Trump Claims Calling Obama the Founder of ISIS was Sarcasm

Donald Trump is now trying to take back his repeated claims that President Obama “founded ISIS” by calling it sarcasm, which only proves he doesn’t even know what sarcasm means. On Friday he tweeted:

Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) “the founder” of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2016

This comes after his statement at a rally on Wednesday saying Obama was the founder of ISIS. On Thursday, radio show host Hugh Hewitt tried to clarify what Trump meant by asking if he simply meant that the Obama administration created the vacuum where ISIS could thrive. But he doubled down on his conclusion that Obama founded ISIS.

When Hewitt kept questioning him, saying that Obama is actually fighting ISIS, Trump’s clever answer was “I don’t care. He was the founder.”

The journalist Christopher Hayes joked on Twitter about Trump’s insistence.

INTERVIEWER: You mean, metaphoric–
TRUMP: No literally
INTERVIEWER: But, he didn’t *actually*–
TRUMP: No, actually. Obama is Baghdadi

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 11, 2016

Trump went on to say that Hillary Clinton also was an important player in the creation of ISIS, which caused her to react on Twitter, saying:

It can be difficult to muster outrage as frequently as Donald Trump should cause it, but his smear against President Obama requires it.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 11, 2016

She also tweeted, “Anyone willing to sink so low, so often, should never be allowed to serve as our Commander-in-Chief.”

But what Trump is now criticizing Obama for is actually what he himself wanted. He claimed Obama caused ISIS to flourish by withdrawing American troops from Iraq in 2011. But he didn’t mention that he also wanted to get out of Iraq as early as in 2007.

In an interview with CNN that year he said, “There’s nothing that we’re going to be able to do with a civil war. They are in a major civil war.” Trump has actually expressed this view several times on the record, statements he seems to have forgotten about.

Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski captured it like this:

Trump Iraq timeline:
2002: Supports the war
2004: Against the war
2008: Withdraw the troops
2016: Obama founded ISIS when he withdrew troops

— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 11, 2016

Trump’s latest utterance caused a lot of reactions on social media, particularly as this mini-scandal follows a remarkably familiar pattern.

THE WEEK IN TRUMP

Tues: Kill Hillary, please.
Wed: LOL, JK
Thurs: Obama founded an anti-American terrorist group, literally.
Fri: LOL, JK

— Heather Hogan (@hhoagie) August 12, 2016

A lot of people are saying Trump literally doesn’t know what day it is. A lot of people are saying. I don’t know. You tell me.

— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) August 11, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.