(image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
President Trump announced on Sunday that a commando raid in Syria this weekend had targeted and resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, claiming a significant victory even as American forces are pulling out of the area.
“Last night, the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice,” Mr. Trump said in an unusual nationally televised address from the White House. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead.”
Mr. Trump said Mr. al-Baghdadi was chased to the end of a tunnel, “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way” as he was pursued by American military dogs. Accompanied by three children, Mr. al-Baghdadi then detonated a suicide vest, blowing up himself and the children, Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump, who is under threat of impeachment for abuse of power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his domestic political rivals, appeared eager to claim credit for the raid, engaging in a lengthy question-and-answer session with reporters after his statement as he personally walked them through the details, promoted his own role and compared himself favorably to past presidents.
Mr. Trump even seemed to suggest that killing Mr. al-Baghdadi was a bigger deal than killing Bin Laden.
I’m not sure why Trump continually feels the need to compare himself to President Obama. As the Times points out, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was definitely a bad guy. No doubt. But he never entered the psyche of the American public to the degree that Osama bin Laden, who committed terrorism on American soil, did. Plus, Trump’s appearing to ‘take credit’ here is unseemly especially when he was overly-critical of Obama regarding the takedown of bin Laden. Trump tweeted multiple times that Obama shouldn’t be ‘congratulated’ for the death of bin Laden because “all he did was say O.K.” Now that he’s in the Oval Office, does Trump believe that’s all HE did? “Say ok?” There’s always a tweet…
Stop congratulating Obama for killing Bin Laden. The Navy Seals killed Bin Laden. #debate
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2012
Why don’t we ask the Navy SEALs who killed Bin Laden? They don’t seem to be happy with Obama claiming credit. All he did is say O.K.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2012
Trump again suggests this is bigger than bin Laden:
“This is the biggest there is. This is the worst ever. Osama bin Laden was big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center. This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country.” — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) October 27, 2019
Trump claiming killing Baghdadi was “bigger” than killing Bin Laden shows how petty and vile Trump is. He will use any moment he can to tell his base that he’s better than the dreaded black President they all hated.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) October 27, 2019
Trump claiming killing Baghdadi was “bigger” than killing Bin Laden shows how petty and vile Trump is. He will use any moment he can to tell his base that he’s better than the dreaded black President they all hated.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) October 27, 2019
Trump trying to make this seem bigger than the death of Osama. Trying to have his “Osama moment.” It’s not working. (Especially since Trump has done more for the future of ISIS this month than Baghdadi has done in a long time.)
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) October 27, 2019
Another way President Obama differs from this festering pile of discolored garbage:
When Obama’s team got bin Laden, you heard *nothing* from Obama until he was formally announcing it to the world.
Here Trump is like an excited little boy seeking attention on a Saturday night. https://t.co/eDEybOZpCD
— Bob Geiger (@GeigerNews) October 27, 2019
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