Trump: I'll Ask Bill Gates to Shut Down the Internet

Jeff Bezos would rather send Trump to space
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 8, 2015 8:07 AM CST
Trump: I'll Ask Bill Gates to Shut Down the Internet
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during a rally aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015.   (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

After Donald Trump is done banning all Muslims from the US, he'll consider shutting down the Internet to stop ISIS "jihadists"—or so he told a South Carolina crowd on Monday. "We're losing a lot of people because of the Internet," Trump said. "We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people … We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some ways. Somebody will say, 'Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people." The reaction has been much like that to his aforementioned plan. "The idea is so dumb it almost has us … at a loss for words,” writes Nick Statt at the Verge, noting "it's unclear if Trump was suggesting the US government censor certain parts of the web or if he lacks a basic understanding of how the Internet works."

"If only the Internet were just a series of tubes, with Bill Gates controlling the main valve, this would be so much easier," quips Mashable. Should Trump's comments make him miss out on being Republican nominee, Jeff Bezos has an idea where to send him. In a series of tweets on Monday, Trump suggested Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post was "for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no profit company," Amazon. "If Amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag," Trump wrote. An economist says there's no sense to the comments, yet Bezos—who also owns space firm Blue Origin—didn't seem offended. "Finally trashed by @realDonaldTrump," he tweeted in reply, per CNNMoney. "Will still reserve him a seat on the Blue Origin rocket. #sendDonaldtospace." (More Donald Trump stories.)

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