United States presidential candidate Donald Trump is no longer unequivocally calling on Muslims to be banned from America, but in the second presidential debate on Monday he didn't exactly walk back his remarks. Asked by a Muslim-American at the town hall debate how he would address Islamophobia, Trump essentially said that Muslims are indeed dangerous and that Muslim refugees coming into the country could also constitute a massive Trojan horse.

Trump has in the past called for Muslims to be banned from entering America altogether. In the debate he said that there would be "extensive vetting" of people who come in, although he refused to answer the question of whether there would be a religious test for immigrants, he went on to say that Muslims who do enter America should "report when they see something going on.”

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This inspired #MuslimsReportStuff, a Twitter hashtag where Muslims online reported serious things happening around them, like everything that is wrong with "chai tea".

Then there were those who felt that they needed to report ongoings on their TV screens regarding a certain presidential debate taking place that evening.

The hashtag actually fits into a pattern that has almost become a cliche when Western politicians or media organisations decide to focus on Muslims almost exclusively as the "other", whether it is asking "why they hate us" or putting Muslim Rage on the cover of Newsweek magazine.

But it is also a clever lighthearted way to address one of the more distressing aspects of Trump's rise to the candidacy which has been accompanied by blatant racism and Islamophobia from his supporter base, aided by rarely subtle dog-whistles or openly bigoted statements from the candidate. Trump played a role in building the conspiracy theory that US President Barack Obama was not born American and is a Muslim (and therefore a terrorist), and he has repeatedly questioned the loyalties of Muslims, including that of the parents of a Muslim-American soldier who died fighting for the US.

This was Trump's full answer to the question about how he would deal with Islamophobia.

Well, you’re right about Islamophobia, and that’s a shame. But one thing we have to do is we have to make sure that – because there is a problem. I mean, whether we like it or not, and we could be very politically correct, but whether we like it or not, there is a problem. And we have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it.

As an example, in San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people. Horribly wounded. They’ll never be the same. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them.

And, you know, there’s always a reason for everything. If they don’t do that, it’s a very difficult situation for our country, because you look at Orlando and you look at San Bernardino and you look at the World Trade Center. Go outside. Look at Paris. Look at that horrible – these are radical Islamic terrorists.

And she won’t even mention the word and nor will President Obama. He won’t use the term “radical Islamic terrorism.” Now, to solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is or at least say the name. She won’t say the name and President Obama won’t say the name. But the name is there. It’s radical Islamic terror.