O’Malley: Americans aren’t ‘scared stupid’ like Trump says

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said Wednesday that Americans will ultimately reject Donald Trump’s hostility toward Muslims, though many “seem to be falling for” his pitch.

“I am betting that Americans are not scared stupid like so many of the unscrupulous leaders in the Republican presidential field, namely Donald Trump, believe,” the Democratic presidential candidate said on Fox News Radio’s “The Alan Colmes Show.”

{mosads}“We need to defend our values against the sort of fascist appeals that democracies become vulnerable to when people are apprehensive and full of fear,” O’Malley added, as first reported by BuzzFeed.

O’Malley argued that Trump’s rhetoric toward Muslims is helping terrorist groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) expand its ranks.

“What Donald Trump — and some of the others in the Republican Party — are doing is playing right into the hands of ISIL,” he said, using an alternate acronym for ISIS.

O’Malley additionally dismissed claims he is “courageous” for becoming the first White House hopeful to visit a mosque in 2016.

“What I think is courageous is the number of American Muslims who put on our uniform and defend our country abroad given how they have to watch the news and hear people like Donald Trump say they want to prevent them from coming home.”

Trump inspired international debate earlier this month by proposing a temporary freeze on admitting Muslims into the U.S. He has repeatedly argued that the measure is necessary for preventing radical Islamic terrorism on American soil.

The entire 2016 Democratic presidential field — O’Malley, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — has roundly lambasted the suggestion as discriminatory.

It has also drawn condemnation from other Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers in Congress who say it is impractical and unconstitutional.