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 "Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time
somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't
think so!" Trump said on Twitter.
Trump drew criticism on Friday from Republican and Democratic rivals
in the 2016 race for the presidency when he failed to challenge a
man at a New Hampshire town hall Thursday night who said Muslims
were a problem in the United States.
"We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an
American," the man said.
Trump, the billionaire television personality who leads the pack of
Republicans seeking the presidential nomination, has cast doubt on
whether Obama was born in the United States and therefore qualified
to stand as president.
"This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by
NOT saying something," Trump tweeted. "If someone made a nasty or
controversial statement about me to the president, do you really
think he would come to my rescue? No chance!"
 Obama is a Christian who as president has attended church
occasionally.
Later on Saturday, Trump read out the tweets to audience applause at
the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Forum in Des Moines.
Trump rattled the Republican establishment with a summer surge to
the top of the polls, overshadowing expected favorite Jeb Bush, the
son and brother of two U.S. presidents. An unremarkable showing at
Wednesday night's Republican debate, where the frontrunner drew
attacks from his many rivals, had some observers wondering if Trump
frenzy is finally on the wane.
Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, described as divisive even by
members of his own party, has tapped into a vein of anger among
like-minded supporters.
PARALLELS TO 2008
In August, two Boston brothers charged with urinating and beating a
homeless Mexican man told police they were inspired by Trump.
"Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported."
the said, according a police report.
On Monday, opponents and supporters clashed outside a rally for
Trump. Protesters, many of them Hispanic, shouted "shame on you,"
while some Trump fans retorted, "Keep them out!"
The tenor of the campaign has drawn parallels to the 2008 rallies by
Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate,
Sarah Palin, that drew virulent anti-Obama rhetoric including shouts
of "terrorist" or "traitor."
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McCain eventually had to confront the issue at an October campaign
rally where a woman called Obama an Arab. He stopped her and called
Obama a decent family man.
In Des Moines, Trump referred to the incident, saying "McCain just
ripped that microphone from that woman's hands... I thought it was a
little harsh."
David Axelrod, former White House adviser and Obama campaign
strategist, said: "I think a lot of the people who are supporting
Donald Trump are the same people who showed up at those Sarah Palin
rallies at the end of the 2008 campaign."
"We know that there is this cohort out there who believe that we are
being encroached on by illegal aliens, Muslims, China and Trump has
tapped into that constituency," he said on CNN.
Far from trying to tamp down the controversy, Trump appeared to
reach for more in his tweets Saturday, implying that Christians have
suffered under Obama.
"Christians need support in our country (and around the world),
their religious liberty is at stake! Obama has been horrible, I will
be great," Trump said.
For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales
from the Trail” (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/).
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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