WASHINGTON — Under withering fire for his plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Donald Trump on Tuesday compared himself to FDR — who targeted US residents from Japan and other Axis powers for scrutiny during World War II.
Trump said he was “no different” than President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he called “highly respected by all.”
“Take a look at presidential proclamations, what he was doing with Germans, Italians and Japanese, because he had to do it,” Trump said.
FDR allowed military authorities to detain and question so-called enemy aliens hailing from Germany, Japan and Italy even if they were US citizens.
The billionaire businessman declined repeated requests on MSNBC to say the internment of Japanese-Americans during the war violated American values, saying questioner Mark Halperin was trying to change the subject.
“We’re not talking about the Japanese internment camps at all,” Trump said.
In 1988, Congress officially apologized for the interment and provided restitution.
Early on, during a series of TV appearances, Trump warned of “additional attacks on the US” if his proposal isn’t put in place.
“You’re going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don’t solve it — many, many more and probably beyond the World Trade Center,” he told CNN.
The poll-leading GOP presidential contender shrugged off a Philadelphia Daily News Page 1 portraying him as Hitler by saying, “Another newspaper going out of business.”
Rather than bowing to denunciations from top Republicans, Trump fired another shot across the bow.
“A new poll indicates that 68 percent of my supporters would vote for me if I departed the GOP & ran as an independent,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
He said his anti-Muslim policy wouldn’t be permanent, though he didn’t say how long it should be in place.
“I’m talking about a temporary situation until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” he said.
US Muslims who travel abroad would apparently be allowed to return home under the Trump plan.
“If a person is a Muslim, goes overseas and comes back, they can come back,” he told ABC. “They’re a citizen. That’s different.”
Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s longtime confidante, released a rare personal statement bashing Trump.
“I’m a proud Muslim — but you don’t have to share my faith to share my disgust,” Abedin said in an e-mail to Clinton supporters.
The Associated Press had reported that Trump would be visiting Jordan — a majority-Muslim country — at the end of the month, but Trump later denied the claim on Twitter.