JANUARY 2020 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. President Donald Trump. I know, I’ve vowed to not include Trump absurdities, but sometimes it can’t be helped. In just his latest ignominious tweet, Trump stated that his list of targets in Iran would include sites of “very high level & importance to Iran & the Iranian culture.”

One would think that the resulting international and domestic uproar to the threat would move a normal person to “qualify” the statement, or at least say he was misunderstood, but Donald Trump is not a normal person. Just hours later, he made it very clear that he thought cultural sites were in fact legitimate targets.

“They’re allowed to kill our people,” he told the reporters on Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from his winter holiday in Florida. “They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.”

The furor was a classic controversy of the narcissistic Mr. Trump’s creation, the apparent result of an impulsive threat and his habit of refusing to back down in the face of criticism. On the contrary, his impulse is to double down.

Administration and Pentagon officials moved quickly to walk back Trump’s assertion, which if carried out would amount to a war crime. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper sought to douse the international outcry by ruling out attacks on cultural sites in Iran if the conflict with Tehran escalates further.

Mr. Esper acknowledged that striking cultural sites with no military value would be a war crime, putting him at odds with the president, who insisted such places would be legitimate targets. Mr. Trump’s threat generated condemnation at home and abroad while deeply discomfiting American military leaders who understand the importance of complying with the rules of war (at least professing to).

“We will follow the laws of armed conflict,” Mr. Esper said at a news briefing at the Pentagon when asked if cultural sites would be targeted as the president had suggested over the weekend. When asked if that meant “no” because the laws of war prohibit targeting cultural sites, Mr. Esper agreed. “That’s the laws of armed conflict.”

Trump’s threat was not just a slip of the tongue spewing from a man who is grossly ignorant of history and propriety. It comes from a man who has no respect for laws, particularly those codified internationally. He truly believes he is above the law. He is not only oblivious to the consequences of his assertions and actions; he doesn’t seem to care what happens. After all, his enablers will cover for him.


2. President Trump. After what Republicans Mike Lee and Libertarian Rand Paul called a “demeaning” briefing on the reasons for the attack that killed Maj. Gen Qassim Suleimani, the Trump administration has continued to offer inconsistent and confusing accounts of its motivation for the killing. Their narrative finally collapsed entirely when President Trump finally came clean on his thinking.

The focus on whether General Suleimani was planning an imminent attack on American interests, as the administration had originally claimed, was, in Trump’s tweet, “irrelevant.”

“It really doesn’t matter because of his horrible past.”

Here we have Trump at his finest: acting impulsively and making it up as he goes. Is any additional evidence needed to prove Trump’s complete contempt for the rule of law or for his absolute amorality?

If it were legally and morally justified to kill anyone with a “horrible past,” the United States would have far fewer ex-leaders; think, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Trump wouldn’t have made it to the 2016 election campaign. On second thought. Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea.


And, I can’t leave out Junior:

3. Donald Trump. Jr. The same day his father spent fanning a potential explosive flame with Iran, Donald Trump Jr. thought it a good idea to post a photo of himself smiling on Instagram while holding a custom AR-15 rifle with an image of Hillary Clinton behind bars and a “Crusader” cross Sunday. The latter is a symbol of "Christian religious war against Islam reportedly now used by white supremacists," according to the New Civil Rights Movement, a website advocating for underrepresented minorities—a cause not exactly near and dear to the current administration’s heart.

“Nice day at the range,” Trump Jr. instead, captioned with his post. “@rarebreedfirearms and @spikes_tactical adding a little extra awesome to my AR and that mag...”

Merely calling Trump Jr.’s post insensitive hardly gets across the severity of the situation. Jared Yates Sexton, an author and political analyst, used more certain terms to describe Trump Jr.’s recent social media imagery on Twitter Monday.

“All right. Let’s talk about Donald Trump, Jr. posing with a gun adorned with crusader iconography as America teeters on the brink of a religious war, why the imprisoned Hillary Clinton image plays into apocalyptic white identity Christianity, and how this country got so screwed up,” Sexton tweeted.

It’s unfortunate that while people like Trump Jr. are quick to boast about big guns and casually make light of death, the thousands of people who die as a result of gun violence each year in this country seldom attract a blink of their gun-enamored eyes. American troops, apparently, get the same lack of consideration.

4. Republican Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia. True to order for Republicans these days, Collins responded to Democrat efforts to limit President Trump’s war-making powers by saying in an interview with Fox News’ Lou Dobbs:

"Nancy Pelosi does it again and her Democrats fall right in line," Collins said. "One, they are in love with terrorists -- we see that. They mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families who are the ones who suffered under Soleimani. That's a problem."

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who lost both of her legs serving in the Iraq War, ripped Colloins over the comment.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," she told Brianna Keilar on "CNN Right Now" Thursday. "I left parts of my body in Iraq fighting terrorists."

Collins tried to diminish the ignominious nature of his remark later by later offering an apology, tweeting:

"Let me be clear, I do not believe Democrats are in love with terrorists, and I apologize for what I said earlier this week."

Despite Collins’ apology, and general Republican silence on his comment, the House approved its Iran War Powers resolution on Thursday in a vote that fell largely along party lines.

Hyper-partisan hatred remains alive and well in our poisoned political culture.

5. Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona’s 4th Congressional District. Gosar is back in the news again. No, not for being publicly disowned by his seven siblings, or for his racism and anti-Semitism. No, not for saying he can tell when people are lying because he’s a dentist. No, not because his entire family made a brutal video endorsing his opponent.

No, Rep. Gosar is getting lambasted for spreading literal “fake news” in the form of a photoshopped image of former President Barack Obama taking a photo with recently assassinated Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani. Of course, besides the image not being real, Gosar is so unbelievably stupid that he also mistakes Soleimani for the current Iranian President Iran Hassan Rouhani—and still, the photo is fake. (Gosar tweeted a photoshopped image of Obama with Rouhani, apparently believing Rouhani is actually Soleimani. The actual image is of Obama and Indian PM Manmohan Singh.)

Gosar’s idiocy makes him a serious candidate for the title of the Dumbest Congressperson, along with reigning champ Louie Gohmert and recent candidates Devon Nunes and Matt Gaetz.
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And the January winner is:

With due respect to the moronic Representative Gosar, I have to give this month’s IGGY to Donald Trump, Jr, a recognition that is long overdue.  The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.


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