White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Republican hopeful Donald Trump’s suggestion Monday to bar Muslims from visiting the U.S., and said Trump’s comments will only divide America.
Calling Trump’s idea a “proposal” is a “generous” description of what he’s advocating, Earnest said while appearing on MSNBC shortly after Trump made his controversial pitch. Other GOP candidates were just as quick to distance themselves from Trump’s comments.
“I think what Mr. Trump is doing is something that he’s been doing over the course of his entire campaign, which is seeking to tap into a darker side, a darker element, and try to play on people’s fears in order to build on support for his campaign,” Earnest said.
“He’s doing it in a way that singles people out based on their religion. That’s entirely inconsistent not just with the Constitution and not just what the vast majority of Americans think, it’s entirely inconsistent with the kinds of values that were central to the founding of this country,” Earnest said.
“And it’s quite disappointing,” he said.
President Obama has repeatedly said that instituting religious “litmus tests” for who can enter the U.S. undermines America’s core values and plays into the hands of radical Islamic extremists groups such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
“It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country,” Obama said during a national address Sunday night. “It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim-Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose.”
“That kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like ISIL,” he said, using his preferred acronym for the Sunni terrorist group.
Earnest said Trump is playing to the lowest common denominator with such rhetoric.
“I have no idea what he’s doing,” Earnest said. “He’s dividing America in a really cynical way.”
