The Whole GOP Has Gone Nuts, Not Just Trump

Chris Christie won't take in Syrian refugees that are orphans. Ted Cruz proposed carpet-bombing the Middle East, a war crime in 2015, and "making the sand glow." Cruz and Jeb Bush proposed a religious test on refugees, saying we should only take in the Christian Syrians. Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim President, because it's not consistent with our Constitution. Marco Rubio called for a "clash of civilizations," or essentially a new Crusade against the Muslim world. Carly Fiorina has tried to stay above Muslim-bashing, but she didn't correct a guy in New Hampshire calling President Obama a Muslim. Mike Huckabee said he can only think of Muslims who are terrorists. Even the supposedly moderate John Kasich called for a stoppage of Syrian refugees coming to Ohio.

It should be no wonder that we're seeing Mosque desecrations right now in America, as these Republican candidates encourage the bigots to come out of the woodwork against Muslims. While everyone is citing the insanity coming out of Donald Trump on Muslims, and they should, it's important to not treat him as an outlier. Trump is simply willing to go a step further than the rest of them and call for an outright ban first. His rhetoric is not out of line with the discussion the Republican candidates are having right now, and it's not out of line with the voters of his party. Frankly, it's just more honest than most of them.