US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has apparently threatened to quit the Republican Party as outrage continued to mount over his call for a temporary ban on all Muslims from entering America.
An indication of the threat came when Trump cited a poll to contend that almost 70 per cent of his supporters would still vote for him if he entered the presidential fray as an independent candidate.
"A new poll indicates that 68 per cent of my supporters would vote for me if I departed the GOP," he wrote on Facebook, apparently trying to defend himself from the rising criticism.
Trump came under fire globally after he released a statement proposing “a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our representatives figure out what is going on”.
Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Prince of Jordan, called the suggestion "grossly irresponsible", warning that it plays into the hands of extremist groups at the expense of ordinary Muslims who are also "eligible targets" of the extremists.
While UN Secretary-General's Ban Ki-moon conveyed his strong opposition to Trump's statement, the comments also came under fire from David Cameron, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and the Canadian government.
Furthermore, the statement could also affect Trump's visit to Jordan scheduled for the end of this month, after he tours Israel, AP said in a report.
Trump went on to draw comparisons between his ideas and those of the then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941.
"We have no choice but to do this," he told ABC's Good Morning America programme.
