Remember when reporters were concerned about how the American people would react in a real crisis after the President drew on a map so he could justify a tweet mistake about a hurricane? Remember how they said he couldn't be trusted is he started Well here we are. Last night the President ordered the death of a high ranking member of the ruling party in Iran. It appears that he did it based on some need to respond to recent attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad. It also appears that he never went to Congress to inform them as is a typical process. The Gang of Eight, the leaders of both parties in each house and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees are briefed before such a action is taken. The Secretary of State went on TV and said the President had to act swiftly based on intelligence of imminent threats, thus couldn't go to Congress.
However, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was briefed on it before the strike took place. Here is where the problems come in. If President Trump was discussing this at Mar-A-Lago with some members but not the leadership then how do the American people know any of this is true. Could the attack simply be the result of a fit of pique or worse, an attempt to deflect from a recent barrage of bad information coming out in relation to both the current Impeachment and Mueller investigation.
This lack of confidence in what the government is doing and saying leads to nonsense that in the social media world will spread like wildfire. For example: Eric Trump made a stupid, but non-related, tweet about ass kicking (in response to a tweet about marines in Iraq) and the world thought he was told in advance when he deleted the tweet. The vacuum that created now has internet bloggers and some in the media asking if the sons of the President were read into the decision to assassinate the second most powerful person in the Iranian government.
Let's be clear. General Qasem Soleimani was a terrible person, a butcher, a zealot and a terrorist. He is directly responsible for dozens of deaths of Americans and many more of civilians. He was a legitimate target and there is no question his death took evil out of the world. I am not sure however that his killing was good in the short term and maybe not in the long term.
The Secretary of State has also said in an interview that we are safer as Americans at home and in the region because of Soleimani's death but we are telling people to leave Iraq and be careful in the region. This again goes to the confidence that the government, in the midst of a crisis, should be telling us the truth and isn't. A common phrase heard today is WAG THE DOG, in reference to the idea that this action was taken not in the US interest but in the personal interest of the President, and for many, like the Eric Trump tweet, it is easily believed. This is the nightmare scenario. This vacuum will create a space for nonsense and propaganda to grow and dangerous voices to hold sway. President Trump said today that the assassination was because there was credible evidence that Soleimani was targeting Americans. He also said that we do not seek regime change in Iran. I am not sure a lot of people will believe him. Both here in the states and worse leaders on the world stage. Tonight Iran mourns a man they saw as a hero. Tomorrow they will again be in the street shouting "Death to America" and who knows where they will be on Monday.
I won't pass judgement on the President and his advisers wanting Soleimani dead. I will say that his death might be a moment of good feeling, with a future that is uncertain and scary for many around the world. I don't know if the President took into account what this meant. I don't know if the President realized this was not just taking out a terrorist. I don't know if the President didn't seriously weigh all the different options that were available and saw this action as the best. I don't know because no one is giving straight answers and our experience with this President suggests the opposite of all that. What I do know is that a terrorist leader is dead at the hands of American action, in volatile region of the world and there is no indication that the President's team is all on the same page, or even in the same book. We need a President who can talk to the American people and tell them what happened, why and how the world changed because of it and be fully believed. We currently don't have that. Watching the Secretary of State on TV this morning, listening the the President this afternoon and reading other people in the government talk suggests that they haven't all got their stories straight. So now, as the US has entered a new phase in the Middle East, we wait and hope that the tensions be calmed. Maybe we should also take away the President's sharpies.
However, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was briefed on it before the strike took place. Here is where the problems come in. If President Trump was discussing this at Mar-A-Lago with some members but not the leadership then how do the American people know any of this is true. Could the attack simply be the result of a fit of pique or worse, an attempt to deflect from a recent barrage of bad information coming out in relation to both the current Impeachment and Mueller investigation.
This lack of confidence in what the government is doing and saying leads to nonsense that in the social media world will spread like wildfire. For example: Eric Trump made a stupid, but non-related, tweet about ass kicking (in response to a tweet about marines in Iraq) and the world thought he was told in advance when he deleted the tweet. The vacuum that created now has internet bloggers and some in the media asking if the sons of the President were read into the decision to assassinate the second most powerful person in the Iranian government.
Let's be clear. General Qasem Soleimani was a terrible person, a butcher, a zealot and a terrorist. He is directly responsible for dozens of deaths of Americans and many more of civilians. He was a legitimate target and there is no question his death took evil out of the world. I am not sure however that his killing was good in the short term and maybe not in the long term.
The Secretary of State has also said in an interview that we are safer as Americans at home and in the region because of Soleimani's death but we are telling people to leave Iraq and be careful in the region. This again goes to the confidence that the government, in the midst of a crisis, should be telling us the truth and isn't. A common phrase heard today is WAG THE DOG, in reference to the idea that this action was taken not in the US interest but in the personal interest of the President, and for many, like the Eric Trump tweet, it is easily believed. This is the nightmare scenario. This vacuum will create a space for nonsense and propaganda to grow and dangerous voices to hold sway. President Trump said today that the assassination was because there was credible evidence that Soleimani was targeting Americans. He also said that we do not seek regime change in Iran. I am not sure a lot of people will believe him. Both here in the states and worse leaders on the world stage. Tonight Iran mourns a man they saw as a hero. Tomorrow they will again be in the street shouting "Death to America" and who knows where they will be on Monday.
I won't pass judgement on the President and his advisers wanting Soleimani dead. I will say that his death might be a moment of good feeling, with a future that is uncertain and scary for many around the world. I don't know if the President took into account what this meant. I don't know if the President realized this was not just taking out a terrorist. I don't know if the President didn't seriously weigh all the different options that were available and saw this action as the best. I don't know because no one is giving straight answers and our experience with this President suggests the opposite of all that. What I do know is that a terrorist leader is dead at the hands of American action, in volatile region of the world and there is no indication that the President's team is all on the same page, or even in the same book. We need a President who can talk to the American people and tell them what happened, why and how the world changed because of it and be fully believed. We currently don't have that. Watching the Secretary of State on TV this morning, listening the the President this afternoon and reading other people in the government talk suggests that they haven't all got their stories straight. So now, as the US has entered a new phase in the Middle East, we wait and hope that the tensions be calmed. Maybe we should also take away the President's sharpies.
