Remember when Trump announced that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead? I know it was a week ago, which in Trump years is three Cabinet resignations, but bear with me. How bad is Trump as a leader? He can screw up what should have been a shining moment for the military and his administration. When Trump made his announcement, there was almost no point where I said, “Oh. Looks like Trump got something right.” Instead, we saw Trump smother good news, making himself the story.
I’m not even slightly sympathetic to ISIS or al-Baghdadi. I lament the loss of a human being, but at the same time, flicking that goober off the face of the earth is probably a good thing for everyone who wasn’t ISIS or al-Baghdadi. We’ll see who replaces him, but for now, I’m happy to see him gone.
Back to Trump. When I heard Trump’s press conference, my first thought was whether Big Daddy Orange was just making it up. He’s a fabulist and a liar, after all. His halting, phonetic reading of al-Baghdadi’s name didn’t help me keep a straight face. But after listening to the first five or ten minutes of Trump-bragging, I had to allow that the military probably did kill the ISIS leader.
But I didn’t have time to think, “Good job!” because Trump just kept talking:
The U.S. personnel were incredible. I got to watch much of it. No personnel were lost in the operation, while a large number of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed with him.
New York Times, Transcript of Trump’s Remarks on the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Oct. 27, 2019
Urgh. Well, yes, it’s great that we didn’t lose our own people in the raid. But it’s weird when Trump differentiates our own people from their ‘fighters and companions’ as if they were different species.
He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way….
And later:
Baghdadi was vicious and violent, and he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying.
Even at the time, it was obvious Trump was just making up that part. I was revolted, but Trump apparently thought he looked good doing it. Nobody should take such obvious delight in someone else’s pain. And that Trump felt he needed to invent such a horrific story was deeply shameful. What kind of man needs to pretend his enemies were whimpering and crying as he pretend-killed them? I can’t help thinking Trump got hard when he made it up.
In his mind, Trump projected himself into that scene. From that point, every action was ‘we’: “We were in the compound for approximately two hours, and after the mission was accomplished, we took highly sensitive material….” “As you know, last month we announced that we recently killed Hamza bin Laden….”
Then Trump began to really spin off into his usual violent rhetorical onanism:
Baghdadi has been on the run for many years, long before I took office. But at my direction, as commander-in-chief of the United States, we obliterated his caliphate, 100 percent, in March of this year. Today’s events are another reminder that we will continue to pursue the remaining ISIS terrorists to their brutal end. That also goes for other terrorist organizations. They are likewise in our sights.
“…One hundred percent, in March…” Trump’s announcing both that ISIS was destroyed in March, and that it wasn’t until just now. Or, you know, maybe not that, either. I suspect that both stories sounded good to him, and he figured, why choose?
Baghdadi and the losers who worked with him — and losers they are — they had no idea what they were getting into.
Trump and his big brain have all the best words.
Thankfully, he did acknowledge the military personnel who risked their lives in the raid. He also studiously ignored the Kurds who made it all possible and who Trump then betrayed. Liar.
Eventually, Trump ended my torment:
Last night was a great night for the United States and for the world. A brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been eliminated — he will never again harm another innocent man, woman, or child. He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.
God bless America, thank you.
Have you noticed that Trump always accuses others of what people say he’s doing? “No puppet. No puppet. YOU’RE the puppet!” Consider that, then consider which colors Trump uses to paint his enemies. In this case, they were shades of ‘coward,’ ‘dog,’ ‘whimpering,’ and ‘crying.’ I do wonder how that works under the covers.
Anyway, that’s how Trump tells us good news. For once, he had real, positive stuff to say, news he could hang his hat on. And yet, somehow, he managed to smother good news. We ended as usual, with Trump lying on top of another indecipherable mess crushed under the weight of his need and ego.
That’s a talent of some kind, I suppose.
