Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Sunday that there is a “very severe problem” with some Muslims, and declined to say whether he’d support a Muslim president of the United States.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said that he feels “strongly that Muslims are excellent. I know so many Muslims that are such fabulous people.

But he continued,”We can be politically correct and say there is no problem whatsoever, but the fact is, there is a problem with some and it’s a very severe problem and it’s a problem that’s taking place all over the world.”

Asked by host Chuck Todd whether he’d support a Muslim president, Trump dodged. “Would I be comfortable? I don’t know if we have to address it right now. Some people have said it already happened,” he said.

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim as President of the United States.

Responding to a question on “Meet the Press,” the retired neurosurgeon said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”

He also said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.

Carson, who is near the top of several early presidential polls, said a president’s faith should matter depending on what that faith is. “If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter,” he clarified.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declined to say on Saturday whether or not he believes that President Barack Obama is Christian.

Asked simply whether or not he believed the president was Christian, Cruz, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, said that he didn’t want to speculate.

“The president’s faith is between him and God. I’m not going to speculate on the president’s faith. What I will talk about is his policies. And his policies have been profoundly damaging to this country,” he said. “His policies and this administration’s animosity to religious liberty and, in fact, antagonism to Christians has been one of the most troubling aspects of the Obama administration.”

Establishment Republicans want to win elections, Republican voters want to feel they are being heard…

Recent polls have found that 43 to 54 percent of Republicans think Mr. Obama is a Muslim, and only 45 percent say they would vote for a Muslim. Some 63 percent of Republicans want the main focus of United States immigration policy to be stopping the flow of immigrants and deporting those already here. And 53 percent support defunding Planned Parenthood.

All are in contrast with the broader American population, and by wide margins.

In other words, to give many Republican voters what they want on several key issues is a recipe to win House races in safe, localized districts, but to risk losing broader races for the Senate and White House. Indeed, Republicans’ success in the 2014 Senate elections began with rigorously weeding out antiestablishment tea party candidates.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, “THIS WEEK” HOST: Let’s get into this controversy over the last couple of days. I saw your tweets yesterday, you said you didn’t have a morally responsibility when that question came up about President Obama. But this is getting a lot of attention in part because you have raised questions like this in the past. So, for the record, was President Obama born in the united states?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, you know, I don’t get into, George, I’m talking about jobs, military, I don’t get into it. They asked the questions. Frankly, it’s no longer an interest to me. It’s something I don’t want to talk about. I want to talk about the vets and the military. I want to talk about jobs. I don’t get into that, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS The way to get behind it is answer yes or no —

TRUMP: That’s possible, but I don’t talk about it.

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson should withdraw from the presidential race for his comments that a Muslim shouldn’t be president a prominent Muslim-American group said Sunday…

Hooper said that Carson’s comments were unconstitutional according to Article Six of the Constitution, which forbids a religious test as a requirement for qualification to any public office.

He added that he is constantly dismayed by the “Islamophobia [exhibited] by the right wing of the political spectrum.”

However, Carson’s comments go “way beyond the pale from anything I have heard,” said Hooper.

It’s still early, of course, but some of the most visible activists who agitated for the president to release his birth certificate are taking heart in Donald Trump’s polling successes. They say they stay in touch with Trump’s team and anticipate he’ll push for more birthplace-oriented investigations of Obama if he wins the election…

“I think it actually boosts his chances of winning the Republican primary,” [Larry] Klayman said, of Trump’s skepticism of Obama’s birthplace. 

“If you took a poll among the people who vote in the Republican primary, I bet it would be a 60-70 percent combination believe that Obama was not born in the United States and that he is a Muslim,” Klayman continued. “And the guy’s question last night was not out of line.”…

“When Donald Trump is elected as a U.S. president, his attorney general will investigate this issue,” [Orly Taitz] said, noting that Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch—Obama’s former and current attorneys general—are covering up for Obama because they’re friends with him. 

Graham said, “During the second election of  Karzai, I had an opportunity to go to a polling station during the election with military members in charge of security. One was a young man who grew up in Kabul, went to this particular high school. He came to America. He was a member of the United States Army. He was so proud of what happened in Afghanistan. He was proud to wear the uniform. I had a cup of coffee with him, and, yes, one day, I hope that young man could grow up to be president of the United States.”

He continued, “America is an idea not owned by a particular religion, race or anything else. Out of many comes one. I think Dr. Carson needs to apologize to this young man and every other Muslim serving their country and to the American Muslim community. And if he understood the world and how dangerous it is he would not say things like this. We have to partner with people in the faith to destroy radical Islam. And most Muslims throughout the world reject what radical Islam is trying to do to the world and their faith. This is an example to me that Mr. Carson may be a good doctor, but he is not ready to lead a great nation.”

He continued, “what would he say to the young man I met in Kabul who left Afghanistan, became an American citizen, joined the United States army? What would he say to the approximately 3,500 American Muslims who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for our freedom, risking their lives. What he should say is thank you for serving our great nation. We’re all in this together.”

In the normal course of events, the President – who is supposed to serve as president of all the people, not just the half of the country that voted for him – should command a certain respect. But this particular president has compared the members of the loyal opposition to terrorists and to the more hardcore Iranian ayatollahs. And none of you media bigfeet huffing and puffing about lèse-majesté gave a crap about that. So, if you’ll forgive me, as someone designated a terrorist and ayatollah by Obama, I’m disinclined to rise to defend the President’s amour propre. Go hector someone else…

If I understand you shrill little twerps correctly, I’m supposed to point out to this guy in New Hampshire that the President is not a Muslim but a Christian. Well, his father and step-father were both Muslims, which means, as far as Islam is concerned, he was born a Muslim. Has he renounced it? My fellow candidate Ted Cruz entered this world in Calgary, Alberta in 1970, which means that he was born a British subject and a citizen of Canada. I don’t suppose the Queen cares about that one way or the other – unlike your average Islamic scholar in Qom or Cairo. Yet you media types made such a big deal out of it that Ted was obliged to write to Ottawa to renounce even any theoretical Canadianness. Have you inquired of your buddy the President whether he’s done anything similarly clarifying?

As to whether he’s a Christian, have you asked him whether he has attended even semi-regularly any church other than that of Jeremiah (“God damn America”) Wright? A man is free to attend the Westboro Baptist Church but if he chooses to do so I’m not obligated to defend his Christianity. And frankly, whatever the President’s personal faith, there is no dispute that his leadership of the western world has been an utter catastrophe for Christians around the planet. Some of the oldest Christian communities on earth have been entirely extinguished on Obama’s watch: in Mosul, Iraq, which was an American protectorate on the day he took office, not a single Christian remains. Every single one of them is dead or fled. So, instead of jumping through your preposterous hoops and speaking up for the most powerful man in the world, I would rather speak up for the powerless – for the Nigerian schoolgirls, for the Yazidi, for the Copts in Egypt, and for all the other beleaguered Christian communities in the world this feckless president has set alight and watched burn.

Oh, and one other thing. This kind of super-fake-o lame-ass nothing controversy that you dowager duchesses of the press are having the vapors about is precisely why the political process has fallen into such disrepute and your own industry is bankrupt. No real person cares about this “scandal”. So, unless you’ve got a question about the economy or immigration or something real, screw off outta here.

Donald Trump on Saturday responded to a question from CNN about whether Muslims pose a danger to the country, saying: “I love the Muslims. I think they’re great people.”…

One student told Trump that she considered Muslim-Americans to be an important segment of the country. They asked whether the billionaire businessman would consider putting a Muslim in his Cabinet or on his ticket.

“Oh, absolutely,” Trump responded. “No problem with that.”