Hillary Clinton said in an interview Monday that she will continue to steer clear of using the term “radical Islam.”
“To me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing,” Clinton told Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show, in response to Donald Trump’s criticism of both her and President Obama for avoiding the phrase.
The interview took place just a day after Orlando shooter Omar Saddiqui Mateen called 911 during the worst mass shooting in United States history and pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS.
“I’m not going to demonize, and demagogue, and declare war on an entire religion, that’s just plain dangerous and plays into ISIS’ hand,” Clinton said.
Trump has been critical of Democrats who don’t use the term “radical Islam” for quite some time, tweeting about it as Obama prepared to address the nation on Sunday on the heels of the Orlando shooting.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742053354189299712
“I think Trump, as usual, is obsessed with name calling. And from my perspective, it matters what we do not what we say,” Clinton said. “It matters that we got Bin Laden, not what name we called him. If he [Trump] is somehow suggesting I don’t call this what it is, he hasn’t been listening.”
Watch the video below.