There Literally Is A Trump Tweet For Everything
For every Trump tweet, there is literally something that says exactly the opposite.
As I noted yesterday, President Trump responded on Twitter to the latest news of a chemical weapons attack with at least one post that was harshly critical of President Obama’s decision to refrain from attacking Syria in the late summer of 2013 after a particularly devastating chemical weapons attack:
If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018
Trump is referring, of course, to the events of August and September of 2013. Several months earlier, President Obama had stated that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would constitute a “red line” that the Assad regime should not cross as it would bring American retaliation. When such an attack did occur in August 2013, attention quickly shifted to Washington and what the Obama Administration would do. At first, the President seemed to be determined to strike, but when it became apparent that there was significant opposition to such a unilateral move by the President without Congressional authorization, the President decided that he would ask for such authorization. It quickly became apparent, though, that such authorization would be difficult to obtain, at least in the House of Representatives, and this caused the Administration to further delay any action and even to begin floating the idea of not going forward with military action at all. In the end, the matter was allegedly resolved through an agreement between the United States, Russia, and Syria that was intended to result in the removal of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons under Russian supervision.
In any case, it now appears to be the case that this plan either was never completely followed through or, more likely, that the Syrians were able to begin rebuilding a stockpile of chemical weapons such as Sarin gas after giving up its existing stockpile. This resulted in the attacks we saw a year ago and in the past several days.
Now, with the Assad regime apparently once again crossing that “red line,” Trump is obviously making the argument that this wouldn’t be happening if Obama had gone forward with his threatened military action in 2013 after the Syrians were confirmed to have used chemical weapons. While it’s utterly unclear that this would have been the case, it’s interesting to contrast this position with what Donald Trump was saying at the time about President Obama and his “red line”:
The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria,fix U.S.A.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2013
AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA – IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2013
In addition to being an excellent example of Trump’s hyperpartisan hypocrisy, this is another example of a meme that has been going around the Internet since before Trump became President. Specifically, the idea is that there is a Trump tweet for every occasion, meaning that for everything that Trump has said about himself or his policies since becoming a candidate and, later, President, one can find a Tweet that he sent during the Obama Administration saying basically the exact opposite. It’s a relatively easy game to play since all you really need is to use Twitter’s Advanced Search tool to search Trump’s feed for almost any given subject and it’s virtually guaranteed that you’ll find something contradictory out there. I’m not sure if Trump realizes this and just doesn’t care, or if he’s too oblivious to recognize his own incoherence and inconsistency. Whichever it is, it’s likely to continue well into the future.
H/T: Jake Tapper
Much was said when the Trump era began in January last year, that no elected president is really fully prepared for the job. This rings true, and one can imagine several recent past presidents thinking, at least in certain situations, “Damn, I’m way in over my head.”
This is one big reason presidents have advisers in their staff, name experienced people to their cabinet, and also seek out advise from both sides of Congress (though tilting very heavily to their side).
I wonder whether Trump even knows he’s way in over his head, or whether he’d even seek advice past what’s on Fox and Friends if he does.
@Kathy:
He’s the poster boy for Dunning-Kruger. Hasn’t got the first clue.
True, except I don’t think “partisan” is quite the right word. It implies some loyalty to and concern for the Party on Trump’s part that I don’t believe is present.
There’s a subreddit on reddit for just this.
TrumpCriticizesTrump
This will in no way discourage his drooling acolytes. After all, the man changed his position on abortion three times between lunch and the cocktail hour on the same day.
NYT: FBI raids Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s office
Sh!t…Meet Fan!
And gee little donny, you sent a whole bunch of missiles at an emptied airport (which you so kindly gave them forewarning of) after the last chemical attack and just exactly what did Assad say?
@Mister Bluster: Fake State! Deep News! Pizzaghazi! QAnon!!!1111
Is Tevetory being scarcastic or does he believe that the raid was made up? I’ve lost all sense of direction when it comes to people shouting “FaKe NeWs!.!!.! Derp!.!.!.”
@KarateDeathCar: sarcastic. Hang around a bit and you’ll get to know the regulars, as opposed to the lunatics.
I also find it funny that Michael Cohen also belongs to the there is a tweet for everything club, or maybe it is just an isolated moment when he put together this unfortunate tweet that he probably now regrets is out in the wilds of the internet:
“@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!”
I guess he never counted to 10 before deciding to hit Post and tell himself to first clean up his own house before criticizing others.
As my mother always likes to say, it is always a good idea to take a deep breath and count to 10 before opening your mouth when you are all hot and bothered.
wikipedia:
Poe’s law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers or viewers as a sincere expression of the parodied views.
:-p