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Today’s (Sept. 19) New Yorker carries an article titled “Poll: Guy who asked Trump Muslim question leads G.O.P. race,” which quoted Donald Trump’s assertion - “If you look back over the past seven years, no one has called Obama a foreign-born Muslim more often than I have.”

The article wraps up with the following lines:

“Trump’s comments did little to slow the momentum of Muslim Question Guy, who drew four thousand people at his first official campaign rally in Concord, New Hampshire, where he vowed to take back the country from Muslim clockmakers.” http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/poll-guy-who-asked-trump-muslim-question-leads-g-o-p-race?

What does “Muslim clockmakers” specifically mean? Is there any particular reason for being clockmakers? Why not any other trades, say smith, mill owners, merchants, or farmers?

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    A kid named Ahmed Mohammed made an electronic clock and brought it in to school to show his teacher. Another teacher reported him to the police, believing the complex-looking clock was a bomb. The kid was arrested, and later released. It's big news here in the US (the liberals call it racial profiling, the conservatives call it race-baiting / outrage-peddling).
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 0:45
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    The above is the only reference to "Muslim clockmakers" I've seen anywhere.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 1:09
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    @YoichiOishi The guy in question is a right-wing nut. He initially drew attention to himself through interaction with Donald Trump, who is precisely, as you so aptly put it, absurd. But... if you want a slightly more substantial explanation: this guy is using "Muslim clockmakers" as synecdoche for everything he sees wrong with America and its press. He wants to take the country back from more than a kid with a clock, he wants to take it back from everyone who is making such a big deal about a kid with a clock (and not making a big enough deal about stuff he cares about).
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 1:25
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    @YoichiOishi It's sarcasm. He's ridiculing Trump and his followers for being afraid of people like this teenager.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 2:56
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    The Borowitz Report is satire, and generally very well-crafted satire. @YoichiOishi is definitely not the first to be taken in! At times I wish that it were more clearly identified as satire, but that would ruin the joke.
    – MT_Head
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 4:29

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Please read the entire article, especially the line at the end which states

Get news satire from The Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox.

The article is satirical (and by satirical, I include non-factual, made-up, or, well, untrue, but intended to be so obviously untrue that nobody is fooled), and "Muslim Clockmakers" is a reference to the 14-year-old student arrested for bringing a homemade (well, repackaged; he didn't actually make it) digital clock to school.

The "quote" from Trump is fabricated.

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    Sure it's satire, but it speaks volumes that the Trump "quote" is just ... so plausible.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Sep 20, 2015 at 3:29
  • @DanBron It's simply hard to be unambiguously satirical when it comes to Trump...
    – Jasper
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 10:45

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