Congratulations to Senate candidate Rand Paul for somehow getting on stage for tonight’s GOP presidential debate. Sadly, neither he, nor anyone else, will do or say anything denouncing absent-but-not-forgotten Donald Trump’s bigoted and xenophobic policies and rhetoric.
Here’s why: Each and every candidate on stage agrees with Trump and loves the Trump-cultivated fear and mass-xenophobia that’s saturated the GOP base.
Fact: 59% of Republicans back Trump’s contemptible and un-American proposal to ban all Muslims entering the U.S. Here’s another: Not one candidate on stage has meaningfully criticized Trump’s plan — and Ted Cruz even voted against a measure to formally condemn it.
That’s because Cruz, Rubio, and the rest’s own views are in line with Trump’s. Here are some of the Party of Trump candidates’ xenophobic policies and rhetoric that rival Trump’s own:
- When asked about closing down mosques, Marco Rubio said we should close down “any place where radicals are being inspired.”
- Ted Cruz floated legislation banning Syrian Muslims from entering the U.S., and voted against a measure rejecting Donald Trump’s ban on Muslims.
- Jeb Bush said he’d only allow Christian Syrian refugees into the U.S., and proposed a religious test on refugees.
- Ben Carson has said he wouldn’t support a Muslim becoming president — and he even described Syrian refugees as “rabid dogs.”
- Chris Christie is one of Trump’s greatest defenders. “I don’t believe [he] is hateful… I don’t believe he’s a bigot,” Christie insisted,
when Trump called for a ban on Muslims. - John Kasich has called for the creation of a federal agency focused on promoting Judeo-Christian propaganda in the Middle East.
Published: Jan 28, 2016