Dems pin Trump on his party

Clinton says Donald Trump is shameful and dangerous in Waterloo, Iowa. Photo / AP

Hillary Clinton castigated Donald Trump for proposing a ban on Muslims entering the United States as part of a new push by the Democratic front-runner, the White House and their allies to make the controversial billionaire the intolerant face of the Republican Party.

"Instead of showing leadership, some of the candidates in this presidential campaign are resorting to really ugly, hateful rhetoric," Clinton said in Waterloo, Iowa. "Donald Trump, he does traffic in prejudice and paranoia. It's not only shameful, it's dangerous."

The election is about selecting a commander in chief, she reminded the audience, as she drew a clear comparison between her national security bona fides and Trump's. "When he says he wants to stop all Muslims from entering the US, that runs counter to what I and others who have actually been in the Situation Room, making hard choices, know we have to do."

With seven weeks to go before the first-in-nation Iowa caucuses, Clinton and other Democrats are confronting the very real prospect that Trump - long dismissed as a sideshow - could win in Iowa and eventually become the general election nominee. Clinton in recent days has sharpened her attacks on Trump and accused him of playing into the hands of terrorist recruiters. While lashing other Republicans to Trump positions that could hurt the party in the general election she is also for the first time treating him as a political equal.

Clinton's campaign rushed to produce stickers proclaiming "Love Trumps Hate" after Trump's remarks on Tuesday. On Wednesday she issued a "message to Muslims" that assured Muslim Americans that "it's your country too".

The campaign will not focus only on Trump, a senior Clinton aide said, but is seeking to hold him up as emblematic of Republican views. "While ... his statements may be the most shocking ... they are of a piece with what the whole field is espousing," said the aide. That message is being echoed by the White House as they seek to pin Trump's controversial message on the entire Republican field. Democrats are acknowledging Trump's longevity while preserving options to use his views against another candidate.

President Barack Obama has decried the rising anti-Muslim rhetoric in the Republican Party, saying it was contrary to American values and threatened to aid the Isis (Islamic State) propaganda campaign against the US. The Administration has long sought to paint the Republican Party as intolerant to the ascendant pool of voters that helped power Obama's rise - including women, blacks, Hispanics and gays. In Britain, a Government e-petition to block Trump from entering the UK will be considered for debate in Parliament. It received more than 370,000 signatures.

- Washington Post, Bloomberg