Too much time is being spent fighting over GOP front-runner Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslims coming into the United States, as the plan is "never going to happen," his rival, Marco Rubio, said Thursday morning.
"Well, first of all he's not going to be the nominee," the Florida senator told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on
"Good Morning America."
"I'm pretty confident of that so let's continue moving forward on this campaign where I think we'll nominate someone who has a chance to win in the general election.That's what I'm going to focus on."
The latest New York Times/CBS poll has Trump at 35 percent, and Rubio at just 9 percent, Stephanopoulos pointed out, but Rubio said that early leaders don't always end up winning in the actual early primaries, "when these votes start to count."
"I'm not going to hyperventilate about polls, and I'm not going to do what the media has fallen into," Rubio said. "We had a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil a week ago yesterday . . . and the newscasts are dominated by this plan that's never going to happen. This will never become the law of the country, what Donald Trump is proposing."
But instead, Rubio said, the media and public should focus on "the things we can do something about, which is how these [shooters] in San Bernardino carried out this attack and the others who are out there, perhaps even within the homeland."
Rubio also slammed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for saying that Republicans "are all driving the exact narrative that jihadists want to advance. That we are at war, not with barbarists, violent murderers, but with an entire religion."
"There isn't a place on Earth where America is stronger or safer after Hillary Clinton was secretary of state or Barack Obama has been president," Rubio said.
"The truth is that there are elements within Islam that are radicalized and believe it is their obligation and duty to kill or enslave anyone who does not agree with their interpretation of their faith. We need to confront it for what it is, an ideological movement that attempts to enslave and kill people that do not agree with them."
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