Mayor Rips Trump on Anti-Muslim Rhetoric: "He Must Be Confronted"

Turning the volume all the way up in his presidential campaign, Donald Trump is calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." His demand is being denounced by many — including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who says Trump's proposal is downright dangerous as NY1's Grace Rauh reports.

Republican Donald Trump is taking his anti-Muslim rhetoric to new extremes — demanding that the country block Muslims from entering the United States until "our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."

"It is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension," he said in a statement. "Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad."

His statement comes on the heels of a deadly terror attack in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were killed by a married couple who were Muslim and appear to have been radicalized.

Some political observers have suggested Trump's announcement may be part of an effort to bolster his poll numbers, which are starting to sag in Iowa.

Mayor de Blasio — a frequent and forceful critic of Trump's — was quick to denounce his fellow New Yorker's proposal as un-American.

"It's against everything this country is based on," the mayor said. "It's as simple as that."

De Blasio spoke about America's history as a nation built on the importance of respecting and protecting religious freedom. The mayor was at an unrelated press conference on Staten Island.

"How could the front winner for a major party nomination literally be suggesting a religious test on who gets to come into this country?" the mayor asked. "That is a dangerous, dangerous statement. That is why he must be confronted.

The mayor says he feels a moral imperative to speak out against Trump when he is divisive. And Trump isn't holding back either, taking to Twitter to call de Blasio the worst mayor in the United States.