Under assault from Democrats and Republicans alike, Donald Trump on Friday drew back from his call for a mandatory registry of Muslims in the US, trying to quell one of the ugliest controversies yet in a presidential campaign like few others. Trump said his success in building his real estate and entertainment empire were valuable skills that the next president would need.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, campaigning in Iowa, said he was glad Trump was running because he had generated a lot of excitement for the Republican race, but criticized his support for registries.
NBC News asked the candidate Thursday night whether there should be a “database system that tracks Muslims” in the country. He replied, “They have to be”. You sign up at different places.
Angelita Baeyens, programmes director for the Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, said the two presidential candidates’ comments, as well as the measures by American lawmakers, were “extremely frightening”.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said, “You talk about closing mosques, you talk about registering people – that’s just wrong”.
He also refused ruling out religious identification for the nation’s Islamic faithful, or using warrantless searches against them for countering terrorism. What it can’t do is engage in one-religion bashing. “That won’t fly in any court”.
The close matchup of Trump and Carson will most likely be decided by how they present their political platforms.
The national poll conducted by Bloomberg on November 15-17 showed that many Republican voters consider Carson as someone who possesses the characteristics of a true president.
Donald Trump on Saturday sought to clarify his comments about a database of Muslims in the US, amid a backlash over the Republican front-runner’s apparent support for such a registry.
“We’ll have to see”, Dworkin said. “I mean, we’re not a bunch of babies”, he said. Even their journalistic malpractice is not gonna hurt Trump.
Responding to the terror attacks in Paris, the GOP contender for the White House also rallied around the Republican-backed call to ramp up security screening for Syrian refugees fleeing to US soil.
Trump tweeted that it was a reporter, not he, who had first raised the idea of a database.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted Trump’s words as “outrageous and bigoted”. “It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country”, Clinton wrote on Twitter.
A spokesman for Sen. Kasich had faced criticism following the Paris shooting for saying he would set up an agency with a “mandate” to promote what he calls “Judeo-Christian values” overseas to counter Islamist propaganda.
The U.S. House passed legislation this week further restricting Syrian and Iraqi refugees allowed into the United States. He has yet to state clearly that he is opposed to the idea of a registry, however.
The unified pushback against Trump was rare. Meanwhile, Trump gave a shout-out to Mobile, where Trump spoke over the summer and holds the record for largest crowd at a 2016 campaign event with up to 20,000 people hearing him speak at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
The first reference to a database came in a Trump interview with Yahoo News published on Thursday.
“It led to their complete isolation and removal from society and we all know where the Holocaust ultimately went – to the complete destruction of the entire Jewish population”, she said. The reporter asked if that was something Trump would put in place as president.
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He also said that he had trouble hearing the NBC reporter’s questions.
