Trump Is Already Fueling Conspiracy Theories About Orlando

Donald Trump's response to the mass shooting in Orlando last weekend, as you'd expect, was another chance for him to call for a ban on Muslim immigration and emphasize that without him leading the country the US would be at risk for terrorism. But he also went further, bizarrely insinuating that President Barack Obama might be secretly in league with Islamist radicals, an old right-wing conspiracy theory.

His first statement—released only a few hours after news of the shooting broke—reiterated his proposal for a ban on Muslim immigration and amounted to an "I told you so."

"I said this was going to happen—and it is only going to get worse," the statement read. Trump said that Hillary Clinton, his presumed opponent, wanted to increase immigration levels from the Middle East, and "we will have no way to screen them, pay for them, or prevent the second generation from radicalizing."

"Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism," he later tweeted.

But Trump didn't stop there. On Monday, only a day after the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Trump suggested to Fox News that Obama not only botched his response to the tragedy, but he may be intentionally weakening America.

"We're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind," Trump told Fox & Friends. "And the something else in mind—you know, people cannot believe it. They cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable."

Trump seems to be doubling down on his old conspiracy about Obama secretly being a Muslim, going so far as to suggest that Obama might have ties to ISIS himself—a "Manchurian candidate" for radical Islam, as David Graham in the Atlantic put it.

Trump's response to the Orlando tragedy is shocking, but not necessarily out of character. "Since Trump has ascended, it's been clear that his demagogic instincts could be tested precisely by the sort of tragedy suffered in Orlando," New Yorker editor David Remnick wrote of Trump's remarks Sunday.

"When faced with the path of modesty and the path of dark opportunism," Remnick continued, "he has chosen the latter. That's what he is about. It's who he is."

More on the Orlando shooting:

The Orlando Massacre Is About LGBT People No Matter What the UK Media Says

What We Know So Far About Omar Siddiqui Mateen, the Orlando Nightclub Gunman

America's LGBT Community Is Reeling After the Orlando Nightclub Massacre