Make no mistake: When Iran retaliates against the U.S. because Donald Trump bumbled the U.S. into a dangerous conflict by assassinating Qasem Soleimani, Fox News and the Republicans will blame Democrats and impeachment. Ditto for North Korea. We got a taste of that On Fox News Sunday today.
Appearing on today's show, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued his gambit of blaming President Barack Obama for the escalation of tensions with Iran under Trump that Pompeo has been gunning for. After playing a clip of Trump boasting that “Iran is a much different country” since he took office, Wallace noted all the escalations of tensions in 2019, alone.
Pompeo insisted, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary, that Iran is on the brink of being vanquished and that the problem is Obama’s fault.
POMPEO: Panicked aggression on the part of the Iranian leadership, because they know that the Iranian people are demanding enormous change. And they know that the Iranian people are supported by America in that demand for change. Yeah. We've built out a huge coalition, Chris. Gulf states, Israel, countries all across the whole world who are joining us. They are joining us not only in the efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, but in air defense efforts all across the region. The malign actor of Iran has been identified. Remember where we came in, Chris. Remember where we came in. In 2015, the Obama-Biden administration essentially handed power to the Iranian leadership and acted as a quasi-ally of theirs, by underwriting them -- underwriting the very malicious -- that killed Americans. Those resources, the money that they had to build out those forces throughout the Shi'a Crescent was provided to them by the nuclear deal. We allowed Europeans to go do business there. We provided them $150 billion, pallets of cash. All of these things are the very challenge that the Trump administration has had to correct. The strategy is working. We're going to stay the course. And we will protect and defend the American people at every step, Chris.
[…]
POMPEO: The Obama administration created enormous risks to the American people in Iran. This administration is working to reduce that risk.
But here’s Chris Wallace suggesting a new way to weaponize any upcoming war or conflict with Iran:
WALLACE: Finally, some analysts suggest that the impeachment of President Trump has emboldened enemies like Iran and North Korea to think that they can confront him. Do you think that, as misguided as it may be, that some of our enemies think that this president is more vulnerable because of the impeachment effort?
Mike Pompeo: You should ask Mr. Soleimani.
Chris Wallace: I understand that. But he was going ahead before you killed him. And the question is, do you think that impeachment is emboldening our enemies?
Mike Pompeo: I don't. I think that our adversaries understand that President Trump and our administration will do the right thing to protect American people, every place that we find risk.
Oh, and there was a lower-third banner emphasizing that point with a bonus suggestion that this crowd will blame Democrats and impeachment for Trump’s bungling of North Korea, too:
Wallace repeated his line of thinking, albeit more subtly, at the end of his subsequent interview with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD):
WALLACE: Do you have any concerns about holding this trial right now with the president in this growing confrontation with Iran and potentially an international crisis? Is that a good thing for the Senate to be trying whether or not to remove the president at this particular moment?
It’s a safe bet we’ll hear of this kind of talk in the days and weeks to come.
Watch Wallace signal the messaging below, from the January 5, 2020 Fox News Sunday.
The current administration as represented by its spokeschild, is a expression of the “Do as I say, not as I do” dogma of so-called Christians. In their heads (I avoid using “minds” for good reason), they and theirs are free, even entitled, to go out and kill anybody they want, anywhere they like, but others cannot.
Let’s imagine the outrage were a top American official to be assassinated, say in Kiev). They probably wouldn’t mind losing people like Wray, Vindman, McMasters or Mattis, whom they already perceive as traitors to the Dear Leader. But let’s say, someone took down Pence, or Pompeo, or McConnell or Graham.
How would they react to the bombing of an iconic American cultural or historical site like, say, Arlington Cemetery? Ground Zero? Disney World?
It’s times like these that make me want there indeed to be a deity like the one presented in the Bible (New Testament). And I would like to be by His side as he tells one after the other of these self-serving hypocrites to take the wide gate leading downwards.
What I am not able to accept is that these same fervent believers are quite happy to ignore the teachings of their messiah from his last visit to the planet, even if they were, like, fifth, sixth and sixtieth-hand stories recorded decades or even centuries after the fact. The likes of Pompeio and Pence bear false witness, store up riches on Earth, refuse to turn the other cheek, hate their enemies, judge others on a daily basis, are anything but meek, loathe the peacemakers with a passion, make a great show of praying in public – in fact, behave in polar opposite ways to the teachings of gentle old Jesus.
Don’t know about you, but if I was convinced that eternal life was on the line, I would be EXTRA careful to live exactly the way the guy making the promise had asked me to.
