A senior White House aide refused to confirm that President Donald Trump believes that Islam is a religion in a Friday NPR interview.
Sebastian Gorka, a former Breitbart national security editor who left his post as a Fox New contributor to become a deputy assistant to Trump, first evaded the question and then said he couldn’t speak for the President.
“Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep mentioned that Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn last year referred to Islam as a “cancer” that “hides behind being a religion” before asking point-blank if the President considered Islam a religion.
Gorka said that the press paid insufficient attention to two speeches Trump gave on the campaign about “radical Islamic terrorism” and that the addresses “tell you everything you need to know.”
“What is the phrase he uses again and again? It’s not Islam,” Gorka said. “It’s not a discussion about Islam as a religion or not a religion; it’s about radical Islamic terrorism. We are prepared to be honest about the threat; we’re not going to white it out, delete it as the Obama administration did. We understand that groups like ISIS have a religious verbiage. Their justification for violence is always religion.”
“Forgive me, I understand what you’re saying, but does the President believe that Islam is a religion?” Inskeep pressed.
“I think you should ask him that question,” Gorka replied. “I’m not a spokesperson for the President. I’m a deputy assistant to him. But I would say that’s a misreading of everything he said in the last 18 months.”
Gorka was a paid policy consultant to the Trump campaign who officially joined the administration in January.
he never fails to lower the bar.
ETA- At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, the Rapist and his cronies aren’t daring ISIS to attack us on our soil, are they? They aren’t doing this so they can use the fear to put in all sorts of horrible measures? Tell me I’m crazy, please! I’m trying to come up with another conclusion, but am failing to do so.
We get it. You like the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.” Noted. Got it. All set.
Trump: I thought Bannon’s ban made it clear but if it did not, I will keep you all in suspense.
If you read through the nonsense of this Administration, one thing is clear to me: this new regime is acting as if the United States is in a state of war with Islam. We have the analog of right wing extremists in the Islamic world running our foreign policy from a right wing American perspective. It all comes full circle, because both sets of extremists desire a clash of civilizations/religions. The key thing for us as Americans to do is to deny this perspective any legitimacy whatsoever. The people of the world must know that Trump is operating illegitimately, like a leader that took over by a coup. If Trump escalates and decides to go to war with Iran (something which I think Vladimir would oppose because it would destabilize his backyard), we as Americans need to encourage our people to defy him in the national interest and to save the Republic.
Trump allows representatives working directly for him to answer media questions about his policies. HIS POLICIES. But when pressed for answers to thorny questions they disclaim any knowledge of what Trump thinks about the very issues they been dispatched to talk about.
“I know what Donald Trump wants to do. I have no idea what his thinking on the matter is.”
Do these people advise him, probe his thoughts on issues in meetings, flesh out the feasibility and sense of a proposed policy? Or does Trump just bark orders that underlings are told to perform without question, like a lowly private in the Marines?