"I did it for ISIS. I did it for the Islamic State."

The radical Islamist terrorist responsible for the attack in an Orlando nightclub that killed at least 49 people called a local television station during his rampage with a chilling message.

“I’m the shooter. It’s me,” the terrorist told News 13 in Orlando. “I did it for ISIS. I did it for the Islamic State,” he said, according to a Washington Post account of the call.

Which brings us to today’s lead editorial in the New York Times. The NYT editorial board, you see, is having some real trouble figuring out who’s responsible for what happened in Orlando. And they cannot figure out what the heck the motive was. When Bruce Jenner tells the New York Times that he’s a girl, by golly he’s a girl. But when a gay Muslim registered Democrat terrorist in the midst of a killing spree declares to the news media that he “did it for the Islamic State,” it is just impossible for the New York Times and its ilk to figure out the true identity of this inscrutable killer. How do you solve a puzzle like sharia?

The New York Times has no clue. This was an actual phrase that an actual human deliberately wrote and published in the NYT today: “While the precise motivation for the rampage remains unclear[.]” Linger on that for a moment. Surround yourself with it. Drink it in:

While the precise motivation for the rampage remains unclear, it is evident that Mr. Mateen was driven by hatred toward gays and lesbians. Hate crimes don’t happen in a vacuum. They occur where bigotry is allowed to fester, where minorities are vilified and where people are scapegoated for political gain. Tragically, this is the state of American politics, driven too often by Republican politicians who see prejudice as something to exploit, not extinguish.

The terrorist called a news network and declared “I did it for ISIS/I did it for the Islamic State,” and the New York Times editorial board cannot identify the “precise motivation for the rampage.” But lest ye fear, the esteemed editors over there know exactly who the real villain is. No, it’s not the gay Muslim registered Democrat who murdered at least 49 people. It couldn’t possibly his fault.

Here’s who the New York Times blames, in order: Republican politicians, Republican-led state legislatures, Republican governors, Republican federal lawmakers, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, anyone who believes in traditional marriage, anyone who’s ever voted to preserve traditional marriage, and anyone who has ever voted for anyone who believes in or has voted to preserve traditional marriage.

Just as a mentally ill conspiracy theorist can watch video of the moon landing and see nothing but government lies and Hollywood movie sets, the New York Times looks at the pool of blood spilled by an Islamic terrorist who pledged allegiance to the Islamic state and see’s nothing but the outline of the GOP elephant. Where you and I see a plane flying through the sky, the New York Times sees deadly chemtrails laced with Republican rhetoric. While you may think fluoridated water is good for your teeth, the New York Times is pretty convinced it’s a GOP plot to get a radical Islamist terrorist to shoot up a gay nightclub.

In a 600-word editorial about the terrorist massacre in Orlando, the New York Times editorial board names seven Republican politicians. It doesn’t use the world Islam or any of its variants a single time. And it certainly doesn’t mention ISIS, the Islamic terrorist conglomerate which President Barack Obama once characterized as a “JV team” to justify his deliberate refusal to eradicate the group before it became a violent global force.

In the fantasyland of modern progressive politics, if a boy identifies as a girl, then he’s a girl. But if a gay Muslim registered Democrat identifies as a martyr for the Islamic State, he’s still a Republican.