Trump Bashes Our British Allies for Being Weak on Terrorism Before Attack Is Even Confirmed (Again)
Well, our so-called president did it again today. What did he do this time, you ask? As soon as reports of an apparent attack in the London subway (which injured several people) began to appear on Fox News, the Trump-thing grabbed his iPhone, jumped on Twitter, and started ranting about terrorism and slamming our British allies.
And as usual, he did this before any confirmation that it was an actual terror attack.
Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Trump apparently had no information to justify his statement that the suspects “were in the sights of Scotland Yard,” but being clueless has never stopped him from blathering.
And British officials were clearly irritated by Trump’s knee-jerk tweets; pissing off US allies is becoming one of Trump’s signature moves.
Prime Minister Theresa May reproached Trump for his rhetoric in the wake of what police are investigating as a terrorist attack that injured at least 18 people.
“I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation,” she said. “As I’ve just said, the police and security services are working to discover the full circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify all those responsible.”
You don’t need a degree in political science to understand why Trump does this. Fear-mongering about Muslims has always been one of the main pillars of his xenophobic nationalism, and he seizes on any attack like this to promote his Muslim ban — an executive order that was ruled unconstitutional, not “politically incorrect.”
Trump has been wrong when he jumps the gun, too; when a man with an assault rifle attacked a casino in the Philippines recently, Trump immediately labeled it “terrorism,” assuming it was perpetrated by an Islamic extremist. When the Philippine government said the attack was an attempted robbery and had nothing to do with terrorism, Trump never retracted those comments or mentioned it again.
But it’s very revealing to contrast this reckless behavior when it comes to suspected Islamic extremist attacks to his much more circumspect reaction to the white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville, when he said, “It is a very important statement. So I don’t want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts.”
White supremacists get the benefit of the doubt — but Muslims are instantly made to assume the guilt for any attack that even remotely looks like it came from Islamic extremists. This says everything about the way Donald Trump thinks.