Chris Christie has been fending off incoming flak from the Republican front runner, Donald Trump, who blistered his “friend” Christie for the state’s nine credit downgrades. He also suggested that Christie knew about the political revenge gambit known as Bridgegate before the traffic tie ups at the George Washington bridge even happened. What triggered Trump’s retaliatory tirade? Christie called him “ridiculous.” The Governor joined a chorus of powerful Republicans decrying Donald Trump’s call for “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”. Joining NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Jim Sues.
Williams: What’s your initial reaction to Trump’s statements calling for the ban on Muslims in this country?
Sues: I’d have to agree with Governor Christie on this one. It is ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s offensive, and it’s frankly probably very illegal.
Williams: Donald Trump has said a lot of controversial things. Might these most recent comments be a tipping point of sorts, where he’ll start dropping in the polls?
Sues: I would hope so. Right now I’m not necessarily optimistic. I’m very interesting in seeing what the polling data will show what the reaction will be to this. Trump has proven himself to be rather adept at abusing Muslims in the media and capitalizing on that in terms of political points.
Williams: How does the political climate surrounding the San Bernardino shooting and the Paris attacks play into anti-Muslim sentiment?
Sues: It does play directly into that. Unfortunately, a lot of people will see those attacks as reflective of Islam and Muslims in general and not see that this really is a case of some people in the Middle East who have political ambitions; who have perverted the religion and some other misguided individuals who have bought into that perversion. It reflects very poorly on all Muslims unfortunately, and it’s created a very toxic political climate.
Williams: Has Donald Trump uncovered underlying Islamophobia around this country and somehow reignited it?
Sues: I think that’s what’s happened. By the level of support that he’s received at every turn when he has upped the rhetoric on Muslims, we see that his support not only it doesn’t decrease, but in some cases it increases. That is definitely a reflection on sort of some underlying Islamophobia that existed there all along.
Williams: What’s at stake here in conflating the actions of ISIS militants with the Muslim population in general?
Sues: What’s at stake is the safety and security of American Muslims, because when you start conflating the barbaric acts of ISIS on all Muslims, especially American Muslims, you’ll find people who will take it upon themselves to react in a way that is very harmful to Muslims. There have been cases of violence against individuals, violence against mosques and threats against individuals and mosques, also.
Williams: Other Republican candidates have called out Trump on his comments and there is widespread outrage from Muslims all over the country, but what’s been the reaction of Muslims in New Jersey?
Sues: I’d say widespread outrage. It’s outrageous, it’s offensive, it’s hard to believe. I find it hard to believe that he was sober when he made these comments. It’s just so over the top.
Williams: How do you combat this?
Sues: The best way to combat this is for American Muslims to reach out to their friends and neighbors and coworkers and introduce themselves and introduce the religion and let them know that this is not something to be feared, not something to be suspicious of and not something to hate, frankly.