Task Force: Trump's Rants 'Reveal All You Need to Know'

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to defend his call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," one of the nation's leading LGBT groups has had enough.

"We wholeheartedly condemn and reject Donald Trump's call to stop Muslims from entering the United States," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, in a statement today. "Moreover, we believe that his comments about Muslims reveal all you need to know about him. First, there are no standards of decency, no limits to where he will go to grab attention in his quest to win the Republican Party nomination. He is willing to attack, alienate, and cause harm to anyone for political gain, regardless of the impact on people's lives or the divisiveness he feeds. Second, this is someone who does not learn from history. The same xenophobic frame-of-mind led to the appalling injustice of interning Japanese Americans during World War II. The legacy of that injustice lives on -- in the Priority Enforcement Program run by the Dept. of Homeland Security, which targets Muslim immigrants for deportation, and in the climate of racism that puts all Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians at risk of harassment and violence. Finally, words are weapons. Do we really want someone who -- we can see from his words -- fires first and aims later to have his finger on the world's biggest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction?"

Trump's sweeping call to bar all Muslims from entering the U.S. has earned him swift condemnation from both sides of the political aisle in Washington. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said today that Trump's ongoing defense of the position -- justified by referencing dark moments in U.S. history like the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II -- disqualifies him from the presidency. Democratic presidential front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on her supporters via Twitter to "Tell Donald Trump: Hate is not an American value," according to The New York Times.

Newly elected Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan rejected Trump's proposal as "not conservatism" and "not what this party stands for," according to Time. Fellow Republican presidential hopeful and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Trump "unhinged," according to CNN. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney said that Trump's latest proposal "goes against everything we stand for and believe in." CNN further notes that Republican Party chairs in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Iowa (three crucial states with early presidential primaries) all rejected Trump's proposal.

But not all conservatives were united against Trump's outlandish and unrealistic proposal. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a stridently anti-LGBT Republican and fellow presidential contender, distanced himself from the substance of Trump's proposal but said he commends Trump "for standing up and focusing America's attention on the need to secure our borders."