Well, another day, another opportunity for the Republican presidential candidates to show off how much they hate foreigners. While Bernie and Hillary have made a good show of their openness to refugees, Republicans have gleefully jumped on the same train that tried to keep Jews from fleeing the Nazis. (In 1938, 67.4 percent of Americans thought we should bar Jewish immigration.)

And so how do the current Republican candidates compare to that attitude? Well, if this was 1938, Donald Trump would have just said that as president, he'd move to deport the Jewish immigrants. Marco Rubio would say that he's open to accepting Jews if we can make sure they're not terrorists. Ted Cruz would say that the Jewish refugees should be settled in Jewish countries. And Chris Christie would says that even Jewish babies are a potential security threat.

Obama's doing his best turn turn this narrative around. "It’s very important for us right now—particularly those who are in leadership, particularly those who have a platform and can be heard—not to fall into that trap, not to feed that dark impulse inside of us," he said.

But I'm worried that appealing to our better natures might not be a viable strategy.

Conservative leaders have been training their followers to assume the worst of Muslims for years, and the Washington Post has some truly depressing quotes from Trump supporters: "I think they’re wolves in sheep's clothing," and "I do not want them here — we don’t know who they are, we don’t know their history ... I don’t like a Muslim in our White House. I don’t like his take on foreign affairs. I think he’s too lax with terrorists."

And good grief, just look at the garbage coming out of Trump: "They could be ISIS. I don’t know. ... They’re all men, and they’re all strong-looking guys. Did you see it? They’re walking and there are so many men. There aren’t that many women. And I’m saying to myself: Why aren’t they fighting to save Syria? Why are they migrating all over Europe? Seriously."

I mean, just about every single sentence that comes out of his mouth is incorrect, including the one-word sentence "seriously." Just imagine if he was saying that about Jewish families fleeing Nazi Germany.

Another Trump supporter said, "I don’t mind taking refugees who are Christian, but the Muslims scare me." And another: "send them to Mexico. Send them to Central America. Send them to South America. I don’t want them here."

Can we start deportation proceedings against anyone who believes what Trump tells them?