Donald Trump has called on Muslims to work with the police and “turn people in”.
In an interview with the British channel ITV, the presumptive Republican nominee said he was not anti-Muslim, but “anti-terror”.
Donald Trump was reacting to remarks by UK PM David Cameron that he was “stupid, divisive and wrong” in calling for Muslims to be banned from the US.
The billionaire made the call last year, when he was not the GOP’s front-runner.
Donald Trump insisted that when he called for an immediate temporary ban on Muslims being allowed into America, there had been criticism only from politicians. Millions of people from all over the world had called in, he said, saying “Donald Trump is right”.
Asked whether he would re-phrase those comments in the light of the controversy they caused, Donald Trump said: “It got people thinking. Whether it’s good for me or bad for me, I don’t really care.”
“Something very bad” was going on that people pretended didn’t exist, Donald Trump said.
The world had a tremendous problem with radical Islamic terror, he said.
“If you look at it world-wide, the world is blowing up. And it’s not people from Sweden that’s doing the damage, okay?”
It is up to Muslims to turn in people they suspected of extremism, he added.
“They have to work with the police. They’re not turning them in. If they’re not playing ball, it’s not going to work out.”
Referring to David Cameron’s criticism, Donald Trump also said it looked like he was not going to have a good relationship with the UK prime minister.
Donald Trump also criticized the new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for calling him “ignorant”.
The Republican is one of the least politically experienced nominees in US history, having never held elected office.
Many senior Republicans have refused to back Donald Trump. All other Republican rivals have dropped out of the campaign.
