NEWTON, Iowa | Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump voiced support Thursday evening for creating a mandatory database to track Muslims in the United States — the latest in an escalating series of responses following the deadly attacks in Paris.
“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely,” Trump told an NBC News reporter between campaign events in Newton, Iowa, according to video posted on MSNBC.com.
He said Muslims would be signed up at “different places,” adding: “It’s all about management.”
Asked whether registering would be mandatory, Trump responded: “They have to be.”
The latest comments come less than a week after the deadly attacks on a concert hall, sports stadium and restaurants in Paris that have elevated fears of attacks in in the U.S. and prompted calls for new restrictions on Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country.
While some of his rivals have been chastised by the president for suggesting that Christian Syrian refugees be given preference over Muslims, Trump has gone further in his rhetoric, advocating new restrictions on civil liberties and enhanced surveillance activities, including inside mosques.
He said earlier this week that the country was “going to have no choice” but to close certain mosques because “really bad things are happening, and they’re happening fast.”
The first reference to the database idea came in an interview with Yahoo News published earlier Thursday in which the billionaire real estate mogul did not reject the idea of requiring Muslims to register in a database or giving them special identification cards noting their religion.
“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump told Yahoo News.
He also suggested he would consider warrantless searches, according to the outlet, saying: “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.”
Asked by reporters Thursday night to explain his Yahoo comments, Trump suggested his response had been misconstrued. “I never responded to that question,” he said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement Thursday condemning Trump for what the group described as “Islamophobic and unconstitutional” comments targeting American Muslims and Syrian refugees.
They also criticized Trump rival Ben Carson, who on Thursday compared blocking potential terrorists posing as Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. to handling a rabid dog.
“If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” Carson told reporters at a campaign stops in Alabama. “It doesn’t mean you hate all dogs, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.”
“By mainstreaming Islamophobic and unconstitutional policies, Donald Trump and Ben Carson are contributing to an already toxic environment that may be difficult to correct once their political ambitions have been satisfied,” CAIR’s Robert McCaw said in a statement.
Trump was in Iowa Thursday for a televised question-and-answer session hosted by WHO-TV at the Des Moines Area Community College. At a rally after answering questions, Trump took a few shots at his fellow candidates. He said Carson’s campaign was in “freefall” and said Sen. Marco Rubio “never shows up to vote because he’s campaigning.”
Also Thursday evening, New Day for America, a super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich, announced plans to launch a $2.5 million ad campaign targeting Trump.
“There’s a growing consensus that someone has to do something to stop Donald Trump,” said Matt David, a spokesman for the group, who said the campaign would include television, radio, mail and digital ads in New Hampshire.
Trump responded to the news, which was first reported by Politico, by unloading a dozen rapid-fire tweets mocking Kasich’s polling and debate performances and threatened to “sue him just for fun!” if the ads aren’t truthful.
Kasich responded with his own flurry of tweets aimed at Trump.
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Colvin reported from Spartanburg, South Carolina. AP writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report from Phoenix.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The fact this candidate appeals to more voters in the modern day Republican primary than any other candidate at this juncture, says far more about the voters in the modern day Republican party than it does Mr. Trump….
Yes, we want more common sense law, not politically correct nonsense.
Yes, we want more mediocrity from the wing nut crowd and gooey is obliging.
I need to go back to school i think. I’m having a hard time with “We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” somehow equals “We are building a Muslim database” and “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.” somehow equals warrantless searches?
Nice Gestapo tactics. Trump (and his Trumpeteers) sound more like Sgt. Schultz all the time “I know nothing!!”
Go play in the highway.
gooey is resorting to adolescent bullying. He’s just another dime store wing nut making gummy noises attempting to be relevant.
Trump speaks the truth on what has to be done. ‘not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are muslims’ You cannot continue to allow terrorists to infiltrate into our society via muslim mosques and neighborhoods, to not more closely find out who’s here and why, would be foolish. Is it politically correct, certainly not, and that’s a good thing.
The Quack speaks the truth says gooey. The Quack wants to build a beautiful 1500 mile wall on our southern border. The Quack wants to beef up the military. The Quack wants a data base for Muslims. Gooey says go for it!
Gooey wants to know who’s here and why. Guys like gooey are ten cent wing nuts with their feet stuck in cement and their heads in their……
How long are your beards, ryecatcher and withersteen? Are you recruiting for ISIS too? Or just following Hillary? Neither one of you add anything, but you are detrimental to common sense.
They are both liberal idiots Frank.
And what are we to make of gooey! He’s a quack man! That says it all!
Careful frank. Talking common sense is not one of your strong points.
WOW, what an un-American sentiment.
Do we simply abandon the idea of Freedom that our country was founded on? Is the Jewish database next? Or the atheist database?
At what point, in your infinite wisdom, bring a bit of common sense and good judgement into your argument? If lions were protected by law, but one got into your cabin, would you stand by and watch him kill your family because of that law, or do the just thing, and kill him?
gooey speaks of “infinite wisdom”. I’m curious. Why would a lion venture into any ones “cabin” unless of course the lion were provoked somehow. Clearly gooey’s common sense leaves much to be desired.
But then gooey’s a donald quack fan.
Watch the video on how that came into being. NBC (so-called journalist) chasing Trump down hall asking same question over and over. Does not have the personality of Waters on Fox News. Just overgrown college kid, feeling his oats. Asked over and over, to try for a rise from Trump. So then he reports it to Yahoo and NBC, and they go bananas, forcing the other GOP candidates to say “NO”” And Jeb Bush falls for it , hook , line, and sinker and comes out with how that cannot be done.
NEWS FOR THE NEWS FOLKS and also the website posters with low info, who vote anyway. Folks don’t like to hear NO. You still don’t get it. MSM (Lame stream media) don’t like Trump, and they lead progressives-liberals-democrats around by their nose rings. And some of those are on here too.
Trump is a very intelligent man, and way ahead of the other GOP types. He has dealt with USA and its systems for years, increasing his wealth from $1.0 million to several billion. Also dealt with Europeans, Middle Eastern types, Oriental and they all deal with him, his managers, his employees.
All of you who are jealous of his money, his life, his background can suck eggs. You are not the ones who will vote for him, and he knows that. He is talking to so many who have not registered, or voted for some time. And that is across the board folks who are educated, knowledgeable, but just did not see changes in past elections. This time, Liberals got too far ahead of themselves, and they have begun to feel the pressure. See how many Democrats are jumping ship now. READ IT AND WEEP>
Listen to frank! The man’s on a roll! Middle Eastern types and Orientals. You can tell frank lives in a bubble.
The quack’s an “intelligent man”? About as intelligent as frank maybe? Read em and weep! Sniff!
For additional thought. When Gov. Owens forced change in Colorado illegal alien reporting, with enforcements, we saw the pickups and other vehicles that headed south to cross southern border, towing trailers with HHG and boats. When benefits and jobs disappeared, they self deported themselves back to where they came from in 2006-2007.
Ass holes and elbows flying south in a cloud of dust according to frank. That is indeed an “additional thought” and the some.
I’m sure FBI director James Comey will appreciate the added work load. The quack and his data bases. How about a “quack” data base to keep trace of his numerous bankruptcy’s and marriages.