Donald Trump called Monday for a "total shutdown" on Muslims entering the U.S. "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" with the war against ISIS.
With tensions still high in the wake of last week's deadly attack in San Bernardino, Trump's comments drew explosive reactions, throwing the news media and politicians into total upheaval.
Gathered below are 13 things to know about his proposals, and how representatives in both parties have reacted.
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1. Trump's initial statement came Monday — The real estate mogul released a two-paragraph "Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration" on his campaign website this week. "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," it began. "Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life."
2. The statement highlighted polling on Muslim sentiment — Trump's statement cited a number of polls that have sought to gauge Muslim attitudes toward the West. "According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population," said Trump's statement. "Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing '25 percent of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad' and 51 percent of those polled, 'agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.'"
3. The proposal is "not politically correct" — "We have no choice," Trump said Monday night at a campaign rally in South Carolina, referring to his proposal. He read it aloud, prompting cheers from the gathered crowd. Trump called the proposal, "very salient, very important, and probably not politically correct,"
according to NBC News.
4. The ban would apply to foreign Muslims — Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said that Trump's proposal would apply to "everybody" including Muslim tourists and Muslims seeking immigration visas,
The Associated Press reported.
5. The ban wouldn't apply to American citizens who are Muslim — "This does not apply to people living in the country,"
Trump told Fox News on Monday night.
6. The ban would bring home Muslim-Americans in the military — "Donald, what about the members of our U.S. military who are Muslims serving overseas tonight. What do you say to them? They want to come home," said Fox's Greta Van Susteren. "They will come home and we have to be vigilant and we have to take care of the Muslims that are living there," Trump responded. "But we have to be vigilant. We have two of them living here and they had guns and everybody that they had tremendous."
7. The proposal goes further than other Republican proposals — Other GOP representatives and presidential hopefuls have called for a halt to U.S. programs to accept refugees from the Syrian Civil War, and rejected President Barack Obama's call for expanding those programs. Others have suggested tweaking the refugee programs to prioritize Christian refugees, who are a persecuted minority in many parts of the Middle East. Trump's proposal goes further, calling for a complete ban on any Muslims who are not already American citizens.
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8. Jeb Bush blasted the proposal — "Donald Trump is unhinged," Jeb Bush
said via Twitter on Monday night. "His 'policy' proposals are not serious."
9. Sen. Lindsey Graham blasted the proposal — Trump "has gone from making absurd comments to being downright dangerous with his bombastic rhetoric," Trump's rival candidate
said on Twitter Monday night. "He’s putting at risk the lives of interpreters, American supporters, diplomats, & the troops in the region by making these bigoted comments. Every candidate for president needs to do the right thing & condemn @Realdonaldtrump's statement."
10. Gov. John Kasich blasted the proposal — "This is just more of the outrageous divisiveness that characterizes his every breath and another reason why he is entirely unsuited to lead the United States," the Ohio governor and rival presidential candidate said in reaction to Trump's proposal on Monday,
Cleveland.com reported.
11. Sen. Ted Cruz disagreed with the proposal — "Just to be crystal clear, would you support a policy that prohibits Muslims from entering this country, including as tourists?" a reporter asked Trump's rival presidential candidate,
the Washington Examiner reported. "No, that is not my policy," Cruz answered. "I believe the focus should focus on radical Islamic terrorism. And we need to be directly focused on threats to the United States. We need a commander-in-chief that perceives what the threat is and then targets all of our resources to protecting this nation against radical Islamic terrorists."
12. Former Vice President Dick Cheney blasted Trump — "I think this whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in. I mean, religious freedom has been a very important part of our history and where we came from," the former VP
told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
13. Trump's proposal could endanger longstanding diplomatic ties — President George W. Bush's former aide Ari Fleischer
noted in a tweet that, "Under Trump, the King Abdullah of Jordan, who is fighting ISIS, won't be allowed in the U.S. to talk about how to fight ISIS." He added, "Trump's statement calling for a total ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. is nuts. I'd like to see Trump tell that to Muhammad Ali."
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