Investigators continue to dig into the Orlando nightclub shooter’s motives. Those who knew Omar Mateen have spoken out on his violent and unhinged nature. There are many indications that the American-born gunman interacted with the gay community, both on a dating app and at Pulse nightclub itself. His professed allegiance to ISIS seems muddled, as he pledged solidarity with terrorists who were unaffiliated or at odds with the Islamic State. So, authorities don’t know for sure whether his radicalization played a real role, or if this was a flat-out hate crime.
Naturally, Donald Trump jumped to conclusions at the first sign of Sunday’s breaking news. He congratulated himself on “being right on radical Islamic terrorism.” Trump used the incident to argue about making America tough again in a stunning act of self promotion. Well, Stephen Colbert took Trump to task in a fairly adept takedown. First, he hilariously not-compared Trump’s tweet to F.D.R.’s post-Pearl Harbor “date which will live in infamy” speech. He noted Trump’s refusal to be politically correct by adding that Trump refuses to be correct in general. And Colbert blasted Trump for his renewed calls to ban Muslims from the country in a speech: “Its nativism, its fear mongering, and especially its self-aggrandizing in the face of tragedy feels like a new low.”
A frustrated Colbert wished to further illustrate the matter, so he quickly set about fashioning a chalkboard diagram to explain Trump’s rhetoric. Sure enough, a pattern became clear in swastika form. Oh, there’s an added bonus too, so stick around for the finale.