On Monday, Donald Trump upped the ante on his recent river of anti-Muslim sentiments. Trump already spouts a lot of performance rhetoric, but he’s concentrated heavily upon claims of Muslims celebrating on 9/11. He also boisterously argued against Muslim Syrian refugees being allowed into America. Trump’s latest thoughts on Muslims, however, culminated in his call for a ban against Muslim entry into the country.
The fallout has been swift and plentiful. As Trump claimed to have Muslim “friends” who support his idea for a ban, many people have inevitably compared him to Hitler. J.K. Rowling said he was worse than Voldemort. Likewise, many of Trump’s fellow presidential candidates are aghast.
The GOP situation is approaching crisis level with Trump. In a telling move, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan held a closed-door GOP meeting about Trump, and, uh, stuff went down. Specifically, Ryan “urged the GOP rank” to distance themselves from Trump’s anti-Muslim message:
Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday dismissed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments on Muslims, saying such views are “not what this party stands for and more importantly it’s not what this country stands for.”
Speaking to reporters after a closed-door GOP caucus meeting, Ryan addressed Trump’s remarks — without mentioning his name. The speaker said he doesn’t normally comment on the presidential race, but was making an exception. “Freedom of religion is a fundamental constitutional principle … This is not conservatism what was proposed yesterday, is not what this party stands for and more importantly it’s not what this country stands for,” Ryan said.
The Wisconsin Republican said many Muslims served the country and work in Congress. He said the “vast, vast majority of them are peaceful.”
After the meeting, Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon (R) told the media that Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim entry violates at least two amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The combined message from Congress and the GOP is pretty clear. Donald Trump may have outlasted his usefulness to the Republican party, and they now consider him an embarrassment. Many Americans feel the same way, and there’s a brand-new White House petition that calls for Trump (and his businesses) to be banned from the United States.
His words and actions provoke and condone violence.
They jeopardize the safety of millions of our law-abiding Muslim-American relatives, neighbors and friends.
His are the tactics of a modern-day Adolf Hitler.
So please, Mr. President, join me in saying: Donald Trump is not welcome in America.
You can see the entire petition here.
(Via AP’s Big Story and WhiteHouse.gov)