Donald Trump’s ‘monumentally deranged’ admissions just handed Democrats a secret weapon: analyst
President Donald Trump openly admitted something surprising about why he pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, and his words completely weakened the excuse he has been using for bombing boats he claims were smuggling drugs.
In a new interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, Trump said he actually knew “very little about him” before granting the pardon. Hernández had
been convicted in a U.S. court for drug trafficking. Trump insisted the case was “an Obama-Biden type setup,” but his own admission makes that defense fall apart.
Greg Sargent from The New Republic wrote that Trump basically gave Democrats a powerful new tool to attack Republicans who refuse to investigate these actions.
Sargent explained how shocking the president’s comments were. Trump admitted he barely knew anything about Hernández’s case, even though prosecutors proved that Hernández helped send more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States. Trump still pardoned him without seriously thinking about what that meant for Americans dealing with drug addiction.
Reporter Dasha Burns asked Trump if this pardon sent the wrong message to drug dealers. Instead of answering directly, Trump said Hernández was simply a victim of a “weaponized” government just like he claims he is. Sargent pointed out how telling this was.
Trump also said he pardoned Hernández because “people asked me to do it.” According to Sargent, that makes the situation even more troubling. It suggests Trump may have issued the pardon as a favor, possibly in a corrupt way, or because he emotionally connected Hernández’s situation to his own.
Either way, Sargent argued Trump is easily influenced by people with questionable motives because of his deep need for approval.
Meanwhile, under Trump’s orders, U.S. troops have killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean Sea. The administration has provided almost no solid evidence that these individuals were actually smuggling drugs.
Trump also told CNN’s Dana Bash that he is thinking about invading Venezuela and expanding his bombing campaigns to include Mexico and Colombia.
Sargent said Trump’s comments in this interview show, once again, that he is completely unfit to be making life-and-death decisions.
He argued that even basic standards of public responsibility should push more Republicans to investigate what is happening. And if they refuse something he believes is very likely Democrats should continuously use Trump’s own words to pressure them until they act.
