--- title: Donald Trump: U.S. May Have to Do 'Unthinkable' After Paris description: Donald Trump said that U.S. may need to take extreme measures to keep the country safe after Friday's Paris attacks. canonical: https://time.com/4120711/donald-trump-paris-attack-muslims/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-19T18:12:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:51.413Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump: U.S. May Have to Do 'Unthinkable' After Paris Attacks og:description: Including possibly a national database of Muslims. og:url: https://time.com/4120711/donald-trump-paris-attack-muslims/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt589bcae3015ddbf8/69887123bc6cfc9df53da63a/donald-trump-republican-candidate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican Candidates Speak At Sunshine Summit In Orlando og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump: U.S. May Have to Do 'Unthinkable' After Paris Attacks twitter:description: Including possibly a national database of Muslims. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt589bcae3015ddbf8/69887123bc6cfc9df53da63a/donald-trump-republican-candidate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump: U.S. May Have to Do 'Unthinkable' in Light of Paris Attacks > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c88133cf-ea61-480a-a3e8-f4796487b75f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Timeline of the Paris Attacks [Watch (HLS stream): A Timeline of the Paris Attacks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4MTtdsM7.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-11-14. A Timeline of Paris Attacks_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 19, 2015 6:12 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference in Orlando, Fl. on Nov. 13, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference in Orlando, Fl. on Nov. 13, 2015. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 19, 2015 6:12 PM UTC Donald Trump said that U.S. may need to take extreme measures to keep the country safe after Friday’s Paris attacks, including possibly requiring Muslims to have national ID cards or be registered in a database. In [an interview with Yahoo News](https://www.yahoo.com/politics/donald-trump-has-big-plans-1303117537878070.html), Trump was asked about how he would want to increase surveillance on American Muslims. “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before,” he said. “And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.” Yahoo asked specifically if Trump would require registering Muslims in a database or giving them identification cards. The business mogul dodged, but did not rule them out. “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” he responded. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.” Trump said earlier in the week that he would consider [shutting down mosques](http://time.com/4082627/trump-mosques-minimum-wage/) that support extremism. **Read Next:** [_Republicans Hit Back at President Obama Over Refugee Criticism_](http://time.com/4118395/barack-obama-republicans-isis-refugees/) ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ NOISE ] [ SOUND ] [ FOREIGN ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ NOISE ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I was eating at a restaurant with a friend of mine, all of a sudden we heard huge gunshots and lots of glass coming through the window. So we ducked onto the floor with all the other diners. It is a terrible, terrible even that is upon us. In this harsh moment, think about the victims who are vary numberous. For their families, for their wounded. [ FOREIGN ] Everybody was on the floor covering their head, and we heard so many gunshots. The terrorists were very calm. Very determinated and they reloaded three or four times with their weapons. There were no empty rooms, so that, it was easy for them. This is an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on. The people of France but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share. 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