Politicians, refugee officials and even celebs speak out against the "carnival barker."
The leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, business mogul dubbed "carnival barker" Donald Trump, hit an all-time controversial high this week when he unleashed to the media his proposed ban to block Muslims (including immigrants, students and tourists) from entering the United States. This response followed last week's shooting in California by two Muslims, said to have been radicalized.
See the press release here.
On Tuesday morning, the real estate tycoon announced on ABC's Good Morning America, "We have no choice but to do this. We have people that want to blow up our buildings, our cities.”
Known for getting a rise out of his opponents, the showman may have bitten off more than he could chew when he single-handedly opened the gates to a global backlash that as, of today, hasn’t subsided.
Responses
Global citizens, leaders, fellow Republican candidates, opposing candidates, celebrities as well as so-called friends of Trump took to twitter and other media outlets to express their outrage.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted, “This is reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive. @RealDonaldTrump, you don’t get it. This makes us less safe.”
Senator Lindsey Graham was less charitable with his comments.
“You know how you make America great again?” Graham said on CNN Tuesday morning, “Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”
Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator and Democrat nominee, told Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday's episode of The Tonight Show that not only is Donald’s proposal to ban Muslims from the United States bad, but it was also a bunch of “crap.”
Everything from harsh words from presidential candidates to the musings of talk show hosts and more.
Seth Meyers joked, “If he's elected, any Muslims trying to enter the country will probably be trampled to death by all the people leaving the country.”
The View panelist Whoopi Goldberg called Trump out for being unconstitutional, saying “You’re not going to win this. It’s against the law.”
Jerry Springer also gave his two cents by tweeting, “Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering America… an insult to all those who fought and died for the idea America. Shame on him.”
The biggest reaction to Trump's proposal was surprisingly from the White House itself when spokesman Josh Earnest publicly slammed Trump on Tuesday, saying his anti-Muslim proposal disqualifies him from being president and calling on his fellow Republicans to take back their support even if he becomes the GOP nominee.
But the funniest response had to have been British author J.K. Rowling's, of the best-selling Harry Potter books. She joked that Trump was worse than her books’ villain, Lord Voldemort.
The tweet caused a Twitter frenzy of reactions that suggested the possibility of Trump’s hair being the Horcrux that harbours a portion of his soul.
Photo Credit: www.mirror.co.uk
But for some celebs, you could feel the genuine disbelief.
Bette Midler tweeted, "I have had wonderful Muslim people working for me for over twenty years. They are smart, kind, generous and wonderful to me and my family." She went on to say in another tweet:
Piers Morgan, a friend of Trump's since winning Celebrity Apprentice years ago, published an open letter to the Republican on the British newspaper The Daily Mail, saying his ban was “completely, utterly and dangerously wrong.”
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called Trump's comments on Muslims "grossly irresponsible." He also stated, “The danger of classification and characterisation is that it dehumanises, it can lead to the victimisation of the innocent."
Even though Trump stated on ABC's World News Tonight that the ban would be "short-term," that it could be lifted "very quickly if our country could get its act together;" didn't ease the disgust of his initial remarks. Trump told Fox News it would "not apply to people living in the country," adding that Muslims serving in the US military would "come home."
On Tuesday, December 8, Trump sat down with Barbara Walters to talk about his reaction to the backlash and if he regretted his proposal to ban Muslims entering the United States. He said, “Not at all. We have to do the right thing. Somebody in this country has to say what’s right. I have great respect and love, I have people that I have tremendous relationships with, they’re Muslim, and, Barbara, they agree with me 100 percent.”
Since then, over 35,000 British residents have petitioned to ban Trump from the United Kingdom.
The Dubai-based Landmark Group, one of the Middle East's largest retail firms, said it was pulling Donald Trump products off its shelves in response to the call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
There's no telling how many more companies or sponsors will be backing out of their support for Trump in the following weeks. Do you think Trump took it too far this time? And should he be forced to step down from his candidacy? Leave us a comment below.
Main Image Photo Credit: © PA Wire/PA Photos/KEYSTONE Press, photographer Jane Barlow
Monika Bhondy
Author
Monika Bhondy (@monikabhondy) is one of the original editors at ANOKHI. She wore many hats through the developmental years including creating the first Holiday Gift Guide as The Style Editor, putting down the first building blocks of ANOKHI's global blog community, handling the video department and ...
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