Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump argued his proposed ban on Muslim immigration is “not about religion. This is about safety.”
Appearing on ABC’s “Live with Kelly & Michael” on Wednesday, Trump insisted “I tell it like it is,” and that “those problems are coming from a certain sector.” (RELATED: Trump Calls For Moratorium On Muslims Entering United States)
Co-host Michael Strahan asked Trump “you said about banning Muslims from coming to the country was that something that you think would be adopted or could be adopted? Or is that something that you just said to be outrageous?
“No, no, not to be outrageous,” Trump insisted. “Look, we have a problem in this country. The World Trade Center happened to come down, and lots of other things have happened. Then last week, you had the terrible shooting in California, and frankly a lot of people knew that was going to happen. A lot of people knew he had those guns and the rifles and the bombs. Bombs all over the apartment. One person saw the bombs, said, ‘Oh, gee, I didn’t want to racially profile. I thought it would be incorrect to be racially profile.'” (RELATED: Shooter’s Neighbor Didn’t Report ‘Suspicious Activity’ For Fear Of Being Labeled Racist)
“So a lot of people killed. You look at what went on in Paris. We’re going to have tremendous problems. It’s getting worse and worse. And those problems are coming from a certain sector,” Trump argued. “Now, I did it for a limited period of time, but our country has to get its act together. We have people that don’t know what they’re doing, and we need safety. We want to make America great again, but we need safety in our country.”
Kelly Ripa followed up, “But wouldn’t a ban on Muslims, wouldn’t it violate the Constitution’s, you know, freedom of religion?”
Trump retorted, “No, because … these are people that are not in the country. I mean, the people who are already in the country, they’re in the country. We’re not talking about them. These are the people that are outside of the country, so we’re really not talking about the Constitution.”
“And it’s not about religion. This is about safety. This has nothing to with religion. It’s about safety,” Trump reiterated. “A lot of problems are happening in our country. … You look at trade, you look at what China and all these countries are doing to us. They’re taking our money, they’re taking our jobs. There’s so many problems that we have in the country.”
Trump explained that the reason he is doing so well in the polls and the reason his book, “Crippled America” is selling so well is because, “I tell it like it is.”