Trump: Banning Muslims from entering the U.S. might motivate them to fight ISIS

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

After the San Bernardino shooting in December, Donald Trump proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States until "our country's representatives can figure out what's going on," and on Wednesday, Trump said he thinks such a ban might motivate more Muslims to fight the Islamic State.

"Maybe they'll say, 'We want to come back to America, we've got to solve this problem,'" the Republican frontrunner told Chris Matthews during an MSNBC town hall. Any ban, however, would exclude his "very rich Muslim" friends — when asked by Matthews if those wealthy friends would be able to enter the United States, Trump responded, "They'll come in. You'll have exceptions."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.