On Thursday, Donald Trump held a town-hall style event in Manchester, New Hampshire where he commented upon “Mexican” planes in the sky and entertained questions from the crowd. One attendee voiced a complaint about the U.S. military protecting “Zionist Israel,” and the presumptive Republican nominee surprised many with this answer: “Israel is a very, very important ally of the United States and we are going to protect them 100% — 100%. It’s our true friend over there.” This pointed reaction from Trump was unexpected, since he rarely shuts down his supporters. On a related note, his campaign turned around and tweeted an anti-Hillary Clinton graphic adorned with the Star of David. Some supporters claimed the graphic was a sheriff’s badge, but it may actually have origins in a white supremacist internet forum.
Yet despite Trump taking the time to speak against an attendee’s anti-Israel sentiments, he did nothing to counteract anti-Muslim statements that soon followed. In this video, a woman asked, “Why aren’t we putting our military retirees on that border or in TSA? Get rid of all these hibi-jabis they wear at TSA?” The woman takes offense at the hijabs worn by some Muslim women, and she’d like these headscarves to be nowhere near the TSA. Trump answered, “I understand … You know, and we are looking at that … we’re looking at a lot of things.”
On Sunday, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson appeared on CNN’s State of the Union. He expressed disbelief at how Trump’s continued rhetoric doesn’t raise alarms with supporters: “He has said 100 things that would disqualify anyone else from running for president but it doesn’t seem to affect him.” Johnson continued with a sharper criticism: “The stuff he’s saying is just incendiary. It’s racist.”
Johnson’s not alone in his assessment. The Council on American-Islamic Relations also swiftly issued a condemnation against Trump. They believe he’s endangering American Muslim women with his careless dialogue:
“By appearing to endorse the bigoted views of one of his supporters, Donald Trump is placing all American Muslim women who wear Islamic attire in danger. American Muslims, and particularly Muslim women, are facing an unprecedented spike in discrimination and hate attacks, due in no small part to Donald Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric and policy proposals.”
(Via Jewish Political News & Updates & CNN)