Former Ambassador: Trump Spreading Russian Propaganda

A former U.S. ambassador to Russia said that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is spreading the exact same rhetoric regarding the origins of ISIS as Russian media.

“[Trump’s] line that Obama founded ISIS echoes exactly a myth propagated by Russian state-controlled media and bloggers,” former diplomat Michael McFaul tweeted on August 10.

McFaul was responding to comments Trump made earlier and has since stood by, in which he called President Barack Obama the “founder of ISIS,” according to CNN.

“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump said after radio host Hugh Hewitt asked him to clarify whether he meant that Obama “created the vacuum” and “lost the peace” that led to the group’s origins. “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 defended Obama, saying that the president is “not sympathetic” to the terrorist organization and that he is “trying to kill them.”

“I don’t care,” Trump responded on the program. “He was the founder. His, the way he got out of Iraq was that that was the founding of ISIS, okay?”

Trump’s words sparked a firestorm on the internet. As Hewitt warned Trump, critics hit back at him shortly thereafter.

“It can be difficult to muster outrage as frequently as Donald Trump should cause it, but his smear against President Obama requires it,” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted. “No, Barack Obama is not the founder of ISIS. … Anyone willing to sink so low, so often should never be allowed to serve as our Commander-in-Chief.”

And McFaul, who criticized Trump in the past for encouraging Russian hackers to release more government emails, debated Trump supporters on Twitter who pointed out that ISIS did not exist before the Obama took office.

“Obama did not ‘found’ ISIS,” McFaul tweeted, adding that, even if he did “facilitate” the group, he did not “found” it. “Excuse my Montana language (vice diplospeak) but that’s complete horsesh*t.”

Sources: Twitter (2) (3), CNN, PRI / Photo Credit; Evgeniy Wintour-Irverstag/Facebook