Trump on Obama and ISIL: "I was being sarcastic but..."

[rooster59]

Trump on Obama and ISIL: "I was being sarcastic but..."

 

 

So, he was being sarcastic…sort of.

 

Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump has backed down from comments calling Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama the founders of ISIL.

 

But he was still linking Obama to the militant group at a campaign event on Friday in Pennsylvania.

 

“I mean he let this happen,” Trump told supporters.

 

“They had eight states. They had eight countries. They are now 28 countries. They are expanding. So I said, the founder of ISIS – obviously I’m being sarcastic…but not that sarcastic to be honest with you – and they all said ‘He should not say that’.”

 

Clinton meanwhile has released her tax returns, piling more pressure on her billionaire rival to do the same. The New York businessman has cited an audit by the Internal Revenue Service as a reason for his refusal to do so.

 

The IRS has said Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit.

 

Clinton’s tax returns have been made public, in some form, every year since 1977 and for presidential candidates it has become a common custom.

 

Whether more transparency is the answer or not, Trump, it seems, needs to do something to boost his campaign with polls showing him losing ground to Clinton in key states.

 

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released on Friday found Clinton widening her lead in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, while holding her advantage in Florida.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-08-14

 

[Neurath]

What a fool. It's not even sarcasm. 

 

"Let this happen" - There are some real beans in this turd. US policy in Iraq (2003- present) did in fact provide fertile  conditions for the rise of Sunni extremism. And Trump is correct to think (can you say think when talking of him?) that the decision to invade Iraq disastrous and the aftermath a balls-up. 

[Ulysses G.]

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

[Silurian]

15 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

 

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

but not that sarcastic to be honest with you

 

So which is it? Guess it is neither and both! Just like most of those "just kidding" remarks we keep hearing from Trump.

 

Oh Donald, you are such the kidder!

[ezzra]

This poor schmuck has nothing left but sarcasm to peddle, this man has squandered  the enormous momentum he had in the beginnings on every possible gaffes and rubbish statements coming out of his mouth... cut your losses Mr. clown, and go home, while you have some dignity left in you....

[Credo]

He belongs in a Comedy Club, but I doubt he would win there either.

[Pib]

Trump in a nutshell.

 

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

Do you understand how sarcasm works?  It's saying one thing but meaning the opposite.  For instance Rush Limbaugh praised Obama for the raid that killed Bin Laden.  Obviously he meant the opposite. So, are you saying that Trump was actually saying that Obama was not responsible for Isis?  That he was, in effect, defending him?  

For someone who claims to have little use for Trump, you sure devote a lot of effort to defending him.

[Berkshire]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

 

No he does not.  All of this "could have" and "should have" are all guesses at best.  Obama is not any more responsible than Merkel, or Cameron, or Putin, or any other world leader for that matter.  If Obama had gotten the US more involved, there surely would have been more dead American soldiers, more instability, and ISIS still would have thrived.  Trump doesn't have any magic solution to anything.  He just talks nonsense and his sheep following believe him.  The loonie right wing media isn't doing America any favors by conjuring up these ridiculous conspiracy theories. 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Berkshire

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

 

Hypothetical #17:  Trump in the Oval office:  "I once liked Vlad, but he gave me a harsh look, so now I hate him.  Nuke Moscow."

 

Nukes are fired.

 

Next day, Trump: "Did you really fire those nukes?  I was kidding. Didn't you know that?  Jeezo, you dummies believe everything I say.   What am I gonna do with a bunch of losers all around me?"

 

Hypothetical #32: Trump get angry at China, "Slap a 100% tariff on all their stuff, throw any Chinese you find in the US in jail.  Tourists, diplomats, I don't care.  Throw 'em all in jail for espionage."

 

Next Day, speaking with FBI head, "Did you really do that?  Hey, I was just joking.  You took me seriously?   You say there are now 27,000 Chinese citizens in jail?  Hey, let 'em out, I don't know, maybe you can keep them there. They probably get better food in prison and they can learn to speak English from American TV.  I was only kidding about locking 'em all up. ha ha ha."

[HooHaa]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Do you understand how sarcasm works?  It's saying one thing but meaning the opposite.  For instance Rush Limbaugh praised Obama for the raid that killed Bin Laden.  Obviously he meant the opposite. So, are you saying that Trump was actually saying that Obama was not responsible for Isis?  That he was, in effect, defending him?  

For someone who claims to have little use for Trump, you sure devote a lot of effort to defending him.

 

Actually what you are describing is irony.

 

Sarcasm can contain elements of irony, but irony is purely situational while sarcasm is hurtful or negatively intended and the irony therein is intended to be clearly understood by all parties.

 

Trump manages neither here.

 

Although as with everything he says the hyperbole is strong.

[Ulysses G.]

1 hour ago, ilostmypassword said:

Do you understand how sarcasm works?  It's saying one thing but meaning the opposite. 

 

Yes I do. You are the one that seems to be a problem. Your example is only one aspect of the word. There are several other meanings. One is a taunting, sneering, cutting or caustic remark.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Ulysses G.

[Emster23]

When Trump says "to be honest with you" it's a pretty safe bet that he is lying

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Yes I do. You are the one that seems to be a problem. Your example is only one aspect of the word. There are several other meanings. One is a taunting, sneering, cutting or caustic remark.

But if that's the case, your defense of him makes no sense at all. In other words he wasn't being ironic, he was being sincere. In which case, he meant what he said.  

[Ulysses G.]

He was sincerly pointing out that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive.

