Conservative radio host and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson lauded 2016 Republican candidate Donald Trump's plan to ban all Muslims coming into the United States as skillful politics.

After Trump proposed to block all Muslims -- including American citizens -- from entering the U.S. in response to the San Bernardino shooting, Erickson hailed Trump's proposal as “brilliant politics” that caused Trump's GOP opponents “align themselves with Barack Obama.”

In a December 7 post on his website, Erickson encouraged readers to “ignore the merits and constitutionality” of Trump's ban and instead focus on how Republicans critics have done “done themselves no favors within the primary process” (emphasis added):

The day after the mom jeans wearing squat to pee President came out to assure us that tolerance, gun control, and climate change would save us from ISIS, Donald Trump demanded we bar any muslims from entering this country and bar any American citizen who is muslim from re-entering the United States.

Set aside the merits of what amounts to at least, in part, an unconstitutional position.

This is actually brilliant politics for the here and now. Immediately, every other Republican candidate except Ted Cruz rushed out to attack Donald Trump. He's unhinged, hateful, etc. And the responses all amounted to “we must let muslims enter our country,” which sounds a whole lot like “we must allow all Mexicans in our country,” which everyone knows is blatantly untrue on both counts.

We do not have to do it, but the other candidates, unable to nuance their spittle, went all in with “no religious tests” and “yes we must do this because it is who we are.”

So, to put it another way, the day after the President failed to reassure a scared public following the second worst terrorist attack since 9/11 on domestic soil, Donald Trump not only got himself to the right of all the other candidates, but also got every single one of them save for Ted Cruz to align themselves with Barack Obama.