Hardly a day. No, forget about that. An hour passes without Trump saying something that, on the surface, seems to have a very shaky and brittle connection to reality.
As president of the most powerful country in the world with nuclear codes in your back pocket, Trump’s penchant for saying and writing all sorts of fantastical things is a bit concerning. It wouldn’t matter much if he was just the odd guy who approached people in malls with lofty tales and claims to fame.
You’d think that traditional things like facts and values would be important, but Trump has repeatedly shown that they aren’t in his universe. Bulls**t rules the roost, talks, and walks in the Trump realm.
We lack the time and motivation to dissect the most absurd and irrational things that Trump has recorded in the public domain. The president of the United States has a lengthy and extensive history of being indulgent with the truth, much like the route to hell.
To put it kindly, however, his most recent remark that he was directly responsible for halting six wars is a bit of a game-changer.
It’s the sort of stuff that would make any sensible person bury their head in a bowl of orange jelly and hope that things will improve someplace, at some point.
We must, however, have an open mind. Let’s examine the facts around Trump’s assertion that he is the peacemaker who can put an end to all conflicts with the power of his Caesar-like will.
The disputes between Israel and Iran, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia have all been resolved in part by the Trump administration, according to The Guardian.
The reality, however, is a bit more nuanced.
For instance, violence and bloodshed are still occurring in the Congo after the Rwanda-backed rebels missed a deadline to reach a peace agreement in Doha.
Trump used bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s military and nuclear installations before threatening to subdue them, ending the peace agreement between Iran and Israel. It was very much a question of you doing what you are instructed to do or else, and my country is harder than yours. As much as Trump loves to pretend otherwise, strong-arm threats, not a charmed diplomat, were used to settle the dispute. Nevertheless, he managed to put an end to it. That’s what you’ll have to give him.
However, India has categorically denied that Trump is involved in their ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.
Ethiopia erected a dam on the Nile River that would take vital water from Egypt, and Egypt and Ethiopia are still at odds over it.
What about Serbia? Trump says he stopped a conflict with Kosovo, but Serbia has condemned the notion that it ever planned to go to war.
I believe we may draw the conclusion that, as is so frequently the case with Trump, the big guy is once again bending the facts.
People, face the facts! We all simply live in Donald Trump’s reality now!
