Posted on 04/14/2018 8:44:13 PM PDT by Kaslin
On Friday, shortly after President Donald Trump's announcement of air strikes against Syria, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow twice put on her tinfoil hat, alleging that there is a "perception that the president may have ordered these strikes in part because of scandal," and that Trump's decision "may have ... (been) inflected by the scandals surrounding him."
Maddow even contended that this alleged perception of scandal-driven decision-making will "affect the impact and the effectiveness of these military strikes."
Maddow's first speculation appeared shortly after Trump's announcement:
Transcript
RACHEL MADDOW: As we follow the news in these incredible days that we have been having recently in our country, it is worth considering on a night like tonight that there are — there are national security consequences to having a presidency that is as chaotic as Mr. Trump’s presidency, a presidency that is as consumed by scandal and criminal intrigue as his presidency is.
It has national security consequences when the President orders missile strikes on Syria on a night like tonight. The strategic effect of that strike will be assessed by both our allies and our enemies. Other countries and entities involved in the fight in Syria are considering their role in Syria are going to try to figure out how they’re going to react to this U.S. strike.
It will affect those other countries’ view of this strike. It will affect their reaction to it. It will therefore affect the utility of this military strike if the President of the United States is believed to have issued the order to launch this strike tonight even in part because people think he wanted to distract from a catastrophic domestic scandal that is blowing up at home at the same time.
The perception that the president may have ordered these strikes in part because of scandal will affect the impact and the effectiveness of these military strikes. Unavoidably. Even if the tail is not wagging the dog. Even if you give the President every benefit of the doubt.
Even if his calculations about whether to launch this action against Syria tonight was taken with absolutely no regard for what else is going on in the President’s life right now, what else is going on in the President’s life right now unavoidably creates a real perception around the globe that that may have been part of the motivation both for what he did and particularly for when he did it.
Roughly ten minutes later, Maddow couldn't resist going there again, with NBC White House correspondent Hallie Jackson:
Transcript
MADDOW: Hallie, I have to ask you about — because of that in particular, I have to ask you about whether there have been — there’s been sort of appreciation of the sensitivities that the country might feel about this decision given the other news that’s been breaking around the President.
Federal prosecutors in New York confirmed today that the President’s long-time personal lawyer is under criminal investigation. Just a couple of hours ago McClatchy news service reported that a key element of the Christopher Steele Russia dossier that relates to the President’s personal attorney Michael Cohen is something that Robert Mueller’s investigators have received evidence to support.
The President has been absolutely off the hook upset at the FBI and the Russia investigation in particular over the last couple of days with James Comey now doing his first interview about his new book, which accuses the President of all sorts of things.
Are they sensitive to the perception that the president may be making this announcement to distract from his woes?”
A rough translation of Maddow's blather: "We in the press think the rest of the world should adjust its perception of and policies relating to U.S. leadership based on the likely false impression we have of a chaotic Trump White House headed by a perpetually angry man." Readers who think this is an exaggeration should note that CNN's Brian Stelter was playing the same tired "pissed, flailing and upset" tune on Friday.
Meanwhile, according to the Heritage Foundation, Trump accomplished more during his first year in office than even Ronald Reagan. The press is quite disappointed that the public is largely tuning out its "chaos and anger" narrative.
Readers here will have a tough time recalling any establishment press member questioning whether President Obama was serious about doing something about Syria after his series of poor reactions to other international events, particularly the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attack. That track record was far more important to other nations than "what else was going on in the President's life."
Beyond the fact that four Americans died in Benghazi, and even beyond the now-proven dishonest attempt to blame the attack on an obscure anti-Islamic video, what was especially striking from the point of view of the rest of the world's was the administration's at least three-week delay in even beginning its investigation of the attack scene and its clear disinterest in apprehending the attack's prime suspect, who reportedly lived "the cafe life" and didn't even feel the need to go into hiding for nearly two years after attack before he was finally arrested.
Obama's handling of Benghazi, particularly its aftermath, sent a clear signal to the rest of the world that he wasn't really serious about containing genuine threats — and the fact that the press was actively promoting the fiction of his "scandal-free" presidency did not matter.
Obama's "leading from behind" approach would explain why he failed to convince even longtime ally Great Britain to assist in acting on the Syrian crisis in 2013. In September 2016, the Washington Post's Anne Applebaum tried to pin the previous three years' "physical, human and political damage on an unprecedented scale" in Syria on UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Applebaum failed to address why anyone would follow the non-leader Obama's U.S. government had become.
Lol...does she ever take it off?
The clown works for Comcast.
Comcast pisses in your shoes daily. Dump your Comcast subscriptions.
If there were any aspirin factories hit and a few janitorial fatalities then she might be on to something. Madcow needs her meds again!
Meds will not cure SSAD.
From what I could ferret out, the US was bombing Iranian facilities that were involved in weapons and chemical production.
I think the Russians planned the chemical weapons so that Trump would respond and it would give Rachel Maddow material to criticize Trump.
Frankly believe that this whole Syria business was engineered by globalists. Just before this gas attack Trump tweets that soon American troops will be pulled out of Syria and laments that trillions of US dollars have been squandered with the US entangled in the region. This frightened and enraged the globalists. IMHO they have Syrian officials and senior military officers on their payroll and did what they had to do. What are a few hundred more gruesome dead Syrians when the world is at stake? Trump reacted predictably and suddenly there is no more talk of a Syrian withdrawal. More importantly the two most nationalist, powerful counties , the US and Russia, which ought to share common interests and not be alienated, are brought to the brink of war. Globalists are smiling everywhere.
The guy in the background looks just like Dr. Phil
bwahaha ping
Deep state minions getting scared.
The hat, yes. The other thing... dunno.
This lady’s cheese done slid off
her cracker...
Maddow = Russian Troll.
Maddow must be listening to the Russian Trolls.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3647602/posts
It would be so cool if a bunch of men in white coats swooped onto the MadCow broadcast live and carried off the crazy witch....I have such wonderful dreams sometimes... :-)
I’m surprised that Maddow would criticize President Trump on this. Mostly, the globalists on the left try to handle Trump by praising him only when he uses our military. I guess they have finally realized that he’s not an easy person to manipulate.
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