[SOTIRIOS]

....obviously being clamped down on...and pushed out.......

[stevenl]

9 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was sincerly pointing out that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive.

Now if that was his point he has a valid discussion point. He has a communication problem though, since time and time again he is not able to bring his point across. And no, the evil, left wing, liberal media are not to blame for that.

[ilostmypassword]

10 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was sincerly pointing out that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive.

He said "Obama founded Isis." ANd it was in response to that he said he was being sarcastic "but not that sarcastic."  That statement makes no sense if he meant what he literally said.  You sure got a man crush on this guy. Keep trying. Keep wriggling.

 

11 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was sincerly pointing out that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive.

 

[Sparkles]

4 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow, what absolute rubbish.Re wind to when Bush,Cheyney,Rumsfield  decided to invade Iraq,a sovereign country based on lies.

170,000 innocent Iraqi men women and children wre killed on the first night of bombing as was confirmed in the UK's Chilcott report.

 

People wonder why some of the world hate the West, there's youe answer 170,000 dead but how many Trump supporters would care about that.

 

Trump is ,and always has been a narcissistic, obnoxious ,ignorant bully, and will bring down the Republican Party with him.

[Ricardo]

"I was being sarcastic", but nobody could spot the difference, from my normal statements ?

[JHolmesJr]

Memo to mr trump:

 

ok sir...no more jokes or sarcasm from this point forward

 

serious is good. 

[klauskunkel]

Sarcasm requires a degree of sophistication...

which Mr. Trump is lacking.

[Morch]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

This poor schmuck has nothing left but sarcasm to peddle, this man has squandered  the enormous momentum he had in the beginnings on every possible gaffes and rubbish statements coming out of his mouth... cut your losses Mr. clown, and go home, while you have some dignity left in you....

 

What dignity?

[alanrchase]

5 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

He was obviously being sarcastic. His point was that Obama's policies have allowed ISIS to grow and thrive. He has a valid point.

 

Just sarcasm? Is it or isn't it? No problem Donald will tell you after the fact and you apparently will lap it up. 

[Ricardo]

This report from Associated Press suggests that Trump wasn't being sarcastic, doesn't it ?

 

"Even as he was given opportunities Thursday to clean up his quip about Obama from a day earlier, Trump instead took it further.

 

He brushed off conservative radio commentator Hugh Hewitt's attempt to reframe Trump's observation as one that said Obama's foreign policy created the conditions in Iraq and Syria that allowed IS to thrive.

 

"No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do," Trump said, using another acronym for the extremist group that has wreaked havoc from the Middle East to European cities.

 

 

[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

Sarcasm requires a degree of sophistication...

which Mr. Trump is lacking.

He's playing a sophisticated game.

He gives code to his rabid base, they see it exactly as his critics see it and then he denies he means it later. Sarcasm! He wants it both ways and in some ways he gets both ways, but he seems focused entirely on pleasing his rabid base. That's a LOSING tactic. Thank God! There just aren't enough of them. Yes, it does really look like he doesn't really want to win but he does want to be the leader of his rabid base. Perhaps he's starting a dangerous movement that will one day have a credible leader that isn't too ridiculous to make president. 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Jingthing

[Grouse]

3 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Do you understand how sarcasm works?  It's saying one thing but meaning the opposite.  For instance Rush Limbaugh praised Obama for the raid that killed Bin Laden.  Obviously he meant the opposite. So, are you saying that Trump was actually saying that Obama was not responsible for Isis?  That he was, in effect, defending him?  

For someone who claims to have little use for Trump, you sure devote a lot of effort to defending him.

 

So it is true; Americans don't understand irony!

 

Donald, your hair looks really natural - sarcasm!

 

America will be much nicer with Trump as president - irony!

 

Obama created ISIS - bullshit!

 

Do you see the difference?

 

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Grouse
Expanded explanation

[helpisgood]

2 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Yes I do. You are the one that seems to be a problem. Your example is only one aspect of the word. There are several other meanings. One is a taunting, sneering, cutting or caustic remark.

 

According to Webster's, sarcasm is "the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny."

 

Oxford says, it's "the use of irony to mock or convey contempt."

 

I have read some comments regarding the word's usage.  Although it has been used differently from the definitions above, it is generally understood that the use of sarcasm includes irony or stating the opposite of the speaker's true intention.  Thus, the word is understood, more simply, to mean irony stated in a mocking manner. 

 

My own guess is that Trump neither knows nor cares to know the word's definition.  He just threw that word out, as he does with most anything else he says without a teleprompter, without thinking it through. 

 

Is the kind of person we want speaking for the USA?

 

 

PS, I think he meant hyperbolic or he could have said that he was jokingly exaggerating. 

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by helpisgood

[farcanell]

With the horrible and tragic events of the last couple of days.... I say " thank goodness" for silly Sunday's story herein. 

[Neurath]

4 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Yes I do. You are the one that seems to be a problem. Your example is only one aspect of the word. There are several other meanings. One is a taunting, sneering, cutting or caustic remark.

Seems that you don' now what sarcasm is actually. A taunting, sneering, cutting or caustic remark might be sarcastic, but not all sarcasm is sneering, cutting or caustic. So sarcasm is not equivalent to these three things. A sarcastic remark might be comical too, but not all comical remarks are sarcastic either. See the lack of equivalence? Trump seems not to now what sarcasm is. Not a big deal, Trump exemplifies many kinds of ignorance. Some of which are excused by trying to reform the English language. 

Not content with living in their own private world, there are some Trump's apologists want their own private language too.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Neurath