"What’s scary is not only his statements — it’s the number of people who support his statements."

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Russell Simmons on Donald Trump: ‘He has to be stopped’
By Alex Bregman, December 11, 2015

Russell Simmons, the chairman of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the CEO of Rush Communications, spoke to Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga about his open letter to his former longtime friend Donald Trump regarding the Republican frontrunner’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

On that proposal, Simmons told Golodryga: “This kind of speech is so hateful and hurtful that we as Americans have to stand up because we’re talking about ourselves when we’re talking about members of the Muslim community.” He continued, “What’s scary is not only his statements — it’s the number of people who support his statements.”

On the rhetoric around Muslims in America, Simmons said, “ISIS is the biggest anti-Muslim group in the world.” He continued: “Just like the guy who shot up Planned Parenthood isn’t a Christian terrorist. He’s a terrorist. He may have used the Bible or ideas that come from Christianity to fuel his hatred, but it certainly was not based on Jesus and what he promoted, and so I would not call him a Christian terrorist, just like it’s hard to think that those are strong believers in Islam.”

On Simmons’ relationship with Trump: “He would go out of his way to help me out in a number of instances, and so it pains me to have this public discussion where I’m denouncing him. His words are what I’m really denouncing, and the fact the he stands behind those words is hurtful. It hurts my feelings that he could stand behind those words, because I don’t know him as that kind of person. But he obviously is, and he has to be stopped — and I will campaign vigorously against him and against those ideas.”

Echoing Hillary Clinton on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Simmons said that Trump’s comments are no laughing matter: “There are things that he might say that could conceivably, as much as it was funny, could get serious.”

On Trump’s campaign rhetoric in general, Simmons said, “Some of the things that he has said are very un-American.” He continued: “I think the things [Donald Trump] is saying are dangerous to the American process, and they’re breaking down the idea that we built this country on.”
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