True to form, Donald Trump isn’t about to change his hardline stance on Muslims just because an al Qaeda affiliate has a new recruiting video that features the Republican presidential frontrunner.
"They use other people, too,” Trump said of the video, purportedly produced by Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
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The clip quotes Trump calling for a temporary shutdown of the country's borders to non-citizen Muslims "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."
"What am I going to do? I have to say what I have to say. And you know what I have to say? There's a problem. We have to find out what is a problem. And we have to solve that problem,” the former reality TV star added.
The video could have an outsized influence on the presidential campaign now less than a month from the crucial Iowa Caucuses.
Two weeks ago former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a Democratic debate that ISIS was using clips of Trump espousing his position on Muslims in recruiting videos.
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When Clinton’s camp couldn’t offer hard evidence to back up the claim, Trump – whose White House bid was awarded the title of 2015 lie of the year from Politifact – to demand an apology from the former First Lady, a suggestion the Democratic frontrunner shrugged off.
If anything, the real estate magnate has used the al-Shabaab video to double-down on his critique of Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton lied last week when she said ISIS made a D.T. video. The video that ISIS made was about her husband being a degenerate,” Trump tweeted Sunday morning.
Hillary Clinton lied last week when she said ISIS made a D.T. video. The video that ISIS made was about her husband being a degenerate.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2016
“Al-Shabbab, not ISIS, just made a video on me - they all will as front-runner & if I speak out against them, which I must. Hillary lied!" he added.
Al-Shabbab, not ISIS, just made a video on me - they all will as front-runner & if I speak out against them, which I must. Hillary lied!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2016
“Look, there’s a problem. I bring it up,” Trump said on CBS.
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“Other people have called me. And they say, 'You have guts to bring it up because, frankly, it's true but nobody wants to get involved.' Now, people are getting involved. People that are on different persuasions than me right now, John, are saying, 'You know, maybe Trump isn't wrong. We want to examine it,’” according to the billionaire.
"You look at Germany. You look at Brussels. You look all over the world, they're shutting down cities that never had a problem before. They're shutting down countries that never had a problem before. You look at Paris, what happened. You look at California, what happened. John, maybe it's not politically correct. There's a big problem out there,” Trump said.
He also suggested that the U.S. and other Western countries aren’t just in a war against the Islamic State, but barreling toward a showdown with the entire religion of Islam.
"I think that radical Islam may be on a collision course with us. I mean, you could change it around a little bit. But it is a very, very deep-seated hatred that's going on,” Trump said.
"I mean, you have a hatred like people where they're willing to give their lives. They're willing to walk in. I have to tell you it is so big. It is the biggest thing there is right now,” he added.
