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Trump repeatedly labels Obama as ‘founder’ of Islamic State

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a sign during a campaign rally at the BB&T Center on Wednesday in Sunrise, Fla.

Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama of founding the Islamic State terror group during a campaign rally Wednesday night, and in a radio show today declined a chance to backtrack or clarify by reinforcing that he meant exactly what he said.

At a raucous rally in Sunrise, Fla., the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly labeled Obama the “founder” of the terrorist organization, using the acronym ISIS for the group.

“You know, they honor President Obama,” Trump said at the rally. “He’s the founder of ISIS. He’s the founder of ISIS. He’s the founder. He founded ISIS.”

Trump has repeatedly said the Democratic president bears primary blame for the latest phase of a terrorist campaign that has targeted the U.S. and Western Europe for decades. At times, he has suggested Obama is even sympathetic to Islamic State’s cause.

Trump’s latest comments fit a pattern of portraying Obama as alien to mainstream America. He’s questioned whether the president was really born in the U.S. — a tactic still used by some of his surrogates — and frequently refers to him using his middle name, Hussein, as he did at times during the Florida rally.

“This is another example of Donald Trump trash-talking the United States,” Jake Sullivan, senior policy adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, said in a statement. “It goes without saying that this is a false claim from a presidential candidate with an aversion to the truth and an unprecedented lack of knowledge.”

A White House spokesman declined to comment.

Trump intensified the effort to connect Obama with Islamic State this morning, as conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt offered the Republican candidate a chance to backtrack.

“Last night, you said the president was the founder of ISIS,” Hewitt said. “I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace.”

“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do,” Trump responded. “He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton.”

Obama, who plans to campaign for Clinton, has called Trump “unfit to serve as president” and encouraged Republicans to abandon him at a news conference earlier this month.

Trump’s comments echo a theme he sounded in the wake of a mass shooting at an Orlando night club by an attacker who expressed support for the Islamic State.

“Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “And the something else in mind — you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”

In that same interview, Trump argued Obama should resign after the shootings, saying, “He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands — it’s one or the other, and either one is unacceptable.”

——

©2016 Bloomberg News

89 responses to “Trump repeatedly labels Obama as ‘founder’ of Islamic State”

  1. Publicbraddah says:

    America found its village idiot and his name is Trump.

    • lespark says:

      Crooked Hilliary turned over all her emails.

      • MillionMonkeys says:

        Do not change the subject

        Is Trump an idjiot? (Say YES)

        Has Trump ever displayed executive reasoning skills? (Say NO)

        Would Trump be better off quitting the race and making a fascinating reality show? (Say THAT’S WHAT HE’S TRYING TO DO!)

        • Sandys says:

          Good post MillionMonkeys

        • thevisitor967 says:

          Trump is an idiot. If Obama is responsible for ISIS then so are the rest of the presidents in the world–especially our allies and NATO. It was a mutual agreement.

      • Vector says:

        Iespark, you are way more crooked than Hillary with all your slanderous lies

      • Vector says:

        Crooked lespark

        • sarge22 says:

          A House Republican task force has found that officials from the U.S. military’s Central Command pressured lower-level military analysts to downplay the threats of ISIS and radical Islamists.

          The Daily Beast reported that the committee’s 10-page report confirms allegations by dozens of intelligence analysts that their reports were altered by CENTCOM higher-ups.

          Last year, more than 50 analysts filed a formal complaint, alleging that their reports on ISIS and Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria – Al-Nusra Front – were being inappropriately altered by senior officials to paint a more optimistic picture.

          The House panel, led by members of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, was created after that shocking complaint was filed.

          The Daily Beast did not confirm whether the White House was behind any instructions to doctor the reports.

    • raiderDogs says:

      At least he didn’t defend a 44 year old rapist of a 12 year old girl and then laugh when she got him off on an technicality like Hillary did in 1975 her first case. Some defender of women and children. She has no soul, how can any mother vote for her.

      • klastri says:

        I suppose it’s easy to lie about Mrs. Clinton – so many others on here do that. You somehow failed to learn that Hillary Rodham was ordered to defend the man by the judge handling the case (Maupin Cummings) who refused Ms. Rodham’s request to not be assigned the case.

        There was no “technicality” involved. The state was unable to prove its case because the physical evidence proved nothing.

        You don’t understand this, (add that to the list of things you write about buy don’t understand) but everyone is entitled to a defense.

        • sarge22 says:

          (CNN)A top aide to Hillary Clinton at the State Department traveled to New York to interview job candidates for a top job at the Clinton Foundation, a CNN investigation has found.

