Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley ripped Donald Trump someone who would fail to balance Americans’ civil liberties with national security, as president, during the third Democratic debate Saturday.
The former Maryland governor was asked by ABC’s Martha Raddatz if he agreed with domestic spying programs and other national security proposals that some Americans claim are unconstitutional.
“My friend, a doctor in Maryland… he was putting his 10 and 12-year-old boys to bed the other night, and he is a proud American Muslim, and one of his little boys said to him, ‘Dad, what happens if Donald Trump wins and we have to move out of our homes?'” O’Malley responded, using the anecdote to criticize Trump’s recent proposal to temporarily bar all non-American Muslims from entering the country.
He continued, calling Trump’s proposal a “clear and present danger in our politics within.”
“We need to speak to what unites us as a people: freedom of belief, freedom of worship, freedom of expression,” he said, adding that Americans “should never be convinced to give up those freedoms in exchange for a promise of greater security.”
“Especially from someone as untried and as incompetent as Donald Trump,” he added.
