By Richard Wolfe
The Guardian (12/5/19)
You know that classic nightmare where you’re at work and everyone is talking but none of them say the obvious: you’re stark naked.
Donald Trump is living that hellacious dream every time he steps in front of the women and men who make up the world’s leaders.
Stripped of his usual protections inside the White House, Trump exposes himself on the world stage at every conceivable opportunity. This week’s Nato summit in London was no exception, adding itself to the long list of denuded nonsense that erupts in front of every international figure.
“I don’t want to comment on that. But the answer is no. But I don’t want to comment on that,” said Trump, contradicting himself twice in the space of just 20 words.
First he attempted to joke with President Emmanuel Macron of France about Isis. “Would you like some nice Isis fighters? I can give them to you. You can take everyone you can,” said the man pretending to be the leader of the free world.
“Let’s be serious,” said Macron, dispensing with a translator as he shut down the clown show. “The very large number of fighters you have on the ground are Isis fighters coming from Syria, from Iraq, and the region.”
You don’t have to be a world leader at a Nato summit to know that Isis fighters and jihadist sympathizers pose a serious threat to the streets of Europe’s capital cities. You just have to be a grownup who pays attention to the news, such as the fatal stabbings on London Bridge just last week. But that may be asking too much of the man-baby who watches TV somewhere close to the Oval Office. …
(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2018. Open source and free for on-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )