White House: Trump's Comments On Muslims 'Disqualify Him' From Being President

Trending News: Even The White House Says Donald Trump Can't Be President

Why Is This Important?

Because there are (thankfully) some limits to how insane you can be as a politician.

Long Story Short

The internet is aflame after the White House press spokesman told reporters that Donald Trump's recent claims about barring Muslims from entering the U.S. "disqualify" him from becoming POTUS. He's referring to the constitutionality of screening visitors based on religion.

Long Story

Enormous clump of earwax Donald Trump has been doing what he does best recently: Getting himself in front of television camera. His most recent controversy came after he said that all people of Islamic faith should be banned from immigrating to the U.S. until the government "figures out what's going on." In what may have, finally, been a bridge too far, White House press spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters today that such statements "disqualify" Trump from being president.

"The first thing that a president does when he or she takes the oath of office is swear an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," he told reporters. "And the fact is that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from being president. And for Republican candidates to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying."

As you may recall, freedom to practice religion — any religion — within reason is one of the cornerstones of the First Amendment. And mind you, this is not just Trump speaking off the cuff at one of his endless campaign rallies — this is an official statement, released, confirmed and later defended by Trump and his campaign.

The internet, being the internet, was overjoyed to hear the words "Trump" and "disqualified" in the same sentence, and the hashtag #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty quickly began trending:

Please don't let #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty trend unless Trump has actually been disqualified. I'd hate to be disappointed. — Klye Klgrlaen (@KyleKallgren) December 8, 2015

I am a proud American, I am Muslim and on my way to the #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty pic.twitter.com/UOtc1uAypX — Bridgette Kolesar M (@Bridgettekw) December 8, 2015

Until we hear otherwise, however, the news may not be as good as the would-be revelers think: As far as I can tell, Earnest is saying that were Trump to become the POTUS, he couldn't constitutionally enact (many of) his policies while in office. There's nothing, I don't believe, barring him from saying dumb shit and still getting nominated and elected. After all, the First Amendment protects his freedom of speech, too.

I'm assuming the White House will clarify when/if they learn what a storm this is causing.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is Donald Trump just looking for an excuse to drop out of the race at this point?

Disrupt Your Feed

My only fear is that stuff like this will make his backers fight harder for him.

Drop This Fact

Donald Trump claims to have never drank, smoked or used drugs.