While on vacation at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort for the holidays, the guy who recently told a crowd that he’s, uh, “never understood wind” would evidently like us to trust in his leadership on grave issues of national and global security. This week, President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to a statement from the White House. The main specific topic that the statement actually revealed that they talked about is Libya, where rival factions have fought violently for years and attention has recently turned to the dangers of Russian influence on the conflict.
Of course, Trump has repeatedly displayed fealty to Russian interests. He publicly insisted that he was ready to welcome the country back into the G7 group of world leaders despite their continued violent occupation of the Crimean peninsula, which is — according to the bulk of the world besides Russia — rightfully part of Ukraine.
Still, the White House shared following Trump’s talk with al-Sisi:
‘The leaders discussed important regional and bilateral issues. Regarding Libya, the leaders rejected foreign exploitation and agreed that parties must take urgent steps to resolve the conflict before Libyans lose control to foreign actors.’
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus shared this past weekend:
‘External military intervention threatens prospects for resolving the conflict. We deplore attacks on innocent civilians and call on all sides to refrain from escalation. The United States is prepared to work with the UN and all the parties to initiate political negotiations.’
Trump actually personally commented on other Russian military intervention in a Thursday Twitter post, in which he also praised Turkey — which has violently targeted the U.S.-allied Kurds, although it’s not as though that’s signaled the president backing down in the slightest from adding the Turkish president to his list of dictator pals. He has supported them, the Saudis, the North Koreans, and others all the same.
Trump tweeted:
‘Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it! Turkey is working hard to stop this carnage.’
Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it! Turkey is working hard to stop this carnage.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2019
Perhaps Trump offered al-Sisi a bribery deal! It’s not like Trump can be trusted when he consults with foreign leaders. During a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, he directly asked the leader to investigate Trump’s domestic political opponents, and separately, Trump’s team including figures like E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland directly told the country that “everything” that they wanted from the U.S. would be dependent upon them launching those investigations. Now, Trump’s been impeached over the scandal.
Separately, the ego-blinded Trump has proven so gullible that he’s been touting a completely debunked conspiracy theory that Ukrainians themselves led meddling during the 2016 U.S. elections. Privately, he’s apparently even explicitly said that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself told him the tale of the in reality nonexistent Ukrainian meddling. In other words, the president has carried Putin’s propaganda campaigns like a loyal Russian intelligence agent. No wonder the FBI felt compelled to launch a counterintelligence investigation into the president!
