Donald Trump’s plan to at least temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the U.S. continued to dominate debate in the U.S., exacerbating an ongoing struggle for the soul of the Republican Party. There were conservative defenders, to be sure (among them, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and commentators Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter), and Trump supporters in key primary states (not to mention several communities in California) were undeterred by the firestorm of criticism. But elements of the GOP establishment, embattled in a campaign season dominated by hard-right insurgents, were increasingly vocal in opposition to Trump’s remarks.

The leadership of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee warned that should Trump be nominated, it would almost certainly cost the GOP seats in the House, potentially even putting the party’s majority in jeopardy. Their Senate counterparts, who have a more tenuous hold on Congress’s upper chamber, either distanced themselves from Trump’s stance or ducked the question.  Members locked in tight re-election races began speaking out more forcefully against his idea, which was branded as “anti-American” by the chairman of the Republican National Committee.  

Party elders continued a discussion about what would happen should Trump secure the nomination, while Hillary Clinton’s campaign presented him as State’s Exhibit A in ads offering a wider indictment of Republican extremism.  

A Pentagon spokesman called Trump’s plan a threat to national security that “bolsters ISIL’s narrative.” Legal scholars condemned the idea but did not reach consensus on whether it would be unconstitutional if applied solely to non-U.S. citizens. Historians put Trump’s rhetoric in league with such notorious figures as George Wallace and Father Charles Coughlin.

Yet there seems to be little question that Trump has tapped into anxiety about immigration. An Associated Press-GfK poll taken before his latest comments found that “three-quarters of Republicans thought immigration from the region was too high, with nearly as many expressing fears about the possibility that Syrian refugees will commit violence.”

Meanwhile, Time magazine named Angela Merkel as their Person of the Year, citing her work on Europe’s migration crisis, as well as the Greek debt mess, as examples of “steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply.”

Among grantee activities:

--The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, and Muslim Advocates were among a group of civil rights organizations passing a resolution lamenting that the 2016 presidential campaign has “incited disturbing levels of fear mongering and demagoguery” and inveighing against ideas that would further target religious groups and communities of color.

--America’s Voice promoted news of the global reach of the #DumpTrump movement, aimed at applying financial pressure on Trump’s empire via boycotts. Its latest installment mentions a Dubai-based retailer who is pulling Trump merchandise from store shelves at outlets in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.  AV also urged elected officials to go beyond distancing themselves from his remarks and actively renounce him, pledging not to support him if he were to become the GOP nominee.

--The Center for Democracy and Technology published a piece urging advocates to remain vigilant in opposition to a proposal requiring Internet companies to report to the government any signs of apparent “terrorist activity” among users in their networks. Sen. Feinstein pushed the idea last summer, as part of the Intelligence Authorization Act; it was stripped out after meeting with  fierce opposition from civil liberties and human rights groups. Recent news accounts suggest that Feinstein may revive the idea in the aftermath of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.

--Human Rights First held its annual summit, featuring discussions on how to balance national security and human rights in a wide variety of contexts, including the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

--The National Security Network circulated a brief on the roots of Islamophobia and anti-refugee rhetoric and how they have migrated to mainstream political discourse. The report’s conclusion:

“The promotion of anti-Muslim extremist narratives already threatens the U.S. effort to resettle Syrian

refugees displaced by war and terrorism, a cruel abdication of American leadership and

responsibility that confuses the victims of terrorism with its perpetrators. Left

unchecked and unchallenged, these narratives also threaten constitutional protections –

as presidential candidates have already tied these narratives to limitations on the free

exercise of speech and religion.”

---- The National Network of Arab American Communities, Mainstreet Alliance, and Every Voice joined a coalition organizing to protest hate speech around the hashtag #WeAreBetterThanThis. The group, which plans a full-page ad in the New York Times and a microsite, includes a number of USP grantees. This builds on efforts last year to bring together advocates from different communities to battle Islamophobia—through convenings such as the “Solidarity Summit”—which continue to bear fruit, expediting support for Muslim activists from Arab and South Asian communities as well as the wider U.S. immigration and racial justice field, creating a multiplier effect.