Yesterday, President Trump demonstrated once again just how little respect he has for the American armed forces he has been entrusted to lead. In a disgusting act of partisan hackery, he took aim at retired admiral and Navy Seal Bill McRaven, the man who oversaw the operation that successfully killed terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, finally exacting justice for the horrendous 9/11 attacks in New York City.
Angry over criticism that McRaven has leveled at him, Trump dismissed McRaven as a “Hillary Clinton fan” and “Obama backer” and claimed that Osama Bin Laden should have been located and taken down sooner. It was a shameful move by the commander in chief that undermines the hard work of brave American men and women who put their lives on the line to accomplish this mission.
Trump just attacked William McRaven, the decorated admiral and American hero who took down Osama bin Laden.
This man is a million times more patriotic and heroic than you could ever imagine being Mr. Trump: pic.twitter.com/dOOKKO6oL9
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) November 18, 2018
After facing understandable backlash and even a well-worded response from McRaven himself, Trump has now decided to double down on his pathetic stunt.
This morning, he took to Twitter to repeat his claim that the United States “should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did.” Of course, Trump himself almost certainly has no clue how difficult it was finding the Al-Qaeda leader, how much went into it, and why it took so long. He’s simply looking to score cheap political points.
Trump pointlessly claimed that he discussed Bin Laden in his book that occurred before 9/11, even though the actual passage from the book doesn’t call for the capture or killing of Bin Laden, but simply mentions him during a scattershot critique of President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy. It doesn’t vindicate his attacks on McRaven in the least. In Trump’s “The America We Deserve” he writes:
“Instead of one looming crisis hanging over us, we face a bewildering series of smaller crises, flash points, stand offs, and hot spots. We’re not playing the chess game to end all chess games anymore. We’re playing tournament chess – one master against many rivals. One day we’re assured that Iraq is under control, the UN inspectors have done their work, everything’s fine, not to worry. The next day the bombing begins. One day we’re told that a shadowy figure named Osama bin Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jet fighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan. He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later, it’s on to a new enemy and a new crisis.”
Trump also sprinkled in some of his boilerplate criticisms of the American relationship with Pakistan. While the tweets don’t mention McRaven by name, they are clearly an oblique shot fired after McRaven’s response to Trump’s initial barrage. It remains to be seen if McRaven will respond again, but at this point, the president is just embarrassing himself.
Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2018
….We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another. They were just one of many countries that take from the United States without giving anything in return. That’s ENDING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2018
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