--- title: Ted Cruz Breaks With Donald Trump on Muslim Database description: Ted Cruz broke with Donald Trump Friday when he denounced Trump's comments that he would make Muslims in America register in a database. canonical: https://time.com/4122370/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-database/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-20T16:46:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T23:16:10.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ted Cruz Breaks With Donald Trump on Muslim Database og:description: "I'm not a fan of government registries of American citizens." og:url: https://time.com/4122370/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-database/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bfb6b187821e2a7/6988719d2dce0180b79e68de/cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 13, 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Breaks With Donald Trump on Muslim Database twitter:description: "I'm not a fan of government registries of American citizens." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bfb6b187821e2a7/6988719d2dce0180b79e68de/cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Breaks With Donald Trump on Muslim Database ## Video: Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2015-07-23. Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:16 PM UTCPublished: Nov 20, 2015 4:46 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 13, 2015 Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 13, 2015Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:16 PM UTCPublished: Nov 20, 2015 4:46 PM UTC Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made a notable break with Donald Trump Friday when he denounced Trump’s comments that he would make Muslims in America register in a database. Cruz has been careful not to attack Trump on the trail, likely because he hopes to scoop up Trump supports if the business mogul drops out of the race. So he was careful to couch his statement by beginning, “I’m a big fan of Donald Trump’s,” [Politico reports](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-registries-216105). “But I’m not a fan of government registries of American citizens,” Cruz continued. “The First Amendment protects religious liberty, I’ve spent the past several decades defending religious liberty.” Trump stood by his position Thursday, saying that he would “absolutely” [make Muslim Americans register](http://time.com/4121511/donald-trump-muslims-database-terrorism/?xid=tcoshare) in a database as a security measure after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that left 129 dead. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also pushed back against Trump’s suggestion of a registry of Muslims. “It’s not a question of toughness. It’s manipulating people’s angst and their fears,” he [said on CNBC’s Squawk Box](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/jeb-bush-trump-muslims-216099). “That’s not strength. That’s weakness.” Trump later clarified his thoughts on Twitter, attributing the database idea to a reporter. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/667777348029292544) **Read Next:** [_Democrats Call Trump’s Muslim Database Comments ‘Shocking’_](http://time.com/4121983/democrats-trump-muslim-database/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4122370/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-database/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4122370/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-database/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Breaks With Donald Trump on Muslim Database","datePublished":"2015-11-20T16:46:31.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T23:16:10.000Z","description":"Ted Cruz broke with Donald Trump Friday when he denounced Trump's comments that he would make Muslims in America register in a database.","url":"https://time.com/4122370/ted-cruz-donald-trump-muslim-database/","keywords":["ted cruz","2016 Election topic","Religion","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bfb6b187821e2a7/6988719d2dce0180b79e68de/cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bfb6b187821e2a7/6988719d2dce0180b79e68de/cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential candidate Sen. 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