WHITE HOUSE: Donald Trump disqualified himself from the presidency - and he has 'fake hair'
White House press secretary Josh Earnest tore into Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, when he was asked about the proposal during his daily media briefing.
"The Trump campaign for months now has had a dustbin-of-history-like quality to it, from the vacuous sloganeering, to the outright lies, to even the fake hair. The whole carnival-barker routine that we've seen for some time now," Earnest said.
Earnest then blasted the entire Republican field for signing a pledge to support the party's ultimate presidential nominee. All of the GOP candidates, including Trump, made the pledge after the businessman threatened to run an independent campaign if he were not treated fairly.
"The question now is about the rest of the Republican Party and whether or not they're going to be dragged into the dustbin of history with him. And right now, the current trajectory is not every good," Earnest said.
He continued:
Now, I know that each of the Republican candidates has already taken an oath pledging to support Donald Trump for president of the United States if he wins the nomination. But the fact is, the first thing a president does when he or she takes the oath of office is to swear an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. And the fact is, what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president.
"What he said is disqualifying," Earnest added. "And any Republican who's too fearful of the Republican base to admit it has no business serving as president either."
For his part, Trump has defended his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants and tourists as a temporary and "common-sense" measure to thwart potential terrorist attacks.
Trump unveiled the plan Monday in the aftermath of last week's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that was linked to the Islamic State terror group. One of the shooters involved allegedly pledged allegiance to the group as the attack was unfolding.
"Where the hatred comes from and why, we'll have to determine," Trump said of Muslims during a Monday-night rally. "We have to figure it out. We can't live like this. It's going to get worse and worse. You're going to have more World Trade Centers. It's going to get worse and worse, folks. We can be politically correct and we can be stupid, but it's going to get worse and worse."
Trump has also repeatedly the defended the authenticity of his famous hair. As evidence, the billionaire has invited multiple interviewers and even an attendee at one of his rallies to pull on it.