Pretty scary stuff minutes ago from Donald Trump:
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump took his anti-Muslim rhetoric to a new extreme today (Dec. 7), calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Here is his statement:
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is a great hatred toward Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. More recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.
Even more scary is that most of his supporters will endorse his rhetoric and probably most Republican voters will as well. Today’s Republican party is nothing like your father’s Republican party.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump confirmed the authenticity of the statement. Asked what prompted it, Mr. Trump said, “death,” according to the spokeswoman.
Mr. Trump made his remarks a day after President Obama delivered a national address from the Oval Office urging Americans not to turn against Muslims in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Mr. Trump is expected to say more at a rally at the USS Yorktown in South Carolina on Monday evening to mark the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Experts on immigration law and policy expressed shock at the proposal Monday afternoon.
“This is just so antithetical to the history of the United States,” said Nancy Morawetz, a professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law, who specializes in immigration. “It’s unbelievable to have a religious test for admission into the country.”
She added: “I cannot recall any historical precedent for denying immigration based on religion.”
Ms. Morawetz said that the United States has long regretted policies that banned the immigration of Chinese at the end of 19th century.
“It’s a very sad chapter in American immigration history that we would think is behind us today.”
www.nytimes.com/...
"Oh, my goodness," said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "One has to wonder what Donald Trump will say next as he ramps up his anti-Muslim bigotry. Where is there left for him to go? Are we talking internment camps? Are we talking the final solution to the Muslim question? I feel like I'm back in the 1930s."
www.washingtonpost.com/...