Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump early Tuesday rejected criticism of his call to “shut the door” on Muslims entering the U.S. during a heated round of interviews in which he said he was not worried about being compared to Hitler.
{mosads}”We’re at war — get it through your head,” Trump said repeatedly during an interview with host Chris Cuomo on CNN’s “New Day.”
Trump stressed throughout the media blitz that his plan to prevent Muslims from entering the U.S. was “temporary.”
Trump sought to clarify on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that American Muslims living abroad could return to the U.S. When asked if Trump’s proposal applied to U.S. citizens living abroad, a Trump representative had told The Hill on Monday that Trump’s proposal applied to “everyone.”
George Stephanopoulos also asked Trump during the ABC interview whether the candidate was bothered by the increasing number of comparisons to Hitler, to which Trump responded, “No.”
Trump’s interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” turned combative when co-host Joe Scarborough tried to interject a question while the real estate mogul continued to speak during the phone call-in interview. Scarborough threatened to send the interview to a break if Trump didn’t allow him to ask a question. After Trump didn’t relent, Scarborough instructed producers to cut to commercials.
After the break, Trump discussed comparisons to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Questioned about whether he was proposing internment camps like the ones FDR created for the Japanese, Trump said, “I am not proposing that.”
“This is a whole different thing,” he added later during another combative exchange.
Trump saw bipartisan backlash late Monday after calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering America in the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting, which has been linked to terrorism.
A slew of GOP rivals blasted Trump, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who called it “unhinged,” as well as the Republican party chairs in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
The White House and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton also panned the idea as un-American and unconstitutional.
“We have to get our hands around a very serious problem,” Trump said on MSNBC.
Trump also noted that “not everybody has condemned” his comments.