place.
"Whenever you think of the contents of the travel ban, the sheer incompetence with which it was rolled out did not do us any favors in the world. It just made a lot of people angry," Peters said. "The Europeans went into their normal mortification mode. The Arab world, which listens to its own media and not to ours, gets the impression that the Americans are anti-Islam after all."
Peters then went after Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller, the reported architect of the travel ban, and other political operatives in the White House without naming any names.
"We we need dramatic immigration reform on many fronts, but you've got to do it skillfully. You've got to talk to the experts. You can't have a bunch of political hacks behind closed doors cooking up something and saying, 'Oh, that sounds good, put that in.' It doesn't work like that," Peters said.
The executive order, which halted the Syrian refugee program and temporarily stopped citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries with terrorism problems from entering the U.S., has received criticism from both Republicans and Democrats alike, as some members question its constitutionality or are calling for the administration to make changes to the ban, Politico reported.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), whom Trump considered picking to be his running mate and, later, secretary of state, called on the president to immediately retool the order.
"We all share a desire to protect the American people, but this executive order has been poorly implemented, especially with respect to green card holders," Corker said in a statement. "The administration should immediately make appropriate revisions, and it is my hope that following a thorough review and implementation of security enhancements that many of these programs will be improved and reinstated."
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But new statements in full support of Trump were in short supply on Sunday. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said in a joint statement that they oppose interpretations of the order that barred green-card holders, interpreters, and vetted refugees from entering the United States. They also said that Trump's "executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security." Still, they did not outline concrete steps to overturn Trump's actions via legislation, investigations or congressional hearings.
"We fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism," they said. "This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country."