The MAGA world will never admit that it made a mistake when it elected President Donald Trump to the White House for a second time, either because its members are as delusional, imbecilic and maniacal as he is, or because their cognitive dissonance won’t let them acknowledge that they would never have accepted any other president who displayed the same behavior that Trump does on an hourly basis. (“Hourly” is probably being generous. “Daily” would have been far too kind.)
On Monday, Trump unsurprisingly turned a White House press conference into a whine session, as the president continued to cry thick, tangerine-tinted MAGA tears over U.S. allies refusing to lend aid in the war against Iran that they didn’t start, never agreed to, and weren’t even consulted or warned about. During the speech, he turned his ire towards South Korea, claiming the nation owes the U.S. for protecting it against North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un — who the president then essentially boasts about being buddies with.
“You know who else didn’t help us? South Korea didn’t help us,” Trump said. “We’ve got 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect them from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well. He said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person.”
Now, one shouldn’t expect a bunch of MAGAts to be offended by the president’s use of an ableist slur. They’re the same brand of bigot he is, after all; it’s why they voted for him. And they’re certainly not going to grow tired of Trump constantly taking shots at former President Joe Biden, who Trump continues to blame for his own many failings.
But since when is it OK with Republican conservatives that the president of the United States is talking about his relationship with one of the nation’s most prominent enemies like it’s a match made in authoritarian heaven? Trump didn’t even include a proper segue between identifying Kim Jong Un as someone nations need protecting from and talking about him like they have each other saved in their phones as “Bombing BFFs 4 Life.” He lacks the self-awareness to even realize that it’s not a good look to describe himself as the president our enemies adore, while describing his predecessor as the president they had contempt for, as they should any world leader that stands against them.
Also, during the same speech, Trump mused that he might be open to learning Spanish and moving to Venezuela to become its next president — a totally normal remark for a U.S. president to make, and one that shouldn’t anger so-called patriots at all, amirite?
“I’m polling higher than anybody has ever polled in Venezuela,” Trump said. “So after I’m finished with this, I can go to Venezuela. I will quickly learn Spanish. It won’t take long. I’m good at language. I will go to Venezuela. I’m going to run for president.”
Trump is likely referencing a single survey taken in January that indicated 90% of Venezuelans were thankful that his administration abducted their president — a poll he obviously would favor over the myriad of polls taken in his own country that show the strong majority of his own citizens think he’s the worst president we have ever had.
Of course, Trump was likely joking about moving to Venezuela and running for president (although he has talked about how he will “run the country” before). He knows that’s not how it works — I’m maybe 80% sure of it. OK, 60% sure — definitely 55%. But even if that was an intentional joke, it wasn’t nearly as hilarious as his unintentional joke regarding his grasp on the English language, let alone Spanish. Like — sir, you just learned the word “groceries” a year ago, you couldn’t string together two coherent sentences in a row to save your life, and word salads are the only salads your mouth associates with. Be for real.
Anyway, some time after the president got done bragging about his game-regognize-game relationship with a foreign dictator and declaring his hypothetical allegiance to another foreign nation, he took to his favorite unhappy place, his Truth Social account, to threaten Iran and its civilian population with genocide.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump wrote. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
Trump ended his post saying, “God Bless the Great People of Iran!’ after indicating that he would end everything they know and love in a threat that came after he threatened numerous times to bomb their country’s infrastructure to oblivion. To be fair, he also keeps pushing the deadline for Iran to capitulate to him before he sends the whole nation to “Hell,” almost as if he realizes what little leverage he actually has to end his war, so he thinks tough talk will distract from his failure to fulfill his promises or get Iran’s leaders to buckle, as they just keep publicly rejecting him and laughing at his threats and ever-moving deadlines.
Still, Trump’s threat to end Iran’s entire civilization is troubling, so much so that Republican Joe Kent, who recently resigned as Trump’s top counterterrorism official, and crazy, right-wing conspiracy nuts like Alex Jones are speaking out.
Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as Trump’s White House communications director during his first term, but certainly has no love for the president now, read Trump’s post as him “calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE,” and said someone, presumably Congress, should “Seek his removal immediately.”
So, maybe there are a few former Trump supporters with the good sense to draw the line somewhere, but what of his other tens of millions of cultists? What’s it going to take for them to turn on him, too? Does he have to end a tweet with “Praise be to Allah” to get them to realize he’s a mega MAGA fraud?
Nope, that won’t do it.
Sad.
SEE ALSO:
