KABUL: (MEP) Donald Trump dismissed criticism at home and abroad on Tuesday over his “grossly irresponsible” call to bar Muslims from entering the United States, as the White House branded him unfit to lead.
Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, made the provocative remarks—just his latest on a range of topics on the campaign trail—after last week’s shooting that left 14 dead in California by a Muslim couple said to have been radicalized.
In an address Sunday from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama called the attack in San Bernardino an “act of terrorism,” but stressed there was no “war between America and Islam.”
Less than 24 hours later, Trump triggered calls for him to be barred from taking power after he urged a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
The bombastic 69-year-old billionaire real estate mogul was unrepentant Tuesday, even as criticism rained down from the White House and as far afield as Ottawa, London and Cairo, where Egypt’s official religious body Dar al-Iftaa denounced his “extremist and racist” comments.
Trump stood his ground. Asked by ABC News whether he regretted calling for the ban, he said “Not at all. We have to do the right thing.”
And confronted with the charge that extremists would use Trump’s rhetoric as a recruiting tool, the candidate scoffed.
“I’m the worst thing that’s ever happened to ISIS,” he said.
The strongest reaction came in the United States, where White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Trump’s proposals were unconstitutional and challenged the mogul’s fellow Republicans to denounce him.
Earnest was scathing and deeply personal, painting Trump—who has never held elected office—as a “carnival barker” with “fake hair.”
“What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president,” concluded Earnest, describing the remarks as “offensive” and “toxic.”
Trump, whose comments were extreme even by his populist standards, was similarly lambasted by leading Republicans and campaign rivals.
