Trump Calls Obama ‘The Founder Of ISIS’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said President Barack Obama was responsible for the creation of ISIS, the terrorist group currently fighting U.S. forces in the Middle East.

“In many respects, you know, they honor President Obama,” Trump said at an Aug. 10 rally in Fort Lauderdale, FL, according to NBC News. “He is the founder of ISIS.”

“I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump added.

Trump’s allegation that the President of the United States and the Democratic presidential nominee were “co-founders” of one of the most reviled terrorist groups in the world was not just an off-hand remark. Rather, Trump elaborated on this characterization when interviewed on morning talk shows the next day.

“[Obama] was the founder of ISIS, absolutely,” Trump told CNBC, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Is there something wrong with saying that? Why? Are people complaining that I said he was the founder of ISIS?”

In the past, Trump has blamed Clinton’s policies when she served as Obama’s Secretary of State for the creation of ISIS. Clinton “opened the Pandora’s box of radical Islam,” Trump said in June, according to Politico, adding: “ISIS threatens us today because of the decisions Hillary Clinton has made along with President Obama. In short, Hillary Clinton’s tryout for the presidency has produced one deadly foreign policy disaster after another.”

But the rally in Fort Lauderdale marked the first time Trump blamed Obama directly for ISIS, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Trump even criticized Obama for referring to ISIS as “ISIL.”

There’s no official name for the terrorist group, but ISIS is the most common term. “ISIS” stands for the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.” But Obama often uses the term “ISIL,” which stands for the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.” The Levant refers to an area of the Middle East that encompasses Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Turkey, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“[Obama] calls it ISIL because nobody else does, and he wants to bother people by using a different term, and whether it’s more accurate or not — most people call it ISIS,” Trump said.

Sources: Chicago Tribune, NBC News, Politico/ Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr