The Note: What Would Donald Do?

ByABC News
November 20, 2015, 8:57 AM

— -- NOTABLES

--TRUMP WOULD 'CERTAINLY IMPLEMENT' A REGISTRY OF MUSLIMS: Donald Trump wants to track Muslims in the United States in a database, an idea that has drawn comparisons to Nazi Germany, ABC's JORDYN PHELPS reports. "I would certainly implement that, absolutely," Trump told NBC News at a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday evening. The Republican front-runner told Yahoo News earlier Thursday that he would consider creating such a database. "We're going to have to -- we're going to have to look at a lot of things very closely," he said. "We're going to have to look at the mosques. We're going to have to look very, very carefully." Trump told NBC that he wouldn't stop at just creating a database, though he didn't specify what other systems he'd like to implement. "There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases," he added. "We should have a lot of systems." http://abcn.ws/1SLln1x

--TRUMP SAYS PEOPLE LIKING HIS 'HARD LINE ON IMMIGRATION' AFTER PARIS ATTACKS. A more reserved Donald Trump brought his immigration plan back to Iowa Thursday night in the wake of the Paris attacks, telling the crowd of 350 that "what happened since Paris is people are really starting to like my hard line on immigration." The billionaire businessman said that the US needs strong leadership and that he's seen an uptick in support since the Paris attacks. "I think people look at me as being a strong leader and you've seen the polls have gone very much up since that time," said Trump. "If we don't have a border, we don't have a country...To bring them (Syrian refugees) into this country is suicide," Trump told his supporters, ABC's JOSH HASKELL notes. http://abcn.ws/1LpsUxB

--ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Who has a better read on House Democrats -- President Obama, or the new Republican Speaker of the House? More broadly -- and perhaps more relevantly -- who had a better read on the mood of the public, and thus members of Congress, as the week after Paris played out? Speaker Paul Ryan faced an early test in responding quickly to the concerns over Syrian refugees. While few see it as a time to count political victories, Ryan clearly passed. His initial comments seemed to offer a chance for the White House to compromise with Congress, and head off the kind of vote we saw Thursday. When Obama, inconveniently many time zones away, dug in for a political fight with the presidential contenders, Ryan and his team focused on the votes in the House. They delivered a rare, sweeping, veto-proof and bipartisan vote on a bill that effectively pauses the admittance of Syrian refugees. At the very least, Ryan has bought Republicans a seat at a negotiating table the White House didn't want to set. At most, he's set to have his members control policy at a tense time for the nation.

THIS WEEK ON 'THIS WEEK': Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley come to "This Week" Sunday. ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports from overseas on the latest in the fight against ISIS. Plus, the powerhouse roundtable debates the week in politics with former advisor to President Barack Obama and CNN political commentator David Axelrod, ABC News analyst Matthew Dowd, Democratic congressman and Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Keith Ellison, and Republican congresswoman and retired Air Force colonel Rep. Martha McSally. See the whole political picture, Sunday on "This Week."

HAPPENING TODAY

CARSON RETURNS TO IOWA AFTER LONG ABSENCE. Ben Carson and Donald Trump find themselves atop the polls in Iowa with 75 days to the caucus using a similar strategy that doesn't include the traditional retail politicking or visiting all 99 counties. But Trump has been the frontrunner in Iowa for almost four months whereas Carson's rise has come during a period where he hasn't campaigned in the state in a month and a half. "We're competing everywhere. Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada, you name it," Carson's Iowa State Director Ryan Rhodes told ABC News. Carson returns to Iowa on Friday and then Sunday for his first visit since Oct. 1 besides one day of book tour stops. The majority of his events and speeches have centered around faith and his upcoming visit will be no different. http://abcn.ws/1Yj7r2w

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ

BEN CARSON COMPARES SOME SYRIAN REFUGEES TO 'RABID DOGS'. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson compared the need to screen refugees to protecting a child from a "rabid dog" at an event in Alabama Thursday. "For instance if there's a rabid dog running around the neighborhood, probably not going to assume something good about that dog and you're going to want to put your children away," Carson said in response to an ABC News question regarding whether Christian organizations should be helping refugees. He continued: "At the same time, I love dogs and I'm going to call the humane society and hopefully they can take this dog away and create a safe environment once again." ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS reports Carson said that refugees screening mechanisms will help determine "the mad dogs." http://abcn.ws/1OhJ7JI

