Tuesday, The Wrap interviewed former “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather, who said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim “dangerous” rhetoric is the “biggest propaganda coup for ISIS.”
Rather said, “I have been covering Donald Trump for a very long time. He is a very intelligent person. He is a very smart man. That doesn’t answer the question, ‘If he’s smart, why does he say such dumb things?’ I think the answer to that is he really wants to be president. A lot of people think he is just in it to get advertising. He now believes he can be and he wants to be president. So each time he says something that strikes even a majority of the population at large as outrageous, it’s a tactical move to appeal to the more conservative hard right—if you like the phrase—base that heavily influences the outcome of primary caucuses. So I would prefer to see these as tactical moves, but they can be very dangerous. What he said about Muslims…the effect of that is a great advantage for ISIS. This is the biggest propaganda coup for ISIS in recent times. Because they can say to the people they are trying to recruit, ‘See this guy may be president of the United States and he is, quote, anti-Muslim.’ I don’t happen to believe that Donald Trump is in his heart and soul anti-Muslim. But it’s a great propaganda coup for ISIS. And by the way, I think it’s so very helpful to the Democrats and Hillary Clinton.”
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