MEDIA WATCH: Unhinged Trump proposal stirs the pot

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a “total and complete halt” to all Muslims entering the US.

The business mogul made the announcement on his campaign website yesterday and repeated it at a rally in South Carolina to loud cheers from the crowds, the BBC reports.

The unprecedented proposal comes days after a Muslim couple shot dead 14 people in California in what has been called the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.

The embargo, Trump says, would remain in place until the US could “figure out what is going on” and understand the “great hatred towards Americans” felt by some Muslims.

His comments sparked a furious response from the White House, human rights groups and even his fellow Republican rivals, reports The Week.

“Bigotry should not masquerade as a counter-terrorism measure,” Margaret Huang, Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.
“The recent surge in anti-Muslim and anti-refugee rhetoric by candidates has nothing to do with making Americans safer. It’s about winning support by scaring the public,” she added.

Trump’s fellow Republican presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were also among those to condemn his comments, with Bush dismissing the policy as “unhinged”.

But whether the criticism from his rivals will continue remains to be seen. Other extreme views expressed by Trump have pulled the Republican race to the right, says the BBC’s Anthony Zurcher.

“In the end [Trump’s] hardline positions became largely accepted, if not embraced, by his fellow candidates,” he says.

Trump received a poll boost last month after the Paris terror attacks, when he called for a database of Muslims in America. He was leading the race for the Republican nomination until yesterday morning, when a new poll put Senator Ted Cruz in front.

The New York Times suggests that publication of the unflattering poll may have precipitated his new anti-Muslim policy.

“Hours later Mr Trump called for the ban, fitting his pattern of making stunning comments when his lead in the Republican presidential field appears in jeopardy,” it says.

It may well have paid off, with early reports suggesting that Trump’s supporters have welcomed the proposal. “Such is the state of the 2016 presidential campaign season so far,” says Zurcher.