The following is an excerpt from a conversation between Washington Post reporter Jonathan Capehart and Belmont, NC resident David Jackson:
Capehart: [Y]ou — and correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve been listening to you these last few minutes — you don’t think President Obama loves this country?
Jackson: Not at all. Not one bit, not one breath that comes out of his body.
Capehart: So why would he run for president of a country that he doesn’t love?
Jackson: Because he wanted to change it.
Capehart: And change into what?
Jackson: Look at what our country has become. You can’t go to church without somebody persecuting you. You can’t say anything about the Muslim religion without somebody persecuting you for it. He makes it very well known what his intentions are and how he wants to change the country. And it goes completely against everything this country was founded on. He’s a smart guy, he’s brilliant. But I think he’s the most dangerous person that’s ever walked in these United States. I fear from him, and I’m not afraid of anyone. I’m afraid of him.
Jonathan: Talk more about that. Why are you afraid of him? He’s taller than I am, but he’s barely bigger than I am.
Jackson: Size doesn’t matter. It’s what’s in his heart. He does not have the American people’s best interests at heart. He doesn’t respect the American people as a whole. There have been many veterans groups that asked to have meetings with him or come to the White House and have a picnic on the East Lawn and he said no. And at the same time, this was about two years ago, the Muslim Brotherhood had 1,000 of their people come to the East Lawn for a prayer session.
Capehart: The Muslim brotherhood had….?
Jackson: They had a huge gathering. They had prayer on the East Lawn of the White House. It was in the news.
Capehart: Where did you hear this? Because if the Muslim Brotherhood were at the White House, that’d be a huge story.
Jackson: There are so many people within his administration that are part of it. They’re admitted members of the Muslim brotherhood.
Capehart: Who? Who exactly?
Jackson: I don’t know their names. They’re not English. I don’t know their names, but they’re proud of the fact that, you know, “we work for the president.” They know what they’re doing to our country, and that hurts me.
It is honestly growing tiresome to try to refute claims that Christians are “persecuted” just for going to church, but people will keep saying it until the people who know it’s false get too tired or frustrated to keep responding.
The claim about the Muslim Brotherhood and the White House lawn was a new one to me. It sounds like the sort of thing that people who already believe all the “secret Muslim” claims would lap up. It appears to be true that mid-level officials of the National Security Council met with a “delegation” of the Muslim Brotherhood in April 2012, which the White House reportedly called “a reflection of political reality in the country, since the group will play a ‘prominent role’ in Cairo going forward.”
That seems like a far cry from “1,000 of their people com[ing] to the East Lawn for a prayer session,” but maybe I’m splitting hairs. (No, I am not splitting hairs.)
I don’t know if the constructed reality of some Obama opponents is a new thing or not. They certainly have a far greater degree of influence over lawmakers than the people who thought GW Bush was Hitler reborn could have ever dreamed of having.
