He then pivoted to attacking his presumptive opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, attempting to sell himself as the best candidate for women and, as he calls them, “gays.”
“I feel so badly (about) what happened (in Orlando),” Trump said. “We have to do something about it. And just remember, some of these countries that are contributing to Hillary Clinton, some of these countries where we’re taking in thousands of people, they kill gays, alright? They kill gays. They enslave women. They enslave women and yet they give money to Hillary Clinton, she accepts it. She wants more people to come into this country.
“I’m better for women, I am better for gays and I am better for a lot of people. And I think people are starting to see that.”
Trump recently called on Clinton to return $25 million the Clinton Foundation reportedly received from Saudi Arabia, citing human rights concerns.
The Republican National Committee also attacked Clinton along these same lines in a memo sent out last week stating, “For years, Hillary Clinton’s State Department ripped the human rights records of many Middle Eastern governments, all while her family foundation raked in millions from these same regressive regimes.”
This line of attack may backfire, however, as Trump also has financial ties to the region, including licensing his name to a golf club in Dubai and leasing his New York estate to Moammar Gaddafi.
Also counter to his pro-“gays” statement, Trump recently assembled an evangelical advisory board that includes such members as Michelle Bachmann and James Dobson, all of whom have anything but pro-LGBT backgrounds.
Former Congresswoman Bachmann voted against hate crime protection legislation, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
Dobson is the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, an organization that has been heavily involved in the fight against LGBT rights and has argued that homosexuality is “preventable and treatable.”
Once again the Bush appointed Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has let us down. Jeb pushed him hard! Remember!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2015
Clinton praised the ruling. She also stated her support for the Obama administration’s directive to public schools instructing them to allow transgender students to use the facilities matching their gender identity. Trump said the decision should remain with the states.
Trump will also face an uphill challenge convincing voters that he is better for woman than what would be the nation’s first female president. He currently polls poorly with women and Clinton has routinely campaigned on the notion that he is no friend to the female gender.
When asked about continuing the annual White House Iftar Dinner to honor and celebrate the Muslim month of Ramadan, which has taken place under the past three administrations, Trump also offered that it “wouldn’t bother” him but that it wasn’t something he had “given a lot of thought to.”
Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country at various points in his campaign.
Watch the exchange between Donald Trump and ABC News’ Jon Karl in the video below.