--- title: Orlando Shooting: Donald Trump Knocks President Obama description: Donald Trump suggested Monday that President Obama is oblivious to issues of terrorism canonical: https://time.com/4366278/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-president-obama/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-13T15:38:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T08:15:54.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Made Shady Insinuations About Obama and the Orlando Shooting og:description: "There's something going on. It's inconceivable" og:url: https://time.com/4366278/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-president-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb8d867a0cb893ee/69889789cd1bbafb5670114e/gettyimages-539418530.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Rally In Tampa, Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Made Shady Insinuations About Obama and the Orlando Shooting twitter:description: "There's something going on. It's inconceivable" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb8d867a0cb893ee/69889789cd1bbafb5670114e/gettyimages-539418530.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Just Made Some Shady Insinuations About President Obama and the Orlando Shooting > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:15 AM UTCPublished: Jun 13, 2016 3:38 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Tampa Convention Center on June 11, 2016 in Tampa, Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott spoke at the rally and introduced Trump. Gerardo Mora—Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Tampa Convention Center on June 11, 2016 in Tampa, Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott spoke at the rally and introduced Trump. Gerardo Mora—Getty Images Gerardo Mora—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:15 AM UTCPublished: Jun 13, 2016 3:38 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4365999/how-hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump-will-respond/) suggested Monday that President Obama is oblivious to issues of [terrorism](http://time.com/4365507/orlando-shooting-isis-claims-responsibility-terror/?xid=homepage)—and he seemed to suggest in the process that Obama might sympathize with the suspected gunman in [the deadly Orlando nightclub shooting.](http://time.com/4365988/orlando-shooting-omar-mateen-police-pulse/?xid=homepage) The unsubstantiated insinuations, in a series of interviews Monday morning, came from the Republican presidential candidate who once led calls for the release of the [President’s birth certificate](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trumps-history-raising-birther-questions-president-obama/story?id=33861832) and has more than once [indulged conspiracy theories](http://www.npr.org/2016/05/24/479331275/a-guide-to-the-many-conspiracy-theories-donald-trump-has-embraced) about Obama’s faith and heritage. On Monday, just one day after a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in Orlando—the worst mass shooting in American history—Trump said on [Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/06/13/trump-takes-on-obama-clinton-over-radical-islam-as-candidates-condemn-terror.html) that he believes there’s “something else going on.” “Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said. “People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.” Trump was referring to Obama’s refusal to utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism,” a term Obama has argued in the past elevates groups like ISIS as religious groups instead of terrorist groups, while playing into the hands of people who want to paint the U.S. as at war with Islam as a whole. In a tweet sent out Sunday, Donald Trump said the president should “immediately resign in disgrace” if he does not say the words. > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/742053354189299712) In statements delivered in the [White House Press Briefing Room on Sunday](http://time.com/4365421/orlando-shooting-barack-obama-terror-hate/), President Obama did not say the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” The President did, however, call the shooting in Orlando an “act of terror” and an “act of hate.” “He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands — it’s one or the other and either one is unacceptable,” Trump said Monday. Trump made additional appearances on the [_Today_ show](http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-defends-controversial-comments-after-orlando-nightclub-massacre-t97881) and [_Good Morning America_](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/donald-trump-orlando-nightclub-massacre-39811384) on Monday. Trump told [_NBC’_s Savannah Guthrie](http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-defends-controversial-comments-after-orlando-nightclub-massacre-t97881) “there are many people that think maybe he doesn’t want to get it,” though he said he thinks Obama “just doesn’t know what he’s doing.” “He’s not addressing the issue. He’s not calling it what it is. This is radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said. He also rediscussed a plan he put forward in December to ban Muslims from entering the United States. The shooter in the Orlando nightclub, [Omar Mateen](http://time.com/4366145/orlando-shooter-omar-mateen-father/), was Muslim but he was an American-born U.S. citizen. “We have many people coming in whose hate is equal to his and just as bad and even worse, frankly, and we have to stop people from coming in,”Trump said on [_Good Morning America_](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/donald-trump-orlando-nightclub-massacre-39811384). Trump has been under fire for his response to the brutal terror attack. On Sunday, he sent out a self-congratulatory tweet thanking followers for congratulating him on being “right on radical Islamic terrorism.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742034549232766976) On Monday, Trump doubled down on his comments telling Fox News “I’ve been right about a lot of things, frankly. … I was right about many, many things.” Trump will discuss terrorism in a speech on Monday, scheduled for [mid-afternoon.](http://time.com/4366698/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-terrorism/) White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest addressed Trump’s insinuations during Monday’s press briefing, saying President Obama’s record on counter-terrorism “speaks for itself.” “And that record includes a lot of dead terrorists,” Earnest said Monday. “This president has made his number one priority keeping the American people safe…the president has done that in a way that is smart, that is tough and that makes this country safer.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4366278/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-president-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4366278/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-president-obama/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Just Made Some Shady Insinuations About President Obama and the Orlando Shooting","datePublished":"2016-06-13T15:38:11.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T08:15:54.000Z","description":"\"There's something going on. 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