President Barack Obama addressed what he called the "dangerous" rhetoric of Donald Trump Tuesday, calling out both the presumptive Republican nominee and the entire GOP establishment for perpetuating "political distractions" in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting instead of taking actual action.
"The main contribution some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase 'radical Islam,'" Obama said during a speech from the Treasury Department, according to the Associated Press. "That's the key, they tell us. 'We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists.' What exactly would using this label accomplish? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans?"
Adding that arguing about a simple phrase was simply an attempt at distracting voters from facing the real issues, Obama denounced the so-called "yapping" from "politicians who tweet" as something quite detrimental to the nation's wellbeing. "We're now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be," Obama said. "We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us."
Turning his anger to Trump's repeated suggestion of banning Muslims from entering the U.S., Obama urged other Republicans to speak out against such rhetoric for the sake of everyone. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently?" Obama asked. "Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? Do Republican officials actually agree with this?"
Obama also called for Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban in an attempt to make it harder for those with ill intent to harm fellow Americans. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents," Obama said. "Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism."
