Donald Trump Corrects the Record: Media Proposed Muslim Database, Not Me

[lostinblue 1,989]

Donald Trump Corrects the Record: Media Proposed Muslim Database, Not Me

Donald Trump corrected reports from the media suggesting that he actually wanted a government database for all Muslim Americans to be registered in order to stop terrorism.

“I didn’t suggest a database – a reporter did,” he wrote on Twitter moments ago. “We must defeat Islamic terrorism and have surveillance, including a watch list, to protect America.”

The media spent most of the day reacting to Trump’s positive reaction to a question posed by reporters as to whether he supported a plan to register American Muslims.

From the exchange:

Reporter: Should there be a database system that tracks the Muslims here in this country?

Trump: There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. 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.

Reporter: But that’s something your White House would like to implement?

Trump: Oh, I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.

Reporter: What do you think the effect of that would be? How would that work?

Trump: It would stop people from coming in illegally. We have to stop people from coming into our country illegally.

Reporter: Specifically, how do you actually get them registered in a database?

Trump: It would be good management, what you have to do is good management procedures and we can do that.

Reporter: Do you go to mosques and sign these people up?

Trump: Different places. You sign them up at difference places. But it’s all about management, our country has no management.

As Breitbart’s Joel Pollack wrote, the media has used the exchange to smear Trump as a ‘Nazi.’ Former Florida governor Jeb Bush criticized Trump’s comments, calling them “abhorrent.”

“I find it abhorrent that Donald Trump is suggesting that we register people,” he said

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/20/donald-trump-corrects-record-media-proposed-muslim-database-not/

[GandD 5,966]

"Do you go to mosques and sign these people up?"

[smilesammich 10,727]

omg. he is really serious about the wall.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Donald Trump Corrects the Record: Media Proposed Muslim Database, Not Me

If he didn't like the idea, he shouldn't have agreed with it.

Other GOP candidates at least had the sense to distance themselves from it.

[Rob L 3,811]

"There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems."

Sounds like the Donald designed the whole mess of systems that I support at work that cannot talk to each other

[bowens44 214]

He refused to rule it out. The man is ridiculous.

[smilesammich 10,727]

typical tycoon, he'll say whatever to seal the deal.

[Rob L 3,811]

[ready4ONE 5,400]

omg. he is really serious about the wall.

Don't worry about it, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. We really need it now that more Mexicans are leaving than coming in.

And Trump liked the idea of a Muslim database, that he didn't suggest it is what offends his ego.

[smilesammich 10,727]

Don't worry about it, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. We really need it now that more Mexicans are leaving than coming in.

And Trump liked the idea of a Muslim database, that he didn't suggest it is what offends his ego.

trump should take a seat and let his ego take the wheel. get this over with.

[Rob L 3,811]

Don't worry about it, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. We really need it now that more Mexicans are leaving than coming in.

And Trump liked the idea of a Muslim database, that he didn't suggest it is what offends his ego.

Is that why they are paying for the wall? It will keep returning Nationals from coming home illegally?

[Darnell 8,479]

Oh wow, sounds like he needs census takers at mosques. I can do that job, you betcha..

Edited November 20, 2015 by Darnell

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I guess folks are okay with breaking the rules within the Constitution as long as it's not them getting the crunch.

[JohnR! 5,495]

I saw Trump on the news, furiously trying to backpaddle. Didn't work quite so well for him, and they will get worse then he proposes a Jewish d-base...

If backpeddling were an Olympic sport, we'd have a gold medalist in him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/20/donald-trumps-defense-of-his-muslim-database-comments-makes-no-sense/

Donald Trump’s defense of his Muslim database comments makes no sense

Donald Trump has a tried and true formula when cornered: Insist he didn't say what he said.

When he suggested that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her ... wherever," it, of course, wasn't a reference to her menstrual cycle. Only people with sick minds would think it was. When he said Mexican immigrants were "bringing drugs … bringing crime" and were "rapists", he later tried to explain that he meant those were the sort of people the Mexican government was sending to the United States..

And now, when confronted with video evidence from the campaign trail this week of his seeming acquiescence to the idea of a national database to track Muslims, Trump, again, pled misunderstanding. He tweeted Friday afternoon:

mp, again, pled misunderstanding.

...............................................

Okay. Let's break this down.

The comments in question came after a Trump campaign event in Iowa on Thursday. (Video of the entire exchange is here.) An NBC reporter asks him "should there be a database that tracks the Muslims in this country?"

Trump responds: "There should be a lot of systems beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems, and today you can do it. Right now we have to have a border, we have to have strength, we have to have a wall."

The reporter follows up by asking whether that is something a Trump White House would be interested in.

"I would certainly implement that," Trump says. "I would stop people from coming in illegally."

He is then asked by the reporter: "How do you get them registered?"

"It would be good management," Trump responds. "Good management procedures."

Seems pretty straightforward, right?

The lone possibility for genuine misunderstanding I see is when Trump answers the first question by mentioning the wall and the reporter follows up with a generic follow-up about whether that would be something a Trump White House would want to do. It's conceivable at that point that Trump believes the question is about putting in a wall, which he has spoken in favor of many, many times.

But, and this is important, the next question from the reporter is "how do you get them registered?" -- a question that would make no sense to Trump if he thought the conversation was about the need for a border wall. Instead, he quickly responds "it would be good management."

It's hard to see that as a misunderstanding.

As for Trump's tweet, there's a big difference between a reporter asking a question -- that is, after all, what reporters do -- and a reporter "suggesting" the idea of a database to track Muslims. Blaming the reporter for asking the question makes very little sense. Politicians are asked questions all the time on premises with which they disagree. The right response is to say: "No, I don't think we need a database or anything like that. What we do need to do is secure the border and build a border wall."

Trump elided over that and simply accepted the premise of the question. That's not the reporter's fault. That's Trump's fault.

Viewed more broadly, it strains credulity to think that Trump just keeps being misunderstood or misinterpreted. The better -- and more accurate -- explanation is that Trump is purposely ambiguous in many of his proposals and his answers to questions from the media. That vagueness allows people to take from his statements what they will -- without Trump ever having to answer for some of the more sinister meanings that might be contained in his words.

Trump is a master manipulator of his image and of the public. (It's a trait that has helped him immensely in business and politics.) There is no chance he is accidentally walking down these dangerous rhetorical roads. Instead, he provokes purposely, but always with the possibility of plausible deniability.

And so far, it's working.

Edited November 20, 2015 by JohnR!

[Expat1 971]

Oh wow, sounds like he needs census takers at mosques. I can do that job, you betcha..

I'm sure census takers get spot on accurate information from everyone too. Very effective.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Expat1