Team Trump and Trump himself is catching hell over news of killing survivors of an attack on a SUSPECTED drug smuggling boat. The administration has made a point of bragging about blowing up these boats (with hugely expensive missiles I should add) and showing videos even. All that bragging is now biting them in the ass. Now add in the manufactured outrage over a video with six Democratic lawmakers reminding troops not to follow ILLEGAL orders. It’s almost like they knew this news was about to break and set up Trump and his goobers.
I’ll admit the part about the six former military and intelligence lawmakers setting the baiting the administration had been a nagging, unformed thought in my mind. Then I heard (had the TV on while writing) someone suggest it was almost like they knew this information when they made the video. That’s when it hit me. I’d say odds are pretty good they knew about this incident and decided to set up the administration and eager-beaver GOPers unwilling to slow down and game things out. It’s looking like they got out over their skis and with such a stark incident of a War Crime in the news complete with video footage (with more to come) the video about Illegal Orders seems prescient.
Think about the reaction from the administration and their friends both on Capitol Hil and in RWNJ news. Talk of treason, executions, and Hegesth recalling retired Navy Captain now Senator Mark Kelly to active duty to face General Court Martial. For quoting the Uniformed Code of Military Justice! That’s all they did, quote the UCMJ and remind our troops of those particular provisions. They knew they’d ignite a debate which got heated. Some, including me here on Politizoom tried to explain it can actually not be such a simple thing for troops to determine whether an order is legal or not.
THAT seemed to be how discussion was starting to be. So-called hypotheticals and explaining various scenarios makes most people’s eyes glaze over. However THIS is about as clear cut as it gets, and that killing those two survivors was, even if one accepts they were ‘enemy combatant’ is prohibited in clear, ‘on point’ language in the DOD’s own Manual! For a public that doesn’t have time to bother with ‘fuzzy hypotheticals’ all of a sudden we have a clear, easily understood example of troops carrying out what by any definition is a blatantly ILLEGAL order. An actual War Crime.
Even GOPers on the Hill, at least in the Senate made it clear over the weekend when they got back from Thanksgiving recess there would be bi-partisan investigating of all this. If Trump’s poll numbers weren’t in his fake gold toilet perhaps the GOP would continue what they had been doing when it comes to the boat strikes – ignore it. Now? There is blood in the water and not just that of drug smugglers or suspected ones. With Trump trying to send actual troops into Venezuela he’s now likely to face pushback. And this incident wil be there like Moses’ burning bush – on fire but not being consumed. No, IT will do the consuming.
So where does that leave Trump? Well, he signed an order of dubious legality that among other things declared these people on boats narco terrorists. Meaning he could have the military kill them instead of the Coast Guard (or even Navy) stopping and arresting them. However he’s got his shiny “Get Out Of Jail Free” card via SCOTUS’ immunity ruling for “Official Acts” but as this article from Atlanta Black Star News tell us Trump knows how big a scandal this is. He wants it put as far from him as possible and as fast as possible. Gee, it’s almost like things have stacked up and he can’t handle it all anymore!
Now, the main point starting with the headline of the linked story is that Trump is willing to (and as we know will) throw any and everyone under the bus to escape blame over these killing/murders. Typical Trump – nothing bad is never ever ever EVER his fault! However he can’t blame Biden on this one because he’s spent months falsely claiming that Biden (and Obama before him) did nothing to stop this flow of illegal drugs. But by god HE was doing what they did not. Oops.
Trumpty Dumpty created himself a petard and sat his fat ass down on it! The only way off is to fully assign blame to others. Ensure OTHER guys take the fall. For sure the Admiral who followed Hegseth’s orders (we will have to wait to see if they were verbal or if actual ‘leave no survivors’ was part of the written ops order) and whomever fired the missile at the guys in the water will get thrown into the meat grinder. The big question is will Hegseeth get thrown with them? Well, as the article tells us it seems as though Trump is setting Hegseth up to take the fall, or at least be the first of several.
Over the weekend attempt to clean up the scandal only seemed to make the crisis worse.
Trump’s first instinct was to distance himself from the entire episode — and to lean hard on Hegseth’s denial.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump said. “He said he did not say that, and I believe him 100 percent.”
When a reporter followed up and asked if he would be “OK” with a second strike that killed survivors, Trump again tried to duck responsibility by pointing back to Hegseth. “He said he didn’t do it, so I don’t have to make that decision.”
Well, that’s the kind of deny and divert stuff you’d expect. The only thing missing was blaming Biden for the attack but I’ve already covered why even Trump wasn’t stupid enough to trot that one out. But, as the linked article notes it’s what came next that might be the lighting of the fuse on a bombshell.
Pressed again about the alleged follow-up strike, Trump added, “Number one, I don’t know that that happened… we’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal, it was fine, and if there were two people around… but Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence in him.”
Later in the same gaggle, he repeated that he was relying on Hegseth’s word. “I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”
For many viewers, that “I wouldn’t have wanted… not a second strike” line was the tell.
Yes, that ‘I wouldn’t have wanted that second strike’ is a tell. Anyone who thinks that statement isn’t the equivalent on Trump hitting the start button on the Countdown Clock on Hegeseth’s tenure as SecDef would get pretty good odds in Vegs. Personally I’ve felt like once it became apparent (which didn’t take long) what a freaking disaster Hegseth was Trump wanted him to leave. On his own. Trump himself knew that for all the bad PR (the threat Hegseth has been to our national security has never been a factor for Trumo) firing him would lead to constant questions and speculation about it having been a mistake to appoint him. Hell, even Fox would have ripped on Trump! I figured Trump would try to put up with him for a year, and THEN dump him. That may no longer be an option for Trumpty.
However there’s another part about this possible “tell” from Trump I want to mention. Trump says it’s not the kind of thing he’d have wanted or orders? I call bullshit! In fact, when kicking this whole ‘mission’ around when the idea was hatched Trump was probably delighted over the notion of blowing boats out of the water. The size of the boats themselves didn’t matter – only the size of the fireball from the explosion of the missiles. Great TV for our TV obsessed President. It also seems certain someone raised the issue of ‘what if there are survivors, like dudes that get blown clear of the boat?’ THAT is the real moment of truth because you know damn well if Trump himself didn’t blurt out ‘just go ahead and kill them too’, that if Hegseth first said it Trump would have quickly endorsed it and they all would have had a good laugh!
Well, this is as I said a news story that might have some strong legs to keep it running around the track. It might even turn out to be as big a problem for Trump as the Epstein files. If THAT notion forms in what’s left of Trump’s mind Hegseth is done for. As will be at least a couple of guys down the chain of command. Trump has issued some awful pardons to military guys who committed crimes in war zones but not on this one. Maybe, maybe on his way out of office but those guys are screwed.
But let me close by getting back to where I started. I see a real possibility that the six Democrats who made that video about Illegal Orders knew this was out there. Remember, a couple of them served in the intelligence community. The legality of these missile strikes has already been being questioned, and more so with Trump trying to justify sending American troops into Venezuela. IF I’m right, the six Democrats baited Team Trump and they walked right into the trap. Trump’s one true gift has always been PR savvy but he’s always had a blind spot when it comes to times when he’s feels challenged, disrespected or insulted.
Trump has gotten worse about lashing out with each passing month (if not week) and while the smart thing to do would have been to say nothing in response to the video, or at most spout some platitudes about having the best troops in history and they’d never do anything wrong Trump led the way in making a BFD out of all this. Just like those six Democrats knew he would. I can also see how they’d have figured that it Trump weren’t, well Trump and responded how I just said he SHOULD have the video would be a footnote. At most there would be discussions like one I initiated here about troops having to trust their chain of command and how legal vs. illegal orders aren’t always clear cut.
However, THIS incident shines a big, bright spotlight on Illegal Orders and War Crimes. Even the dumbest asshat MAGA knows what happened was illegal. Not many of them care. Many would say do more of it. I wonder if they’d say the same about their cousin out there in ‘real America’ who doesn’t just grow weed, but also keeps some heroin or cocaine around in case college kids want some. What if LE firebombed their cousin’s (or brother’s) house killing him and anyone inside? Especially if he was THEIR weed dealer. All of a sudden summary execution wouldn’t seem so great to them.
The point is that there is now an actual war crime being shown over and over on TV. Also, it looks like Congress or the Senate at least is wanting information and wanting it now. That alone should complicate Trump’s desire for a ‘Wag the Dog’ ground war in Venezuela to divert attention from Epstein and his trying to give Ukraine to Putin. It looks like the ‘Crees-Muss’ Trump was hoping for ain’t gonna happen. He’s getting lumps of coal already! And not “Beautiful ‘CLEAN’ Coal” but real coal that leave a film on his hands and dust on his clothes!
The more I think about it the more I think the Democrats who put out that video knew this story was about to break. So they baited the hook and sure enough Team Trump bit and bit hard. Trump has survived everything so far and thanks to SCOTUS he can wriggle off the hook on this one. Others like Hegseth that swallowed the hook won’t be so lucky.
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I’m sure you are right that they knew about it. It happened on September 2, that leaves plenty of time for the story to have gotten around military intelligence and legal circles.
Now let’s see if Trump keeps hounding Senator Kelly and the others. FAFO.
You bring up a good point about the guys down the chain of command, the ones who initiated and carried out the attack: they’ve committed a war crime while following orders. Illegal orders. I suspect they’ll be the disposable ones, if lower-level scapegoats are needed to protect the upper echelons. Of course, Trump can always quietly pardon them a bit later.
i could have sworn hegseth originally beligerantly said that he gave the order.