In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Donald Trump has once again stirred up the Muslim community's hornet's nest. The GOP candidate said that he thinks, "Islam hates us [Americans]."

Naturally, a lot of people, especially from the Muslim side, weren't happy about this remark. Trump has stirred up a controversy late in 2015 when he said that there is a need for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States until the members of the congress "can figure out what is going on."

However, instead of making any retraction or apology for his latest remark, the real estate mogul is standing his ground on the matter once again.

Trump Maintains His Position

During the GOP debate hosted by CNN on Thursday, March 10, 2016, moderator Jake Tapper asked Trump on whether he really referred to all Muslims and not just the extremists.

"I mean a lot of them," said Trump. "There's tremendous hatred and I will stick with exactly what I said to Anderson Cooper."

In his interview with Cooper, Trump said that while the war is against radical Islam, it is tough to tell apart who's who.

"You're gonna have to figure that out, OK?" Trump said when Cooper asked if the hate was from Islam itself. "We have to be very vigilant. We have to be very careful. And we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the United States."

Trump Once Again Drew Flak

His statement was condemned by a leading Muslim civil rights group, which also demanded an apology from the GOP presidential nomination frontrunner.

"Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric does not reflect leadership, but instead reflects a bigoted mindset that only serves to divide our nation and the world," the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement via its national executive director Nihad Awad.

Rival candidate Marco Rubio also lashed out at Trump during the debate and said, "Presidents can't just say what they want. It has consequences."

Trump responded by saying, "I don't want to be so politically correct. It would be very easy for me to say something differently, and everyone would say, 'Oh, isn't that wonderful?' We better solve the problem before it's too late."

However, Rubio wasn't through and quickly answered back that he was not interested in being politically correct either, but he would rather be correct. He further rationalized that in order for the Americans to win its fight against radical Islam, they are going to need the cooperation from Muslim allies. "We are going to have to work with people of the Muslim faith," he said.

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