Thursday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “Hardball” host Chris Matthews accused Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump of suggesting President Barack Obama “is somehow a usurper, an Islamic figure himself who has gotten into the presidency and is out to support Islamic terrorism.”
“There’s something going on with him that we don’t know about,” Matthews said. “That was very skillful. Because he’s playing — it’s a Jewish audience, maybe conservative audience, I don’t know, I assume they are being—it’s a Republican crowd. But I’ll tell you this, a majority of Republicans believe the president is a Muslim. These are facts. They say so to pollsters, whether they believe it deep down or not, they say it. Maybe it’s a taunt. Here he is saying there’s something wrong with him, that’s the president of the United States, who has been re-elected twice, that we don’t know about. We are going back here to birtherism, back to that deep, dark, awful—not even suspicion, it’s a charge, that this president is somehow a usurper, an Islamic figure himself who has gotten into the presidency and is out to support Islamic terrorism. I mean it’s awful. I would call it a trumpet call or bugle call. I thought it was very clear they’re going to a conservative audience that’s very concerned about Islamic terrorism, and saying the president is basically in cahoots. It’s awful. It’s awful. You said go to their corners. That’s the wickedest corner.”
He added, “He will exploit the hell out of this.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN