--- title: Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas description: Trump said women might prefer wearing burqas because it eliminates the need for make-up canonical: https://time.com/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-26T19:28:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:58.955Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas og:description: He said women might prefer wearing burqas because they wouldn't need makeup og:url: https://time.com/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7676dcf6b9890a7/698869e4196cf42412038b0d/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas twitter:description: He said women might prefer wearing burqas because they wouldn't need makeup twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7676dcf6b9890a7/698869e4196cf42412038b0d/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas > 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 [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 26, 2015 7:28 PM UTC  Donald J. Trump on Oct. 23, 2015 in Doral, Fla. Donald J. Trump on Oct. 23, 2015 in Doral, Fla. Johnny Louis—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 26, 2015 7:28 PM UTC Donald Trump told a room full of New Hampshire voters that America should not stand up to countries that require women to cover their faces with burqas. “Why are we fighting that?” the often-boisterous Republican presidential candidate asked the crowd, and added the country should “let them” wear what they want instead of entering into combat over the head coverings. Trump also said women might prefer wearing burqas because it eliminates the need for makeup, according to the [Boston _Globe_](http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/10/26/trump/0zMqF3cIfYrYGX5q1a3pTJ/story.html)_._ “Wouldn’t that be easier,” said Trump. “I tell ya, if I was a woman,” Trump continued, signaling a burqa cover with the wave of his hand, “I’m ready darling, let’s go.” The billionaire made the comments at a rally before his appearance in front of a live audience in New Hampshire for NBC’s “Today.” **Read More:** [_Trump Describes His Hard Life and Father’s ‘Small’ $1 Million Loan_](http://time.com/4087344/trump-small-loan/) During the NBC town hall, Trump outlined some of his foreign policy goals, promising to build a “military so strong, so powerful, so everything” that enemies wouldn’t even consider challenging the United States. He decried ISIS, saying that he would “knock the hell” out of the terror group, but was fine with Russian President Vladimir Putin getting to them first. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/"},"headline":"Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas","datePublished":"2015-10-26T19:28:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:58.955Z","description":"The billionaire wants to build a \"military so strong, so powerful, so everything,\" but won't use them to dispute women wearing head coverings","url":"https://time.com/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7676dcf6b9890a7/698869e4196cf42412038b0d/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7676dcf6b9890a7/698869e4196cf42412038b0d/donald-trump-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Johnny Louis—FilmMagic/Getty Images","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/4087545/donald-trump-burqas/","name":"Trump's Foreign Policy Doesn't Include Fighting Over Burqas"}}]}] ```