Those in talk radio, micro-blogs and even mainstream conservative publications who showed interest in him and even admiration for him share some of the responsibility for creating the Trump phenomenon.
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Trump’s plan, Ryan said, “is not conservatism. Tell Donald Trump to go to hell”, Graham said on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday, picking up on the GOP front-runner’s famous slogan, “make America great again”.
“I am not proposing that”, Trump said.
Ibrahim Hooper, the group’s national communications director, said: “It should be disturbing not only to American Muslims, but it should be disturbing to all Americans that the leading Republican presidential candidate would issue essentially a fascist statement like this”. But he said he would support the party’s presidential nominee.
Since then, he has dominated the election terrain with bombastic declarations masquerading as policy – a strategy that has been vindicated by the way he has hogged air time, denying his Republican rivals the chance to seize back the initiative, and sending them instead tacking to the right with him. Several attendees could be heard to shout, “He’s a Muslim!” or “He’s one of them!” “Our only enemy is radical Islam”.
“The PM (Prime Minister) completely disagrees with the comments made by Donald Trump, which are divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong”, Cameron’s spokeswoman told reporters. Is a ban on Muslims entering the country desirable or reprehensible?
Whatever its merit, Trump’s controversial proposal demonstrated anew his power over the Republican field and his ability to force the party and fellow candidates to respond to his agenda.
He said he did not know how long a ban would remain in place but said it would not be lifted until Congress acted.
Trump clarified in a round of television interviews Tuesday that his proposed ban would not apply to American citizens traveling overseas and would allow exemptions for certain people, including the leaders of Middle Eastern countries. He said he would not support internment camps, as was done in World War Two.
Some observers poked fun at Trump.
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling tweeted that Voldemort, the wizard who is the chief villain in her book series, was “nowhere near as bad”.
Residents of St. Petersburg, Florida, are among the luckiest people in the country right now, following news that the city’s mayor has banned Donald Trump from entering the town.
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“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the unsafe threat it poses, our country can not be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life”, he said.
