Trump is delaying his revised Muslim ban for a terrible reason

Despite insisting that his Muslim travel ban was necessary for the safety and well-being of the American public, President Donald Trump will reportedly delay the unveiling of a revised policy, drafted after his first attempt was repeatedly struck down in federal court. Why is he doing it? That most important of national security reasons: PR!

While reports earlier this week suggested that Trump would sign a reworked version of his initial Muslim ban on Wednesday, the president now wants to push off the announcement by an unspecified period of time, following Tuesday evening’s address to a joint session of congress. Not because the policy needs additional vetting, a senior administration official admitted to CNN, but because, “we want the (executive order) to have its own ‘moment.'”

Yes, no matter how extremely crucial to national security the president claims his Muslim ban would be, he simply cannot allow it to step on all the (bizarrely) good press he’s enjoying, following his tonally demure-ish—but politically consistent—congressional speech.

While the specifics of Trump’s second travel ban remain to be seen, early reports indicate that it would likely continue to focus on the same predominantly Muslim countries as before, while loosening some initial restrictions placed on dual citizens. Still, as top Trump adviser Stephen Miller admitted to Fox News in February, the revised order will “have the same basic policy outcome.”

The White House has not yet said when the revised Muslim ban will be signed. For now the administration is content to bask in the afterglow of the president’s speech. Forget saving lives (not that it’s at all likely his ban, y’know, would). Reality TV star Donald Trump just can’t stand sharing the spotlight—even with his own policy.