An expert on Islamic State media said the group appears to be holding fire deliberately, at least for now. “I think they’re just waiting for the right time,” said Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College in London.
The group may be waiting in part because social media channels frequented by hard-line Islamists are already awash with Trump material. “He’s doing enough damage without them having to add anything,” Winter said. “His comments on torture, his comments on Muslim people – people are talking about this already.”
But Winter, who closely follows the organization’s media operations, said he expects the quiet approach to end when the Islamic State – which has lost territory and members under mounting military pressure — believes a Trump-centered propaganda campaign can have maximum impact.
“I have no doubt that they have massive amounts of archival footage of him saying terrible things,” Winter said. The Trump embargo “could change tomorrow with a two-hour feature film.”
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