          The fact that the aide, Cheryl Mills, was taking part in such a high level task for the Clinton foundation while also working as chief of staff for the secretary of state raises new questions about the blurred lines that have dogged the Clintons in recent years.
          Upon entering office as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation agreed to a set of rules to ensure any activities by the foundation would not “create conflicts or the appearance of conflicts for Senator Clinton as Secretary of State.”
          On June 19, 2012, Mills, then the chief of staff for Clinton at the State Department, boarded a New York City-bound Amtrak train in Washington’s Union station.
          First on CNN: Inside the debate over probing the Clinton Foundation
          Inside the debate over probing the Clinton Foundation
          The next morning, at the offices of a New York based executive search firm, Mills would interview two high-level business executives. Her mission was to help the Clinton Foundation find a new leader, a source told CNN.
          According to Mills’ attorney, her work for the Clinton Foundation while she was employed at the State Department was strictly voluntary. She received no pay and no government funds were used to finance the short trip.

    • amela says:

      What does that say about the people voting for him, yikes!

    • allie says:

      True. Trump encourages violence and hatred while trying to delegitimize Hillary and Obama. That is wrong and potentially dangerous. Some of his followers are mentally unstable and may think he is giving the OK for a personal attack.

  2. Honeybadger says:

    And, all the while, the rest of the world watches this election fiasco with both amusement and disgust–neither candidate should be elected president!

    • st1d says:

      pathetic statement.

      (but, oh, so true)

    • CEI says:

      You are so right. It comes down to the lesser of 2 evils. A congenital liar with a serial woman abuser for a spouse against an undisciplined loudmouth. I’ll put my money on Trump mainly because I don’t think he will sell out the country for monetary gain unlike the Clintons.

      • aaronavilla says:

        Trump “wont sell out the country for monetary gain”… right after he unveils his tax plan that benefits the ultra-rich (like himself). Do you really not know how ridiculous your comment is?

        • biggerdog says:

          A tax plan that benefits the ulta rich? Gimme a break. Your sucking down that msm slop readily aren’t you?
          A tax break on business is exactly what we need to jump start the economy. Businesses have more money to hire and expand. It works.

        • CEI says:

          How do you know his tax plan benefits the ultra-rich? Because Hillary Clinton says so? For the democrat base, most of whom are incapable of engaging in critical thinking, Clinton saying it is so is enough. There’s a pattern here. Democrats promise to look out for the interests of the little guy and never deliver. But the brain dead faithful enthusiastically clap in unison like trained seals and obediently pull the lever for democrats.

        • lespark says:

          If you believe anything Crooked Hilliary says I got a gold mine you might be interested in.

        • Vector says:

          Trump, the billionaire, who inherited his wealth, has the best interests of the common man, never held public office, never served in the military, believes sacrifice is building his empire on the backs of the common man, a self serving, egocentric, megalomaniac, will help us all

      • kolohepalu says:

        Yeeaahh. . but Clinton’s not racist, dumb, or crazy

        • lespark says:

          Kolohe, are you kidding? She uses minorities as a back stop. She’s the racist promoting black lives matter, illegal Hispanics. She does more for them than White’s.

        • Vector says:

          Lespspark, you are the racist, the defender of poor uneducated angry, paranoid whites, who feel they are losing their privileges, control, and domination over women, Blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, Asians, Gays, and all minority groups

      • Vector says:

        I always thought Trump was very neurotic. Now he has convinced me, he is psychotic and a sociopath. What amazes me, is the large number of Americans who identify and love him

        • Vector says:

          Lespark, you are defending flakes and crazy Donald Trump, and making you look more ridiculous

        • allie says:

          Agree. Trump may not be mentally stable. He also does not fit in with Hawaii’s cultures, its rich racial and ethnic mix and its history of tolerance and relative racial peace and understanding. But he is nearly done as a candidate. Even Republicans won’t support him. Nor, in truth, is he even a Republican or a conservative.

  3. Publicbraddah says:

    Kinda reminds one of Howard Beal in the classic movie, Network.

  4. fiveo says:

    Trump is correct. The Obama administration and Secretary Hillary Clinton provided money and arms and training to the so called “moderate jihadi’s in their effort to oust Bashar Al-Assad, president of Syria.
    Problem is that the groups that they were funneling arms and money to ISIS and other militant moslem groups hate the West and in particular the United States just as much as they hate
    the Muslim Shia’s and other Muslims who do not believe in their fundamentalist views. They wanted to establish their caliphate and needed
    Al-Assad out of the way, after we helped depose of Quadifi in Libya. This is what the consulate at Bengazi was all about. This was where the US was funneling arms to these jihadi groups
    like ISIS and training camps were set up by the US in places such as Jordon and our special forces guys and “private contractors” were training these guys.
    Did you ever wonder just how ISIS was able to operate the tanks and other military trucks and weapons they captured from the Iraqi army so easily. It was because our guys trained them.
    You see in truth , there are no “moderate Jihadi groups. They all believe in destroying the West and in converting the entire world to be ruled under Sharia. Sharia is nothing but
    Islamic law which as you know calls for death to all infidels and is basically total tolitarian rule justified by a false and cruel religion known as Islam.

