Shields: Republicans Who Don’t Criticize Trump ‘Ought To Withdraw from Public Life’

SREENIVASAN: “Now, Mark, the Hillary reaction is almost predictable. But other Republican candidates came out against this as well.”

SHIELDS: “That’s right. Chris Christie on “The Today Show” this morning said — criticized it and said he would not have done it. Lindsey Graham was even more vocal on an Andrea Mitchell interview today. To me, this is -- Barack Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii. Barack Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii. I mean, what we have is feeding paranoia. Right now, 43 percent of Republicans, according to CNN’s latest poll, believe Barack Obama is a Muslim; 54 percent of Trump supporters in the same survey believe he is. Donald Trump has stirred this, he’s sustained it, he’s exploited it. This is a real character check, and it’s a character defect, if you don’t stand up and say this is unacceptable and it shall not stand. If a Republican cannot criticize Donald Trump on this — on these grounds of not rejecting and rebutting something so outrageous and indefensible as — in this question, then they just ought to withdraw from public life.”