--- title: Donald Trump Asks If He Should Eject Non-Christian Conservatives From Rally description: Donald Trump called on non-Christian conservative supporters to raise their hands and seemed to ask the audience whether he should eject them from a rally canonical: https://time.com/4512398/donald-trump-non-christian-conservatives-iowa-rally/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-28T22:01:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:53:59.294Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Seemingly Asks If He Should Eject Non-Christian Conservatives From Rally og:description: "Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so" og:url: https://time.com/4512398/donald-trump-non-christian-conservatives-iowa-rally/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt822fb440f310c41e/6988a801196cf4692903d5f8/trump-council-bluffs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Council Bluffs, Iowa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Seemingly Asks If He Should Eject Non-Christian Conservatives From Rally twitter:description: "Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt822fb440f310c41e/6988a801196cf4692903d5f8/trump-council-bluffs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Seemingly Asks If He Should Eject Non-Christian Conservatives From Rally > 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 [Zeke J Miller / Council Bluffs, Iowa](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Council Bluffs, Iowa Sep 28, 2016 10:01 PM UTC  Donald Trump walks on stage at a rally on September 28, 2016 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Donald Trump walks on stage at a rally on September 28, 2016 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Zeke J Miller / Council Bluffs, Iowa](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Council Bluffs, Iowa Sep 28, 2016 10:01 PM UTC Republican presidential nominee [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4512024/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-economic-adviser-plans/) called on non-Christian conservative supporters to raise their hands and seemed to ask the audience whether he should eject them from a rally in Iowa. Appearing in Council Bluffs as he rolled out it his Iowa Christian Conservatives for Trump coalition, which the campaign said included over 650 religious leaders from the state, Trump first asked the Christian conservatives to raise their hands. “Raise your hands, Christian Conservatives everybody,” he said, as most of the hands in the draped-off convention center went up. He then asked who didn’t fit the bill for the previous question. “Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative—I want to see this, right,” Trump said, seemingly surprised that any hands went up. “That’s—oh, there’s a couple people, that’s all right. I think we’ll keep them, right? Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so.” The incident comes as Trump and his campaign have come under fire for [giving voice](http://time.com/4293564/the-billionaire-and-the-bigots/) to racist and antisemitic supporters through [retweets](http://time.com/4240330/donald-trump-benito-mussolini-quote/) and spreading memes that have been appropriated by the so-called alt-right movement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4512398/donald-trump-non-christian-conservatives-iowa-rally/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4512398/donald-trump-non-christian-conservatives-iowa-rally/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Seemingly Asks If He Should Eject Non-Christian Conservatives From Rally","datePublished":"2016-09-28T22:01:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:53:59.294Z","description":"\"Should we keep them in the room, yes? 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