DUSHANBE, December 9, 2015, Asia-Plus –
The New York Times
reports the White House on Tuesday sharply condemned Donald J. Trump for calling to bar Muslims from entering the United States, saying the statement disqualified him for the presidency and calling on the other Republican presidential candidates to repudiate his campaign or be excluded as well.
“The fact is that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president, and for Republican candidates for president to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday at his daily briefing, according to
The New York Times
.
At a time when several prominent Republicans have publicly disavowed Mr. Trump’s proposal, Mr. Earnest said mere condemnations “don’t mean that much,” if the party’s presidential contenders continue to pledge that they would support Mr. Trump were he to win the party’s nomination.
“What he said is disqualifying, and any Republican who’s too fearful of the Republican base to admit it has no business serving as president either,” Mr. Earnest said.
Mr. Earnest’s comments were an unusual departure from standard practice at the White House, where questions about the 2016 presidential campaign are often dismissed or sidestepped with carefully worded statements, and Mr. Earnest hardly ever singles out a candidate for scorn. On Tuesday, he came prepared for questions about Mr. Trump, heaping insults on everything from his language to his hair.
“The Trump campaign, for months now, has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it, from the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair — the whole carnival-barker routine,” Mr. Earnest said.
He worked to yoke the rest of the party’s candidates to Mr. Trump and singled out the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, for saying that he would still vote for Mr. Trump.
“It’s morally reprehensible, it runs counter to the Constitution and it has consequences for our national security,” Mr. Earnest said of Mr. Trump’s proposal. “And the problem is, you still have a bunch of Republican candidates who are standing by their pledge to support him for president of the United States.”
