Texas Sen. Ted Cruz further distanced himself from Donald Trump’s call for a “complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States, but did say the country should “focus very directly on the threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism,” and said that should include closer monitoring of those who enter the country.
“Well, I disagree with Donald on that. He is welcome to discuss his policy ideas. That is not my view of how we should approach it,” the Republican presidential candidate told NPR’s Steve Inskeep in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Morning Edition.”
The interview was conducted Tuesday, the day after Trump’s controversial comments on banning Muslims.
Cruz pointed out that there are “millions of peaceful Muslims” both in the U.S. and globally, and closer monitoring of those who enter the country, especially as it pertains to refugees, “is not about the Islamic faith.”
“It is about Islamism, which is a very different thing,” he said. Cruz said he would allow victims of genocide or who are religious minorities to enter the U.S., something he said is not the same thing as a religious test.
“Now, I would note, the notion of a religious test, our immigration law for decades has included provisions focusing on religious persecution. We have always had a religious test. And what is happening to the Christians by ISIS is qualitatively different. They are facing genocide in that ISIS is attempting to exterminate the Middle Eastern Christians in a way that is qualitatively different from other people,” Cruz said.
“There are many refugees there that are fleeing war conditions; that are fleeing poverty; that are fleeing chaos,” he said. “But genocide is something we have always recognized as qualitatively different, when a particular religious minority is being persecuted and being murdered the way Christians are being crucified, beheaded, raped and murdered by ISIS.”
And when it comes to outright rejecting Trump’s rhetoric, Cruz said he doesn’t do so because he hopes to take supporters away from the billionaire businessman if he quits the race.
“Well, Steve, let me say two things on that. Number one, I’ve taken this same approach with regard to every other candidate. It’s not just Donald Trump. You don’t hear me right now blasting, launching personal insults at Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or anyone else,” Cruz said, calling his well-established method is to “not respond in kind.”
“I do not reciprocate and I don’t intend to. I’m not going to get down in the mud and engage in personal insults and attacks. You remember the first couple of debates, the Republican debates. They’re basically food fights,” he added.
He told Inskeep that the notion that he wants Trump supporters is true — “Of course I do,” he declared.
“I would like to earn the support of every one of Donald Trump’s supporters and every one of Ben Carson’s supporters and every one of Marco Rubio’s supporters and every one of Jeb Bush’s supporters, and I’m working every day to try to earn their support,” he said.
In a RealClearPolitics average of polls, Trump sits in first place with 29.3 percentage points, while Cruz is in second place with 15.5 percentage points.
