Donald Trump, given the chance to amend and clarify his statement that President Obama founded ISIS, rejected that, instead insisting that his claims were meant as sarcasm.
The brouhaha over Trump’s remarks was precipitated when Trump told a Wednesday night rally, “ISIS is honoring President Obama. He’s the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. I would say the co-founder would be (Crooked) Hillary Clinton.”
Trump’s claim was nothing new; he asserted back on January 2 that Obama and Clinton created ISIS.
Still, the use of the word “founded” clouded what Trump likely meant, as radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt attempted to elicit from Trump in an interview on Thursday, but Trump stubbornly refused to take the opening. The relevant part of the exchange went like this:
Hewitt: Last night, you said the President was the founder of ISIS. I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace.
Trump: 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.
Hewitt: But he’s not sympathetic to them. He hates them. He’s trying to kill them.
Trump: I don’t care. He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, okay?
Hewitt, attempting to teach Trump how to remember the countries of the Middle east: Well, that, you know, I have a saying, Donald Trump, the mnemonic device I use is Every Liberal Really Seems So, So Sad. E is for Egypt, L is for Libya, S is for Syria, R is for Russia reset. They screwed everything up. You don’t get any argument from me. But by using the term founder, they’re hitting with you on this again. Mistake?
Trump: No, it’s no mistake. Everyone’s liking it. I think they’re liking it. I give him the most valuable player award. And I give it to him, and I give it to, I gave the co-founder to Hillary. I don’t know if you heard that.
Trump would not let go of the term; on Thuraday he told a National Association of Home Builders event in Miami, “I call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS. They are the founders.” Thursday night he told a Florida rally, “He is the founder in a true sense,” quadrupling down as he told the Miami NBC affiliate, “I meant exactly that. He’s the founder of ISIS.”On Friday, realizing that he had made a mistake but unwilling to simply amend his remarks, Trump tweeted:
Trump had used the sarcasm excuse for an ill-considered remark before; in late July, after he appeared to suggest that the Russians should hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, he tried to defend them by insisting, “Of course I’m being sarcastic.”
“No, it’s no mistake. Everyone’s liking it.”
Donald Trump, refusing to take back his claim that Barack Obama founded ISIS
On Friday, Trump deleted the tweet, finally realizing that what Hewitt was attempting to elicit from him was the right path to take. He added this tweet: