Following Wednesday evening’s CNN GOP debate, Donald Trump headed to New Hampshire where he answered questions at a Thursday town hall meeting. Trump’s anti-immigration platform, which has involved derogatory statements about Mexicans being criminals and rapists, found a friendly audience member. Of course, Trump hasn’t limited his statements to immigrants from Central American countries. He also believes “bad” immigrants are “coming from all over.” It comes as no surprise that Trump wouldn’t object to a supporter who voiced anti-Muslim views.
At the town hall meeting, the first question came from a man who expressed contempt towards Muslims. The questioner also accused President Barack Obama of being a secret Muslim who was not born in America:
“We have a problem in this country, it’s called Muslims. Our current President is one. We know he’s not even an American. We have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That’s my question, when can we get rid of them?”
Trump’s response to this question was not to supply the correct information about Obama, who is a Christian born in Hawaii. Instead, Trump responded in an unfortunate manner:
“A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that and a lot of different things.”
Trump’s response stands in contrast to that of former presidential candidate John McCain, who fielded a similar question in 2008. McCain said, “I want to be President of the United States and I obviously do not want Sen. Obama to be, but he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as President of the United States.” Whether Trump knew McCain’s history on this subject, we’ll never know, but now McCain and Obama both share a common experience in being slighted by Trump.
(Via Time)
