CTR Personalizes Trump Hats with the Discriminatory Policies of GOP Candidates

They all act like Trump; now they can look like him too

Washington, DC – Correct The Record created and today mailed to leading Republican presidential candidates a series of individualized, logo-emblazoned signature Trump caps in advance of the upcoming presidential debate.  The must-have fashion accessory of the GOP, as worn by Trump himself, has been personalized with the discriminatory proposals of his rivals who have proposed their own ideas for keeping tabs on Muslims in the United States and blocking those who want to come here.

While Trump’s rhetoric may be more bombastic and his proposals more aggressive, nearly all the GOP presidential contenders would make it harder for Muslims to come to the U.S. The hateful proposals of the rest of the Republican presidential field are just as outrageous as Trump’s.

“Muslim-bashing Donald Trump thinks he can ‘Make America Great Again’ with policies that actually divide us, flout basic human rights, and aid terrorists’ recruitment efforts,” said Adrienne Watson of Correct The Record.  “It’s not just Trump – nearly all of the Republican candidates have proposed policies that are similarly irresponsible, discriminatory, and contrary to America’s defining values.  Despite their feeble protests of Trump’s ban on Muslims, all of the GOP contenders would still support Trump as their nominee.  We hope these personalized hats will help the Republican hopefuls to show America their true colors before the debate.They all act like Trump; now they can look like him too.”

 

TED CRUZ: Ted Cruz would apply a “religious test” to judge which refugees to admit into the U.S.

Ted Cruz would apply a “religious test” to judge which refugees to admit into the U.S. “Cruz has applied a ‘religious test’ to judge which refugees to admit, in the words of the White House, telling reporters across South Carolina this weekend that he would admit all persecuted Christians to the U.S. but no persecuted Muslims.” [CNN, 11/17/15]

Ted Cruz: “I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” “If I am elected President, I will direct the Department of Defense to destroy ISIS. And I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” [Ted Cruz press release, 12/6/15]

Ted Cruz employed an anti-Sharia activist as his Tennessee state chairman. “Republican Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is rejecting a call to drop an anti-Shariah activist as his state chairman for Tennessee. Kevin Kookogey, a former chairman of the Williamson County GOP, once criticized Republican Gov. Bill Haslam over the role of a Muslim staffer and a council that has advised two state departments on Islamic affairs. He presided over the 2012 passage of a resolution that said the governor had extended ‘preferential political status to Shariah adherents in Tennessee, thereby aiding and abetting the advancement of an ideology and doctrine which is wholly incompatible with the Constitution of the United States and the Tennessee Constitution.’ The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged Kookogey’s removal as Cruz’s Tennessee chairman, saying that keeping him in place would serve as what the group called ‘an endorsement of anti-Muslim hate.’” [Associated Press, 6/11/15]

BEN CARSON: Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim for President of the United States.

Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim for President of the United States. “Ben Carson says the United States should not elect a Muslim president. ‘I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that,’ the retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’” [CNN, 9/21/15]

Ben Carson compared Syrian refugees to “dogs.” “‘If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog, and you’re probably going to put your children out of the way,’ retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson saidThursday in Mobile, Ala.,when he was asked about Syrian refugees. ‘It doesn’t mean that you hate all dogs by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.’” [Washington Post, 11/19/15]

MIKE HUCKABEE: Mike Huckabee on the refugee crisis: “It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel…We are importing terrorism.”

Mike Huckabee on the refugee crisis: “It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel…We are importing terrorism.” “Former governor of Arkansas and current presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee responded to Friday night’s terrorist attacks in Paris by saying on Saturday that the United States should close their borders to Syrian refugees. ‘It’s time to wake up and smell the falafel,’ Huckabee told Fox News’ Bret Baier, referring to the traditionally Middle Eastern dish that is — perhaps unbeknownst to him — loved and made by Christians, Jews and Muslims. ‘We are importing terrorism.’” [Huffington Post, 11/16/15]

