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For the umpteenth time, Trump has just said some “bizarre” things that, upon closer examination, turn out to be entirely reasonable.

As the establishment media is almost exclusively leftist, most reporters cover Donald Trump and his supporters as if they were strange alien beings. Tim Walz just boasted about his ability to “code talk” to white male voters who liked to watch football and fix their trucks themselves. And the oddest animal of all, as far as the media is concerned, is Trump himself. For one thing, he is a very funny man, and they are grim and humorless. As a man who loves America and Americans, his values are incomprehensible to them. And compounding the confusion is that he’s a good deal more intelligent than they give him credit for being, and so they often miss what exactly he is saying.

This happened again at the National Day of Prayer on Thursday. Having a president who openly endorses and encourages Christian piety baffles and infuriates leftist reporters, who are used to politicians such as Old Joe Biden.

In this as in so many ways, Biden was the exact opposite of Trump. While Trump’s public reputation, marital record, and more don’t give anyone the impression that he is a particularly religious man, he has taken repeated steps to strengthen the presence and influence of Christianity in American public life. Biden, on the other hand, was an ostentatious believer who paraded his piety before the world, but it was hollow; his regime acted directly against Christian values in all manner of ways.

And so AFP, among others, covered the National Day of Prayer as if they were writing a paper for anthropology class. Trump, according to AFP, was “surrounded by faith leaders calling for him to be given ‘divine dreams’ in an extraordinary event at the White House on Thursday.” The Times of India added that while there, Trump made “bizarre remarks” about his earlier meetings with Muslim leaders in Michigan who supported him during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump said of the Muslim leaders: “I love them. They were great. They said, ‘We don’t want to die.’ I said, ‘You want to die?’ They said, ‘We don’t want to die.’ I said, ‘What about the 38 virgins?’ They said, ‘That’s nonsense.’” The Times of India adds: “The line triggered predictable mockery online. ‘It’s 72 virgins, not 38,’ one X user deadpanned. ‘Trump’s math works in mysterious ways.’ Another joked that the number downgrade was the latest example of the president’s famed deal-making abilities—‘negotiating paradise down by 47%.’”

Yeah, that’s a good one. But overlooked amid all the banter and media chatter about the strangeness of the event was any consideration of what Trump was actually trying to do. Trump’s remarks here aren’t really “bizarre” at all.

When he asked the imams in Michigan if they wanted to die, he likely had in mind the Islamic jihadists’ oft-repeated desire for death. A Muslim child preacher once taunted those he has been taught to hate most: “Oh Zionists, we love death for the sake of Allah, just as much as you love life for the sake of Satan.” Jihad mass murderer Mohamed Merah said that he “loved death more than they loved life.” The late Nigerian jihadist Abubakar Shekau said: “I’m even longing for death, you vagabond.”

Former al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s wife advised Muslim women: “I advise you to raise your children in the cult of jihad and martyrdom and to instil in them a love for religion and death.” And as one jihadist put it, “We love death. You love your life!” And another: “The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death.” That was from Afghan jihadist Maulana Inyadullah.

Of course, this idea comes from the Qur’an itself: “Say, O you who are Jews, if you claim that you are favored of Allah apart from mankind, then long for death if you are truthful.” — Qur’an 62:6

And as for the virgins, he likely has in mind the Qur’an’s promise of paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). He did, however, get the number wrong, as this hadith makes clear: “That the Messenger of Allah said: ‘There are six things with Allah for the martyr. He is forgiven with the first flow of blood (he suffers), he is shown his place in Paradise, he is protected from punishment in the grave, secured from the greatest terror, the crown of dignity is placed upon his head – and its gems are better than the world and what is in it – he is married to seventy two wives among Al-Huril-‘Ayn of Paradise, and he may intercede for seventy of his close relatives.’ [Abu ‘Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan [good] Sahih [reliable].” (Jami at-Tirmidhi 3.22.1663)

Trump was trying to determine whether they were moderates or jihadis. This was entirely reasonable, although his way of going about doing it was jocular, and as imperfect as any other effort to make this determination would be. And the issue of the sincerity of their responses is no small one. Nevertheless, Trump’s questions to the Muslim leaders were of the kind that ought to have been asked to many other Muslim leaders who were presumed to be moderate over the years. If they had been, there might not be so much confusion today over who and what exactly is a moderate, and whether such claims can ever be trusted at all.