August 12, 2016

Putting Jeffrey Lord on the air to spin Republican lies about President Obama almost never ends well, but today a CNN military analyst just made him look like the fool he is. It was almost worth having to sit through his ridiculous spin about how New York sarcasm was all it was.

(It wasn't, of course.)

Host Chris Cuomo led off the discussion about sarcasm by asking Lord why Trump sent a clear dog whistle when he used President Obama's middle name. "It's a little bit of, let's make our president feel like a traitor, like he was trying to do during the birther movement," Cuomo said. What about that whisper?"

"That's the president's name...but the point that he's making here -- and frankly, Chris, this is the American left in foreign policy since at least George McGovern," Lord replied. "They assured us if we got out of Vietnam, there would be peace. Instead, there was mass murder."

In other words, argle-bargle and more dog whistles to the hard right. Vietnam isn't under discussion here. ISIS is.

When Cuomo finally brought in Lt. General Mark Hertling, it was time for Lord to go to school.

He introduced Hertling into the discussion with a review of Trump's inconsistencies about Iraq.

"In 2007, Donald Trump told Wolf Blitzer we should get out of Iraq immediately, get out, declare victory and get out. and he has in the past blamed George Bush for being responsible for ISIS," Cuomo began. "Now he's saying it's President Obama. What is your take on why ISIS exists today?"

"First of all, Mr. Trump is semantically incorrect in describing all this. Secondly, it shows he's patently uninformed about the rift between the Shia, Sunni, and the governments in the Middle East," the general began.

Continuing to tick off the reasons Trump and his surrogates are so incredibly wrong, Hertling went on.

"He's also shown repeatedly the inability to understand this is a complex issue. That's part of the problem Finally, going to Jeffrey's point, his ability to communicate...A leadership requirement is to communicate correctly. Mr. Trump has failed to do that to others in the world outside of New York."

That was before he got to the reasons Jeffrey Lord and Donald Trump are so utterly wrong about ISIS.

Going to the heart of the matter, Hertling continued, "To go to the Shia/Sunni rift, there have been experts on your program and others that talk about who is responsible for the rise of ISIS. This goes back decades and event centuries in terms of what has generated this problem."

He then brought in the decades of conflict that has led to the thuggery in the Middle East. "You know, you're talking about terrorism that relates back to the '60s, the '70s, the '80s in this part of the world. and have different presidents contributed to this because of their actions? Yes."

"Instead, it's a complete slash and disrespect to the president. Another issue that I have with him in terms of his leadership qualities, but it also appeals to a bunch of people that don't really understand how complex this issue is and the number of people like me who have fought against elements like ISIS," he concluded.

In the blink of an eye, Gen. Hertling dismantled Jeffrey Lord's absurd talking points, shredded Trump's ability to lead, and explained that ISIS was the product of many, many different factors from many different administrations.

Lord was left blubbering about the Crusades, and Muslims raping and pillaging over 450 years ago. It was a sight to behold.

That's two days in a row for Cuomo. First it was Rudy 911; today it was Lord. Which surrogate will be brave enough to step up next?

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