Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden makes a point during a Democratic presidential primary debate, Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, hosted by ABC News, Apple News, and WMUR-TV at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
During the Democratic debate on Friday night, the candidates were asked the question about the killing of IRGC terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani.
President Donald Trump authorized a strike on him, the final trigger being his men storming the American embassy in Baghdad and the killing of an American in a rocket attack before that. Soleimani’s forces had been behind behind multiple recent rocket attacks and other efforts against U.S. interests in Iraq and the broader Middle East. Soleimani was also being the killing hundreds of U.S. soldiers during the Iraq War.
So it was a good question to ask of those Democrats seeking to be Commander-in-Chief: what would you have done?
Those who answered blew it big time.
Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren gave responses that didn’t answer the question, that were literally insane. See if you can figure out what the heck Steyer is saying here.
Tom Steyer: killing terrorist Soleimani was “the wrong thing” because of climate changehttps://t.co/n6xSSlLAUd pic.twitter.com/3Uh3ThgShR
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2020
Buttigieg basically said he wouldn’t do it, that there was no evidence that it made our country safer, a ridiculous statement as Soleimani not only had killed Americans but was continuing to attack and threaten American assets and people. He’d compromised the Green Zone which was how his men were able to overrun the embassy. Had he not been taken out, we might now be talking about a greater tragedy at the embassy.
Pete Buttigieg says if he was president, terrorist leader Soleimani would still be alivehttps://t.co/xVJmOgtiEV pic.twitter.com/FE3YFyYExs
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2020
But Buttigieg said he would pull the trigger unless he could “evaluate the entire intelligence picture” and know what all the “different effects would be.” But you can never know in hindsight what all the different effects can be, although yes, it should be a considered decision. But if you are not willing to defend Americans even after we are attacked, you have a basic problem and you should not be leading this country.
Obama failing to pull the trigger is why Soleimani was free to kill more Americans.
Joe Biden claimed he wouldn’t have done it because there was no evidence that Soleimani posed an imminent threat.
Joe Biden, who opposed the raid on Osama bin Laden, says he would not have ordered the strike on terrorist leader Soleimanihttps://t.co/5noRYCqs6w pic.twitter.com/PKHHGXSCWR
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2020
A ridiculous answer as he posed a continuing threat, if for no other reason than ordering the rocket attacks on American bases. He then blamed Trump for the Iranian response against U.S. forces, without blaming or being disturbed with Iran at all for the attack, continuing the Obama-era approach of always coddling Iran, even in the face of threats to America.
It was hard to top Steyer’s insane response, but Sen. Bernie Sanders went for it. He suggested Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was worse than Soleimani and that the action in taking out Soleimani had opened the door “the door to international anarchy.”
Bernie Sanders claims killing a terrorist leader plotting to kill Americans creates "international anarchy"https://t.co/supAISr8pn pic.twitter.com/CynsTF7O4C
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2020
In 2004 cycle, Howard Dean's campaign imploded when he said we weren't any safer with Saddam dead. In 2020, no Democrat feels that they can risk claiming they would have ordered the killing of one of the world's worst terrorists.
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 8, 2020
Buttigieg’s staff later tried to clean up his response, perhaps realizing how awful it was. But they only succeeded in making it worse.
Mayor Pete’s team trying to explain his Soleimani answer after I mentioned the terror leader was plotting more attacks on Americans. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XmsyQlp0q2
— Cortney O'Brien (@obrienc2) February 8, 2020
Yikes, so he wouldn’t respond to defend Americans because they might respond back? And then he’d excuse the enemy’s attack on us and blame Trump? Way to seriously demonstrate you are not capable of the job, Buttigieg.
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