President-elect Donald Trump described Friday the threat of Islamic terrorism as a “purely religious threat” days after he said the Berlin attack had proven his proposed moratorium on Muslim immigration to be “100 percent correct.”
“The terrorist who killed so many people in Germany said just before crime, ‘by God’s will we will slaughter you pigs, I swear, we will slaughter you,'” Trump wrote on Twitter. “This is a purely religious threat, which turned into reality. Such hatred! When will the U.S., and all countries, fight back?”
It’s unclear what level of fighting back Trump is proposing. The president-elect has been vague on his plans to combat Islamic terrorism outside of immigration policy. Calling the threat of jihadi terror “purely religious” is also a sharp break from President Barack Obama. During a September town hall, President Obama said, “These are people who kill children, kill Muslims, take sex slaves, there’s no religious rationale that would justify in any way the things that they do.”
On Wednesday, following the attack in Berlin, Trump was asked, “Has it caused you to rethink or reevaluate your plans to create a Muslim registry or ban Muslim immigration to the United States?”
“You know my plans. All along, I’ve been proven to be right. 100 percent correct. What’s happening is disgraceful,” the president-elect responded.