WASHINGTON, AUGUST 18: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has sought the help of Muslims to help root out terrorism, saying the community will be blamed if it does not assist in combating the menace. The 70-year-old reality TV star-turned politician, who earlier drew flak for proposing a ban on Muslims entering the US, appealed to the community as they would know “what is going on in their community”.
“Look, we have to be so tough and so smart and vigilant. And frankly, the Muslims have to help us, because they see what’s going on in their community. We do not see it. They have to help us,” Trump said in a Fox News town hall which was taped on Tuesday. “And if they’re not going to help us, they’re to blame also,” Trump said and indicated favouring racial profiling otherwise.
In response to another question, he said he would throw out Siddique Mateen, father of Orlando shooter. “I’d throw him out. If you look at him, I’d throw him out. You know, I looked at him. And you look, he’s smiling,” he said.
The Republican nominee called for swift action against the ISIS, which he said is better than the US on social media. “We have to take them out very, very swiftly and viciously if necessary,” he said, responding to a question on ISIS.
“I mean they’re better at social media than we are. ISIS, if you look at what ISIS is doing with social, they’re recruiting over the internet. And I also said we have to end that. We have to knock it out,” he said. Responding to another question, Trump claimed that his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton is being shielded by the media.
“She is so protected. They (the media) are so protective,” he said. “She doesn’t really do that much. She’ll give a speech on teleprompter, and then she’ll disappear. I don’t know if she goes home – she goes home and goes to sleep, I think she sleeps. Who do you want to be at that phone at 3 in the morning?”
“I’ll be up, I will tell you that. She wasn’t there,” he said in reference to the Benghazi attacks.
Meanwhile, weary Republican leaders are accepting Donald Trump’s latest staff shake-up, hopeful that a new leadership team can reverse the New York businessman’s struggles even as some worry it’s too little too late.
The Republican National Committee has already conceded it may divert resources away from the presidential contest favor of vulnerable Senate and House candidates if Trump’s standing does not improve in the coming weeks. RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer called Trump’s staffing changes the “healthy growth of the campaign at a senior level at a key point.”
