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Trump’s Plan To Ban Muslims Is In Line With The Rest Of The GOP

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day at Patriots Point aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) CREDIT: MIC SMITH, AP
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally coinciding with Pearl Harbor Day at Patriots Point aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Mic Smith) CREDIT: MIC SMITH, AP

Republican presidential candidates — and numerous conservative leaders — are distancing themselves from Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Even former Vice President Dick Cheney told radio host Hugh Hewitt, “I think this whole notion that somehow we can say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in.”

But Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric didn’t come out of nowhere.Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican candidates have sought to energize conservative voters and shore up their anti-terror credentials by denouncing Muslims. Anti-Muslim rhetoric reached its height in the aftermath of the Paris bombing and the presidential candidates continue to back policies that would discriminate against Muslim immigrants and refugees and could have the effect of intimidating the American Muslim community. Below is the comprehensive guide to this year’s anti-Muslim sentiment.

DONALD TRUMP SAYS MUSLIMS CHEERED 9/11. “Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering,” he said. He went on to describe these cheerleaders as “Arabs.” [11/21/2015]

MARCO RUBIO IS OPEN TO SHUTTING DOWN MOSQUES. During an appearance on Fox News, Rubio said he would consider shutting down mosques or “any place where radicals are being inspired.” [11/20/2015]

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DONALD TRUMP CALLS FOR A DATABASE OF MUSLIMS. The controversy started after an interview with Yahoo News, after a reporter asked whether the country would need to “register Muslims in some type of database, or note their religion on their ID.” Trump didn’t rule the idea out, responding, “Well, we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely.” Earlier in the interview, he explained, “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy.” [11/19/2015]

JEB BUSH SAYS REFUGEES MUST PROVE THEY’RE CHRISTIAN. During a campaign stop in South Carolina, Bush responded to the ongoing debate about the status of refugees fleeing ISIS by saying, “At a minimum we ought to be bringing in people that have — orphans or people that clearly aren’t going to be terrorists. Or Christians.” He added, “I mean you can prove you’re a Christian. I think you can prove it, if you can’t prove it, you are on the side of caution.” [11/17/2015]

TED CRUZ SAYS AMERICA SHOULD ONLY ACCEPT CHRISTIAN REFUGEES. Cruz told reporters that America should accept only Christian refugees from Syria because “There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror.” [11/16/2015]

BEN CARSON SAYS AMERICA SHOULDN’T ACCEPT MUSLIM REFUGEES. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Carson said that taking in refugees “from that area of the world, I think, is a huge mistake. … To bring them over here, under these circumstances, is a suspension of intellect” that would ignore “the reason the human brain has these big frontal lobes, as opposed to other animals.” [11/16/2015]

RICK SANTORUM SUGGESTS THAT ONLY MUSLIMS ARE VIOLENT. Santorum blasted Muslims at the Values Voter Summit, arguing that the Middle East conflict is the result of an age-old fight between the West and those who see the world in a “fundamentally different” way — namely, Muslims. “[There is] a fundamental foundational problem in Islam of embracing issues of freedom of conscience and religious persecution,” he said. [9/29/2015]

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DONALD TRUMP PROMOTES ISLAMOPHOBIA AT CAMPAIGN RALLY. At a Trump campaign rally in Rochester, New Hampshire a man in a “Trump” shirt took the microphone and said, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims.” “When can we get rid of ’em?” the man asked. Trump responded by saying, “We are going to be looking at a lot of different things. A lot of people saying that.” [9/17/2015]

BEN CARSON SAYS A MUSLIM CAN’T BE PRESIDENT. “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” Carson told NBC’s Meet The Press. “I absolutely would not agree with that.” Asked if he believed Islam was consistent with the Constitution, Carson said, “No, I don’t, I do not.” [9/21/2015]

SCOTT WALKER SAYS ONLY A ‘HANDFUL’ OF MUSLIMS ARE MODERATE. Walker claimed that only a “handful” of the world’s Muslims are “reasonable” or “moderate” while answering a question in New Hampshire. “It is a war against not only America and Israel, it’s a war against Christians, it’s a war against Jews, it’s a war against even the handful of reasonable, moderate followers of Islam who don’t share the radical beliefs that these radical Islamic terrorists have,” Walker said. [8/25/2015]

BOBBY JINDAL WARNS OF MUSLIM NO-GO ZONES. Jindal expressed fears of an extremist Muslim “invasion” of America, outlining a strict vision for how Muslims should assimilate into the United States. He also warned that Muslims have established “no go zones” in Europe — in which peoples of other faith are not permitted — and could be planning to import them into the United States. “If we’re not careful the same no-go zones you’re seeing now in Europe will come to America,” Jindal said. [1/20/2015]