Andrea Mitchell: President Obama 'just eviscerated Donald Trump in that extraordinary speech'
MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell observed that President Barack Obama finally had enough anti-Muslim rhetoric and "just eviscerated Donald Trump" in a speech at the White house on Tuesday.
While speaking about the terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Obama assailed critics who have complained that he would not use the phrase "radical Islam."
Taking aim at "yapping" from "politicians who tweet," the president noted that changing the way that he refers to terrorists would not serve any military strategy.
"Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? We've heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign," Obama remarked. "Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our Democratic ideals. It will make us less safe."
Following the speech, Mitchell observed that Obama appeared fed up with Trump's rhetoric.
"This was a passionate cry from the heart about his vision for America," Mitchell said. "He has never before taken on Donald Trump, and he just eviscerated Donald Trump in that extraordinary speech. President Obama basically saying, 'Do you think that using a phrase is a military strategy? Do you think that we sit here saying, well, maybe if we used the phrase radical Islamic terrorists then we could defeat ISIL?'"
"Obama or his predecessor [George W. Bush] would say to a critic like this Republican nominee, presumptive nominee, 'What are you thinking when you talk about using a phrase, that a phrase itself is a strategy?'" she continued. "He went on to just take apart all those criticisms."
Mitchell concluded by saying that the speech was "pretty amazing."
"It reminded me cinematically of The American President when [Michael Douglas] came into the briefing room and finally had it up to here with his Republican challenger," she said. "But this was real life. And it was pretty dramatic."
Watch the video below from MSNBC, broadcast June 14, 2016.