As fellow Republicans pile on Donald Trump, Democrats are trying to seize the clear political opportunity offered by the real-estate mogul’s proposal that the U.S. ban all Muslims from entering the country.
Both Sen. Bernard Sanders and Hillary Clinton, each of whom is seeking the White House in 2016, used Mr. Trump’s inflammatory plan Tuesday to both rally Democrats and raise money for their respective campaigns. Analysts say that strategy is both smart politics and a shrewd fundraising tactic, and in the long run may pay dividends for Democrats if they’re able to use Mr. Trump’s positions to color the entire Republican Party.
“Why wouldn’t they use what Trump is saying? He’s the front-runner right now … of course they’re going to use his crazy proposals against him and attempt to brand the Republican Party as bigoted and racist and intolerant. And that’s politics,” said Matthew Dallek, assistant professor of political management at George Washington University. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this leads to an uptick in some fundraising for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and motivates some of their supporters.”
Indeed, the Democratic Party has latched on Mr. Trump’s plan and is using it as ammunition against the GOP as a whole. Despite the fact that every other Republican candidate has denounced the idea of banning all Muslims from entering the country, the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday still made the case that Mr. Trump reflects the party’s broader views.
“Republican candidates’ attempts to try to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s un-American proposal to ban Muslims from the United States is laughable, seeing as they — along with party leadership — have refused to stand up to him, and have in fact echoed his xenophobia,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat and chairwoman of the DNC, said in a statement.
Mr. Trump is sticking by the proposal, which he announced late Monday. He called for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. “until our country’s representatives figure out what is going on.”
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He said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday that U.S. citizens who are Muslim would be allowed to leave and re-enter the country, and added that he would be willing to waive the ban for visiting leaders of Middle Eastern countries.
Within hours of its release, figures from across the political spectrum — including Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, the third Democrat seeking the White House — were panning the idea. By Tuesday morning, Mr. Sanders was appealing to donors to contribute to his campaign and stop Mr. Trump’s “racism.” He pointed to polling data that show he does best against Mr. Trump in hypothetical general election match-ups.
A Quinnipiac poll released at the end of November, for example, showed Mr. Sanders beating Mr. Trump by 8 percentage points, while Mrs. Clinton defeated Mr. Trump by 6 percentage points. Other polls also have shown Mr. Sanders beating Mr. Trump by the widest margin of any Democrat in the presidential race.
“I want to say a few things about Donald Trump and specifically about his comments tonight that we should ban all Muslims from coming to the United States, even American Muslims returning home from overseas,” Mr. Sanders said in the email. “It’s fun for the political media to treat Donald Trump like he’s the lead character in a soap opera or the star player on a baseball team. But the truth is his language is dangerous, especially as it empowers his supporters to act out against Muslims, Latinos, and African-Americans … Donate $3 to our campaign now to condemn Donald Trump’s hate and racism,”
Mr. Sanders largely ignored the Trump controversy Tuesday during a stop in Baltimore, instead focusing his trip on the poverty in parts of the city, which he likened to a “third world country.”
Meanwhile, Huma Abedin, a longtime confidant to Mrs. Clinton and vice chair of her presidential campaign, also has taken direct aim at Mr. Trump. She sent out an email to supporters Monday night with the subject line: “I’m a proud Muslim.”
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“Donald Trump is leading in every national poll to be the Republican nominee for president. And earlier today, he released his latest policy proposal: to ban all Muslims from entering our country,” she wrote. “I’m a proud Muslim — but you don’t have to share my faith to share my disgust.”
The email asks supporters to sign onto Mrs. Clinton’s campaign to “build a stronger, more inclusive country together.”
⦁ Kelly Riddell and David Sherfinski contributed to this report.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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