President Barack Obama's state of mind is now being question by his harshest critics following the actions and statements he made in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, with Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump pointedly asking the question: "Is our president insane?"
On Wednesday, conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan wondered about "the mindset of the president right now," noting that instead of expressing outrage over the Paris attacks, which he did not do, Obama lashed out instead at Republicans for their call to halt the entry of Syrian refugees into the U.S., Newsmax reported.
"He didn't really show what he should have shown, which was American leadership in the time of a real crisis for our ally in France," Buchanan told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV, referring to Obama's remarks Wednesday in the Philippines.
"This was a massacre, a perpetrated massacre, the largest hit on France militarily, lost more casualties than any single incident since World War II," Buchanan said.
Instead, Obama was "focusing on the Republican Party — and he's calling it a setback in the war on terror. You have to ask yourself about the mindset of the president right now," he added.
Buchanan served under Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
A more damning comment was made earlier by Ben Stein, the actor and former Nixon speechwriter.
Also appearing on Newsmax TV on Monday, he described Obama as a "bad joke" and a "very real danger to America."
Stein speculated that Obama actually hated the United States.
"I think the question is why is he so angry at America?" he said. "I don't think there's much question that he does not wish America well. He has a real strong hatred of America. Is it because he's part black? I don't know. Is it because his father was mistreated by the British in Kenya? I don't know," Raw Story quoted him as saying.
Trump is even more direct to the point as he posted this tweet: "Refugees from Syria are now pouring into our great country. Who knows who they are—some could be ISIS. Is our president insane?"
Trump said it appears Obama "doesn't have a clue" about the threat of terrorist attacks posed by Syrian refugees in America following the attacks in Paris last Friday in which one of the terrorists was embedded as a refugee, according to Breitbart.
"This President doesn't have a clue or he does have a clue and he has evil intentions – I don't know," Trump told radio host Howie Carr on Tuesday. "I find that hard to believe, [but] a lot of people think that."
"This isn't a question of refugees. This is a question of safety for our people for our country. This is a question of Trojan horse. This could be the ultimate Trojan horse where people are coming in under the guise that we are taking care of them and they end up blowing up big parts of our cities," Trump said.
Sen. Ted Cruz also had sharp words for Obama over his comments criticising Republicans, in particular Cruz, on their views on Syrian refugees.
Cruz said Obama's statement "is utterly unbefitting of a president," NBC News reported.
"If you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries, but I would encourage you, mister president, come back and insult me to my face," the Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate said on Wednesday.
Another Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, had even harsher words to describe Obama, calling him "delusional."
"If the President honestly believes that ISIS is concerned about what we think about them and that they are driven by that then the president is more delusional than I ever imagined when it comes to dealing with this crisis," Huckabee said on MSNBC Wednesday.
"It's just astonishing the president would make this all about himself not about the safety and security of the American people."
Huckabee was referring to a statement made by Obama where he rejected a "religious test" for the refugees coming to the U.S., as proposed by some of the Republican leaders, saying accepting only Christians would play into the Muslim narrative that they are being discriminated against in the West, thus fuelling Muslim anger.
Huckabee earlier blasted Obama's approach to terrorism as "wimpish and amateurish." In a statement on Monday, Huckabee said "we have a Cub Scout for Commander in Chief instead of someone who is capable of defending America and unleashing something more than a strongly worded letter through the UN."
"It's embarrassing when a left-wing socialist French President shows strength and determination to eradicate animals who are slaughtering innocent civilians while our President lectures us on the moral necessity to open our borders to tens of thousands of un-vetted people from the Middle East. France has closed its borders and all President Obama wants to do is close Gitmo."
