It’s always unfortunate when an incompetent malignant narcissist is in charge of a powerful country. Even a remarkably stupid and transparently corrupt leader can cause incalculable damage at home and abroad when backed by a pack of sniveling, careerist cowards.
But while Trump’s penchant for embracing tyrants and stiff-arming allies and general bumbling idiocy on the international stage has calamitously degraded U.S. prestige and endangered and/or killed vulnerable populations in the regrettable position of depending on U.S. protection, we’ve been lucky enough to avoid a major, organized and direct violent attack on the U.S. itself or its properties abroad.
Events like that are fraught no matter who’s in the White House, as the pressure toward bellicosity too often proves irresistible, even to ostensibly reasonable presidents. But it’s potentially catastrophic when the person making military decisions has the intellect and impulse control of a concussed cane toad licking its way out of an exploded meth trailer. Our luck in avoiding such a scenario may be running out:
BAGHDAD — Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iranian-backed militia shouting “Death to America” attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, trapping diplomats inside in response to U.S. airstrikes that killed or wounded scores of militia fighters.
President Trump responded angrily Tuesday to the protesters’ action, charging that Iran was behind a deadly militia attack that led to the airstrikes and blaming Tehran for the embassy siege.
“Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many,” Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”
The ill-fated misadventures of W. Bush and his cadre of foreign policy geniuses empowered the very Iranian-backed militias that are threatening the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. According to a WaPo phone alert I just received, the embassy has been breached, and U.S. diplomats are hiding in a safe room.
Let’s hope cooler heads prevail for their sakes — and ours. Because if anyone could out-do the ruinous stupidity and hubris of W. Bush, it’s Donald J. Trump.