Mike Huckabee called Muslims “uncorked animals” and said Islam is “a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet.” “Speaking on his radio program on Monday, Huckabee prefaced his remarks by saying that he understood it was ‘politically incorrect’ to ‘say anything unkind about Islam.’ He then went on to suggest that Islamic teachings were to blame for recent unrest during the holy month of Ramadan. ‘Can someone explain to me why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called “holiest days,”’ Huckabee said. ‘You know, if you’ve kept up with the Middle East, you know that the most likely time to have an uprising of rock throwing and rioting comes on the day of prayer on Friday. So the Muslims will go to the mosque, and they will have their day of prayer, and they come out of there like uncorked animals — throwing rocks and burning cars.’”  [Huffington Post, 8/9/13]

JEB BUSH: Jeb Bush said he supported making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process.

Jeb Bush said he supported making Syrian refugees “prove” they’re Christian as part of the vetting process. “Asked whether he would bar moderate Muslims entirely, Bush said he wants to see what the vetting process looks like first. He was also asked how he would distinguish between Muslims and Christians. ‘You can prove you’re a Christian,’ he said. Pressed further on how, Bush shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘I think you can prove it. If you can’t prove it, then, you know, you err on the side of caution.’” [CNN, 11/18/15]

MARCO RUBIO: Marco Rubio called for closing down mosques and diners.

Marco Rubio called for closing down mosques and diners. “’It’s not about closing down mosques. It’s about closing down any place — whether it’s a cafe, a diner, an internet site — any place where radicals are being inspired,’ Rubio said on Fox News’ The Kelly File on Thursday night when asked if he agreed with Trump.” [ThinkProgress, 11/20/15]

Marco Rubio said that Muslims were like “Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves.” “I don’t understand it. That would be like saying we weren’t at war with Nazis because we were afraid to offend some Germans who may have been members of the Nazi party, but weren’t violent themselves. We are at war with radical Islam, with an interpretation of Islam by a significant number of people around the world who they believe now justifies them in killing those who don’t agree with their ideology. This is a clash of civilizations. And as I said at the debate earlier this week, there is no middle ground on this. Either they win or we win, and we need to begin to take this seriously.” [ABC’s This Week, 11/15/15]

• Salon’s Elias Isquith: Marco Rubio implied “that all Muslims are morally equivalent to Nazis.” “As Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall has noted, this comment has not received nearly the amount of attention that it should. Because while it’s nothing new to hear the violent extremism of ISIS or al Qaeda compared to Nazism, it’s much less common to hear someone of stature imply that all Muslims are morally equivalent to Nazis. Not Germans, mind you, but Nazis — which means, of course, that Islam is equivalent to the Nazi Party.” [Salon, 11/21/15]

• TPM’s Josh Marshall: “The clear import of Rubio’s Nazi analogy is that we are in fact at war with Islam itself but that there are many Muslims who haven’t themselves committed acts of terrorism.” “As this crowd is fond of saying, words have meaning and they have consequences. And the clear import of Rubio’s Nazi analogy is that we are in fact at war with Islam itself but that there are many Muslims who haven’t themselves committed acts of terrorism. Read the actual words. That’s the only reasonable interpretation of the analogy as he states it. He doesn’t say it’s comparable to not mentioning Nazism because it might offend all Germans but that it’s like tiptoeing around the word ‘Nazism’ for fear of offending German members of the Nazi party. Again, in this framework all Muslims are comparable to Nazi party members. Just some haven’t gotten their hands dirty.” [Talking Points Memo, 11/19/15]

• Washington Post: Marco Rubio was “essentially casting the Paris attackers as products of Muslim society rather than a radical group apart from it.” “Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) said the attacks were part of a ‘clash of civilizations’ — essentially casting the Paris attackers as products of Muslim society rather than a radical group apart from it.” [Washington Post, 11/19/15]

