Trump's Blanket Muslim Ban

Ben Kamisar reports at The Hill:

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.'"

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.

Presumably, that ban would also include American Muslim members of the armed services returning from overseas deployments.

The Donald and the Dons

AP reports:

Donald Trump tapped a man to be a senior business adviser to his real-estate empire even after the man's past involvement in a major mafia-linked stock fraud scheme had become publicly known, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of court records.

Portions of Trump's relationship with Felix Sater, a convicted felon and government informant, have been previously known. Trump worked with the company where Sater was an executive, Bayrock Group LLC, after it rented office space from the Trump Organization as early as 2003. Sater's criminal history was effectively unknown to the public at the time, because a judge kept the relevant court records secret and Sater altered his name.

When Sater's criminal past and mafia links came to light in 2007, Trump distanced himself from Sater.

But less than three years later, Trump renewed his ties with Sater. Sater presented business cards describing himself as a senior adviser to Donald Trump, and he had an office on the same floor as Trump's own office in New York's Trump Tower, The Associated Press learned through interviews and court records.

Trump said during an AP interview on Wednesday that he recalled only bare details of Sater.

"Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it," Trump said, referring questions about Sater to his staff. "I'm not that familiar with him."

(NBC reports: Offering reassurance that he had indeed seen video of the celebrations on television on and "all over the Internet," Trump said, "I have the world's greatest memory. It's one thing everyone agrees on.")

In July, Chris Frates reported at CNN:

Donald Trump's glittering empire of New York skyscrapers and Atlantic City casinos have long had a darker side, allegations that the mob helped build them.

Trump's alleged ties to New York and Philadelphia crime families go back decades and have been recounted in a book, newspapers and government records.

"The mob connections of Donald are extraordinarily extensive," New York investigative journalist Wayne Barrett told CNN in an interview.

Barrett, the author of the 1992 unauthorized biography "Trump: The Deals and the Downfall," wrote that Trump's life "intertwines with the underworld."

Unfortunate Comments by the President

Yesterday, CNN reported:

President Barack Obama said in an interview that aired Thursday that he is confident the U.S. is safe from a Paris-style attack from ISIS and that American law enforcement is well equipped to protect the nation during the holidays.

"ISIL will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses," Obama told CBS. "The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about our lives."

His comments came amid reports that the FBI is investigating ISIS sympathizers across the nation and a new study shows support for the terrorist group has reached unprecedented levels domestically. But Obama called for calm and said that terrorists and ISIS "only win if we start reacting out of fear."

The interview was taped Wednesday, as details were still coming out about the shooting in San Bernardino, California, and before the two suspects had been identified. He renewed his calls for gun control measures in a clip from the interview that aired Wednesday.

This morning, CNN reports:

ISIS on Saturday hailed the two people who massacred 14 people in Southern California this week as "supporters" of the terror group -- a message that came after U.S. investigators said they suspect one of the shooters professed loyalty to the Islamist network.

The terror group's official Iraq-based station made the declaration days after Wednesday's San Bernardino shooting that also left 21 injured, but -- notable for a group quick to claim attacks -- did not say the couple were members or that ISIS was responsible.

Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, sprayed bullets at Farook's co-workers at a holiday party for the environmental health department in San Bernardino before being gunned down in a shootout with authorities the same day.

"We pray to God to accept them as martyrs," ISIS' al-Bayan Radio declared Saturday.
The ISIS radio report came a day after the FBI said it was treating the attack as an act of terrorism.

It also came after reports that Malik made a public declaration of loyalty to ISIS' leader while the attack was underway. Three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN on Friday that Malik posted to Facebook a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Trump, Carson, and RJC

Ben Schreckinger writes at Politico:

Donald Trump joked about Jewish stereotypes, declined to affirm his support for a united Jerusalem, and told his audience they wouldn’t back him because he did not want their money. Reading from a prepared text, Ben Carson repeatedly pronounced the name of the Palestinian group “Hamas” as if it were a delicious spread made with chickpeas.

The performance of these two outsider candidates left attendees at Thursday’s summit of the Republican Jewish Coalition amused, but not impressed. With the RJC, an influential group of donors and activists that prioritizes American policy toward Israel, the retired neurosurgeon and the businessman faced a more politically sophisticated crowd than either is used to, and one more concerned with the nuances of foreign policy.

Patrick O'Connor writes at The Wall Street Journal:

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump provoked boos and jeers from an influential Jewish group here Thursday for refusing to recognize Jerusalem as the undisputed capital of Israel.

The businessman also questioned Israel’s willingness to negotiate a sweeping Middle East peace deal with the Palestinians, a stance challenged earlier in the day by one of his top rivals, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

“I don’t know that Israel has a commitment to make a deal,” Mr. Trump told hundreds of members of the Republican Jewish Coalition who gathered a few blocks from the White House to hear from each of the GOP candidates.

Party Preference

So far, the GOP nomination contest hasn't cut into party affiliation.  Gallup reports:

Americans' party preferences are closely divided, with 43% identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic and 41% identifying as Republicans or leaning Republican. The parties have been essentially tied since August, representing a shift from months prior when Democrats had the party affiliation advantage.

Marco, the Second

Fox News reports:

A new poll released Wednesday shows Dr. Ben Carson falling to third place in the race for the Republican 2016 nomination, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio surges into second – but still a significant distance behind frontrunner Donald Trump, who holds a comfortable lead.

The Quinnipiac University National Poll shows Trump leading with 27 percent of Republican voters, while Rubio moves into second place with 17 percent. Carson, who was in a virtual tie with Trump in a Quinnipiac poll taken last month, finds his support dropping to 16 percent, now tied with Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

In October, Carson polled at 23 percent, just shy of Trump’s 24 percent. In a Quinnipiac poll taken at the end of September, Carson polled at 17 percent – putting him in second place at that time.

Meanwhile Rubio's numbers show a steady increase from the 9 percent he received in September, and 14 percent he received last month.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush still finds his support in single digits, polling at just 5 percent, while no other candidate tops 3 percent.

Trump Lies about His Lies

The Hill reports:

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to offer newspaper clippings and soundbites he says are proof of his claim that he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslim Americans cheering the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the streets of New Jersey, the TV network responsible for the rumor is stepping in to debunk it.

Digging deep into its archives, MTV News uncovered the Nov. 17, 2001, clip credited with launching the “celebrating Muslims” claim and re-released it in a short video titled "Trump Is Wrong About People ‘Cheering' 9/11 In New Jersey — Here's The Evidence.”

...

Trump, for his part, continued to stand by his remarks Tuesday morning, tweeting a short 2001 excerpt from the very MTV News segment the network itself says disproves his claim.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who appears in the footage tweeted out by Trump as proof of Muslim Americans celebration after 9/11, responded in a tweet of his own, saying the clip in question “is edited” out of context.