Stop Muslims coming to U.S: Trump
Rivals oppose remarks as GOP front-runner makes Islamophobic appeal
WASHINGTON— Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is calling for the United States to close its borders to all Muslims, a sharp escalation of his unprecedented attacks on Islam and its adherents.
In an openly anti-Muslim statement unlike any other in recent U.S. politics, Trump proposed “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Trump had for weeks made barely veiled appeals to Islamophobia. He abandoned the cloak on Monday, explicitly accusing “large segments” of the Muslim population of hating America.
“Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine,” he said. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
The proposal was greeted with shock and horror by Muslim leaders. Nihad Awad, national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called it “reckless and simply un-American.”
“Donald Trump sounds more like the leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours. He and others are playing into the hands of ISIS. This is exactly what ISIS wants from Americans: to turn against each other,” Awad said.
Trump, who holds a wide lead in Republican polls, had previously proposed a ban only on Syrian refugees, but he had questioned the loyalties of American Muslims. His call for a religious test at the border, which may well be unconstitutional, comes less than a week after suspected Muslim extremists killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif.
It also comes a day after President Barack Obama used an Oval Office address to urge Americans to reject discrimination against Muslims.
The proposal poses a test for his rivals: a substantial percentage of the party electorate is suspicious of Islam.
Some candidates treaded gingerly on Monday. Sen. Ted Cruz said simply, “That is not my policy.”
Others were more pointed. The most forceful response came from a longshot, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said Trump was “bigoted” and “downright dangerous.”
Trump received an ecstatic response to the proposal from the audience Monday night at a rally in South Carolina, the third state to hold a primary next year. Party officials quickly distanced themselves.
“Trump’s bad idea and rhetoric send a shiver down my spine,” said Matt Moore, the party’s state chairman.
Jennifer Horn, the state chairwoman for New Hampshire, the second state to vote, called the idea unconstitutional, un-American and “un-Republican.”