After declaring that United States President Barack Obama was the founder of ISIS, Democratic Candidate Donald Trump has retracted his allegations. He issued a tweet on Friday saying that media don’t understand sarcasm.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt welcomed Trump to his Friday morning show, where he tried to ensure that the Republican nominee meant that Obama was the metaphorical founder of ISIS, as he “created the vacuum” that led to the group’s formation. Trump stood by his remarks and continued blaming Obama for the existence of the terror group. Hewitt mentioned Obama’s lack of sympathy towards ISIS, while Trump highlighted that Obama’s retreat from Iraq was determinant for ISIS.
Trump stated: “No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.”
Barack Obama taking Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s credit?
The real founder of ISIS is the infamous Imam Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the man that many suicide bombers and lone wolves such as the Orlando shooter and this week’s Canadian bomber have pledged allegiance to.
ISIS started sometime around 2004 when al-Qaida was founded in Iraq. Their leader was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006. In 2010, al-Baghdadi took leadership. Later in 2013 the group regained strength and renamed itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
The vacuum that Hewitt refers to was indeed one of the leading causes of ISIS’ uprising. Democrats say that President George W. Bush is responsible because of the vacuum that Saddam Hussein’s absence meant in the Middle East, which allowed al-Qaida to evolve. Barack Obama’s 2011 retreat from Iraq is also referred to as a contributing factor in the formation of the group.
While President Obama’s actions might have impulsed ISIS’ formation, it is not true that Clinton was a ‘co-founder’. Then-Ambassador of Iraq, James Jeffrey, stated in an interview that Hillary Clinton had a strong stance to keep troops in Iraq.
According to the Democratic candidate herself, the decision to retreat came to fruition after failing negotiations with the acting government of Iraq, where then-President Nouri al-Maliki refused to provide immunity for stationed U.S. troops.
Contrary to Trump’s claims that Clinton is a weak candidate, she voted for authorizing a war with Iraq, although she later admitted that there was not enough intelligence to perform a sound decision.
Trump has claimed several times that the Obama administration is responsible for ISIS. He has been repeating the same idea on at least three different cities since Wednesday. On Hewitt’s show, he firmly asserted that he was not being sarcastic in the slightest.
It is not a minor accusation to claim that the President of the United States is responsible for creating the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. Tweeting later that it was just a sarcastic remark leaves much to think about the candidate’s willingness to commit to his stances.
Trump conveniently changes his stances
Back when Trump suggested that Russians should hack Clinton’s emails, he also used sarcasm. Trump’s campaign has been all about rhetoric and being an entertainer rather than a politician.
Trump’s speeches are filled with words like “idiot, stupid, and boring,” all of which have little to no political significance. Instead of addressing the key points in his opponents speech on the economy that was delivered last Thursday, Trump just went on to classify Clinton’s ideas as “boring.”
The Democratic candidate has acknowledged that his way of doing politics may cost him the presidential race. After he ousted 16 primary adversaries, his campaign has started taking a long and hard turn as the election date comes closer.
Each passing week, Trump appears more in disarray as he starts to realize that being a presidential candidate is more than just elevating people’s emotions and being the stronger character on stage.
Many recognize that the single most important weapon that Hillary Clinton has over Trump is experience. Clinton has a long career of serving in public office and working at the highest level in American politics. She was the first American first lady to ever win a public office seat.
A Women’s Rights activist, Clinton also served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. In 2016 she became the first woman in the U.S. to be elected as the presidential nominee of a major political party.
In contrast, Donald Trump has been known as a figure with contradictory political affiliations. He has repeatedly changed stances on taxation and abortion, and while he has mainly identified himself as a Republican, he was a Democrat from 2001 to 2009, when George W. Bush was in office.
Besides being involved in several campaigns, Donald Trump has mainly served as an endorser of Republican campaigns, specifically Ronald Reagan’s and John McCain’s. Although he was considered to run for Governor of New York, he did not pursue the position.
Source: The New York Times