--- title: Republican Debate: Donald Trump Talks Closing Internet description: Donald Trump reiterated in the fifth Republican debate on Tuesday night that he would be open to "closing parts of the Internet" canonical: https://time.com/4150891/republican-debate-donald-trump-internet/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T02:59:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:25.087Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Wants to Close Off Parts of the Internet og:description: "I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet" og:url: https://time.com/4150891/republican-debate-donald-trump-internet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ec20cd07346ed3/6988758ebc6cfcb1963dadcb/republican-debate-gop-presidential-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3426 og:image:height: 1927 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Wants to Close Off Parts of the Internet twitter:description: "I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6ec20cd07346ed3/6988758ebc6cfcb1963dadcb/republican-debate-gop-presidential-006.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Wants to Close Off Parts of the Internet > 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=cce61910-34c9-4bea-b51b-88872817d3ff&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: CNN Republican Debate: Trump on Shutting Down the Internet [Watch (HLS stream): CNN Republican Debate: Trump on Shutting Down the Internet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8t6kpUOF.m3u8) (1:12)  _Published 2015-12-16. Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 16, 2015 2:59 AM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 16, 2015 2:59 AM UTC Donald Trump reiterated in [the fifth Republican debate on Tuesday night](http://time.com/4149585/republican-debate-donald-trump-ted-cruz-jeb-bush-cnn/) that he would be open to “closing parts of the Internet” to prevent ISIS from attracting recruits, but it wasn’t clear exactly what he meant. “ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the Internet better than we are using the Internet and it was our idea,” Trump said. “I want to get the brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS can’t do what they’re doing.” CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer tried to get Trump to clarify: “Are you open to closing parts of the Internet?” Blitzer asked. “I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody,” Trump said. “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.” Later on in the debate, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul attacked Trump’s proposal, calling it unconstitutional. Trump appeared to walk back his comments. “I’m not talking about closing the Internet,” Trump said. “I’m talking about closing parts of the Internet where ISIS is.” Trump said earlier this month that he was in favor of closing parts of the Internet and brushed aside fears about restricting freedom of speech: “We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people.” ## Transcript ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the Internet better than we are using the Internet, and it was our idea. What I wanted to do is I wanted to get our brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places, and figure out a way that ISIS cannot do what they're doing. You talk freedom of speech, you talk freedom of anything you want. 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 ISIS. Not masterminds. And we have to change it from every standpoint. But we should be using our brilliant people, our most brilliant minds, what a twerp. 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 and we can do that, if we use our good people. I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. 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