Donald Trump calls for ban on all Muslims entering US

Donald Trump on Tuesday called for “a total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US in the aftermath of the California massacre, the most divisive remarks yet by the Republican presidential frontrunner, drawing swift condemnation from rivals and the White House.

According to a statement issued by his campaign, Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” 

His stunning provocative remarks come just a day after Barack Obama called for rejecting religious tests for admission into the US, and Trump had joined leading Republican presidential candidates in lashing out at the President for not identifying radical Islam as the main threat.

The 69-year-old business tycoon-turned-White House aspirant’s comments are perhaps the most dramatic yet by a presidential candidate to last week’s shooting spree in California by a married Pakistani couple who the FBI said had been “radicalised for some time”.

“We have no choice,” Trump said repeating his pledge at a rally in South Carolina hours later to loud cheers, warning of more 9/11-style attacks if stern measures were not taken.

Other presidential candidates were quick in condemning Trump, with top Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton denouncing his statement as “reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive”.

“You don’t get it. This makes us less safe,” she tweeted.

The White House, too, criticised Trump’s “cynical” outburst, saying it was contrary to US values and interests.

“I think what Mr Trump is doing is something that he’s been doing over the course of his entire campaign, which is to play on people’s fears in order to build support for his campaign,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“I think what he’s doing, he’s dividing America in a really cynical way,” Earnest told MSNBC. “It’s entirely inconsistent with the kinds of values that were central to the founding of this country.” 

Condemning Trump’s statement, the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it has documented a wave of abuse, vandalism and acts of discrimination in the last month.

“It is reckless and simply un-American. Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great nation like ours,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said.

Social media reacted with hashtags such as #racism, #fascism and #bigot trending heavily, as Jeb Bush, Republican presidential hopeful, tweeted: “Donald Trump is unhinged. His ‘policy’ proposals are not serious”.

Trump - who was denounced after suggesting that some mosques should be closed and Muslims in the US monitored - said: “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine.”