If two weeks ago I claimed it was raining when it was not, but today it does rain, does that make my original statement a prediction, one that was "right?" No, if you're honest about it. But maybe yes if you're ABC News, and instead of me talking about rain, it was Hillary Clinton talking about Donald Trump in ISIS recruitment videos.
On Saturday's Good Morning America, co-host Dan Harris suggested Hillary Clinton "may actually have been right" about Donald Trump turning up in ISIS videos. And during the subsequent segment, reporter Mary Bruce said Hillary "predicted" Trump "would become" recruitment fodder. There's only one hitch: Hillary hadn't "predicted" that ISIS would use Trump or that he "would become" fodder. On December 19th, during a Dem debate, Hillary claimed that ISIS was already using Trump in recruitment videos. But no terror group used Trump in a video before today, when he turned up in a video not by ISIS but from an al Qaeda-affiliated group.
The irony is that by mentioning the use of Trump in terrorist recruitment videos, Hillary might actually have encouraged Islamic terrorist groups to do so. These groups are very media-savvy. And after Hillary's statement, what better way to ensure massive media coverage of a recruitment video than to stick Trump in it? Thanks for the idea, Hillary!
Note: Co-host Paula Faris apparently didn't get the memo about how GMA was going to spin this. She let the cat out of the bag, saying that Hillary had "falsely" claimed ISIS was using Trump in recruitment videos. Kudos to her for candor, but Faris's message was overridden by the statements by sidekick Harris saying Hillary "may actually have been right," and by Bruce, saying Hillary had merely "predicted" what ISIS would do.
From the January 2 Good Morning America:
DAN HARRIS: Good morning, America. Breaking overnight: Donald Trump starring in a new terrorist recruitment video. So does this mean Hillary Clinton may have actually been right?
.....
MARY BRUCE: This is the first known instance of extremists using Trump's language to attract followers, although not by ISIS as Hillary Clinton predicted.
Cut to clip from December 19th Dem debate.
HILLARY CLINTON: He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter.
BRUCE: The Democratic front-runner ignited a war of words with Trump when she warned that his rhetoric would become recruiting fodder.
HILLARY: They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists
