Yesterday, demagogue and unfit con man Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump returned to his familiar schizophrenic way of dealing with hostile foreign governments: threaten then offer them a bribe. After his confused story about the retaliatory strike against Iran fell apart, he shifted gears and declared "let's make Iran great again" by offering them nebulous economic benefits in return for...what exactly? Iran won't negotiate with the U.S. until sanctions are lifted, a step that Trump took after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. At the same time he's trying to charm the mullahs, the dimwit is threatening new sanctions to begin Monday. How's that going to play in Tehran?
It fits a pattern of his: bellicose statements and puffing, followed by promises of economic riches. The clearest example is his new love affair with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, whom he derided as "little rocket man" and threatened with "fire and fury," but after Kim wrote him a flattering letter, gave Kim the photo-op summits he wanted and cancelled joint U.S. - South Korean military exercises. He reportedly offered Kim billions in investments to drop his nuclear program, something that Kim sees as suicidal. Trump's empty suit son-in-law Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner is following Trump's lead in his doomed Middle East "peace plan," which offered the Palestinian Authority economic benefits with no political, two-state solution. His "plan" has been widely panned, with some describing it as a real estate prospectus.
Trump and Kushner operated in the sketchy world of New York City real estate, in which they had to cut "deals" with shady and likely criminal elements by giving them payoffs. To a great extent, their instincts are to operate in the same way with with thugs on an international level. But in this case, the thugs have Trump's number, and know that he's in a weak position at home and over his head in the job he currently holds.
(photo: "Did he take the briefcase with the cash, Jared?" Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
