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U.S. NEWSSaturday 21 November 2015
Republicans disavow Trump’s
call for Muslim database
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during posal “abhorrent.” Ohio creasingly concerned that American.”
a town hall meeting at the Ben Johnson Arena on the Wofford Gov. John Kasich said he’s managed to maintain A spokesman for Sen. Rand
College campus, Friday, Nov. 20, 2015, in Spartanburg, S.C. Trump was trying to “divide his grip on the Republican Paul of Kentucky said the
people.” And Texas Sen. race deep with the first pri- candidate “does not sup-
Associated Press Ted Cruz, who has largely mary votes less than three port databases based on
avoided criticizing Trump months away. one’s religion.”
JULIE PACE Muslims in the United States throughout the 2016 cam- The rebuke followed Kasich, the Ohio gover-
to register in a national da- paign, said that while he Trump’s call Thursday for nor, said requiring people
JILL COLVIN tabase, drawing a sharp was a fan of the billionaire a mandatory database to to register with the federal
distinction with the front- businessman, “I’m not a track Muslims in the U.S. In government because of
Associated Press runner for the party’s nomi- fan of government regis- a video posted on MSNBC. their religion “strikes against
nation. tries of American citizens.” com, Trump was asked all that we have believed in
WASHINGTON (AP) — Re- Former Florida Gov. Jeb The unified pushback whether Muslims would be our nation’s history.” Kasich
Bush called Trump’s pro- against Trump was rare. required to register. He re- has faced criticism follow-
publican presidential can- Republicans have vacil- plied, “They have to be.” ing the Paris shooting for
lated in their handling of He said Muslims would be saying he would set up an
didates on Friday swiftly other inflammatory com- signed up at “different agency with a “mandate”
ments from the bellicose places” and said the pro- to promote what he calls
condemned Donald real estate mogul, wary gram would be “all about “Judeo-Christian values”
of alienating the front-run- management.” overseas to counter Islamist
Trump’s call for requiring ner’s supporters but also in- The comments follow the propaganda.
terror attacks in Paris that The campaign trail com-
killed 130 people and ments come amid a de-
wounded hundreds more. bate in Congress about
The Islamic State group refugees from the Middle
has claimed responsibility East. The House passed leg-
for the carnage, elevat- islation Thursday essentially
ing fears of attacks in the barring Syrian and Iraqi
U.S. and prompting calls refugees from the United
for new restrictions on refu- States. Senate Majority
gees fleeing war-torn Syria. Leader Mitch McConnell
Trump, along with retired has slotted the bill for pos-
neurosurgeon Ben Carson, sible Senate consideration,
has stunned the political though it’s unclear wheth-
world with his rise to the top er the chamber could get
of some polls in the crowd- enough votes to override a
ed Republican nomina- veto by Obama, who op-
tion race. The two outsider poses the measure.
candidates continue to Religious and civil liber-
overshadow established ties experts said Trump’s
politicians such as Bush, the idea is unconstitutional on
son and brother of former several counts. The liber-
presidents who had been tarian Cato Institute’s Ilya
expected to become an Shapiro said the idea also
early favorite. violates basic privacy and
Democratic front-runner liberty rights. “Individuals
Hillary Rodham Clinton cannot be singled out for
took to Twitter Friday and government surveillance
challenged all Republican and monitoring based on
candidates to disavow their religious beliefs,” said
Trump’s comments. Steven Shapiro, the legal
“This is shocking rhetoric,” director of the American
she wrote. “It should be de- Civil Liberties Union. Car-
nounced by all seeking to son, who has challenged
lead this country.” Trump’s standing atop the
Several did just that. Republican field, raised
“You’re talking about in- eyebrows Thursday when
ternment, you’re talking he compared blocking
about closing mosques, potential terrorists posing
you’re talking about reg- as Syrian refugees from en-
istering people, and that’s tering the U.S. to handling
just wrong,” Bush said Fri- a rabid dog. “If there’s a
day on CNBC. rabid dog running around
Cruz told reporters in Iowa in your neighborhood,
that the Constitution “pro- you’re probably not going
tects religious liberty and to assume something good
I’ve spent the past several about that dog,” Carson
decades defending the told reporters at a cam-
religious liberty of every paign stop in Alabama. q