    • shanik says:

      actually, ISIS was founded in 2003 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It was given its current name in October 2006.

      Early on, ISIS received unintended help from Bush-administration war planners, who disbanded the Iraqi army and left Iraq wide-open to insurgents.

      ISIS’s predecessor movements date back to the 1700s. Saudi Sunni Wahhabists have waged violent battles against Shiites and other supposed heretics of Islam for centuries.

      • klastri says:

        Your facts, logic and reason have no place here. Can’t you see that this crowd believes the Trump load of dung? These folks luxuriate in their remarkable ignorance. It’s a much easier way for the cowardly and fearful to live. Know nothing, and be fearful of everything!

        Don’t you get that?

        • lespark says:

          Well, well, tough couple of days. Did you send money to Crooked Hilliary? When are you going to wise up. Crooked Hilliary doesn’t give a hill of beans for you. All she’s after is your donation. She’s spending money desperately. Don’t believe anything with a C in it. CNN, CBS, NBC. Stick with FOX, Fair and Balanced. Polls?
          4%. It was 15% just last week. Blame the Russians? The DNC staffer who got murdered was the leak.
          I love the ignorant typical Clintonite supporter. Say hello to Siddique for me. Haha.

        • Cellodad says:

          The most recent Fox poll unfortunately is Aug. 2 and has Clinton by 10 points. Yesterday’s Reuters poll has Clinton by 6. There are several very good sites that aggregate all of the major polls and update them in real time.

    • kolohepalu says:

      Yes- Obama and Clinton’s grand plan is to destroy the U.S., take everyone’s guns, and force us to live under Sharia law. Brilliant- you’ve got it all figured out.

    • HawaiiCheeseBall says:

      Do you think the decision to disarm and disband the Iraqi army had anything to do with the rise of ISIL as the ranks and leadership of OSIL were swelled by former officers of the Iraqi Army. Could it be that the the fact that the shia majority suppressed the Sunni minority causing many to see ISIL as the lesser of two evils. Could it be that early on it was Sunnis from places like Saudi Arabia, seeking to counterbalance the shia’s growing influence in Iraq bankrolled ISIL and provided material and logistical support to ISIL> No by friendm ISIL was a creation of a failed Iraqi state. And if haven’t figured it out yet where ever you have a failed state in that region (think Yemen and Libya) you have the breeding ground for extremist organizations like ISIL. Trump is a traitor. To accuse a sitting President of formulating the rise of a terrorist organization is treason.

  5. Vector says:

    Trump is insane. He’s like watching a total mental meltdown

    • Vector says:

      Trump’s antics and bizarre comments are quite funny until you realize that many people take him seriously. You can see how people are attracted to and lured by men like Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco

      • Vector says:

        Well, if Trump is going to blame Obama and Hillary for starting ISIS, maybe he should go way back into history and blame Mohammed

      • PCWarrior says:

        Nobody in my lifetime reminds me more of Hitler than Trump. Racist pig – hey, if he coming after the Mexicans and Muslims, you can be sure the blacks, the Hawaiians, the Asians – all the minorities are next.

        • koleanui says:

          There is nothing more racist than black lives matter or Acorn.In addition, it is racist to make everyone in the world who is not an illegal mexican to go to the “back of the line” because they are more superior(according to Odumbo and Downhill). And that includes everyone from all other races.
          It is also racist to keep blacks and hispanics slaves by making them come to the Dem Masters for free food, clothes,housing, cell phones, cheese etc.

        • klastri says:

          koleanui – ACORN? Have you been in a coma for the past few years?

        • Vector says:

          PCWarrior, you sure got that right. TRUMP and all his surrogates, would have no second thoughts of destroying anyone who disagreed with them. Very much like ISIS

  6. lespark says:

    Trump knows what he’s doing. He has to totally debunk Obama’s administration.

    • kolohepalu says:

      Yes- I’m sure his implosion is actually a coldly calculated script that we have yet to appreciate the genius of.

      • klastri says:

        Of course. What better way to win an election than to craftily act not sane, and crash in the polls by saying ridiculous things. Great strategy!

