--- title: Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech description: He defended his plan and canonical: https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-08T01:31:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:50.529Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech og:description: He also slammed fellow candidate Chris Christie og:url: https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2030ace3dcb35f5/6988743fcd1bba5cf26fe68d/donald-trump-portrait-ap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech twitter:description: He also slammed fellow candidate Chris Christie twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2030ace3dcb35f5/6988743fcd1bba5cf26fe68d/donald-trump-portrait-ap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 8, 2015 1:31 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. on Dec. 2, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. on Dec. 2, 2015. Andrew Harnik—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 8, 2015 1:31 AM UTC Speaking just hours after he called for a [complete ban on Muslims entering the United States](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/?xid=homepage), Republican frontrunner Donald Trump spoke to an audience in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina about the new proposal, how to curb ISIS recruitment, and why he doesn’t like Chris Christie. Trump mostly stuck verbatim to the statement announcing his new proposal to ban Muslim entry to the U.S., which he called a “common sense” solution. Explaining his rationale, Trump said, “It’s going to get worse and worse, you’re going to have more World Trade Centers. We can be politically correct and we can be stupid, but it’s going to get worse and worse.” Trump defended the statistics mentioned in the statement. It cites a 2015 study by the Center for Security Policy, a group that advocates a more aggressive response to Islamic radicalism, that found 25% of Muslims living in the United States agreed violence against Americans was justified as part of the global jihad, and 51% polled agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah law. The [survey](https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/06/23/nationwide-poll-of-us-muslims-shows-thousands-support-shariah-jihad/), which was not published with a margin of error, was completed “online” under procedures that were undisclosed had a sample of 600 self-identified Muslims, and the leader of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, is a controversial figure. But at the South Carolina rally, Trump called the Center a “very highly respected group of people.” **Read More:** [_Donald Trump Calls For ‘Complete Shutdown’ Of Muslim Entry To U.S._](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/?xid=homepage) Trump also advanced a new suggestion for how to curb homegrown terrorism and radicalization. Talking about ISIS’s recruitment online, he said the United States should consider “closing that Internet up in some way.” Near the end of his hour-long speech, Trump took an extended hit against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said Trump’s plan to bar Muslim entry to the country is “a ridiculous position and one that won’t even be productive.**“** **Read More:** [_Republican Rivals Condemn Donald Trump’s Proposed Muslim Entry Ban_](http://time.com/4139670/donald-trump-muslim-republican/?xid=tcoshare) Trump knocked Christie back on everything from New Jersey credit downgrades, to Christie’s politics— “I thought he was going to vote for Obama … He possibly did,” to the infamous George Washington Bridge closing— “He knew about it. He knew about it. He totally knew about it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/"},"headline":"Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech","datePublished":"2015-12-08T01:31:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:50.529Z","description":"He also slammed fellow candidate Chris Christie","url":"https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Immigration","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2030ace3dcb35f5/6988743fcd1bba5cf26fe68d/donald-trump-portrait-ap.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/bltf2030ace3dcb35f5/6988743fcd1bba5cf26fe68d/donald-trump-portrait-ap.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. on Dec. 2, 2015.","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4139981/trump-muslim-immigration-south-carolina/","name":"Trump Defends Muslim Ban During South Carolina Speech"}}]}] ```