The Republican candidate also branded “crooked” Hillary Clinton as the “co-founder” of the terrorist group.
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This is not the first time that Trump has connected Obama and Clinton to ISIS. “In fact, in many respects, you know they honor president Obama”. Last night, you said the President was the founder of ISIS.
Trump repeated the accusation three more times during his speech.
“ISIS is a solid GOP message to show contrast with Hillary Clinton and the failures of the Obama-Clinton administration”, said Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist who remains undecided about the nominee, using acronyms for Islamic State and the Republican Party. “And that’s what it’s about!” As Politifact details, an agreement in place when Obama took office called for the withdrawal of all USA troops by the end of 2011 - a period of time during which Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State. But once we were in, we should have never left the way we left.
Trump has long blamed Obama and his former secretary of state – Clinton – for their Mideast policy.
During the Sunrise rally, Trump referred to Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama” - a dog whistle meant to suggest the president is a secret Muslim.
“If we have gun-free zones, the bad guys have the guns, and to them, it’s like open season”. And he doesn’t say it. “It’s called sarcasm.” But he didn’t say that. “Her only competition is Barack Obama”, he said.
Updated at 11:49 a.m.to include reaction from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That’s what I would say. It’s what it is.
Those concerns are compelling enough that dozens of anxious Republicans gathered signatures on Thursday for a letter urging the GOP chairman to stop helping Mr Trump and focus on protecting vulnerable House and Senate candidates.
A day after lobbing the attack against the president during a rowdy rally, Trump pressed ahead during a round of interviews.
Then, even after clarifying the meaning of a remark that he initially said was crystal clear, Trump once again sounded a confusing note, telling a crowd in Pennsylvania Friday afternoon that he was “being sarcastic.but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you”.
Trump lobbed the allegation midway through his rally at a sports arena, where riled-up supporters shouted obscenities about Clinton and joined in unison to shout “lock her up”.
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She was quickly escorted away but the incident illustrates how how tensions are growing. Trump stood his ground: Like many conservatives, he believes Obama and Clinton’s policies in Iraq allowed ISIS to expand, and to him that’s the same thing as Obama and Clinton “founding” ISIS.
