President Trump was so quick to try to take political advantage of the attacks in London last night that he didn’t wait to find out who was responsible before piling on Muslims and making a renewed call to ban them from the country. He had essentially done the same thing after a robbery and fire in the Philippines killed dozens on Friday. In the latter case, the Islamic State took credit for the carnage in Manila but the Filipino government rejected their claim and said the evidence showed a botched robbery attempt.
“Islamic State fighters carried out the Manila attack in the Philippines,” the militant group’s Amaq news agency said.
But that was quickly rejected by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, who said all the evidence pointed to an attempt to steal casino chips. Police said they were not looking at other motives, although security in the capital had been beefed up.
“This is plain and simple propaganda,” Esperon told Reuters. “If the lone gunman was really an IS terrorist, why did he not shoot and kill people in the casino? He only went for the casino chips.”
The IS claim, which came nearly 24 hours after the attack, also contradicted a statement from Ernesto Abella, a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, who said there was no evidence linking it to fighting between government troops and Islamist militants in the country’s south.
“All indications point to a criminal act by an apparently emotionally disturbed individual,” Abella told a news conference. “Although the perpetrator gave warning shots, there apparently was no indication that he wanted to do harm or shoot anyone.”
In the London case, Trump turned out to have guessed correctly, but it should be clear that he was only guessing. He went on to trash the mayor of London Sadiq Khan by taking his comments out of context and making it look like he thought the attacks were nothing to worry about.
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
A spokesman for Khan later responded that the mayor “has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks.”
He also subjected us to another example of the deranged argument that attacks conducted with knives justify giving people easier access to military style weapons.
Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
So, our president chose to respond to a tragedy in London not by gathering together his national security team but by shooting off his mouth on Twitter, criticizing our allies, demonizing a religion based on stereotyping and a hunch, and arguing for preexisting policies about banning Muslims while doing nothing about mass-shooting events.
I guess he’s lucky that the London terrorists were motivated by Islamist ideology so he at least doesn’t look as foolish as he had the day before when popping off about the Philippines. But that’s all it is…luck.
They make movies and television series all the time about presidents who either manufacture a terrorist threat or cynically seek to capitalize from true terrorist events. The idea that this might happen is obviously something we’re warned about constantly and it clearly capture people’s imaginations. But it’s usually a lot more sophisticated than this and way less obvious.
Trump is the champion of the ill-informed, not to mention being an ignorant buffoon when it comes to protocol and leadership. So when he tweets out this crap, those of us with brains will roll our eyes and shake our heads, while his ardent followers respond with “hellz yeah!”
It never occurs to Trump or his minions to learn the facts while making statements about how there were no protesters in Saudi Arabia for Trump’s visit because protesters are imprisoned, or how no one’s talking about gun violence in London when guns are difficult to acquire in England. It’s all spontaneous stupidity, unchecked and unfiltered.
Personally, I’m glad he’s shooting from the lip on Twitter. It’s out there for all to see, to be used against him in the future. Better to know how his brain farts happen than have them covered up.
I hate to defend Trump, but with the gun thing, what he means is, “Anti-gun activists who argue that removing guns will remove [actually, reduce] violent crime are ‘proven wrong’ when a violent act occurs despite the absence of guns.”
So, it’s a real argument. A stupid one (“Why get rid of the asbestos? There are still so many ways to get cancer”) but an argument nonetheless.
As far as I know there are exactly zero anti-gun activists that argue removing guns will reduce violent crime. What it will reduce is the number of dead people resulting from violent crime. And from accidents. And from suicides.
From depression to bar fights to terrorist attacks, the consequences are always shittier when guns are involved.
It’s just about that simple.
You’re correct, but so is Jordan — that’s how they think we think, in my experience. Whoever said they base their arguments in reality?
Thank you. I was going to respond and then I saw you’d done it for me.
I’ve seen the argument so many times: “Take away the gun and the killer will just use a knife or something else.” It’s incredibly stupid, but there you go.
Mandating that people wear seatbelts doesn’t reduce car accidents. Seat belt activists are losers!
