The 6 most ludicrous claims the Trump campaign has made since the Orlando massacre

Roger Stone went so far as to suggest that Hillary aide Huma Abedin could be a "Saudi spy" or a "terrorist agent"

By Elizabeth Preza

Published June 14, 2016 8:45AM (EDT)

Donald Trump (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
Donald Trump (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

AlterNet

Donald Trump and his posse of crazies have been on a roll since Sunday, when news broke that officials are investigating the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando as a potential terror attack. The presumptive Republican nominee took to his two favorite media (Twitter and the morning talk shows) to espouse ludicrous talking points, including taking credit for “being right on radical Islamic terrorism” (he thinks its bad), and insinuating President Barack Obama is either woefully unengaged or intentionally complicit in the Orlando attack.

1. Trump: I Don’t Want Congrats, But I Was Right!

This gem of a response came a mere 7 hours after the Orlando Police Department confirmed the shooter dead. Upon receiving a deluge of criticism for humblebragging about his superior foresight, Trump told Fox and Friends he’s “been right about a lot of things.”

“I’m getting thousands of letters and tweets that I was right about the whole situation,” Trump said. “I mean, I’ve been right about a lot of things, frankly.”

He also took to NBC’s Today Monday morning to expand upon his prediction after co-host Savannah Guthrie pointedly asked, “Why are you giving yourself credit for predicting something that everyone knows will happen?”

“I had been receiving tens of thousands of tweets, literally tweets and calls and letters and everything. Because I’ve been the one that predicted it,” Trump told Guthrie. “And I’m the one that said what you should be doing. And I don’t want the credit.”

"I don't want the credit,” Trump repeated. “What I said is I want you to be strong and vigilant and I want you to be smart.”

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni called Trump’s reaction “very small and very unhelpful,” telling MSNBC’s Morning Joe Trump is “taking a victory lap on 50 bodies.”

2: Trump Insinuates President Obama May ‘Get [Islamic Terrorism] Better than Anybody’

In one of his most ludicrous suggestions to date, Trump suggested on Fox & Friends the president either “doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands,” adding “it’s one or the other and either one is unacceptable.”

“Our government, we’re led by a man that is a very– look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said.

“And the something else in mind—people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism,” Trumps continued. “There’s something going on.  It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”

Later on Today, Trump offered a softer insinuation, suggesting the president is simply ignorant of the threat posed by radical terrorists. “There are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn’t want to get it,” Trump said.

3: Trump Renews Call for a Ban on All Muslims Entering the U.S.—Even Though the Shooter Was Born in America

Following the attack, Trump repeated his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, despite the fact that the shooter, a U.S. citizen, was born in New York. He also claimed Clinton wants to “dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East.” Former Republican candidate Marco Rubio Monday said what everyone else was thinking, insisting Trump’s Muslim ban proposal would not have prevented the attack in Orlando. “[The suspect] was born in the United States, he was raised in this country,” Rubio told BBC’s Today. “He lived among us, he worked jobs here, this is a person who benefitted from all the freedoms and the prosperity of this great country and despite all that was radicalized and took the life of 50 of his fellow Americans.” 4. Trump Calls for President Obama to Resign and Hillary Clinton to Concede Because They Won’t Say ‘Radical Islam'

In his campaign’s official statement, Trump lambasted President Obama and Hillary Clinton for being “politically correct” and refusing to say the U.S. faces a threat from radical Islamic terrorism. He also claimed Clinton is “afraid to mention it because her boss will be angry at her.” President Obama is on record using the term radical Islam, but also says using the term gives undue legitimacy to those who commit violent acts against innocent civilians. "They are not religious leaders” Obama said in February. “They’re terrorists. And we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.” In response, Clinton said Trump is “obsessed with name calling.” "If [Trump] is somehow suggesting I don't call this for what it is, he hasn't been listening,” Clinton told NBC's Today. “I have clearly said that we face terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. And, to me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing. I'm happy to say either, but that's not the point." 5. Trump Erroneously Claims the Gunman Shouted “Allah hu Akbar!” During the Attack In an unsourced tweet, Trump said reports indicate the gunman praised Allah while he unleashed fire on Pulse nightclub.

There are no reports to substantiate this claim. As Brian Stelter of CNN points out, Trump appears to have sourced the tweet from Sebastian Gorka, a frequent Fox News guest and Beirtbart columnist who, as Mediaite reports, ‘was paid $8,000 by the Trump campaign for ‘policy consulting.’”

6. Bonus! Roger Stone: Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Could be a ‘Saudi Spy’ or a ‘Terrorist Agent’ Self-proclaimed “GOP hitman,” Trump buddy and all-around conspiracy theorist Roger Stone Monday told Breitbart News Daily that Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin’s family is comprised of “hardcore Islamic ideologues.” “I also think that now that Islamic terrorism is going to be front and center, there’s going to be a new focus on whether this administration, the administration of Hillary Clinton at State was permeated at the highest levels by Saudi intelligence and others who are not loyal Americans," Stone said,according to Politico. "I speak specifically of Huma Abedin, the right-hand woman, now vice-chairman or co-chairman of vice, of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign."

This isn’t the first time a conservatives launched an attack on Abedin’s Muslim faith. In 2012, Sen. John McCain gave an impassioned defense of Abedin in light of accusations she’s connected to the Muslim brotherhood, calling the insinuations “unwarranted and unfounded.”

 


By Elizabeth Preza

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Alternet Barack Obama Donald Trump Muslims Orlando Massacre Roger Stone