Donald Trump now appears "unstoppable" in his quest to capture the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, renowned actor and author Ben Stein, a speechwriter for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, tells
Newsmax TV.
But while Stein isn't that big a fan of the billionaire developer, he believes a victory by Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would be sheer disaster for the country. At this point [Trump] looks unstoppable," Stein said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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"I don't know what to make of him. I mean I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's forthright and he has a pretty good idea of what's good for America.
"The thing that terrifies me is another eight years of Obamaism under Hillary Clinton. That would be just terrifying and plus, she would get to nominate several Supreme Court justices. That would be an absolute catastrophe."
A RealClearPolitics average of GOP national polls shows Trump as the front-runner with 24.3 percent, followed closely by Dr. Ben Carson with 23.3 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with 12.3 percent.
Stein, a longtime critic of President Barack Obama, said the commander-in-chief has been "wrong from day one" about the strength and danger of the Islamic State, which last week took credit for the deadly terror attacks in Paris.
"He called them a JV team, he said that they weren't really serious or important. He has not in any sense addressed their threat … As the leader of the most important nation in the world, he's a bad joke," Stein said.
"He's a very real danger … The question is, why is he so angry at America? I don't think there's much question that he does not wish America well. He has a real strong hatred of America. Now, is it because he's part black? I don't know. Is it because he felt his father was mistreated by the British in Kenya? I don't know.
"We just know that in terms of being a forthright, bold leader who takes on our enemies, he's not there. He's missing in action. It's interesting, my very best friend is a psychiatrist who said the basic line on Obama is he's missing in action."
He said he does agree with Trump's suggestion that some U.S. mosques be infiltrated and closed if they are found to align with terrorists.
"Absolutely. I don't see how we can consider that our Muslims fellow citizens should be above surveillance considering that all the terrorism that's come out or almost all has come from Muslims. They're not the same as other people in the country," Stein said.
"Most of them are wonderful people. My childhood best friend was a Muslim, but I don't even remotely see why they should be above surveillance. They've made a lot of trouble."
A new
Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday finds American voters evenly split between Trump and Clinton as their top choice to address terrorism following the Paris attacks.
Stein, the author of many bestselling books including,
"How To Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio,"published by Wiley, has also appeared in such movie smashes as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Honeymoon in Vegas," "Ghostbusters 2" and "Planes, Trains & Automobiles."
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