Trump's remarks recruiting tool for extremists: John Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry has slammed Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump for his Islamophobic remarks, saying that his comments will be used as a recruiting tool for extremist groups.
Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has recently called for barring Muslims from entering the US, his latest in a series of bigoted remarks about Muslims and non-European immigrants on the campaign trail.
Speaking to CBS on Sunday, Kerry said the billionaire businessman’s remarks contradict American values and the Constitution.
“But I also think it's a very dangerous foreign policy because it says to those who are trying to exploit people and recruit foreign fighters and otherwise, it says look, look at America,” he added.
“Here they have got a guy running for president who is waging war against Islam," Kerry said. "That's their impression. It's exploitable, whether he intended it or not. And it allows for recruitment. It allows for America to seem like it is indeed discriminatory against Islam, against Muslims."
The top US diplomat denounced the real-estate mogul’s remarks as "highly discriminating against many Americans and others who are Muslim."
Kerry also said that Trump’s remarks have damaged America’s image abroad.
“I think it has got a huge downside in terms of American foreign policy and I hear this from foreign ministers and others as I travel and engage with people in various countries."
Kerry’s statements echoed President Barack Obama’s weekly radio address on Saturday, warning that prejudice and discrimination against Muslims in the US undermines the country’s national security.
Obama said the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino shouldn't be blamed on a particular community and said all Americans, irrespective of their faith, grieved over the terror attack.
Trump’s statement, which has drawn widespread condemnation both domestically and internationally, came in response to the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, last week, in which a married couple described as "radicalized" by authorities allegedly killed 14 people.
Muslim American activists have warned that Trump's racist and anti-Muslim remarks were only intensifying a wave of Islamophobia across the US.
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