June 13, 2016

Talking about Obama and Orlando, Trump Pushes a Birther-Like Conspiracy Theory

“There’s something going on.”

Loren Elliott/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA

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In the aftermath of Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando, Donald Trump took to the morning shows on Monday to suggest that President Barack Obama’s refusal to describe the massacre as “radical Islamic terrorism” is a reason to suspect that “something else is going on.” This was apparently a sly reference to a birther-like conspiracy theory, with the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee seemingly suggesting that Obama is somehow sympathetic towards or even in cahoots with terrorists targeting the United States. After all, Trump not too long ago rose to political prominence within conservative circles as the the leading proponent of the false claim that the president was born in Kenya and for decades covered up his true heritage.

Referring to Obama and the threat of terrorism, Trump said during a call-in with Fox & Friends, “He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understand. It’s one or the other.” Gets it better than anybody understands? In other words, Obama has a secret—and nefarious—agenda.

“We’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump continued. “And the something else in mind, you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot—they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can’t even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable.”

When asked about his comments later on Good Morning America, Trump reiterated the same message, insinuating the president is willfully ignoring the problem.

“There are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn’t want to get it,” he told Savannah Guthrie. ” A lot of people think maybe he doesn’t want to know about it. I happen to think he just doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Following the horrific shooting in Orlando, which claimed the lives of 49 people inside a gay nightclub, the real estate magnate resurrected his calls for a complete ban on Muslims entering the country, despite the fact that the gunman, 29-year-old Omar Matten, was an American citizen.
 


A source told NBC News that after the attack, officials from the Republican National Committee had hoped that would offer his condolences and abstain from commenting further. Based on his morning talk show remarks and the anti-Muslim speech he gave this afternoon, the real estate magnate decided to go a completely different direction.

This post has been updated with more information, and revised to reflect NBC News‘ corrected report.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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