AP Photo Trump quadruples down: Muslims 'went wild' after 9/11

Donald Trump continued to defend his remarks that Muslims "went wild" in celebration following the 9/11 attacks in the United States on Monday, and hammered President Barack Obama repeatedly for failing to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe what he said was the predominant threat facing the homeland.

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" minutes after Obama finished addressing the climate talks in Paris, Trump was adamant when asked why he kept insisting that hundreds, if not thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating across the river as the twin towers smoldered in September 2001.


“Well it is important because you have to know the problems, because we don’t even know the problems," the Republican presidential candidate remarked. "We have a president that won’t even mention the term or the name. I don’t know what his problem is. Nobody understands it. He won’t mention radical Islamic terrorism. He won’t mention it. It could be from a different planet as far as he’s concerned. And you’re not going to solve the problem unless you’re willing to talk about what the problem is. I’m willing to talk about what the problem is."

Asked whether he would be hesitant to paint with a large brush on the Muslim community writ large, Trump called Muslims he knows "terrific people" but also warned co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough that "we have some very radical people who want to do great harm to you and to Joe and to everybody on your panel and to me and to this country and to the world."

"They’re wonderful people, I know so many of them, and by the way, the ones that I know, they agree with me," Trump said, adding that they do so because the threat posed by radical members of their faith poses great danger to them as well.

The precise percentage or amount of Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attacks or expressing a violent opinion toward Americans does not matter to him, Trump indicated.

"I think we have to be strong, I think we have to be vigilant. I have many Muslim friends. They’re wonderful people, but we nevertheless, we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely strong, and we have to understand what the problem is," he said at the outset.

On whether Islam is a peaceful or violent religion, Trump demurred.

“There’s something definitely going on. I don’t know that that question be answered. It could be answered two ways. It could be answered both ways," he responded. "You see the hatred. You see it every day," he added, referencing what he called "Muslim chanting" prior to a soccer game in Turkey played days after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.

As Scarborough and Brzezinski wondered whether his rhetoric about Muslims would help or hurt Trump's chances in the primaries, the candidate said that it wasn't his concern.

“I don’t worry about it, and I don’t worry about help, Joe. I'll be honest. I'm not looking to do this for help. Whether I win, whether I lose, I'm not doing this for that," he said. "I'm doing it because somebody has to bring it to the fore, and nobody does it."

Trump also went after Obama's remark last week in which he called this week's Paris climate summit a "rebuke" to the terrorists that struck the French capital earlier this month.

“Well first of all, I think one of the dumbest statements I’ve ever heard in politics, in the history of politics as I know it, which is pretty good, was Obama’s statement that our number one problem is global warming, OK? When we have large groups of people that want to blow up every one of our cities, that want to destroy our country, that want to kill our people, and he’s worried about global warming," he said. "I think it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen, or perhaps most naïve. He could be naïve in a certain way. He actually I think is naïve, if you want to know the truth. Beyond the incompetent part.”

The Manhattan mogul also pointed to Black Lives Matter activists for playing a role in canceling his public event on Monday, which his campaign billed as an endorsement of 100 African American evangelical leaders following a meeting at Trump Tower. By Sunday evening, that event had been scuppered in favor of a meet-and-greet with members of the Coalition of African-American Ministers.

"I think what happened, probably, it gets publicity, unfortunately, as everything I do gets publicity, and probably some of the Black Lives Matter folks called them up and said, ‘oh, you shouldn’t be meeting with Trump because he believes that all lives matter,'" Trump remarked.

Some endorsements could still come out of the meeting, he indicated.

"I don’t know if it’s an endorsement by some, I think it probably it will be an endorsement by some," Trump continued, "I do think pressure was put on them when they heard there was a meeting by people that maybe disagree with certain things."

Addressing the chances of two of his closest Republican rivals in the race, Trump indicated that he thought Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would "absolutely" be qualified to be president and that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would be as well.

“I think so. I think he’s young, he’s very young. He’s got a bad voting record in Florida," Trump said, knocking Rubio on his immigration policies. "But he’s a nice guy, I’ve gotten know him during the campaign. I like him, and I think he would have a shot."