White House assails Trump's proposed Muslim ban (and his hair)

President Obama’s spokesman denounced Donald Trump’s plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States in strikingly harsh terms Tuesday, including references to the Republican front-runner’s appearance and even his hair.

“The Trump campaign, for months now, has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it,” said Obama press secretary Josh Earnest, “from the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’ve seen for some time now.”

Asked whether he was being Trump-like in his denunciations of the businessman, Earnest said he was describing “why it would be easy for people to dismiss the Trump campaign as not particularly serious … because he’s got a rather outrageous appearance.”

As for Trump’s allegedly fake hair, Earnest said: “I guess I’m happy to be fact-checked.”

The political world awaited Trump’s response.

During the White House news briefing, Earnest said that Trump’s proposal to bar the entry of Muslims into the country amounts to an unconstitutional religious test and renders him unfit for the presidency. He said other Republican presidential candidates should pledge not to support Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee, calling it a test of their own qualifications.

“What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president, and for Republican candidates for president to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying,” Earnest said.

Most Republican candidates have pledged to support whoever the nominee is, but most have also said they do not expect Trump to prevail.

Earnest also said that Trump’s comments could undermine national security, helping the Islamic State and other terrorists argue that the United States is anti-Islam.