Trump says he'd allow 'rich Muslims' to enter U.S.

Josh Hafner | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump, Cruz Belgium statements dismay U.S. muslims After Sen. Ted Cruz called for increased surveillance of Muslims in the U.S., many Muslims in the community known as Little Arabia in California challenged the GOP presidential candidate or dismissed his comments as mostly meaningless rhetoric.

During Donald Trump's Wisconsin town hall Wednesday — where he said women should face 'punishment' for illegal abortions — the Republican front-runner revealed another interesting tidbit: His proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, the cause of much controversy, would not apply to Trump's wealthy Muslim friends.

"I have a lot of friends that are Muslim and they call me," Trump told MSNBC during the event. "In most cases, they're very rich Muslims, OK?"

OK, Donald. MSNBC's Chris Matthews then asked Trump whether his very rich Muslim friends would be allowed to enter the U.S. during President Trump's Muslim ban.

"They'll come in," Trump said. "And you'll have exceptions."

So a rich guy, should he become president, would make exceptions to the law for other rich folks who are his friends. All right, then.

Trump also suggested that America, once Made Great Again™, would be so alluring that Muslims would fight ISIS just to get Trump to lift the ban again.

"Maybe they'll be more disposed to fight ISIS," Trump said of the banned, presumably not-rich Muslims.

He continued: "Maybe they'll say, 'We want to come back into America, we've got to solve this problem.'"

Hillary Clinton, for her part, disagreed:

Yet another idea from @realDonaldTrump that's ignorant, reckless, and frankly absurd. Sad! https://t.co/XMf8Z3CAUR — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 31, 2016

[h/t Mother Jones]

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner