Larry Klayman Thinks Obama Can’t Honestly Take Oath Of Office Because He’s A Muslim

I’ve long suspected that the “he’s a Muslim” smear is a backdoor attempt to say that President Obama is ineligible for office because he’s a Muslim. Well, longtime right-wing provocateur Larry Klayman may have confirmed it last week, when he declared that since Obama is a Muslim, it is not possible for him to honestly swear to uphold the Constitution.

Larry Klayman in 2008 (courtesy ABC News)
Larry Klayman in 2008 (courtesy ABC News)

Klayman is best known as the founder of Judicial Watch, and was a frequent tormentor of the Clintons during the 1990s. He dropped by Steve Malzberg’s show on Newsmax TV on Thursday to discuss his recent column in WorldNetDaily calling for the media to “tell the real truth” about Obama. That “real truth,” as Klayman sees it, is that Obama “thinks like a Muslim” and “believes that he is a Muslim,” and is blatantly biased against non-Muslims. Later, when discussing a Texas federal judge’s order striking down Obama’s executive actions on immigration, Klayman dropped a bombshell–since Obama is “a Muslim at heart and a half-Muslim by birth,” he cannot honestly take the oath of office because “you have to swear on the Holy Bible of the Judeo-Christians.”

Watch the whole interview here:

Klayman spewed a number of conspiracy theories about Obama that have long since been discredited–at least, among those of us who don’t consider Newsmax a reliable source. Among them–he supposedly attended a madrassa as a boy, admitted on-air that he was indeed a Muslim, and wears a secret Muslim ring.

What is really telling is Malzberg’s role in this. He blatantly encouraged Klayman’s screed that Obama “thinks like a Muslim” by asking him to expand on his demand from his comic-opera rally in 2013 that Obama “put the Qu’ran down, get off your knees, and come out with your hands up!” And he didn’t so much as bat an eyelash when Klayman effectively declared that if you can’t swear on the Bible, you can’t honestly take the oath of office. I know this is Newsmax we’re talking about, but frankly, this was disgraceful.

This confirms something I have long suspected–that the “he’s a Muslim” smear is not only a backdoor attack on Obama’s legitimacy, but a backdoor attempt to effectively gut both the First Amendment and Article Six of the Constitution, which bans religious tests. How’s that, you ask? Well, the “he’s a Muslim” smear faded into the either after Obama was elected to the Senate, but cropped back up right after Roy Moore famously argued in WorldNetDaily that then-newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be allowed to take his seat because a Muslim cannot honestly take the oath of office. There is no other explanation I can think of for this exceptional timing. I first argued this at Daily Kos in 2009, and I still believe it today. And now one of the most unsavory voices on the fringe has confirmed it.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.