Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Donald Trump's Muslim US ban call sparks Republican outcry


  • 56 minutes ago

by Suzanne Gould and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, New York
Media captionDonald Trump said he was calling for ''a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US''
There has been a storm of condemnation from Donald Trump's fellow Republicans after the presidential candidate called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
Rival candidate Jeb Bush called Mr Trump "unhinged". Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney said it "goes against everything we stand for and believe in".
The White House, UN and Muslim leaders also criticised Mr Trump's statement.
Mr Trump said many Muslims nursed a "hatred" towards America.
In a campaign statement, he called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on".
His campaign manager said that would apply to "everybody" - would-be immigrants and tourists. But Mr Trump told Fox News it would "not apply to people living in the country", adding that Muslims serving in the US military would "come home".
Mr Trump's statement was delivered as the US comes to terms with its deadliest terror attack since 9/11.
Last week a Muslim couple, believed to have been radicalised, opened fire and killed 14 people at a health centre in San Bernardino.
Protest in WashingtonImage copyright AFP
Image caption Protesters support Trump's stance against Muslim refugees
Mr Trump garnered loud cheers when he repeated his ban pledge at a South Carolina rally hours after his initial statement.
But fellow Republicans lined up to condemn him:
  • "This is just more of the outrageous divisiveness that characterises his every breath" - rival Republican candidate John Kasich
  • "Donald Trump is unhinged. His 'policy' proposals are not serious" - rival candidate Jeb Bush
  • "Downright dangerous" - rival candidate Lindsey Graham
  • "This whole notion that we can just say 'no more Muslims', and just ban a whole religion goes against everything we stand for and believe in. Religious freedom has been a very important part of our history and where we came from... It's a mistaken notion" - former Vice-President Dick Cheney
  • "It is un-Republican. It is unconstitutional. And it is un-American'' - Jennifer Horn, chairwoman of the Republican Party of New Hampshire, condemning the call along with Republican Party heads in Iowa and South Carolina. The first primaries will take place in the three states next year
Some of his Republican rivals - mindful, perhaps, that Mr Trump's more outlandish proposals only appear to have bolstered his poll ratings - were more nuanced in their responses.
Carly Fiorina used her response to take simultaneous aim at President Barack Obama, saying his "overreaction is as dangerous as President Obama's under-reaction" - while Ted Cruz said: "Well, that is not my policy."
Ben Carson said visitors to the US should be monitored, but added: "I do not and would not advocate being selective on one's religion."
But a handful of supporters cheered Mr Trump on, with controversial conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeting: "GO TRUMP, GO!"
The BBC's Anthony Zurcher, in Washington, says Mr Trump, whose poll ratings have risen after other hardline statements, has set down a marker that will force his fellow candidates to stand with him or risk his ire.
Media captionThere was a mixed response to Mr Trump's comments in San Bernardino
Mr Trump's comments were contrary to US values and its national security interests, a statement from the White House said.
"Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours,'' said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"These are not just words... Trump and Carson's mainstreaming of Islamophobia in the election is inciting discrimination, hate crimes, violent attacks against Muslims and mosques. This inflammatory rhetoric is putting the lives of millions of American Muslims and their children in danger."
"We're entering into the realm of the fascist now," said Ibraham Hooper, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Refugees 'at risk'

Meanwhile, the Democratic mayor of St Petersburg, Florida, announced to Twitter fanfare that he was "hereby barring Donald Trump from entering St Petersburg until we fully understand the dangerous threat posed by all Trumps".
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said it was concerned that the rhetoric was putting an "incredibly important" resettlement programme for vulnerable Syrian refugees at risk.
Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said remarks not just by Mr Trump but by a number of US state governors could undermine a programme designed to help the most vulnerable refugees.
The US currently accepts several thousand refugees for resettlement each year, following a rigorous security screening which lasts around two years.

How Democratic presidential candidates responded:

"A fascist demagogue" - ex-Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
"Reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive" - Hillary Clinton
"Demagogue" - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
Mr Trump's statement to reporters on Monday said polling by the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think-tank, suggested that 25% of Muslims in the US believed violence against America was justified.
"Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why, we will have to determine.
"Until we [do]... our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad."
On Sunday, President Obama made a rare Oval Office address in response to the San Bernardino attack and warned against the US falling prey to divisiveness.

Road to the White House


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