Donald Trump Makes Important Clarification on Comments About a Muslim Database

Donald Trump Makes Important Clarification on Comments About a Muslim Database
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference before a scheduled campaign rally, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015, in Worcester, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Zachary Stieber
11/21/2015
Updated:
11/21/2015

Donald Trump took to social media to clarify comments he made to a reporter about the suggestion of a database for Muslims.

The situation started when Trump was asked by a Yahoo News reporter whether he would consider creating a in a database and making them carry a special form of identification that noted their religion, and he wouldn’t rule it out.

“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

He admitted that the idea is “frankly unthinkable” but emphasized it might need to be done.

Soon after, Trump was asked by a reporter during a campaign stop point-blank: “Should there be database that tracks the Muslims that are in this country?”

“There should be a lot of systems, beyond database. We should have a lot of systems and today you can do it. But right now we have to have a border, we have to have strength, we have to have a wall, and we cannot let what’s happening to this country happen any longer,” he said.

Many took that as an affirmative answer that yes, there should be a database, but Trump later said that he didn’t necessarily agree.

“I didn’t suggest a database- a reporter did,” he said via Facebook and Twitter.

“We must defeat Islamic terrorism & have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America.”

Indeed, Trump’s following comments during the interaction with the reporter seem to have been taken out of context, as noted by liberal news website Slate.

Trump has not added anything else on the matter as of yet, but will likely address it again in the near future.