Stephen Colbert Decodes One of the Worst Things Donald Trump Said After the Orlando Mass Shooting

His drawing says it all.


In the days since the Orlando mass shooting on Sunday, Donald Trump has repeatedly said that President Barack Obama has “something else in mind” when he refuses to say the words “radical Islamic terrorism.”

“He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Monday. “It’s one or the other.”

“We’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” the real estate magnate said during another morning show appearance. “And the something else in mind, you know, people can’t believe it.”

When asked for clarity, Trump characteristically demurred each time, stopping short of saying outright what most people know he is insinuating. On Tuesday, Stephen Colbert offered to draw out Trump’s coded messages and spell out exactly what they mean for anyone still confused by the presidential hopeful’s vagueness.

It’s both chilling and exhilarating to watch, as a host on a major television network finally says what Trump is likely alluding to. Or in Colbert’s case, he draws it.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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