Trump leaves press stunned after wild remarks on Syria, slain veterans, and Obama light bulbs
Speaking to reporters at a White House event celebrating his foolish and greedy elimination of regulations protecting the health and safety of the American people and our environment, Donald Trump continued his campaign to gaslight the nation through lies, misrepresentations, and a massive amount of stupidity.
Trump kept to the topic at hand for a short while, congratulating himself for decimating California’s auto emission regulations and further contributing to the planet’s climate crisis by halting progress on carbon emission reduction. He also patted himself on the back for giving Americans the freedom to buy incandescent light bulbs once again, lying about the cost and color accuracy of modern LED bulbs that have contributed to a significant reduction in the necessity of burning fossil fuels to generate the considerably larger number of watts of electricity that incandescent bulbs require.
Soon, however, he veered off the stated reason for the event and began speaking about his impulsive decision to withdraw U.S. support for our long-term allies in the Middle East, the Kurds — a decision reportedly made on the fly as a tactic to get an angry Turkish President Recep Erdoğan off of the phone.
The president who demands complete personal loyalty from everyone in his administration — as former FBI Director James Comey discovered the hard way — abandoned all loyalty to the Kurds who have fought side by side with American troops against both Al Queda and ISIS since the beginning of the Iraq War.
In his comments defending his decision, Trump compared the animosity between the Turks and the Kurds to that between the Israelis and Palestinians, saying that the hatred is just as old and perhaps stronger, before launching into a dismissive assessment of the Kurds’ value as allies.
Trump on the Kurds: "They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy." He says they're only interested in fighting for "their land." He adds, "With all of that being said, we like the Kurds."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 9, 2019
The president also dismissed concerns that — with Turkey now attacking the Kurdish forces in the region who have been overseeing the camps containing the detained population of ISIS members — a large number of ISIS prisoners will escape from the camps as the Kurds abandon the detention centers to fight for their land from the invading Turkish forces.
Asked about the possibility of ISIS escapees, Trump says "Well, they're going to be escaping to Europe."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 9, 2019
Throwing people, countries, ethnic groups — even whole continents — under the bus seems to be a full-time job for Trump these days as he casually wipes his hands of any responsibility for what may happen once the U.S. withdrawal is complete. Loyalty is not a reciprocal value in Trump’s world.
When asked about the potential harm the Turkish incursion will impose upon those abandoned allies, Trump rambled on about some unspecified form of retaliation against Turkey if they do anything “inappropriate”.
Trump says Erdogan "could do it in a soft manner," or a "very tough manner," but if he does it in an inappropriate manner, he will pay a price. Trump is not defining any of his terms, including "it."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 9, 2019
Trump has apparently softened his threat from his deranged tweet from Monday, where he, in his “great and unmatched wisdom,” said he would “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)” if they did anything he would consider “off limits,” a term he leaves as undefined as the story of the last time he totally destroyed and obliterated the economy of Turkey.
….the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2019
With the threat of impeachment looming larger than ever, Trump ranted like a lunatic today, leaving journalists at a loss to decide which gem of idiocy to highlight in their coverage of his comments.
One story, in particular, stands out, however.
Trump went off on a tangent explaining how he greets the grieving families of slain military personnel and made a comment that highlights the complete lack of empathy and social obliviousness that he suffers from.
Trump says he goes to Dover Air Force base to greet slain soldiers "when I can." Telling a detailed story, he says that families smile when they see him and thank him for coming, and he thought they were taking the death "so well," but then the coffin comes and they "scream."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 9, 2019
If that story — combined with the rest of the self-serving lies that Trump served up today — doesn’t make you scream, then it’s simply a measure of how inured we have become to the insanity that is the Trump presidency. When these kinds of comments become the new normal, we need to accelerate the impeachment process to rid ourselves of this national embarrassment as soon as possible.
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Original reporting by Daniel Dale at CNN.
Vinnie Longobardo is the Managing Editor of Occupy Democrats. He's a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.