"The larger arc of our history … is the larger arc of love and generosity and respect for one another," Martin O'Malley said during his trip to the Sterling, Virginia, mosque. Martin O'Malley visits a mosque, rips Trump

In a show of solidarity with the American Muslim community, Martin O'Malley visited a mosque and community center in Sterling, Virginia, on Friday, where he told those in attendance that Donald Trump does not represent the future of the United States.

In times of fear and division, the Democratic presidential candidate said at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, it is easy for "unscrupulous politicians or hate preachers," like Trump, to turn people against each other.


The visit comes days after Trump proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, claiming "there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population." Trump's idea has been pilloried on the left and the right as either inhumane or purely impractical.

"But that sort of language that your hear from Donald Trump is not the language of America’s future. I know the language of America’s future," O'Malley said, adding that he speaks to people under the age of 30 every day and rarely hears anyone with Trump's views.

“I know that there have been many acts of violence. I know there are acts of ignorance that have been encouraged by some in our political discourse, but the larger arc of our history … is the larger arc of love and generosity and respect for one another," O'Malley added.

The former governor of Maryland remains far behind both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in national and state-by-state polling. Both of his opponents have also expressed outrage at the California attack as well as Trump's plan.

"And so I know, and I know that our young people understand that the tragic murders that took place in San Bernardino does not define Islam any more than that horrible murder that took place in Charleston defines Christianity," he said in invoking the June 17 slaying of nine people at a historically black church at the hands of a white supremacist.

Together, O'Malley concluded, "inshallah [if God wills], we shall overcome these challenges."