The 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, USA, 10 August 2016. (Cristobal Herrera/EPA)
Donald Trump's new zinger has fallen flat. The GOP nominee on Friday walked back his repeated claim that President Barack Obama is the "founder of ISIS," a line he dropped at a Florida rally on Wednesday."Ratings challenged CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) 'the founder' of ISIS, & MVP," Trump tweeted. "THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?"Once again, Trump is blaming the media for taking the bait and reporting his remarks at face value. It's a reversal from a Thursday interview with conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, where Trump leaned further into the ISIS line and said he was not joking."You meant that he created the vacuum, he lost the peace," Hewitt said, offering a life raft."No, I meant that he's the founder of ISIS, I do," Trump shot back.As his Democratic opponent scored points with her fans ridiculing Trump on Twitter, the Republican leader repeated the claim again on Thursday night at another Florida rally.The real founder of ISIS was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian convict and violent Islamist extremist came to Iraq after the US invasion to wage holy war on the occupation forces, the United Nations, and Shiite Muslims, whom he viewed as apostates.The ISIS accusation is the third instance of Trump's mouth landing him a bad news cycle this month, after he publicly sparred with the Khan family after the Democratic National Convention and last week earning a visit from the Secret Service for apparently endorsing an "Second Amendment" solution to a Hillary Clinton presidency.
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