Donald Trump Implies That Obama Might Be Intentionally Looking The Other Way On Terrorism

In a way, it’s kind of impressive — the way that Donald Trump can get out a message without actually saying much of anything at all.

Take a look at these remarks that Trump made on Monday morning about President Obama in response to the Orlando shooting while speaking with Fox News:

“Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind […] And the something else in mind — you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”

Let’s dissect those words a little. Trump isn’t saying, in these comments specifically, that the President is not tough or not smart … or that he has “got something else in mind.” He’s just posing a question and, with his extremely vague words, making insinuations about Obama that almost seem like an appetizer to the kind of “false flag” comments that Alex Jones (who Trump has previously praised) is making. Is this Trump’s idea of acting more Presidential? There are, after all, no direct accusations that might stick to Trump in a general election fight, really. Just words like, “There’s something going on,” and a wafting cloud of suspicion about Obama that Trump breathes into the air. A cloud that carries into continuing coverage of those remarks in interviews and “You’re not gonna believe what Trump just said” articles like this one.

Case in point: on Monday’s edition of The Today Show, Trump was asked to clarify those previous remarks.

“Well there are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn’t want to get it, […] A lot of people think maybe he doesn’t want to know about it. I happen to think that he just doesn’t know what he’s doing, but there are many people that think maybe he doesn’t want to get it. He doesn’t want to see what’s really happening. And that could be.”

To clarify, “there’s something going on,” the President may have “something else in mind,” and unnamed people are thinking … somewhere, that Obama “doesn’t want to get it” when it comes to radical Islamic terrorism. All clear?

Because Today Show host Savannah Guthrie has our collective backs, and because all journos are required to at least try to get some kind of clarification when face to face with Trump’s unique presentation of his thoughts, Guthrie followed up and got this response:

“Because Savannah, Savannah, why isn’t he addressing the issue? He’s not addressing the issue. He’s not calling it what it is. This is radical Islamic terrorism. This isn’t fighting Germany; this isn’t fighting Japan, where they wear uniforms.”

That’s a little bit clearer (though, maybe not the most important issue of the moment, especially when you consider all the angles and finer points of diplomacy) and feeds into Trump’s push to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Something he briefly mentioned on Twitter after Omar Mateen — who would not have been affected by such a ban since he was a natural born U.S. citizen — shot and killed 49 people.

This was after Trump’s ill-considered victory lap where he humble-bragged about all the praise he was getting over his stance on radical Islamic terrorism.

Notice, once again, the indirect message. Trump isn’t issuing a public “I told you so” hours after a massacre — that would be uncouth. He’s just saying that people are offering up praise and that he’s more focused on the issue at hand. Again, the brilliance of that strategy where Trump plants a seed while allowing the masses to nurture it and grow it — which is absolutely working on all of us — is breathtaking. You’d applaud if it wasn’t inching Trump closer and closer to the Presidency.

Source: The Washington Post