‘Great disparity’: Trump demands social distancing be imposed equally in US mosques

“They go after Christian churches but they don’t tend to go after mosques,” Trump said.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

On Saturday, President Donald Trump pointed out what he called a disparity in the way certain authorities treated Christianity and Islam and said he expected those same authorities to demand that coronavirus regulations be adhered to equally in mosques as they have been in churches.

At a coronavirus press briefing in Washington, D.C., Trump was asked about a recent retweet on his Twitter account. The post was originally tweeted by political commentator Paul Sperry on April 15.

Sperry said, “Let’s see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan (April 23-May 23) like they did churches during Easter.”

“So I would be interested to see that,” Trump told reporters. “Because they go after Christian churches but they don’t tend to go after mosques. And I don’t want them to go after mosques, but I do want to see what their bent is.”

He said, “But I would say that there could be a difference, and we’ll have to see what will happen. Because I have seen a great disparity in this country. I’ve seen a great disparity.”

Trump then addressed what he views as the anti-Israel bias of some members of Congress, particularly the four freshman congresswomen known as “the squad.”

“The squad,” what Trump calls “AOC plus three,” consists of four members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Trump said, “I mean, I’ve seen a very strong anti-Israel bent in congress with Democrats. It was unthinkable seven or eight or 10 years ago, and now they’re into a whole different thing between Omar and AOC — I say AOC plus three, add them on.”

“I mean, the things that they say about Israel are so bad. And I can’t believe it,” he said.

The U.S. president was then asked whether he was suggesting that imams would not follow social-distancing orders.

“I just had a call with imams. I just had a call with ministers, rabbis. We had a tremendous call with the faith leaders,” Trump responded, adding, “No, I don’t think that at all.”

Trump said, “I am somebody that believes in faith. And it matters not what your faith is, but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently.”

“And I don’t know what happened with our country, but the Christian faith is treated much differently than it was, and I think it’s treated very unfairly,” he said.