Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday said he doesn’t want congratulations for being right about terrorism issues, but that he’d like to see the government to get tough in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Orlando early Sunday.
“I’m getting thousands of letters and tweets that I was right about the whole situation,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “I mean, I’ve been right about a lot of things, frankly.”
“I was right about ’take the oil.’ I was right about many, many things. I was right about NATO, with terrorism,” he said.
“I’ve been right about a lot of things. I don’t want congratulations,” the real estate mogul said. “What I want them to do is be tough and vigilant — our government.”
Mr. Trump had been asked about a tweet he sent out on Sunday that said: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!”
Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a firefight with a SWAT team at about 5 a.m. Sunday after he opened fire at an Orlando nightclub, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
“We’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart or he’s got something else in mind,” Mr. Trump said on Monday. “And the something else in mind — people can’t believe it. 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,” he said.
Mr. Trump on Sunday called on Mr. Obama to step down for not saying the words “Radical Islam” in his remarks after the attack in Orlando.
Mr. Trump is planning to give an address in New Hampshire later on Monday that will deal with terrorism and national security.
“I’m calling for strength. I’m calling for intelligence,” he said. “One of the things we really have to focus on is our intelligence community, because we’re not getting the right intelligence.”
“When a guy like this, who’s so openly out there can just walk up and do what he did, we need more intelligence. We need a stronger intelligence community,” Mr. Trump said.
“And the only way we can do that in this case having to do with radical Islamic terror — and that’s the point. Obama won’t do that because he doesn’t want to single out this group,” he said. “This group is a disaster, and the only way we can do that is through intelligence.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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