• New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait: “If we tease out Rubio’s metaphor, the Muslim faith as a whole is equivalent to Nazism, and violent jihadi terrorists are the equivalent of the Nazi leadership.” “If we tease out Rubio’s metaphor, the Muslim faith as a whole is equivalent to Nazism, and violent jihadi terrorists are the equivalent of the Nazi leadership. Rubio has a knack for grasping the midpoint of Republican Party doctrine at any given moment, and his comments reflect the party’s renewed conviction that the war against terrorists must be defined in the broadest possible terms.” [New York Magazine, 11/16/15]

Marco Rubio said he was open to not allowing Muslim students to receive student visas in the U.S. “On Thursday morning, Rubio stood by his comments in an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum: MACCALLUM: You opened the door to perhaps not allowing Muslim students to receive student visas in this country. Did you mean that, 24 hours later? RUBIO: Yeah. Because, let me explain to you. We have to get proper perspective here. No one has a right to immigrate to the United States. No one has a right to visit the United States and no one has a right to get a visa to study in the United States.” [Think Progress, 4/24/13]

DONALD TRUMP: Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States.

Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. “Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump wants to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. In a statement from his campaign, Trump called for a ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims entering the United States until elected leaders can ‘figure out what is going on.’ When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: ‘Mr. Trump says, ‘everyone.’’” [The Hill, 12/7/15]

• Donald Trump’s ban would apply to both potential immigrants and tourists.“Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is calling for a ‘complete and total shutdown’ on Muslims entering the United States. Trump says in a statement released by his campaign Monday that his proposal comes in response to the level of hatred among ‘large segments of the Muslim population’ toward Americans. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says Trump’s proposed ban would apply to ‘everybody,’ including Muslims seeking immigration visas as well as tourists seeking to enter the country.” [Associated Press, 12/7/15]

• Donald Trump’s ban would include American citizens abroad. “When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: ‘Mr. Trump says, ‘everyone.’’ Trump is quoted in the statement as saying that a significant number of Muslims harbor a ‘hatred’ toward America and as a result should be kept out of the country.” [The Hill, 12/7/15]

Donald Trump said he “would certainly implement” a national system to track Muslims in the United States. “Donald Trump ‘would certainly implement’ a database system tracking Muslims in the United States, the Republican front-runner told NBC News on Thursday night. ‘I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,’ Trump said in Newton, Iowa, in between campaign town halls. ‘There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases,’ he added. ‘We should have a lot of systems.’ When asked whether Muslims would be legally obligated to sign into the database, Trump responded, ‘They have to be — they have to be.’” [NBC News, 11/20/15]

Donald Trump falsely claimed that “Arab populations” in New Jersey “were cheering as the World Trade Cen­ter came down.” “Trump told ABC’s This Week: ‘There were people that were cheer­ing on the oth­er side of New Jer­sey where you have large Ar­ab pop­u­la­tions. They were cheer­ing as the World Trade Cen­ter came down.’ If Trump ac­tu­ally saw this on tele­vi­sion, it was per­haps on a spe­cial chan­nel pro­duced only for him and some of his fol­low­ers. While In­ter­net posts al­leging this ex­is­ted im­me­di­ately fol­low­ing the ter­ror­ist at­tacks, po­lice de­part­ments and loc­al me­dia said then and say now there were no such cel­eb­ra­tions. In­ter­est­ingly, fel­low GOP can­did­ate Ben Car­son, who fol­low­ing Trump’s re­marks also said he saw the cheer­ing on TV, later said he had got­ten con­fused, and foot­age of the cel­eb­ra­tions was ac­tu­ally from East Jer­u­s­alem.” [National Journal, 11/30/15]

CHRIS CHRISTIE: Chris Christie said we should not accept Syrian refugees, not even orphans under the age of five.

Chris Christie said we should not accept Syrian refugees, not even orphans under the age of five. “Chris Christie says the U.S. should not accept any new Syrian refugees, not even young orphans. ‘I do not trust this administration to effectively vet the people who are proposed to be coming in,’ the New Jersey governor and presidential hopeful said in an interview Monday with radio host Hugh Hewitt. When asked if he would make an exception for ‘orphans under the age of five,’ Christie said no. [CNN, 11/17/15]