In the aftermath of this weekend’s deadly shooting in Orlando, Donald Trump made his routine rounds today on morning television. But buried within his remarks was a perceived suggestion that something more sinister was at play.
Trump criticized President Obama, as he’s inclined to do, for not protecting the country.
"He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands. It's one or the other,” Trump said on “Fox and Friends” this morning. "And either one is unacceptable, number one. And number two, calling on another gun ban; I mean, this man has no clue.”
Asked what he meant during a later appearance on NBC, Trump said, "Well, there's a lot of people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it. A lot of people think that maybe he doesn't want to know about it.”
“I happen to think he just doesn't know what he's doing. But there's many people that think he doesn't want to get it. He doesn't want to see what's really happening,” Trump said.
Back on the Fox News interview, Trump said, "Our government is led by a man who is a very — look guys, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the 'something else in mind,’ people can't believe it.”
"There's something going on. It's inconceivable.”
Coming from a man who famously perpetuated the falsehood that Obama was not born in this country and has openly suggested that the president is a Muslim, some people speculated on what Trump was really suggesting today.
Trump declined to answer definitively in September when ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked him about the president’s faith, which is Christian.
"I haven't raised the question. I don't talk about it and I don't like talking about somebody else's faith. He talks about his faith and he can do that,” Trump said. “
“But I don’t talk about other people's faith. It's not appropriate for me to talk about somebody else's faith.”
Trump, ever the showman, has shown no regrets for making wildly false comments in the past. In an August 2013 interview with ABC News’ Jon Karl, he stood behind his push to reveal Obama’s “true birth status.”
KARL: You don't acknowledge that you went overboard on this whole birther stuff?
TRUMP: Actually, I think it made me very popular, if you want to know the truth, OK? So I do think I know what I'm doing.