White House: Trump's Muslim Comments Disqualify Him for President

"What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president," Earnest said to reporters at the daily briefing.

He cited the presidential oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

"And for Republican candidates for president, to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying."

He also said that the Trump campaign was a "whole carnival barker routine."

"The question now is about the rest of the Republican Party, and whether or not they're going to be dragged into the dustbin of history with him," Earnest said. "Right now the current trajectory is not very good."

According to the Washington Examiner, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus told reporters that he did not agree with Trump's proposal, and said, "We need to aggressively take on radical Islamic terrorism but not at the expense of our American values."

Trump was on several morning talk shows defending his plan, in some cases citing President Franklin Roosevelt's classification of people of German, Italian and Japanese origin as enemies during World War II. On "Morning Joe," he got into a heated exchange with host Joe Scarborough, at one point leading to Scarborough ordering a commercial break because Trump would not stop speaking. Trump has said that his plan is needed until the United States can figure out "what is going on."

His remarks drew condemnation from some of his Republican rivals, including Jeb Bush, who called Trump "unhinged."

The entertainment community has also rebuked the GOP candidate. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote on Twitter: "How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad."