The frontrunner for the Republican nomination thinks it's a fine idea to force Muslims to register for a national database, according to NBC News.

Donald Trump "would certainly implement" a database system tracking Muslims in the United States, the Republican front-runner told NBC News on Thursday night.

"I would certainly implement that. Absolutely," Trump said in Newton, Iowa, in between campaign town halls.

"There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases," he added. "We should have a lot of systems."

When asked whether Muslims are legally obligated to sign into the database, Trump responded, "They have to be — they have to be."

Later, Trump was repeatedly asked to explain the difference between requiring Muslim to enter a database and the requirement the Jews register in Nazi Germany.

He responded four times by simply saying, "You tell me."

I repeat: This is the guy who leads the field for the GOP nomination. Nothing says small government like forcing an entire group of people to register in a government database on the basis of their religion, right?

Why isn't the press blowing a gasket over this?

Oh, because they're too busy following the horserace. Like this nugget of "Beltway wisdom," via The Hill:

Trump’s gains show him once again confounding Beltway wisdom, where the widespread view was that such a grave event would lead voters to look toward White House candidates who are purportedly more mature and sophisticated than the erstwhile star of “The Apprentice.”

This is a good summary of Trump's base:

Image from Driftglass.