Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump may be aiding the Islamic State’s recruitment efforts with his fiery rhetoric about Muslims, according to a leading intelligence expert.
“The jihadist narrative is that there is undying enmity between Islam and the modern world so when Trump says they all hate us, he’s using their narrative … he’s feeding their recruitment video,” former CIA and NSA head Michael Hayden told The Guardian in an interview published Sunday.
Trump has offered up a slate of controversial proposals for combating the threat ISIL poses both at home and in the Middle East, including temporarily banning Muslim immigrants from the U.S., destroying oil reserves, and even using nuclear weapons.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has said the proposed immigration ban “only helps ISIL” while Hillary Clinton has echoed the sentiment that her Republican opponent was “becoming ISIS’ best recruiter.”
To date, clips of Trump’s remarks have been used in recruitment videos for both the Somali terror group Al Shabab and ISIL. The Al Shabab video, released in January, features Trump proposing “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” in the wake of the San Bernardino, California shootings. ISIL highlighted his comments on Brussels becoming “a horror show” in a new video produced after the city suffered a terrorist attack in March.
