Is Trump Stoking Obama-Orlando Conspiracies?

Since news of Sunday's horrific attack at an Orlando gay nightclub broke, Donald Trump has been quick to criticize Barack Obama, even calling on the president to step down if he doesn't use the term "radical Islamic terrorism." On Monday, the presumptive Republican nominee went a step further than advocating for Obama to resign. Speaking to Fox & Friends, Trump made comments that are being interpreted as his implying Obama was involved in the Orlando attack.

In a phone interview, Trump told the Fox News morning show, "People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on." During the interview, Trump also said of Obama, "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands — it's one or the other and either one is unacceptable." To many, Trump appeared to be stoking conspiracy theories about Obama having secret ties or support for Islamic terrorism. There's no concrete evidence to support such insinuations and conspiracy theories.

Trump also said that his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, is "a weak person. She's weak on so many different levels ... She is not the right person, especially in these times."

As news outlets have pointed out, Trump has previously implied that Obama is secretly a Muslim. Politico noted that in 2011, when Trump was pushing for Obama to show his birth certificate, he suggested the president didn't want to share it "because maybe it says he is a Muslim."