During Tuesday’s CNN-moderated Republican debate, GOP front-runner Donald Trump suggested censoring parts of the Internet in order to combat ISIS, despite prodding from moderator Wolf Blitzer that such a policy bears a strong resemblance to China and North Korea’s media censorship.
TRUMP: Look, this is so easy to answer. ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the internet better than we are using the Internet, and it was our idea … I don’t want them using our Internet to take our young impressionable youth — and watching the media talking about how they’re masterminds, these are masterminds. They shouldn’t be using the word mastermind. These are thugs. These are terrible people in ISI, not masterminds. We have to change it from every standpoint. We should be using our brilliant people, our most brilliant minds, to figure a way that ISIS cannot use the Internet. And then on second, we should be able to penetrate the Internet and find out exactly where ISIS is and everything about ISIS … I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don’t want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am.