In a world of political turmoil and unpredictability, one thing remains constant: presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump will always find creative and shameful ways to leverage fresh tragedies for political gain. The latest round of self-congratulatory tweeting began within hours of a horrific bombing in Istanbul on Tuesday, which left at least 41 dead and 293 injured, before proceeding to calls for America to respond to terroristic violence by inflicting its own non-Geneva-sanctioned terror.
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Later on Tuesday, at a raucous Ohio rally, Trump offered his own suggestions for how he would instill fear in terrorists, their families, and the wider Islamic world: “We have to be so strong. We have to fight so viciously. And violently because we're dealing with violent people viciously.”
Those violent people “eat dinner like us,” Trump continued. “Can you imagine them sitting around the table or wherever they’re eating their dinner, talking about the Americans don’t do waterboarding and yet we chop off heads? They probably think we’re weak, we’re stupid, we don’t know what we’re doing, we have no leadership. You know, you have to fight fire with fire.”
In terms of brazen opportunism, the implication that America should waterboard and decapitate its enemies is a half degree better than Trump’s response to the July 12 mass shooting in Orlando, which left 50 dead, including a gunman who declared allegiance to ISIS. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism,” he tweeted at the time. “I don’t want congrats, I want toughness and vigilance.” Just weeks before, Trump had hardly waited before immediately tweeting that EgyptAir flight 804, which mysteriously crashed in May, was brought down by terrorists. No cause has been established for the crash.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton released a statement affirming America’s solidarity with Turkey—a measured message befitting a former secretary of state. “Today’s attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world,” she wrote. Unlike Trump, Clinton did not suggest waterboarding or decapitating her enemies.
