• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 14, 2016

Angered by an article which allegedly distorted his comments on President Obama’s feelings regarding Islamist terrorism, Donald Trump’s campaign is revoking the press credentials of The Washington Post, the Republican presidential candidate announced on Monday.

The newspaper earned Trump’s ire for publishing an article with the headline, “Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting.”

The article cited comments made by Trump on Fox News, to the effect that Obama’s supposed reluctance to blame Islamist extremism for terror attacks means he may be in sympathy with them.

The article headline was apparently later revised to read, “Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting.”

As always, it’s hard to determine exactly what Trump meant in his original statements, which included the observation: “Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind. And the something else in mind – you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There’s something going on.”

It’s not news that Trump favors innuendo and vague assertions that leave him room for maneuver and withdrawal.

However, based on the statements he made on Fox News, the original WaPo headline does seem to be inaccurate: Trump never suggested that Obama was involved with the shooting itself, but simply claimed that he is either ignorant of the threat posed by Islamist extremism or sympathetic to the shooter’s cause.

While the latter statement will strike many as implausible, it stops far short of trying to directly implicating Obama in the shooting, as the WaPo headline suggests.

In typical fashion, Trump expanded the dispute into a rhetorical, and only tangentially related, assault on the newspaper and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, stating: “The fact is, The Washington Post is being used by the owners of Amazon as their political lobbyist so that they don’t have to pay taxes and don’t get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry.”

Trump’s problems with WaPo are longstanding: During a meeting with the newspaper’s editors in March, he complained of their “incredible hatred” for him, adding, “I’ve been treated very, very badly by The Washington Post.”

This is just the latest in a series of feuds between Trump and “mainstream media” outlets, which typically involved attacks on their lack of success or viability as businesses. His previous targets have included the Boston Globe, the New York Daily News, the New Hampshire Union Leader, and The National Review, among others.