By Josh Lederman | AP August 12 at 4:40 PM
ERIE, Pa. — It’s the media’s fault. That’s out of context. Never said it in the first place.
Donald Trump’s claim Friday that he was merely being “sarcastic” in accusing President Barack Obama of establishing a terrorist group was his latest attempt to blame others for the uproar over what he says. It’s an instinct that Trump’s opponents say a president can’t possess. Some Republicans seem to have the same concern.
This time, it followed two days of critical headlines and Democratic outrage over Trump’s claim that Obama was the “founder” of the Islamic State group. As Trump repeated the claim more than a dozen times, interviewers sought to ensure Trump wasn’t being misconstrued. Surely, they offered, he meant Obama’s policies had enabled the extremist group’s rise.
“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do,” Trump said, using one acronym for the group.
Then an about-face Friday. “THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” he tweeted.
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Or was he being sarcastic about the sarcasm? Hours later, he told a rally in Pennsylvania he was “obviously being sarcastic — but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you.”
That it took Trump two days to walk back his widely debunked remark — and then walk back the walk-back — was worrying for Republicans who see such missteps as playing to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s advantage. Equally worrying for some was the fact that he again would not take responsibility for his words.
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/with-rare-humility-trump-concedes-he-could-come-up-short/2016/08/12/29529b26-6061-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_story.html
