Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves after speaking to the National Association of Home Builders, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Miami Beach, Fla.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump doubled down on his attack against President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, accusing them again of being the “founders” of ISIS.
Trump added: “And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton”.
It doesn’t really matter what Trump meant.
Trump told the crowd if they value their right to bear arms, the election will be crucial.
Trump’s comments are the latest in a long line of controversial claims which have seen members of his own party question his suitability to lead. “This President is not the founder of ISIS”.
He appeared to be mimicking the argument that the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq under Obama, with Clinton serving as secretary of state, created a vacuum that allowed the Islamic State group to emerge and flourish in Iraq and Syria. “I mean I call them co-founders”, said Trump, who says he opposed the Iraq war. The concerns are compelling enough that dozens of anxious Republicans gathered signatures Thursday for a letter to the GOP party chairman urging him to stop helping Trump and focus on protecting vulnerable House and Senate candidates.
“Trump’s divisive and risky actions are not only a threat to our other candidates, but to our party and the nation”, the letter stated.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Trump altered course Friday and said the whole notion was sarcastic.
A day after many of them equivocated about his call for the assassination of his rival. “I’m the one raising the money for them”.
Trump has been under near-constant scrutiny for his discussion of sensitive world events, with his opponents using favorable comments he’s made toward Vladimir Putin and other dictators as evidence of misplaced priorities.
Some suggested Trump was threatening Clinton with violence.
“I made that decision”, he said. “I do”, Trump responded.
In 2007, however, Trump actually supported a rapid withdrawal from Iraq, despite hitting Obama for his drawdown years later.
But Corker said if Trump is saying that Obama founded the terrorist group, the statement went too far. The group began as Iraq’s local affiliate of al-Qaida, the group that attacked the US on September 11, 2001.
“Anyone willing to sink so low, so often should never be allowed to serve as our commander-in-chief”, she wrote.
This is not the first time that Mr Trump has claimed that he was making a joke after finding himself in the centre of controversy.
Recent opinion polls have shown Trump losing ground to Clinton, a former USA senator and first lady, in the race for the November 8 election. I give him the Most Valuable Player Award.
Most recently, Senator Susan Collins said she would not be voting for him, pointing to a time he seemed to mock a disabled journalist. Trump repeated the statement in two interviews and at several rallies on Thursday.
Trump refused to back down, asking on CNBC: “Is there something wrong with saying that?”
In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt Thursday, Trump was offered an opportunity to clarify his remarks when Hewitt asked if he simply meant that Obama’s policies had created the conditions for the Islamic State to thrive.
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I can’t believe I have to say this, but, no, President Barack Obama is not the founder of ISIS.
