国际英语新闻:Donald Trump's Anti-Muslim Demand Sparks Sharp Backlash

Republican U.S. presidential front-runner Donald Trump is drawing rebukes from across the world for proposing a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States until the country's leaders can “figure out what is going on” about possible new terrorist attacks.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Tuesday called Trump's rhetoric "offensive and toxic," saying his plan "disqualifies him from serving as president" because he would be violating the U.S. Constitution if he implemented it, should he win the country's 2016 presidential contest.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called Trump's plan "divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong."

'Islamophobia, xenophobia'

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon, in responding to Trump's latest comments, said, "We do not believe that any kind of rhetoric that relies on Islamophobia, xenophobia, any other appeal to hate any groups, really should be followed by anyone."

Keysar Trad, chairman of the Sydney-based Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, called Trump's comment "a desperate statement by a desperate man who knows that he's clutching at straws and has no chance of winning the election. So he's trying to win it off the back of the Islamophobia industry."

In the U.S., Trump's political opponents widely condemned his proposal and legal experts told news outlets that a ban on Muslims entering the country would be unconstitutional.

"Donald Trump is unhinged," Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor and son and brother of two former U.S. presidents, said on Twitter, "His 'policy' proposals are not serious."

Another of Trump's Republican opponents, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, described Trump's proposal to ban Muslims as "un-American," and said, "He is helping the enemy of this nation, by assisting Islamic State to recruit more fighters."

The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, denounced the Trump idea, saying it "is not what this party stands for and more importantly not what this country stands for."

Ibraham Hooper, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, had an especially blistering response to Trump's demand.

"We're entering into the realm of the fascist now," Hooper said. "It should be disturbing not only to American-Muslims, but it should be disturbing to all Americans that the leading Republican presidential candidate would issue essentially a fascist statement like this."