Quotes Responding to Trump
Associated Press: Trump’s Muslim ban idea pushes GOP towards chaos
“This is not conservatism,” declared House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s top elected leader. “What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. And more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for.”
In Mississippi, Republican National Committee member Henry Barbour said Trump’s comments “aren’t worthy of someone who wants to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” He said Trump would be a “disaster politically for the GOP if he won the nomination.”
“It does not reflect serious thought. It’s not our party. It’s not our country,” Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. told reporters.
Huffpost Politics: There’s Nothing Donald Trump Can Say About Muslims To Make GOP Leaders Reject Him
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) thinks it’s “simply unconstitutional to ban people on the basis of religion” but also thinks that in the end, Trump is still better than Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) talked at length about the “very negative reaction” she had to Trump’s remarks and how it sends the wrong message to Islamic nations allied with the United States. But she didn’t want to talk about what would happen if he becomes the GOP nominee. “I’ve got to go now,” she told The Huffington Post.
Politico: Republicans fear Trump could jeopardize control of Congress
“This is not what we’re about as a party, and this is not what we’re about as a country, and we cannot yield to this,” Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is charged with electing Republicans to the House, said Tuesday. “It puts, certainly, competitive seats in jeopardy. We’ll have a much more difficult time.” He added, “People have to be very careful about what they say at all times. And this, as Speaker [Paul] Ryan said today, this is not what we’re about as a party; this is not what we’re about as a country.”
Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), the NRCC’s deputy chairman in charge of helping reelect embattled GOP incumbents, was more blunt. “It would be devastating to our attempts to grow our majority and would cost us seats,” Stivers said in an interview. Trump “would cost us seats. There are people that couldn’t win if he was our nominee.”
Ayotte avoided talking about Trump, but said this quote: “I don’t think there should be a religious-based test for our immigration standards,” Ayotte said. “It should be a fact-based risk assessment on our immigration system, which is what we have. … [W]e need to enhance that system to make sure we address the risks of those who have, of course, connected or tried to connect with ISIS, and/or have traveled to Iraq and Syria.”
Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, who represents a swing district that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012, said Trump’s comments “have to be condemned.” “Are these comments helping us as a party? No,” Dent said. “Running political campaigns and winning elections is an exercise in addition, not subtraction. … When comments are made that are so divisive that alienate women, Hispanics, the disabled, Muslims — it just simply limits your ability to win. It’s that simple.”
“This man is simply not representing the views of mainstream America,” Issa added, “when he calls for a religious group to be particularly sectioned out. … As much as people like much of what he’s saying, they have to question the fundamental values of somebody that would say that.” Rep. Darrell Issa of California
Politico: GOP struggles to escape Trump trap
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while avoiding using Trump’s name and stopping short of saying he wouldn’t support Trump if he were the nominee, denounced his proposed travel ban as “completely and totally inconsistent with American values.”
“The more time that passes, and especially if he maintains his lead in the polls and heaven forbid becomes our Party’s presidential nominee, there will be no way to effectively separate Trump’s irresponsible demagoguery from the brand and identity of the GOP as a whole. Donald Trump will become the face of the Republican Party,” said Ryan Call, the former Colorado GOP chairman who made minority outreach a top priority. “If Donald Trump becomes our Party’s nominee for President, not only will have a devastating effect on down-ticket races for Congress and the state legislature throughout the country in 2016, it will taint the brand, party platform and perception of the GOP among Hispanics, young people, women, and other religious and ethnic minorities for years to come.”
Politico: GOP struggles to escape Trump trap
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said the candidate’s proposed anti-Muslim travel ban was “materially different” from previous remarks, so much so that they would disqualify him to be president. He scolded the GOP field broadly for being “cowed by Trump” and argued that candidates who are reluctant to stand up to him “have no business serving as president of the United States themselves.”
“If he goes bye-bye, his words will be his words—and then so what?” said Curt Anderson, a GOP strategist who recently guided Bobby Jindal’s presidential bid. “If he wins the nomination, then he will do a lot of damage.”
“It’s moved from a concern that he’s hung around so long to being concerned that there is this core of non-college-educated segment of the party that’s adhering to his irrational and dangerous rhetoric and has the potential to hold the party back,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant in Sacramento. “I think it puts more pressure on people in the party, especially the chairman, to make more declarative statements condemning Trump,” he said. “At some point, we have to have the credibility to demonstrate to the rest of America that this is not the Republican Party. This is what’s so frustrating. This guy’s not a Republican. He’s never done anything for the party. He’s interloped into this process by declaring himself a Republican and is violently tearing apart the party.”
Politico: Pentagon blasts rhetoric like Trump’s that ‘bolsters the ISIL narrative’
“Anything that tries to bolster the ISIL narrative that the United States is somehow at war with Islam is contrary to our values and contrary to our national security,’’ said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
Roll Call: Vulnerable Republicans Choose Words Carefully on Trump Comments
Responding to Trump’s comments without mentioning him, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said that such a test “is counter to constitutional principles of religious liberty.”
“Of course we should vet everyone who wants to come to our country to ensure they don’t pose a security risk, but it should be done based on factors that relate to security,” he added.
“We’ve always been a country with a big heart, and we don’t need a religious test to fix our immigration problems,” Johnson said through Reisinger. (Ron Johnson WI)
The Washington Post: Donald Trump has crossed an uncrossable line of bigotry
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump’s proposal “is the kind of thing people say when they have no experience and no idea what they’re talking about.”
