Trump ‘jokes’ about ejecting people who aren’t conservative Christians
Donald Trump joked about ejecting supporters from his rally on Wednesday because they’re not conservative Christians.
The Republican Presidential hopeful made the comment at a rally in Council Bluffs Iowa, where he was launching an ‘Iowa Christian Conservatives for Trump’ coalition.
Trump in IA: Raise your hand “if you’re not a Christian conservative…Should we keep them in the room? I think so” https://t.co/0IafaNOp9I
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 28, 2016
Speaking to the crowd, he said: “Raise your hands, Christian Conservatives”, with most of the audience putting their hands up.
He continued: “Raise your hand if you’re NOT a Christian conservative… I want to see this, right.”
The candidate appeared surprised when a couple of people did actually put their hand up.
He said: “That’s… oh, there’s a couple people, that’s all right.
“I think we’ll keep them, right? Should we keep them in the room?”
It follows a similar incident earlier this year where Trump ‘joked’ about ejecting a mother with a crying baby.
Mr Trump was once a moderate within the Republican Party on LGBT issues, suggesting that people shouldn’t be fired because of their sexuality.
But he has reneged since, saying he would “consider” appointing ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices to repeal equal marriage, and confirming he would sign a Republican-backed law to directly permit homophobic discrimination.
On September 23, Trump confirmed he would sign the so-called First Amendment Defence Act, which bans the government from taking any “action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognised as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
The broadly written law would effectively legalise all discrimination against LGBT people in all sectors – from employment to retail to healthcare – as long as the person discriminating claims it was due to their religion.
The shocking move would require the repeal of Barack Obama’s landmark LGBT discrimination protections, which Trump also confirmed he would axe.
He said in a statement: “Religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“It is our first liberty and provides the most important protection in that it protects our right of conscience. Activist judges and executive orders issued by Presidents who have no regard for the Constitution have put these protections in jeopardy.
“If I am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths.”