Donald Trump is defending his proposal to shut America's borders to all Muslims, despite a global outcry over comments that many consider some of the most intemperate yet heard on America's election campaign trail.
The billionaire property developer, who is still the front-runner in the race for the Republican Party's Presidential nomination, says he's following the example of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who forced Japanese Americans into internment camps during the Second World War.
The White House led the pushback against Mr. Trump's proposal, saying he is not qualified to hold the nation's top office.
But as our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports, while most Republican Party grandees are echoing that view, some of the Party's Presidential candidates are holding back.
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It wasn't that long ago in the great sweep of American electoral history that Donald Trump, on June the 16th, declared that he was a candidate to succeed Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
His entry into the race worried some at the top of the Republican Party who feared that he was a maverick…but they comforted themselves, secure in the knowledge that his made-for-tv circus antics wouldn't cause them too much grief.
Fast forward to September.
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By then, Donald Trump was the dominant figure in the race to the White House.
So dominant that the Republican National Committee forced him to sign a pledge, promising - under any circumstances - to support whoever became the party's Presidential nominee.
It was a move aimed at stopping him from launching a 3rd party bid for the Presidency in the event that - say - former Florida Governor Jeb Bush won the nomination.
The Republicans did not want him draining votes away from them.
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It's hard to know whether Republican Party leaders now regret forcing Mr. Trump to embrace them.
But at the White House they have not forgotten.
Spokesman Josh Earnest, expressing President Obama's opprobrium for Mr. Trump's proposal to close America's borders to Muslims….threw it all back in the Party's face.
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Republicans were falling over themselves on Tuesday to distance themselves from Donald Trump.
Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate….
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Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina…..
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And even former US Vice President Dick Cheney…no shrinking violet in the right-wing stakes.
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But not all Republicans were willing to turn against the man who may still prove to have staying power on the campaign trail.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas….another prominent conservative seeking the White House….made it clear to reporters in Washington that he wasn't ready to spurn the man who is still atop opinion polls.
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That is an indication that at least some Republicans believe - or perhaps fear - that Donald Trump is speaking for many of the party's grassroots supporters.
Predominantly angry, predominantly white, predominantly male voters in the Party's primaries, they may not be honest with pollsters about their voting intentions in the weeks ahead.
And it's possible that behind closed doors, they are the Americans who are telling one another that on the issue of terrorism and Muslims….Donald Trump is the man with the right plan to protect the nation.
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