      • MillionMonkeys says:

        It worked for George Costanza. Remember when he insulted the company president and got hired? Disrespected women and they all wanted to date him? Said the president was born in Kenya and became dictator of the world? Oh, wait, that hasn’t happened…yet!

  7. lespark says:

    Founder
    The person who creates an organization or a company is known as the founder. Founder is also a verb meaning “fail miserably,” which is something a company’s founder hopes the company will never do.
    Obama is the creator of ISIS due to incompetence.

  8. klastri says:

    Mr. Trump is obviously someone who is profoundly mentally ill in the throws of a psychotic breakdown.

    His children should convince him to withdraw from the campaign. And Mr. Pence should simply resign.

  9. todde says:

    I believe Obama have a hidden agenda that does benefit the American People. So there is some truth in what Trump says.

  10. lespark says:

    Ok, Obama and Clinton has got to stop passing the buck. Who was the Secretary of State? Who is the POTUS?
    When did ISIS come into existence? Could we have done something about it?

    Did we? No

    • sarge22 says:

      As the seemingly endless drip of emails continue to emerge from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, the story of her email use has become increasingly muddled, leaving many a casual reader confused by new developments.
      ABC News will try here to put the most recent emails into context. – via ABC News

  11. Marauders_1959 says:

    “Obama, who plans to campaign for Clinton, has called Trump “unfit to serve as president” and encouraged Republicans to abandon him at a news conference earlier this month.”

    Hussein said the same about Bill’s wife during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

    It’s also a fact that Hussein won’t say “radical Islamic terrorism.” when referring to muslim terrorists.

  12. Shellback says:

    Vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein!

  13. MoiLee says:

    Trump is sort of right! But if you want to get technical ISIS was founded in Syria and later Iraq. They were Saddam Hussien’s disbanded Generals of the Ba’ath Party. After the defeat of Iraq,the generals had no place to go or serve.And thus they created the now ISIS. After the war, they were contained. It was only when the U.S. left, & because neither President Obama (who BTW said it was GW recommendation.lol) and The Iraqi president could not agree on leaving the recommended residual forces to help maintain Security.

    What happened next ? You know the story. It was both of these presidents and yes Hillary too,that squandered our gains we had made in Iraq….Hence allowing The rise of ISIS! So in his own words? Donald Trump is Right!

  14. lespark says:

    Obama should get a rise out of this one. If anyone could have done something Obama was it. To not acknowledge the threat he should be impeached. Thousands of People World wide died or were maimed because of him.

  15. bluhawaii74 says:

    Perhaps Creator would have better choice of words than Founder. Still,point well taken.

  16. keaukaha says:

    The only people left in Chumps camp are the ones who only see white and black. There is no in between. People who were raised to believe that skin color determines who are the righteous ones. Chump has been able to rally these people around him. People who go into a frenzy at the Chumps rallies when he spews out rhetoric that sounds intelligent to the less educated. The fact is that his base is undereducated white men. A base that have made up their minds that the Chump is their man. Sadly, this base is a very small one and there is not enough of them to get him elected. Rudy Giuliani is the biggest kiss as- this side of the moon and will go down with the Chump.

  17. klastri says:

    Mr. Pence is watching his lifetime of work get swamped in the ever-spreading sewage stain of the Trump campaign. If he has any common sense at all, he’ll resign from the campaign.

    Mr. Trump’s children should convince their father to withdraw from the race. Mr. Trump is a disgrace to the United States. He is without any question whatever the least fit person to ever run for the presidency.

    Trump supporters should be ashamed of themselves. Thankfully, Mr. Trump is heading at this point toward an unavoidable loss. The goal for Democrats now is to make sure the loss is so large and so humiliating that the Senate switches to Democratic control. That seems more and more likely every day, as Mr. Trump continues his descent into madness.

    • keaukaha says:

      You don’t see very much of his kids much more and I wonder why? The Chump is done. His campaign is following the pattern of his history of using the gullible to swallow his bul–hit hook, line and sinker. In the end he will bankrupt his campaign as he did his other business ventures and leave those who trusted and believed in his cr-p to sweep up th ashes. Chump is the Pied Piper who tooted his pipe and the elated ra-s who followed him to their demise.

      • klastri says:

        The campaign is paying a salary to all the adult kids. That might be the reason they don’t appeal to him to end it. Almost all of the donations made by people went to him directly (he’s paying himself a salary, incredibly) or to his businesses.

        Remarkable.

  18. nomu1001 says:

    We tolerated the last straw today while watching some recorded media coverage of this on our home dvr. Every time we saw another so called Trump pundit start spouting off again, instead of just hearing an irritating, steady, buzzing noise that sounded nothing like english, we just hit the fast forward button. Problem solved.

