On Monday, Donald Trump strongly implied that Barack Obama was somehow complicit in, or at the least turning a blind eye to, Islamist terror, a shocking and unfounded accusation to make against the president of the United States. When The Washington Post accurately reported his comments, a furious Trump announced he was banning the newspaper from his events.
On Tuesday, Obama ripped Trump while explaining his reluctance to refer to “radical Islam.” And Trump, who had been so outraged by the Post’s headline, responded by, well, accusing Obama of treason.
“President Obama claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people,” Trump said in a statement to the AP. “When I am President, it will always be America First.”
Although various observers other than Trump disputed the meaning of his comments yesterday, his statement today leaves no doubt: He’s plainly accusing Obama of putting the interests of the enemies of the United States over those of its own citizens. It is a watershed moment, though perhaps it’s only a small leap from claiming that the president is not actually American, as Trump has repeatedly done, to claiming that he is acting to harm America.