NOTED: CARSON SAYS FLYING PLANES INTO TWIN TOWERS 'DIDN'T REQUIRE A GREAT DEAL OF SOPHISTICATION'. Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson doubled down on his previous language saying that al Qaeda was not an existential threat to the United States in 2001 and 2003. Thursday, he told ABC News that ISIS is more of a threat now than al Qaeda was in 2001 and 2003. ""http://abcn.ws/1SJ1A2G

HILLARY CLINTON UNVEILS STRATEGY TO DEFEAT AND DESTROY ISIS. Nearly one week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Hillary Clinton laid out her strategy to combat ISIS and global terrorism in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on Thursday. The former secretary of state focused her remarks on three objectives: defeating ISIS in Syria, Iraq and across the region; disrupting the terrorist organization's global infrastructure and facilities; and preventing and halting homegrown threats here in the United States. In order to do this, Clinton said the United States and international coalition must first "intensify and broaden" their efforts by creating a "more effective coalition air campaign" combined with local ground forces. ABC's LIZ KREUTZ has more. http://abcn.ws/1SIfiTs

NOTED: CLINTON ADVISES NEW YORKERS TO TAKE ISIS 'SERIOUSLY'. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton strutted onto the New York City set of "Live! with Kelly and Michael" Thursday, high-fiving and shaking the hands of every front-row audience member before delving into a wide range of subjects including the rise of ISIS amid the fear stemming from last week's Paris attacks. "I think you always have to take them seriously," Clinton said of any ISIS threats to New York City. "One thing that you just have to accept is that when they make threats, they may be some distance from being able to deliver on those threats themselves, but they're hoping that some discontented person or group right here in our country will hear that threat." ABC's MATTHEW CLAIBORNE notes the former senator from New York also encouraged parents to talk to their children about the ISIS chatter they may be overhearing in schools and in the news. http://abcn.ws/1OhqNAk

PRO-KASICH SUPER PAC PLEDGES TO SPEND MILLIONS TO ATTACK TRUMP. A super PAC backing Republican candidate John Kasich is expected to spend $2.5 million on an advertising campaign over the next two months to "stand up to Donald Trump," the group's chief strategist told ABC News, making it the most significant sustained, paid advertising campaign to attack the GOP presidential frontrunner so far. "There's a growing consensus amongst our donors and frankly other donors that someone has to stand up to Donald Trump, someone has to put a paid effort behind this," said the New Day for America strategist, Matt David. The initial anti-Trump ad, which the group rolled out Thursday morning, contrasted the billionaire businessman's experience and that of fellow frontrunner Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, with Kasich's and will run for about two weeks on New Hampshire television, David said. ABC's BEN GITTLESON has more. http://abcn.ws/1PDhoX3

WHAT SANDERS MEANS BY 'DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM,' ONCE AND FOR ALL. Bernie Sanders finally delivered a much-anticipated speech on his unique political affiliation -- Democratic Socialism -- hoping to address the skeptics and embrace the word that has stigmatized his candidacy since day one. At times, his defense of the term focused on specific policy proposals, but he also used the moment to reiterate sweeping aspirations, economic and social equality in the country, incorporating lofty language befitting the arched molding and spiritual art in the ornate room at Georgetown University where which he spoke. Sanders joked about the negative connotation of the word "socialist" in the United States, ABC's MARYALICE PARKS notes. "I don't believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production," he said. "But I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of this country deserve a decent standard of living and that their incomes should go up and not down." He insisted he wasn't some "crazy-eyed" socialist, but said his proposals -- from equal pay for women to free tuition at public universities -- are "widely popular" and all fit under his umbrella of democratic socialism. http://abcn.ws/1MFABl0

WHO'S TWEETING?

@JenniferJJacobs: Trump, in interview w @KObradovich, rejects report he wouldn't rule out special IDs for Muslims. "I never said that" http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/kathie-obradovich/caucus/2015/11/19/trump-privacy-rights-stronger-before-paris/76079482/ ...

@The_RGA: Republican Governors Ask President Obama To Suspend Syrian Refugee Resettlement Efforts: http://www.rga.org/homepage/republican-governors-ask-president-obama-to-suspend-syrian-refugee-resettlement-efforts/ ...

@AaronBlakeWP: How come 53 percent of Republicans think the unemployment rate has risen under Obama? http://wapo.st/1kKq29F

@bpolitics: The Donald moves closer to a jury trial over allegations he misled Trump University students http://bloom.bg/1I2fMOA

@ryangrim: Scoop: David Brock to acquire his own media outlet, Blue Nation Review http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-brock-blue-nation-review_564f0f3de4b0879a5b0a7bc5?jedygb9 ... cc @Jimmyspolitics @goldietaylor