Trump Stands By Claim ‘Muslims Cheered 9/11,’ Jeb Bush Admits ‘Anyone Is Better Than Hillary Clinton’

Donald Trump stands by his claim (a claim referred to on CNN as “shameful”) that he saw Muslims celebrating the deaths of Americans during the 9/11 attacks.

Not everyone is skeptical – an adviser has come forward saying Trump is “probably right” about the cheering Muslim-Americans, who Trump claims he saw on TV on the day the World Trade Center attacks occurred, as reported by CNN.

“He’s probably right. There’s no way to say that it wasn’t [broadcast on TV].”

Trump has also hit out at the New York Times following the paper’s claim that Trump mocked a disabled reporter. Trump hit back saying “the New York Times should apologize to me,” then cheekily suggested that the newspaper better hurry up and say sorry “before it fails.” As a businessman Trump is aware of the financial pressures on newspapers like the Times, which are struggling to keep up their circulation and maintain readers as digital media disrupters swoop in and change the media landscape.

Do Trump’s supporters agree with his latest remarks, or has the straight-talking GOP presidential hopeful gone too far this time? NCBC News reports that Trump maintains his lead in the polls in the wake of his controversial comments about Muslims and refugees.

Trump supporters are more likely than other Republican voters to want to deport undocumented immigrants, making Trump fans the most extreme of even the right-wing GOP voting cohort when it comes to this issue of deportation.

Trump supporters are also likely to be white and to oppose bringing Syrian refugees into America. Here they are roughly the same as the supporters of other conservatives like Carson and Cruz, according to NCBC.

A University of California expert wrote in The Washington Post:

“Before Trump announced his candidacy back in June, opinions about immigration had little influence on support for him. But after his first speech as a presidential candidate harshly criticized Mexican immigrants, voters who believed immigration was important flocked to him. Although his support has increased among other Republicans as well, those who prioritize immigration continue to be his strongest supporters.

Trump is not the only recent GOP candidate to benefit from a hard stance on immigration. In 2008 John McCain had to backtrack from his immigration reform stance before he was able to win the Republican nomination. He won the nomination and recruited Sarah Palin as his running-mate, but ultimately lost to Barack Obama. In 2012 Mitt Romney’s success was due largely to one clever strategy: his decision to attack his opponent Rick Perry as too “soft” on immigration.

Fox News reports that Trump has tapped into the national mood on illegal immigrants and that the real-estate mogul’s popularity is therefore not surprising.

“Most Americans agree with Donald Trump — the illegal aliens have to go. Head ’em up, move ’em out.”

But are Trump supporters being misled by bogus claims? Some outlets, including TIME magazine, insist that there is “no evidence” backing up Trump’s claim that cheering Muslim-Americans made a spectacle of themselves on television in the wake of the devastating 9/11 attacks.

Trump insists:

“I saw it on television. I saw clips. And so did many other people.”

“Why would I take it back? I’m not going to take it back” the former reality star added defiantly.

Trump said he is not the only one who remembers seeing the cheering Muslims, and that people have even been calling to back him up ever since he made the controversial 9/11 claim.

“I saw clips. And so did many other people. And many people saw it in person. I’ve had hundreds of phone calls to the Trump Organization saying, ‘We saw it. It was dancing in the streets.'”

Fox News are now reporting that 52 percent of Americans favor deporting illegal immigrants back to their home countries, and that a large number of voters from both sides of the political spectrum support Trump’s plan.

Jeb Bush has just slammed Trump as “uninformed” and “not a serious candidate.” The brother of former president George W. Bush previously told reporters that he does not believe Trump’s claim about Muslims cheering on television after the 9/11 atrocities.

Bush did add – in Trump’s favor – that he would support Trump over Hillary Clinton should the presidential race come to that.

“Anybody is better than Hillary Clinton”

“Anybody is better than Hillary Clinton” Jeb Bush deadpanned.

[Image by Getty Images]