I see President Trump has made today’s rescue of a family held hostage by the Taliban all about himself:
An American woman, her Canadian husband and their three children have been freed from captivity by Pakistani security forces, nearly five years after being taken hostage by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani Network in Afghanistan. …
“This is a country that did not respect us, this is a country that respects us now. The world is starting to respect us again, believe me,” Trump said appearing to reference Pakistan and that country’s role in bringing about the the recovery of the four hostages. [CNN]
The sad thing is that he’s probably more or less right. A world leader as erratic and, to be honest, ignorant and inexperienced as Trump must be treated with far more caution than, say, a far more respected leader such as Obama, because the latter is far more predictable and temperate, while Trump has repeatedly demonstrated flares of temper inappropriate to a leader that controls a nuclear arsenal. It’s true that Trump backs down just about all the time, but it’s still a stomach-churning worry to wonder if he’ll go after you if you don’t cooperate.
