So Donald Trump has just been disowned by the White House in his bid to become US president.
The White House said his call for America to ban Muslims from entering the country has led to officials asking Republicans to reject him immediately.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Trump’s campaign had a ‘dustbin of history’ quality to it and said his comments were offensive and toxic.
Earnest said other Republican presidential candidates, who have pledged to support the person who eventually wins their party’s nomination, should disavow Trump ‘right now’.
Earnest said: ‘What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president.’
‘What he said is disqualifying and any Republican who’s too fearful of the Republican base to admit it has no business serving as president either.’
He mocked Trump’s appearance, branding his hair ‘fake’.
The comments were made in the wake of Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the states ‘until we know what’s going on’.
The Republican frontrunner’s proposed ban would apply to immigrants and visitors alike, a sweeping prohibition affecting all adherents of a religion practised by more than a billion people worldwide.
Trump’s proposal has been condemned by many Republican candidates but cheered by many Trump supporters.
Democrats see Trump’s rhetoric about Muslims as potentially damaging to the Republican Party’s brand as a whole and have tried to keep the focus on whether the other Republicans will disavow their party’s leading candidate.