    These media stations might need divine intervention if they choose to keep bringing these same untenable pundits on air again and again. We just might stop watching those media channels, forever. Well, probably not, since we still have the fast forward button.

    So, the media’s best or only defense to this criticism of putting these people on air would be that they best represented for Trump’s beliefs and initiatives. That they are placing objectivity first, fairly representing both sides of the issue. Kind of like the billionaire who said that he will not support Clinton’s tax plan, simply because he refuses to pay more taxes to “subsidize”. Or that we have huge trade imbalances as the result of existing policies, ignoring the obvious fact that these countries have lower labor costs.

    On the other hand, there are a lot of positives coming out of this, actually. People we heretofore did hold in regard and respect, unfortunately (or fortunately) now hold little or no credibility for us. A couple of examples — Trump’s poor choice of words regarding the 2nd amendment people, and all those people going on air doing damage control (we think these people are actually going to end up as collateral damage to the Republican Party, as a whole).

    So simply put, without these issues arising, we might have held on to beliefs about these people that we now know were obviously wrong.

    Are either candidates viewed as trustworthy? Obviously not. It’s just sad that Trump chooses to so mislead people who have essentially placed their trust, their lives, their families, their futures in. Do we like everything Clinton proposes or can easily look past all her missteps as well? No, but maybe that is precisely why people say a vote for Clinton is actually a vote against Trump.

  19. nodaddynotthebelt says:

    This candidate is willing to trash his own country to win the presidency. Classy. Nice!

  20. WalkoffBalk says:

    I think Trump was confused with a 1970’s kid’s tv series called The Secrets of Isis starring Joanna Cameron. It was shown for straight nerd boys in those puberty years in love with the lead actress.

  21. Kealaula says:

    I don’t see the AP or SA identifying this statement as a falsehood which it clearly is.

  22. lespark says:

    This is Top News
    CNN reports that three FBI field offices were in agreement and wanted an investigation launched earlier this year, but the Loretta Lynch-led DOJ pushed back pointing to a preliminary investigation done on the Clinton Foundation a year before, after the book ‘Clinton Cash’ was released.
    At that point, not enough evidence was there to launch a case, and some at the Justice Department feared the request for a fresh investigation would look politically-motivated, especially in light of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s private email server.
    The FBI wanted to pursue a lead from a bank that tipped them off to suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3735345/THREE-FBI-offices-wanted-scale-criminal-probe-Clinton-Foundation-Loretta-Lynch-s-Department-Justice-refused-ahead.html#ixzz4H8OuaJNM
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    • mctruck says:

      Les Park,

      Who you think you fooling with that book, Clinton Cash, written by no other than a Republican activist, Peter Schweizer.
      According to:

      mediamatters.org/research/2015/04/20/clinton-cash-author-peter-scheizers-long-histo/203209

      Media should be cautious with republican activist Peter Schweizer’s new book Clinto Cash.
      Schweizer has a disreputable history of reporting marked errors and retractions, with numerous reporters excoriating him for facts that “do no check out,” sources that “do not exist,” and failure to practice “Journalism 101.”

      • sarge22 says:

        A House Republican task force has found that officials from the U.S. military’s Central Command pressured lower-level military analysts to downplay the threats of ISIS and radical Islamists.

        The Daily Beast reported that the committee’s 10-page report confirms allegations by dozens of intelligence analysts that their reports were altered by CENTCOM higher-ups.

        Last year, more than 50 analysts filed a formal complaint, alleging that their reports on ISIS and Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria – Al-Nusra Front – were being inappropriately altered by senior officials to paint a more optimistic picture.

        The House panel, led by members of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, was created after that shocking complaint was filed.

        The Daily Beast did not confirm whether the White House was behind any instructions to doctor the reports.

        • mctruck says:

          Sarge,

          Now that’s a report with some meat to it; I reviewed the reports regarding this issue and must say that I’m disappointed in those Centcom people altering the report to minimize ISIS threat, etc.
          Still, it needs further investigation as to who were those involved and where the it leads.

        • sarge22 says:

          Remember the Vietnam body count? Usually it’s the guy at the top either directly or indirectly.. Commander in Chief. Benghazi before the last election. Cover up.

  23. 9ronboz says:

    Trump makes sense

  24. mxp2000 says:

    To be accurate it was the CIA on orders from Mr Islam himself.

  25. oxtail01 says:

    None of this matter. The only label that’s going to stick is the one put on Trump as the “biggest loser of a Presidential race” in the modern era.

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