Press TV has conducted an interview with Mike Gravel, a former US senator from San Francisco, about a request made by presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to profile Muslims.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Does Donald Trump’s proposal not infringe on the civil liberties of the Muslim community?
Gravel: Oh, it totally infringes on the civil liberties and it truly is illegal based on a lot of laws that have been enacted. What Trump is just going to the extreme, he’s done this with the Mexicans, now Muslims. What he’s doing, he’s dropping in the polls as a result of this and also a lot of Republicans are rethinking their position of him being the standard bearer. And so, I think that there may be an effort at the Republican convention to go ahead and get a replacement.
Press TV: We have seen a number of top political figures distance themselves from Trump, citing his comments as hate rhetoric and as absurd, right? But it seems that Trump only capitalized on the prevailing Islamaphobia that politicians and Western media had spread in the first place. Your thoughts?
Gravel: No question, he’s capitalizing on a lot of the things the Republicans have stood for and encouraged over time. And now all of a sudden, this has come full center and his positions have backfired on the Republican Party and so, they have the likes of Donald Trump as the standard bearer, but you’re quite right. There’s a lot of these views. They were prevalent with the Tea Party types with the extreme. Well, remember all of the candidates running for office, Cruz and others. They’re just making outlandish statements and they were the party leaders and Trump is the best of them in that regard.
Press TV: Right, and there have been a number of hate crimes carried out by non-Muslims in the US, why do we not see Trump propose ways to counter threats from their perpetrators?
Gravel: Of course, Trump is being selected. The Muslim community in the United States does not have a great deal of political power for many reasons and so he can capitalize on the Muslims but he won’t capitalize on other areas because it won’t be acceptable politically even for him.
Press TV: And Senator Gravel, do you think this kind of rhetoric ultimately will hurt Trump more or help his campaign for US presidency?
Gravel: It will hurt his candidacy and it will hurt the American culture.
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