A Senate Democrat dropped a chilling warning on Monday, saying it appears that Donald Trump could be on the verge of bombing Syria as a way to distract from the avalanche of bad press – particularly the news that his personal lawyer was raided by the FBI on Monday.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said he has “a lot of concern” that Trump will seek to distract from the scandals by using aggressive military force in Syria.
This becomes even more likely given the “war cabinet” Trump has assembled around him, Merkley said.
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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said he has “a lot of concern” that Trump will use military action in Syria to distract from his legal troubles #Trump #Cohen #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/YrB0MkXK73
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 10, 2018
Merkley warned:
I have a lot of concern. The president is assembling a war cabinet with John Bolton and his effort to get Michael Pompeo to be secretary of state. They share views that are very aggressive. They see military force as a response to virtually anything going on in the world. They propose military force in so many situations that certainly it was not the right answer. And so then you add in his personal concern about the information that continues to be compiled by the special prosecutor about the extent of his team’s involvement and contact with Russia during the election and also potentially his personal business enterprises that intermingled with Russian funds. So the president’s I think feeling tremendous personal pressure, tremendous political pressure, and he would like to distract from that. So this is a terrible moment to have this particular man making key decisions not just about, if you will, bombing a runway but possibly a much more aggressive campaign in Syria.
Nothing is beneath this president
Using deadly military intervention abroad as a way to distract from a number of explosive political scandals at home might seem far-fetched, but nothing is beneath Donald Trump.
After all, Trump threw his temper tantrum on Monday with his new National Security Adviser, John Bolton, seated to his left. There is no one more eager to push America into war than Bolton.
And as Sarah Jones pointed out today, Trump essentially admitted that he’s going to lean on the mess in Syria as a way to divert attention away from his mounting legal troubles.
Trump trying to use Syria to distract from his Russia problems, “They continue to just go forward and here we are talking about Syria, we’re talking about a lot of serious things…”
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 9, 2018
We have an unglued president desperate to push the news cycle in a different direction surrounded by people who would want nothing more than to see the United States plunged into another war.
That’s an incredibly dangerous place to be.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
