White House spokesman Josh Earnest turned defensive Tuesday afternoon when he was pressed about why the president has an issue with using the words radical Islam.
CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski asked Earnest why it's "such a big deal" for President Barack Obama to avoid the phrase. Obama addressed the issue during a terrorism speech earlier in the day.
"Here's the problem, Michelle. The counterterrorism strategy articulated by Republicans is that the president should utter the magic words to defeat ISIL," Earnest said. "That's their strategy, and the president says, let's define our enemy, and let's make sure we define our enemy precisely.
"Our enemy is not the religion of Islam. Our enemy are radical, violent extremists that seek to pervert Islam and seek to advance a narrative that they are representing Islam in a war against the West. That's false. That's a myth. That's not true."
Earnest then rattled off several examples of actions that Congress can take to aid in the fight against terrorism, including hiring more ATF agents and closing the "no-buy-no-fly loophole."
"Time and time and time again they refuse, because they think that somehow the magic words are somehow more important," Earnest said.
When further pressed on the subject, Earnest got even more defensive and aggressive in making his point.
"It undermines our ability to defeat ISIL," Earnest said regarding conservatives' insistence that radical Islam is the enemy. "It undermines our ability to prevent ISIL from recruiting in the United States."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.