The idea of Trump mediating anything feels preposterous, but his made me laugh my goddamn ass off.
Trump is reportedly offering to "mediate" the conflict between Qatar and other gulf nations. You know, the conflict Trump has personally contributed to and egged on.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is offering to mediate the Qatar diplomatic crisis by hosting the feuding countries for a White House meeting.
Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani. The White House says that Trump told the emir that all countries in the region need to cooperate to prevent terrorist financing and stop the spread of extremist ideology.
Trump also says that unity among Gulf Cooperation Council countries and strong partnerships with the U.S. are crucial for defeating terrorism.
Let's take a trip down memory lane to yesterday:
During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
...extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
Where do you even begin?
Trump implied that Qatar is the source, or at least a major source, of the "horror of terrorism" and made the case that the isolation of Qatar will end terrorism.
I get the impression it's widely assumed, and it certainly is on my part, that actions taken against Qatar in recent days were enabled by Trump or, at the very least, enabled by his profound ignorance. And that was widely assumed even before he opened his mouth on Twitter and removed all doubt.
No one really believes this is about terrorism except, perhaps, Trump himself. Your understanding of his actions and motivations may depend on just how stupid you believe he is. I personally believes he's not capable of orchestrating this kind of regional cooperation against a single foe and our "allies" in the region are just using him.
Trump's idiocy is made even more dangerous when you have supposed allies who will use his idiocy for their own ends.
Meanwhile, Turkish parliament just approved a troop deployment to Qatar and Iran's Revolutionary Guard says Saudi Arabia is responsible for an attack outside Iranian parliament today. Both Turkey and Iran are allies of Qatar.
Who thinks Trump can "mediate" this?