Donald Trump has this thing for stirring up trouble, no matter which way he turns. Then, he leaves destruction in his wake. At that point, he looks around and smiles. His last mess could have serious unintended consequences.
The president decided “doubling” Turkish steel and aluminum imports was a good idea. He increased the tariff on steel 50 percent and aluminum 20 percent.
Then, according to The Washington Post, he said:
‘Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!’
Never mind that Turkey has been a jumping off point for the U.S. military into the Mideast. All Turkey would have to do is lock up their airspace, and our military action would go down the tubes.
For some reason, POTUS thought that tanking the Turkish lira (currency) would make the U.S. dollar improve. That’s like bad-mouthing someone and believing it will make us look better.
Trump’s action was surprising given his adoration of authoritarian leaders. In the past, the commander-in-chief ranked Recep Erdoğan right up there with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
The Treasury Department placed sanctions on two Turkish government officials after Turkey would not release American minister, Andrew Brunson. The minister was looking at charges of espionage and other crimes.
POTUS tweeted after Turkey refused to release Brunson:
‘This innocent man of faith should be release immediately.’
The Trump administration had been working with Turkey for weeks, hammering out the details of the minister’s release. Erdoğan wanted the U.S. to release a Turkish man that he believed was behind the 2016 coup attempt and failed.
When America said no, the release deal fell apart.
Twitter world went wild. Check out some of our favorites below:
Check out Erdogan’s goons beat protesters in Washington, D.C. as he casually looked upon the scene.
Featured is a screenshot via YouTube.
