US Republicans seeking removal of Donald Trump from US presidential race

The increasingly inflammatory comments by Donald Trump, the leading US presidential candidate from the Republican Party, is causing party rivals to step up attacks against him and some conservatives to label him a "fascist."

Trump’s rhetoric has become so belligerent that some political observers, even inside his party, are asking whether he is committed to democratic principles.

Trump has drawn strong criticism and disbelief from legal experts for saying last week that he would require American Muslims to register in a database in response to the Paris terrorist attacks.

He has also insisted that thousands of Arab Americans in New Jersey were cheering when the Twin Towers in New York City fell after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, despite lacking any evidence.

Republican strategists are warning that the real estate tycoon could do long-term damage to their party, and that his nomination in the GOP primaries would essentially hand the White House to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Several establishment conservatives and presidential campaign advisors now appear to be uniting around the need to oppose Trump’s candidacy.

"Trump is a fascist. And that's not a term I use loosely or often. But he's earned it," Max Boot, a military historian and foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, posted on Twitter.

"Forced federal registration of US citizens, based on religious identity, is fascism. Period," added John Noonan, a national security advisor to White House hopeful and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Trump has been creating "an alternative universe" with his harsh rhetoric, particularly about Muslims,” Bush said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Bush said of Trump's assertion that Arabs were cheering when the Twin Towers fell during the 9/11 attacks.

In an editorial on Tuesday, the New York Times said the presidential campaign in the past week has been "dominated by Donald Trump's racist lies."

In a Wednesday editorial, the Seattle Times used similarly strong language to denounce Trump’s "button-pushing lie after button-pushing lie."

"Trump's campaign message reflects a kind of creeping fascism," the newspaper said. "It needs to be rejected."

Republican groups are reportedly preparing attack advertisements against Trump to help "defeat and destroy" him, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich has launched a one-minute video ad online that links Trump to Nazi Germany.

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