Trump: Racial Profiling of Muslims ’Common Sense’!

Local Editor

After doubling down on his proposal to ban some immigrants, Donald Trump is now doubling down on another controversial idea: profiling Muslims already in the United States.

In an interview aired Sunday with CBS's John Dickerson, Trump called profiling Muslims "common sense."

"Well, I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country," he said when asked whether he still supports the idea, which he floated before.

Relatively, Trump's endorsement of broad profiling of Muslims in the United States appears to take him closer yet to supporting a radical shift in US policy. In the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting in December, he expressed support for limited profiling of Muslims - if neighbors or relatives seemed suspicious.

In the interview, Trump appeared to suggest that ethnic profiling could be useful at his political rallies to keep people safe:

However, ethnic profiling isn't the only controversial policy discussed by Trump since an American-born man killed 49 at an Orlando club. In a speech the day after the June 12 massacre, he blamed American Muslims for harboring terrorists and proposed temporarily banning any immigrants from countries with a history of terrorism, an apparent refinement of his earlier proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country.

And before he clinched the nomination, Trump expressed support for watching US mosques. He told Dickerson it could be done "respectfully" and indicated he'd look to cities that are closing down mosques as examples.

It was after he won enough delegates to be Republicans' de facto presidential nominee in May that Trump appeared to back off his more controversial proposals, such as the temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. His bringing up the idea again after the Orlando massacre earned him criticism from fellow Republicans.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team