[elif]

I think the obvious implication here is that Obama would be using the climate of terrorism for unrelated political ends... That he would allow the fire to burn because he benefits from the heat, not at all that he has an ideological coherence with their movement.

[krapp]

I'd be willing to accept that interpretation, if he hadn't also mentioned how Obama "can't even mention the words 'radical Islam'."

And if Trump hadn't posted a tweet supporting the claim by a Brietbart article (which has been debunked) that the Obama administration supported ISIS financially[0], specifically claiming that he (Trump) "was right" about what the media says he was "insinuating" about Obama:

    An: Media fell all over themselves criticizing what DonaldTrump "may 
    have insinuated about @POTUS." But he's right: https://t.co/bIIdYtvZYw
    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016

What insinuations has Trump apparently made, that he feels have been vindicated by an article accusing the Obama administration of having funded ISIS? I may be unreasonably biased, but I don't think Trump is trying to paint a picture of Obama as a mere political opportunist here.

And of course, it's always worth pointing out, Trump is a birther. He believes Obama isn't even legally fit to be president, that he faked his birth certificate and that his administration has been covering up what essentially amounts to a coup by a foreign power. He has a long and storied history of implying Barack Obama is a Muslim[2] (as if somehow that's a crime in and of itself.) Note in the CNN article, the following exchange between Trump and a supporter at a campaign rally:

    "We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims," a man 
     attending Trump's rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, said. 
     "You know our current president is one. You know he's not 
     even an American."

    "We need this question," Trump said, chuckling. "This is the 
     first question."

    The man continued: "We have training camps growing where they want 
    to kill us. That's  my question: When can we get rid of them?"

    "We're going to be looking at a lot of different things," Trump 
    said. "You know, a  lot of people are saying that and a lot of people 
    are saying that bad things are happening. We're going to be looking at 
    that and many other things."

One could interpret that as simply dismissing the crank views of a paranoid voter as diplomatically as possible - if one were not aware of the beliefs Donald Trump actually held regarding the president's religion and legal status, and if Donald Trump were the sort of person to be diplomatic about anything.

Either Trump doesn't consider that an unreasonable question, or for some reason he can't bring himself to admit how unreasonable it is openly, because he wants to court the votes of people who consider it reasonable. He said later he didn't entirely hear the question, but that doesn't seem likely given the context of his response.

[0]http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/14/h...

[1]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/74307515450748928...

[2]http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/trump-obama-muslim-bi...

[vonklaus]

I can appreciate this, but I find it both true and irrelevent. It is not as if many people here (I would assume) would choose Trump to be president out of some crowded room of well rounded and accomplished people.

I guess I'm still wondering what your larger point is? Do you plan to vote?