Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint told CNN that Donald Trump’s plan to keep Muslims out of the U.S. is not the right way to lower the risk of terrorism from the Islamic State.
“Americans don’t ban an entire religion because the lack of leadership of one president,” DeMint told “@This Hour” Wednesday. “It really does come down to a lack of leadership. People are fearful and frustrated. The president has been unwilling to identify the problem and to present a plan.”
However, when pressed once by co-host Kate Bolduan on Trump specifically, DeMint said the the proposal is “certainly not” the right course of action before setting his sights on Obama.
“Certainly not. It’s not, and that’s not who we are as Americans,” DeMint said. “But I understand people’s frustration when they’re not getting a solution and some plan that they can feel some comfort in.”
The former South Carolina senator and leading figure of the Tea Party movement went on to say that despite his push for conservative ideas, a divided Republican Party will “diminish greatly” any chance for those ideas to win.
“We’re not for one party or another. But, frankly, as a conservative, if you have the Republicans divide in two with the left really united, then the chances of our ideas winning an election diminish greatly,” DeMint said. “So we hope to unite the party.”
The comments from DeMint echo those of Speaker Paul Ryan, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, all of whom denounced Trump’s call for a “complete and total” ban on Muslim entry into the U.S.
