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 is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.