Dan Rather: Trump’s rhetoric ‘helps ISIS tremendously’

Veteran news anchor Dan Rather says Donald Trump’s controversial statements about Muslims are helping the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“This is the best thing to happen to ISIS in months from a propaganda standpoint,” he told The Daily Beast.

“They’re trying to convince everyone in Islam that it’s ‘us against Christianity.’ They want to boil it down to that,” said Rather. “Now, they can say, ‘Hey, here’s a guy who might be the next president of the United States who’s anti-Muslim.’”

{mosads}Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner, sparked controversy after calling for a ban on Muslims after the terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif., earlier this month.

“Now, I don’t think Donald Trump in his heart of hearts is anti-Muslim. But I have great confidence the public will eventually see this: this helps ISIS tremendously,” Rather added.

He also said Trump was manipulating media coverage by making bombastic remarks.

“Donald Trump’s reached a point where he really thinks he can win,” the former “CBS Evening News” anchor said.

“So every time he goes a little bit down in the polls, he thinks, ‘If I say something really outrageous, then I blanket the airwaves.

“In most presidential campaigns, candidates say outrageous things — things that aren’t true,” Rather continued. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember a time in my lifetime where there’s been this much of it.

“We’ve reached a point where the belief runs strong that if you can’t convince people of substance, you blind them with bulls—,” he added. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and neither has anyone else that’s alive today, because there’s never been anything like it.”

Trump defended his plan to stop Muslims from entering the U.S. during Tuesday night’s GOP debate in Las Vegas.

“We are not talking about isolation, we’re talking about security,” the billionaire businessman said.  “We’re not talking about religion, we’re talking about security.”

His proposal has drawn bipartisan condemnation from other White House hopefuls, lawmakers and world leaders.