Foreign diplomats concerned about ‘ignorant and racist’ Trump

thehill.com

via SW on fakebook

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By Julian Hattem - 03/07/16 11:21 AM EST

Foreign diplomats are reportedly complaining to U.S. officials about Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's inflammatory comments.

The public pronouncement from Mexico’s foreign minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, that Trump’s remarks are “ignorant and racist” is just the tip of the iceberg, according to three U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters. 

Officials from India, South Korea and Japan have also privately expressed concern, according to Reuters, as have others in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

Multiple top foreign officials have been public with their concern.

On Sunday, Germany’s economic minister, Sigmar Gabriel, lumped Trump in with French far-right politician Marine Le Pen and Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has made extreme remarks about Islam.

All three are “not only a threat to peace and social cohesion, but also to economic development,” Gabriel told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has also labeled Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims coming to the U.S. as “divisive, stupid and wrong.” 

Reuters’s report about diplomats’ extensive, private concerns regarding Trump’s rhetoric makes clear that foreign government fears run deep. 

"The responses have ranged from amusement to befuddlement to curiosity," one U.S. official told the news agency. "In some cases, we've heard expressions of alarm, but those have been more in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment as well as the general sense of xenophobia.”

Trump has consistently been criticized for extreme comments about foreigners, including Mexicans and Muslim immigrants.

Yet those remarks have failed to blunt his rise to the top of the GOP polls. In fact, many Republicans say they agree with his radical call for Muslims to be temporarily banned from entering the U.S.