Dismissing the “yapping” from “politicians who tweet,” Obama described Trump’s suggestions as harmful to the country’s national security.
“We are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be,” he said. “We’re starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we’re fighting, where this can lead us.”
Obama, sounding infuriated at critiques of his foreign policy, pushed back against criticism for not using the term “radical Islamic terrorism.” And he accused Republicans of fostering resentment among Muslims that could generate further attacks.
“What exactly would using this language accomplish? What exactly would it change?” Obama asked during remarks at the Treasury Department. “Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans?” he continued, using a different acronym for ISIS.
“Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above,” he said. “Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away.”
Obama’s remarks — which also touched on gun control and his efforts against ISIS — placed him squarely in the middle of rancorous political debate that formed in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting. Republicans, including Trump, have used the attack to paint Obama as weak on national security and ineffective in combating the threats emanating from ISIS.
Much of the criticism has centered on Obama’s refusal to use the phrase “radical Islam,” which the White House argues unfairly maligns the entire Islamic faith.
Democrats and some establishment Republicans, meanwhile, have suggested that Trump’s rhetoric is harmful in its depictions of Muslim-American communities as complicit in domestic terror attacks.
Speaking after Obama’s remarks, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the President had grown frustrated at hearing “political talking points” being wielded in place of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy.
Lambasting Trump, Obama in his remarks called on other Republican leaders to denounce the presumptive GOP nominee for his proposed ban on Muslim immigration.
“Where does this stop?” Obama protested, pointing out that recent domestic terror attacks have been carried about by U.S. citizens.
“Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith? We’ve heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign,” Obama said. “Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that’s not the America we want. It doesn’t reflect our Democratic ideals. It will make us less safe.”
“The men and women who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces I ordered to get (Osama) bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria — they know full well who the enemy is,” Obama said. “So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spent countless hours disrupting plots. And protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet, and appear on cable news shows. They know what the nature of the enemy is. So there’s no magic to the phrase ‘radical Islam.’ It’s a political talking point.”
Obama added, “This is a political distraction.”
He did not use Trump’s name, but his target was clear when he referred to the presumptive Republican nominee and called out GOP leaders for not opposing him.
Obama also called for Congress to pass tougher gun laws and the renewal of the assault weapons ban.
“We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents,” Obama said. “Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism.”
Obama, who opened his remarks by providing an update on the investigation into the Orlando terrorist attack over the weekend, said the U.S. currently does not have “any information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando.”
“It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the Internet,” Obama said.”He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized.”
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