Tuesday at the CNN Republican presidential under card debate, Republican presidential candidate former Gov. George Pataki (R-NY) criticized his party’s front-runner Donald Trump because he wants to put a temporary halt on Muslims coming to the United States.
Moderator Wolf Blitzer asked, “Governor Pataki, you’ve also suggested Mr. Trump’s plan is un-American and absurd. Why?”
Pataki said, “It’s one of many absurd things this president has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you’re an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion, we’ll ban you. It’s un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, there was a group that tried to do that 150, 160 years ago. They were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century. By the way, I fought Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it’s radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against Americans, they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living in safety. We have to destroy those who embrace jihad and want on engage in violence against us here or abroad.”
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