Washington: In yet another round of controversial remarks, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said he thinks "Islam hates us" and asserted that those having hatred against the US cannot be allowed to enter the country.
"I think Islam hates us," Trump told CNN, deploring the "tremendous hatred" that he said partly defined the religion.
Trump, 69, maintained that the war was against radical Islam, but said, "it's very hard to define. It's very hard to separate. Because you don't know who's who." Asked if the hate was "in Islam itself," Trump said that was for the media to figure out.
"You're gonna have to figure that out, OK?" he said when asked if there was hatred in the religion itself. "We have to be very vigilant. We have to be very careful.
And we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the United States," Trump said. The real estate tycoon-turned politician made headlines in December when he called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."
Despite widespread condemnation of the remarks, Trump has stood by the proposal.
When asked yesterday to outline how he would project power overseas, Trump said "there can be no doctrine" Trump also tried to clarify his position on how far he would go in targeting the families of terrorists.
He has said in the past that he is in favour of "expanding the laws" that govern how the US can combat and deter terrorism. Trump has also called for bringing back water-boarding, even vowing the US "should go a lot further than water-boarding."
But Trump yesterday declined to say what specific measures he would support.
"I'll work on it with the generals. We have to play the game at a much tougher level than we're playing it now," he said, without elaborating.
Meanwhile, fresh from his triple victory on Tuesday in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii, Trump held a massive rally in Fayetteville, NC. "Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, and Hawaii. Wow, so we've been winning a lot and now this week we have Florida which is an amazing place you know I mean it's gonna be amazing and as you know we have Ohio where you have an absentee governor," Trump said referring to his opponent and sitting Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Trump was cut off during his rally by 17 interruptions from protesters, at one point asking the crowd, "Where do these people come from?" Outside, the protesters ejected were joined by many others protesting the billionaire shouting, "No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA".
