GREER, S.C. — As she’s working the counter at a hole-in-the-wall hot dog stand named Rosie’s in upstate South Carolina, Tracy Hooker isn’t interested in debating the merits of Donald Trump’s proposal to temporarily block Muslims from coming into the United States.

She knows some people think it’s bigoted. That others argue it’s impractical, legally dubious or both. And that every other Republican running for president has, in some way or another, rejected the idea that the plan is even worth talking about.

That’s why she says Trump is “my guy.”

He’s the only one who gets it.

“Think about it. You don’t know what you’ve got here. You’ve got no clue,” she said of the Muslim tourists, immigrants and refugees Trump wants to temporarily bar from coming to the U.S.

“You don’t know if they like us. You don’t know if they hate us,” said Hooker, 47, of Greer, South Carolina. “You don’t know why they’re here.”

To Hooker and the dozens of Trump supporters interviewed in the past week by The Associated Press in the first-to-vote states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the near universal condemnation of the billionaire’s plan is simply baffling.

They hear U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan say, “This is not conservatism,” and British Prime Minister David Cameron call it, “Quite simply wrong.” They listen to the secretary general of the United Nations call Trump’s plan “xenophobic” and an “appeal to hate.”

And, they say, they marvel at how naïve all the critics sound.

In the wake of the attacks in Paris and shootings in San Bernardino, they say only Trump is taking on what they believe is a clear and present danger to America and its citizens.

“When you’re in war, you have to take steps that are not American to protect yourself and defend the country,” said Margaret Shontz, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, as she arrived at a Trump campaign stop in Des Moines on Friday.

Trump’s call to bar Muslims from coming to America is “awesome.”

“Very needed,” she said. “Very necessary.”

By their own description, Trump supporters are frustrated and angry about the direction of the nation. They fret over the fate of the economy, feel betrayed by the nation’s immigration policy and worry America has lost its way on the world stage.

In interviews with AP, they argued Trump’s plan for Muslims who want to come to the U.S. is a bold proposal that regular politicians are too timid to make. They feel the criticism that comes from those same politicians is rooted in the weakness Trump promises to sweep away.

Iowa’s Dale Witmer, 90, a registered Republican and Word War II veteran who likes Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, embraced the Muslim ban as a “great idea.” While he has concerns about Trump’s unfiltered style, he praises him for talking about things he says others are thinking but afraid to say themselves.

“I’d like to go back (to) when I was younger in the 50s and 60s, when the country was a little better. It was America then. I’m starting to worry we’re starting to lose identity in this country, I do believe,” Witmer said.

He added he was taken aback by the backlash: “I don’t know how to comprehend that.”

Many of Trump’s supporters called the reaction to his plan yet another example of the Republican establishment and a biased media trying to stop a candidate who refuses to play by their rules.

Dan Edwards, a retired banker from Van Meter, Iowa, who brought his family to Trump’s town hall in Des Moines on Friday, said the real estate mogul’s words were taken out of context to make his plan sound more extreme.

“I think it’s been made into something it wasn’t meant to be. I think basically what he’s doing is saying, ‘OK, wait a minute. Refugees, we need to make sure we know what we’re looking for and to make sure everything is in place,’ “ said Edwards, 53, who compared the proposal to a temporary “time out” while the country re-assesses the situation.

Trump made the proposal a week ago, releasing a statement on Dec. 7 that called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

Trump’s campaign said immediately thereafter the proposed ban would apply to “everyone,” including individuals seeking to immigrate to the country as well as those looking to visit as tourists.

When asked by AP if the ban would apply to U.S. citizens traveling, working or living abroad, including American servicemen and women who are Muslim, Trump responded via a spokeswoman, “You figure it out!”

As the week progressed, Trump began to fill in additional details. He said American citizens, including Muslim members of the military, would be exempt, as would certain world leaders and athletes coming to the U.S. to compete.

“By the way, it’s not total and complete. And it’s temporary,” Trump said Sunday in an interview with CNN. “You’re going to have exceptions. You’re going to have people coming in and you are going to get people in.”