St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman and Congressman David Jolly don't have a whole lot they agree on. One is a progressive Democrat; the other is a conservative Republican.
But neither is a fan of Donald Trump, the presidential frontrunner who anytime now can go ahead and announce he was just messing with us, please babyJesus. On Monday Trump said he wants to ban all Muslims from traveling to the U.S.
That evening, Kriseman penned a viral tweet declaring a ban on Trump from St. Petersburg — it was tongue-in-cheek, of course.
On Tuesday morning, Jolly stood on the U.S. House floor and called for Trump to GTFO of the presidential race in light of his anti-Muslim comments (perhaps Jeff Bezos can help with that).
He said while he's not a huge fan of President Obama's approach to fighting terror, ignoring the very basic American tenet of religious freedom would turn us into not-America.
"We do face a security test that I believe the president's policies have underestimated," Jolly said. "But we also face a test of our commitment to religious freedom, one of the basic freedoms upon which our nation was founded. And we are either going to defend our religious freedom or not."
Jolly, who identified himself as a born-again Christian, lamented Trump's consistently baffling popularity, given the inflammatory, bigoted and fundamentally unconstitutional things that come out of the man's mouth.
"It should be heartbreaking to every American that we have a frontrunner in the presidential race that suggests there will be a religious test for anybody who wishes to come to our shores," Jolly said. "It is an affront to the very principles upon which our nation was founded."
Jolly, who has occupied his Pinellas seat since a 2014 special election, is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Marco Rubio, who is leaving his seat to run for president. Jolly supports former Florida Governor Jeb Bush's presidential bid.
"It is time that my side of the aisle has one less candidate in the race for the White House," Jolly said Tuesday.
Both Jolly and Trump are currently frontrunners in their respective races.
Bush and Rubio have condemned Trump's remarks, as have House Speaker Paul Ryan, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and a host of other members of the GOP.
One Republican who hasn't had much to say about it is Florida Governor Rick Scott, who told the Miami Herald, "I haven't seen" Trump's comments in what we imagine was his signature awkward/aloof tone.
