Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says Donald Trump’s plan to shut down parts of the Internet used by Islamic State jihadists would require a dissolvement of the First Amendment.
During Tuesday night’s fifth and final Republican primary debate of 2015, Trump said he would “certainly be open to closing certain areas [of the Internet] where we are at war with somebody.”
“I sure as hell don’t want to let people who want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet,” he added.
“Closing the Internet would require a change to our Constitution where we get rid of the First Amendment. That’s a big step,” Paul said Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
According to the Kentucky senator, his fellow Republican presidential hopeful was suggesting a policy akin to those instituted in North Korea or China.
“If you’re going to close the Internet — that’s like something they do in North Korea, something like they do in China — but it also goes against the Constitution. It goes against the First Amendment,” Paul said.
Paul also said he’s not concerned with Trump’s poll numbers, even after the GOP front-runner reached a new national high of 40 percent support earlier this week.
“The polls are very fluid. Ben Carson, who I like a lot, has dropped 20 points,” Paul said. “Same thing could happen to Trump.”
Trump and Paul are second and sixth, respectively, in the latest Washington Examiner presidential power rankings.
