Donald Trump blasted President Obama on Monday for focusing on climate change over direct national security threats as high-level climate talks kicked off in Paris.
The Republican presidential front-runner criticized Democrats for statements that suggested climate change is more important to the U.S. than fighting terrorism during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“For him to say that that’s more important than stopping countries” like North Korea shows Obama’s “naivete,” Trump said.
“We have a president that won’t even mention the term or the name,” Trump said. “He won’t mention radical Islamic terrorism.”
When confronted with poll numbers that suggested a relatively small percentage of Muslims supported violence against the U.S., Trump argued any percentage posed a threat to the country.
“Ten percent or 7 percent or 2 percent is a lot when you’re talking about the kind of destruction they want to do,” he said. “There’s a lot of hatred coming out of at least a big part of it.”
“I have many Muslim friends, they’re wonderful people,” Trump added. “Nevertheless, we have to be extremely vigilant.”
Trump said host Chuck Todd was “a little bit wild on the show” when Trump appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. During the contentious interview, Trump and Todd sparred over the GOP front-runner’s insistence that American Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the 9/11 attacks.
The real estate mogul doubled down on those comments Monday, again swearing that he had seen a video of American Muslims cheering when the Word Trade Center towers came down in 2001.
