Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/714660
ByJoshLederman The Associated Press ERIE, PA. It's the media's fault. That's out of context. Never said it in the first place. Donald Trump's claim Friday that he was merely being "sarcastic" in ac- cusing President Barack Obama of establishing a terrorist group was his lat- est attempt to blame others for the uproar over what he says. It's an instinct that Trump's opponents say a president can't possess. Some Republicans seem to have the same concern. This time, it followed two days of critical headlines and Democratic outrage over Trump's claim that Obama was the "founder" of the Islamic State group. As Trump repeated the claim more than a dozen times, interviewers sought to en- sure Trump wasn't being misconstrued. Surely, they offered, he meant Obama's policies had enabled the ex- tremist group's rise. "No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do," Trump said, using one ac- ronym for the group. (His remark comes at 15:26 of the interview.) Then an about-face Fri- day. "THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?" he tweeted. Or was he being sarcastic about the sarcasm? Hours later, he told a rally in Penn- sylvania he was "obviously being sarcastic — but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you." That it took Trump two days to walk back his widely debunked remark — and then walk back the walk- back — was worrying for Republicans who see such missteps as playing to Dem- ocrat Hillary Clinton's ad- vantage. Equally worrying for some was the fact that he again would not take re- sponsibility for his words. Ryan Williams, a Repub- lican strategist who advised Mitt Romney's 2012 cam- paign, said there's a com- mon-sense playbook for dealing with political slip- ups: "Stop the bleeding and put it behind you by apolo- gizing. "That's what normal can- didates do," he went on. "However, normal candi- dates don't careen from one self-inflicted wound to an- other on an hourly basis." It was only two days ear- lier that Trump blamed the media for making much ado about nothing after he suggested during a rally that gun rights enthusiasts might find a way to stop Clinton if elected. Clinton, whose lead over Trump has widened in re- cent polls of the most com- petitive states, has seized on those and other eye- brow-raising comments to portray the reality TV star as lacking the tempera- ment to run the nation — Trump has his own argu- ment for why she's unfit to do so. She's hammered him for avoiding accountability for his actions. To that end, Clinton's campaign on Friday inten- sified pressure on Trump to release his tax returns, while disclosing her 2015 filings and a decade of re- turns from her running mate. The filing shows that the Clintons earned $10.6 million and paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 percent last year. Trump has refused to make his filings public, say- ing they're under audit by the Internal Revenue Ser- vice and he'll release them only once that review is complete. All major U.S. presidential candidates in modern history have re- leased their returns. Minutes after releas- ing her returns, Clinton tweeted that it's possible Trump paid no tax at all. Trump worked to profit on the fuss over his Islamic State remark. In an email to supporters asking them to donate, Trump accused the "liberal media" of telling "outrageous lies about me." It's no surprise that the media are Trump's go-to scapegoat. Just 6 percent of Americans said they have a great deal of confidence in the media in a Media In- sight Project poll earlier this year. AlmostneverdoesTrump admit error. One exception came this month when he acknowledged a video he said showed a plane carry- ing U.S. cash to Iran was ac- tually a plane carrying U.S. hostages who were being re- leased. Most of the time, Trump casts blame elsewhere: STAR OF DAVID: In July, Trump's campaign tweeted an anti-Clinton message that seemed to show the Star of David atop a pile of cash, raising questions about anti-Semitism. When Clinton's campaign cried foul, Trump blamed her for trying to "divert attention from the dishonest behavior of herself and her husband." Also, the media. PAGING MOSCOW: Last month Trump caused a stir in a news conference by saying "Russia, if you're lis- tening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails" missing from Clinton. Even some Republicans ques- tioned whether he was en- couraging a foreign gov- ernment to interfere in the election. Trump's response later? "Of course, I'm being sarcastic." CRIMEA RIVER: Heads spun in the foreign policy world when Trump said this month that Russia wouldn't enter Ukraine, seem- ingly unaware it already had. When an interviewer pointed out Russia had an- nexed Crimea, Trump said he meant Russia wouldn't dare go farther if he were president. He insisted he'd said nothing incorrect. ABOUT SADDAM: In July, Trump said former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hus- sein was "so good" at kill- ing terrorists. He also sug- gested the Mideast would be more stable were Sad- dam still in power. He took offence that his comments were interpreted as praise for Saddam. CAMPAIGN 2016 A erverbalmissteps,Trumplaystheblameonothers EVANVUCCI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on Friday in Erie, Pa. By Christopher S. Rugaber The Associated Press WASHINGTON A sluggish month of retail spend- ing has tempered expec- tations for the U.S. econo- my's growth in the coming months. Consumers pulled back on shopping and eating out in July after three straight solid monthly gains, the government said Friday. Those declines were off- set by increases in auto sales and online and cata- log sales. Many economists cred- ited the surge in online and catalog spending, which rose 1.3 percent, mainly to deals offered during Ama- zon's "Prime Day" on July 12. Amazon said its sales rose 60 percent on Prime Day compared with a year earlier. Still, the flat read- ing for overall retail sales suggested that the econ- omy might not rebound as quickly from a slump that struck early this year as economists had been ex- pecting. And a separate re- port Friday that U.S. pro- ducer prices last month registered their sharpest drop since September was a reminder that inflation re- mains lower than the Fed- eral Reserve wants it to be. Combined, Friday's eco- nomic reports make it even less likely that the Fed will raise interest rates before December. Few analysts expect any changes at the Fed's next meeting in Sep- tember, and some foresee no rate hike before 2017. July's retail sales figures "won't inspire much confi- dence in the economic mo- mentum at this point," Mi- chael Dolega, senior econ- omist at TD Bank, said in a research note. "The poor showing makes any likeli- hood of a rate hike this year all the more distant." Last month's flat read- ing for retail spending fol- lowed increases of 0.8 per- cent in June, 0.2 percent in May and a robust 1.2 percent increase in April. Some economists suggested that it could mark merely a temporary dip after the solid readings through the spring. The retail sales figure is measured in dollars, which means that falling prices can reduce the figure even if consumer demand remains solid. Excluding gasoline, retail sales rose 0.2 percent last month. Steady hiring and some evidence of rising pay have been boosting Amer- icans' confidence and en- couraging spending, which jumped 4.2 percent in the April-June quarter, the most in 18 months. 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