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The current attacks on Kamala Harris for a July 2016 speech at a mosque in which she denounced "radical islamic terrorism" and "illegal alien" terminology, need some context. Back then, in full presidential election campaigning, the GOP and Trump especially kept insisting that Obama and Clinton don't use the first term sufficiently after the Orlando mass shooting (which was committed by a radicalized Afghan-American terrorist). This eventually led to Clinton starting to use the term and Obama explaining himself at a townhall as to why he does not use it:
“There is no doubt, and I’ve said repeatedly, where we see terrorist organizations like al Qaeda or ISIL – They have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death,” he said.
“These are people who’ve killed children, killed Muslims, take sex slaves, there’s no religious rationale that would justify in any way any of the things that they do,” he said. “But what I have been careful about when I describe these issues is to make sure that we do not lump these murderers into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who, in this country, are fellow troops and police officers and fire fighters and teachers and neighbors and friends.”
