Neville ChaimBerlin,
Also, the US isn’t defined by a plaque on a French-made statue. We’re defined by our past actions, and what Trump is proposing is totally consistent with them.
1. The poem was written by Emma Lazarus, a Sefardic Jewish American poet whose family lived in the Americas since Colonial times. Part of her motivation for writing the poem was the plight of Ashkenazic emigrants from Russia due to pogroms. Nothing French about it. And the fact that it was selected for a plaque on one of the quintessential American national symbols speaks to the fact that it does represent American ideals.
2. Past actions of Americans include slavery, Jim Crow, massacres of native Americans, forced sterilizations, etc. Does that define us in your mind? And since those atrocities were committed in the past, would that legitimize someone coming along and advocating for it today?*
* NOTE: I am not implying that Trump has advocated for any of those things, rather I am applying your logic.