Yes, Donald Trump praised Saddam Hussein Tuesday night. No, he did not merely say that deposing him left a vacuum filled by ISIS. Sorry. That is what his defenders are frantically focusing on to try to shift the debate and move the window, but that is absolutely not the end of it.

What he said was that Saddam Hussein had an awesome way of dealing with terrorism that was laudable and was an example to be followed. That is what he said. In the English language as spoken in the United States, there’s a word we use for such things: Praise.

First, talking about Iraq, he said that “we shouldn’t have been there. We shouldn’t have destabilized.” But then …

“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy. Really bad guy,” he said. “But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were a terrorist, it was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism.”

“We cannot let them get away with what they’re doing right now terrorizing the world. We’re going to be so strong, we’re going to be so tough, we’re going to be so vicious, and we’re going to knock them for a loop,” he added.

‘He did it well. He did it so good. He didn’t do these wrong things. Instead he did these right things. We will be like that.’

That’s what he said. Those are the words that he made using his mouth. You can talk about regime change all you want, but what he said was “Saddam was good at this. He’s tough. We should be more like him.” That just is what happened.

Trumpers, it is not Paul Ryan’s fault that Donald Trump praised Saddam Hussein. It is not my fault. It is not even Hillary Clinton’s fault. It is Donald Trump’s fault. Sorry, every person who has endorsed him, but this is your life now.

And speaking of Paul Ryan, he made the face that, and we have said this many times before, you’re just going to have to go ahead and get used to making.

Ryan shouldn’t be shocked, though. Trump’s applause for Saddam echoes his praise for communist China’s massacre in Tiananmen Square. He has similar praise for Putin. Like his followers, Trump admires authoritarian “strength.” He believes in it.

Besides, and more importantly, Trump has been saying this exact thing, including the Harvard bit, for years. Almost word for word. Only now – now that the primary is over – is the media making it into a firestorm. How interesting.

As for Paul Ryan, guess just never saw the other videos.

Oh, and by the way? Here’s something worth noting: Saddam Hussein was a state-sponsor of terror. Yeah. I mean … duh, you guys.