This is worse: — Relativist
Trump is the most transparent politician ever. All the reporting, the books about him and his administration and also his actions, speeches and tweets paint a unified picture of this narcissistic, soft-skinned liar.It shouldn't be surprising, it's not abnormal, etc. this is simply the character of Trump. It's who he is. — Maw
I think much of his reaction is due to this hitting home. Imagine if every woman he ever behaved inappropriately with came forward. He wants accusers to be considered liars until proven truthful.Trump just doesn't care. — Marchesk
In an interview with the Associated Press, Trump compared the case of Khashoggi, whom Turkish officials have said was murdered in the Saudis’ Istanbul consulate, to the allegations of sexual assault leveled against the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.” — The Guardian
America’s top diplomat has just told the world’s tyrants that they can do anything they want, even murder a prominent American resident, as long as they’re generous to President Trump.
The message was sent in the form of an official readout from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meeting on Tuesday with Saudi King Salman:
"The Secretary thanked the King for Saudi Arabia’s strong partnership with the United States. The Saudi and the King discussed a number of regional and bilateral issues. The Secretary also thanked the King for his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance."
Pompeo, you will recall, was dispatched to Riyadh to tell King Salman in no uncertain terms that he had to come clean on what happened to Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist who hasn’t been seen since Oct. 2, when he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. It is now all but certain that Khashoggi was tortured and killed.
Yet now we see—from the State Department readout and from the photos of the meeting, which show the secretary and the king shaking hands and smiling broadly—that Pompeo’s mission to Riyadh was nothing more, or less, than a visit of reassurance that everything will soon return to normal as long as the key players devise a cover story that isn’t quite 100 percent inconceivable (and 99.4 percent is good enough). — Slate
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is starting to float a trial-balloon explanation for its apparent slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, The Daily Beast has learned, in hopes of escaping the consequences of an episode that has shaken whatever geopolitical confidence existed in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to two sources familiar with the version of events circulating throughout diplomatic circles in Washington, the Saudis will place blame for Khashoggi’s murder on a Saudi two-star general new to intelligence work. That line is in keeping with President Donald Trump’s Twitter-borne speculation that “rogue killers” may be responsible for whatever happened to Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate on Oct. 2. — The Daily Beast
...as if the USA has turned into something like North Korea. — LD Saunders
New Yorker.The latest tale—regurgitated by President Trump—that Khashoggi was killed by government “rogues”—is belied by the evidence: among the fifteen members of the hit team that went to meet Khashoggi in Istanbul was a pathologist with a bone saw.
Why don't you leave your inane hypermasculinity right next to your insecure five year old id which came up with that threat? — Benkei
As I said, strikingly similar. Your insistence on the contrary is a nice demonstration of my point. Please continue — Benkei
Creativesoul: I never stated that Trump was the USA. However, Trump is president of the USA and he does act a lot like the leader of North Korea --- who also has an ego a mild wide and constantly lies his ass off. The fact the American people elected this liar, who even lied about his height, and who claimed that it stopped raining when he gave his speech when he was sworn in as president, two factual claims that are easily verified as false, tells me that America is accepting conduct from our president that three years ago I never thought possible, that such conduct would only be tolerated in places like North Korea. For a large percentage of Americans, although I am hopeful it is not the majority of us, the truth about the most basic facts no longer matters. For them, what matters is how they feel about the "facts" and what their leader wants them to believe about the "facts." — LD Saunders
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