It was Monday afternoon when Donald Trump released his big plan for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” In this 24-hour news environment, if you haven't responded within a few hours, we know you’re struggling for what the hell to say. And as of Tuesday morning (and not the crack of dawn, either), guess what we’re hearing from Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus.
If you guessed crickets, you are a winner.
Trump will no longer be participating in an RNC fundraiser on Wednesday, a decision announced after his Muslim-ban comments but which an RNC spokesman insisted had been made earlier. Somehow, while talking about Trump, the Republican Party couldn’t include a statement explaining its official view on its leading presidential candidate wanting to exclude members of a major world religion from this nation. Trump even managed to draw a strong rebuke from former Vice President Dick Cheney, who said the Muslim ban plan “goes against everything we stand for.” But from the Republican Party itself? Silence.
Several of Trump’s presidential competitors were not so reticent, though, with Jeb Bush calling him “unhinged,” Lindsey Graham calling him “downright dangerous,” and Marco Rubio referring to Trump’s “offensive and outlandish” statements. Ted Cruz, typically, danced around things, saying “that is not my policy” but then outlining his own plan to ban refugees from countries “where ISIS or Al Qaeda can control a substantial amount of territory.”
Trump did get praise from one quarter, though. And it’s a telling one:
"Heil Donald Trump - THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR."
That's what Andrew Anglin, publisher of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, had to say in response to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
"Finally: someone speaks sense," Anglin wrote ...
And, of course, many of Trump’s supporters are happily on board.