Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States left House and Senate lawmakers scrambling to distance themselves from the flamboyant front-runner, although many stopped short of declaring they would not endorse him if he becomes the Republican nominee.
Both Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., began their remarks to reporters outside the Senate chamber by condemning Trump’s plan to prevent Muslims from entering the United States.
“It’s completely inconsistent with American values,” McConnell said, adding that such a proposal would prevent King Abdullah of Jordan and other foreign heads of state from traveling here. Trump said in the morning that he’d still allow foreign leaders to enter even if they were Muslims.
Ryan said Trump’s comments are “not conservatism” and “not what the party stands for.”
But Republicans have refrained from an all-out rejection of Trump the candidate, who is leading most other Republican candidates by double digits nationally and is ahead by a healthy margin in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
The lead has raised an uncomfortable question for the GOP in Congress: How will they respond if Trump becomes the party’s presidential nominee?
McConnell stayed clear of declaring he’d specifically endorse Trump if he wins, but said, “I’m certainly going to support the Republican nominee for president. I don’t think that would surprise anyone.”
Democrats hope to use Trump’s lead to force Republicans to either denounce their leading presidential candidate entirely or to make the case that Trump’s views are the Republican party’s views. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Trump’s remarks are representative of the party’s platform.
“This sort of racism has been prevalent in Republican politics for decades,” Reid said. “Trump is just saying out loud what other Republicans merely suggest.”
Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., dared the GOP to reject Trump entirely.
“The question is obviously whether Republicans are willing to toss out the constitution of the United States and all it has meant for over 200 years, to show their fealty to the man who is the leading candidate in the Republican presidential primary,” Durbin said Tuesday. “If there is not a clear break between the Republican Party and what Donald Trump has said from top to bottom, shame on that party, that Grand Old Party.”
How the GOP responds to Trump could well decide the fate of the 2016 election. Even if Trump loses the GOP nomination, his decision to make a third-party run could derail the Republican nominee. Trump has threatened to run off the ticket if he’s not treated fairly by the party.
He tweeted poll numbers released Tuesday indicating 68 percent of his followers would vote for him if he leaves the GOP and runs for president as an Independent.
For now, Republicans have their fingers crossed Trump will fade out, perhaps by losing in the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary or both.
“He’s not going to be the nominee,” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said, when asked if he’d back a Trump ticket.
Flake called Trump’s Muslim ban “positively awful,” and said practically all of the GOP Senate conference has “condemned those comments.” Trump’s candidacy will not last, Flake predicted, beyond the first contest which takes place in Iowa on Feb. 1, 2016.
His popularity will drop as voters start paying more attention to the race, Flake said.
“I don’t think Mr. Trump will go beyond Iowa, if to Iowa at all,” Flake said. “People get more serious when the election gets close.”
