Trump has repeatedly lavished praise on the world’s most notorious dictators, but he and his surrogates are now falsely charging Democrats with the same thing
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images The Iran conflict has placed President Trump in a heretofore novel position of outflanking his domestic foes as a hawk. Having previously cast himself as a deal-maker or isolationist, Trump now occupies — at least temporarily — the traditional Republican identity of war fighter, punishing the world’s villains.
The accusation is obviously a risible lie. No prominent Democrat — indeed, as far as I know, no Democrat at all — has “mourned” Soleimani, defended his conduct, or suggested the world was a better place with him in it. The question is whether the act of killing him on net enhances America’s safety and diplomatic standing.
What makes this current smear campaign so extraordinarily ironic is that Trump is actually guilty of the very thing his surrogates are falsely charging his opposition. Trump has repeatedly lavished praise on the world’s most notorious dictators. Trump in 2016 praised Saddam Hussein’s methods of killing terrorists: “He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists. Over.
Trump’s praise for dictators is not merely some cold-eyed assessment of their power, but often overflows into personal admiration and warmth. On Recep Erdogan, he said, “It’s my honor to be with a friend of mine, somebody I’ve become very close to, in many respects, and he’s doing a very good job: the President of Turkey.” He told Philippines strongman Rodrigo Duterte, “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem.
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