You can’t make this stuff up. This alone is totally bonkers, but the rest is just as bad.
Sarah Posner at Talking Points Memo has this bombshell:
Trump Says He Gave Iran Permission to Bomb U.S. Base in Qatar and…Well, Mostly Crickets?
…When political scientist Seth Masket sharedthis story on Bluesky yesterday, I couldn’t believe it was real. The right-wing Washington Times reported that at a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had given Iran permission to bomb the U.S.’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for the American bombing of their nuclear sites.
“They said, ‘We’re going to shoot them. Is one o’clock OK?’ I said it’s fine,” Trump said. “And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners.”
I poked around for other major coverage of this extraordinary admission, and landed only on a transcript of the press conference. And yes, amid a characteristically meandering monologue, Trump actually said that he let a foreign adversary bomb an American military installation. But this story has pretty much come and gone with virtually no attention and certainly none of the outrage commensurate with what Trump said.
Emphasis added
Looking at the transcript, it’s easy to see why it got overlooked. The entire speech, given at the recent NATO conference, is loaded with truly bonkers statements. (There is video at the link too.)
Here’s a bit more:
…And hopefully, that hardware is going to be made in America because we have the best hardware in the world. You saw that, where 14 missiles were shot at us the other day.
Donald Trump
00:06:37-00:07:04 (26 sec)
And uh, they were very nice. They gave us warning. They said we're going to shoot them. Is 1:00, OK? I said it's fine. And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn't get hurt except for the gunners. They call them the gunners. And uh, out of 14 high end missiles that were shot at the base in Qatar, all 14, as you know, were shot down by our equipment.
Donald Trump
00:07:04-00:07:30 (27 sec)
Amazing stuff. Amazing that they can do that. It's like shooting a bullet with a bullet. It's the same thing if you think about it. 14 out of 14. And they were -- they weren't even that surprised. I said, do you do that well often? They say we pretty much do, sir.
emphasis added
There was a diary up yesterday from someone watching Trump give the speech, basically gobsmacked by how off the rails it sounded. Now that I’ve looked at the transcript and watched the video at the link, I have to say he wasn’t exaggerating.
Do I really need to ask how the press and the MAGA world would react if any Democrat anywhere said anything remotely like this?
If you can’t stand to watch Trump, read as much of the transcript as you can, and spread it around.
Why is this man still running around loose?
I suspect the NATO summit went as smoothly as it did because everyone there was prepared to handle Trump. Flatter him without limit, agree with everything he says, give him special treatment (breakfast with the King and Queen), and never stop smiling. The real conference happens elsewhere.
NATO members aren’t stepping up spending because Trump shamed them into doing it. They’re boosting defense spending because they have realized the U.S. is being led by a demented delusional idiot and can no longer be trusted.
God have mercy on our souls.