#TrumpTruth
Interesting how terror attacks now are timed to affect elections either in-country or in the US.
Also interesting as to how each attack means additional “toughness”, additional breakdown of a globalist economy and international travel, and and increase in empty political grandstanding that offers no real solution.
Saudi Arabia’s Wahabist zealots must be very pleased. The malady that caused the Vietnam War has mestastasized. Thanks, Zbig; wish you understood Middle Eastern history as well as you understood imperial geopolitics. Thanks, GOP. Thanks, Richard Bruce Cheney. Thanks, Generals.
Clearly, Theresa May cannot keep Britain safe. But I don’t think Corby will go there before Thursday. But if the roles were reversed, the Tories and Blair Labor would.
Thank God our President is considering a visit to Theresa May this week. Let her campaign with that special relationship.
Naw, his aides will figure it out and talk him out of it.
All true. You could also thank the Soviets for their imperialism and occupation in Afghanistan.
I heard Howard Dean say today that he was tired of listening to this idiot. I can agree to that.
. . . he belongs:
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Doubt anyone could.
Back when George W. Bush was president I used to get embarrassed when he would say something particularly stupid or offensive. But Trump makes Bush look like Abraham Lincoln. At this point we’re so far from normal, and this is all so farcical, that I don’t get embarrassed. Clearly our country has problems. It’s all so obvious now, the shame has dissipated and been replaced by a very simple sense of sadness.
Yes.
A profound sense of sadness.
It’s a main reason why I don’t usually engage with republicans. I’m far beyond anger, or embarrassment for them. I’m just made sad that they could think what is going on is acceptable. Sad for them, for their beliefs.
But it’s also a strong influence on my opinions on the suggestions of appealing to those that voted for Trump, and how they can be brought under the tent. It’s like trying to appeal to the better nature of the homeless mentally ill, which I occasionally have to do. You can calm them, you can get them to politely interact. You can offer them water and a bit of shade out of the sun. But five minutes later they’ve slipped back into their own world, where they start screaming again, and the sadness and overwhelming pity for their circumstances is back.
.
I took Macron’s speech to be in the spirit of DeGaulle broadcasting from London, if you get my drift, safety net and all
Of course our ignorant authoritarian is going to hype these attacks, they strengthen his hand when he is under fire and allow him to bloviate about his most popular policy, political oppression of the hated Muslims.
Der Trumper is no great shakes as a politician, he’s a ham-handed neophyte with no conception of subtlety. But calling for political oppression of Muslims in western democracies (and especially in TrumpAmerica) is very, very popular with Trumpites. Associating the Dems with Muslim-coddling is a big part of the Repub’s successful destruction of the Dem brand.
The isn’t a single Trump voter who doesn’t approve of increasing levels of oppression of Muslims in America. What’s incredible is that Trumper has not (so far) seen that calls for greater and greater levels of oppression will be met with rapturous approval. Escalation of our various Muslim wars is likely just around the corner, as are calls for bans on issuing driver’s licenses to Muslims. Concentration camps? Certainly not beyond the pale. Unconstitutional? Only if the 5 conservative activists masquerading as Supreme Court Justices say so…
As Tarheel observes, ISIS clearly times these things to influence elections (as Putin is now doing) and the goal is always to aid the illiberal elements of the western democracies/electorates. They clearly want an escalation of hatred of Muslims by the hoi polloi. I remain puzzled by what this really gets the ISIS braintrust, and it seems to greatly retard what must be their real goal: to establish some form of Sunni polity across old Mesopotamia/Syria, where Sunnis have quite frankly been royally screwed as a result of Bushco’s War to Liberate Iraq’s Oil and the failed effort to overthrow the Shi-ite regime in Syria. That the region’s Sunnis could legitimately feel left out of any political power in their various “nations” is absolutely lost in the popular “debate”.
Whatever the motivations, these attacks are going to succeed in deeply dividing and destabilizing the western allies. Since that’s Der Trumper’s goal as well, he is of course delighted and ready to pounce whenever one occurs. And there’s surely no price he pays for being wrong about one, two, three, ten of them. He is so far beyond shame as to make the concept alien!