US President Barack Obama has slammed White House hopeful Donald Trump’s renewed call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, as last weekend’s gay nightclub massacre in Orlando continues to make waves in the presidential campaign.<br /><br /> “We have gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we have come to regret it,” Obama said in Washington on Tuesday, after a meeting of the National Security Council.<br /><br /> “This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don’t have religious tests here.”<br /><br /> He added that: “If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalise people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect.”<br /><br /> The president, without mentioning Trump by name, also dismissed the Republican’s criticism of Obama for not using the term “radical Islamic terrorism” to describe ISIL militants. Obama called the phrase a political distraction.<br /><br /> Obama reiterated that there is no indication a foreign terrorist group directed Sunday morning’s massacre but said the killer appears to have become radicalised online, describing him as “angry, disturbed and unstable”.<br /><br /> On Thursday, Obama will travel to Orlando to honour the 49 people slaughtered and more than 50 others injured.<br />
