Fareed Zakaria said Trump "became President" after his airstrike on Syrian base

[KeepItReal]

That didn't take long.

SMH

[uponit7771]

1. Time to normalize all the sexism, racism, griftting

[forgotmylogin]

71. What's worse...

This will make 45's lizard brain go "aha! the people like acts of aggression! I must do more of this so they will praise me!"

NO. NO TREAT. DON'T REWARD BAD BEHAVIOR.

[Abu Pepe]

79. that is what worries me the most. nt

[surrealAmerican]

87. What's even worse than that ...

... is that he'll be right. It worked for W. It always works in this country. We will suffer the consequences, as will the people of Syria, and who knows where else.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Jeez, Fahreed, you're smarter than that.

Come on, man. Aren't you the one who called Trump a serial bullshitter?

It's the whole Van Jones thing redux. Somehow they manage to get wrapped up in this clown pretending to act normal.

[Cosmocat]

17. yeah - VERY disappointing

He normally is one of the "good guys."

WTF ...

[Doreen]

54. Yeah, until now I respected him.

He lost that.

[LenaBaby61]

66. Yeah, until now I respected him.

He pulled a Van Jones?

[Doreen]

68. Yup, I feel like it is getting worse.

[atreides1]

3. First Van Jones

Now Fareed Zakaria, both men must have really low standards and no integrity!!!

[brush]

65. Yeah, Van Jones already declared him president after the State of the Union speech.

What is up with these two POC pundits?

Over eager to please — who — their white bosses, trump, trump supporters, or do they just lack originality in what to say when kissing ass?

God!

Add another one to my "lost respect for" list.

[LisaM]

77. GMTA

Guess I should have read downthread before saying virtually the same thing, but I was too riled up!

[Cha]

4. Yeah, and a bunch of them said he was "presidential"

after his speech to congress that had no substance

I guess Fareed is kinda shallow.

[Idoru]

48. It's like they can't wait to normalize him

They constantly show their true colors at times like this. They would (and have) sell this country down the river in a heartbeat.

[Blue_Roses]

5. The bar was set so low...

How could he not...

What I find ironic is how Trump seems to have taken action hours after Hillary mentioned this is a speech.

[Demsrule86]

6. He will never be president...and that guy is an asshat.

Trumpie tipped off Putin which gave the Syrians plenty of time to move their gas.

[True Dough]

7. Oh FFS!!

Now people are going to attack Fareed Zakaria like they did Van Jones?

Both pundits have been repeatedly highly critical of the Trump administration. If they choose a moment where they see fit to give Trump a bit of credit, that's their choice. We can agree or disagree with their opinion, but to portray them as wolves in sheep's clothing who are now revealing their true GOP colors is ridiculous and uncalled for.

I respect both Zakaria and Jones. I also respect my wife and my father. Do I agree with their outlook on everything? No, I do not. When they say something I take issue with, do I accuse them of being traitors or sellouts? Of course not.

[KeepItReal]

22. One good deed (in their minds) makes up for all the other Trump f@ckery?

A competently delivered speech to Congress and an airstrike on a (forewarned and evacuated) base don't elevate Trump one bit, IMHO.

His ethical breaches, incompetence, lies and demeanor ain't going away.

[True Dough]

25. Sounds like you're putting words in someone's mouth

Please find me a quote where Zakaria expressed this single action by Trump overshadowing the many other gaffes and misconduct by Trump and his cronies, which Zakaria has skewered the Trump administration for over and over again.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

26. I respect them both but they've shown their weakness.

Trump pretends to act normal (while not actually acting normal) and they get wrapped up in the moment and think he's somehow turned some sort of corner.

Trump's State of the Union was Nationalistic Crap on a Teleprompter. His Syrian missile strikes were Kabuki Theater with Russia meant to a) pretend he cares about Syrian civilians (he still doesn't) and b) pretend he's not Putin's puppet (he still is.)

Both of these guys are highly intelligent. If I can see it, they should too.

[True Dough]

30. I would never describe Trump as "presidential", Tommy

but because Van Jones and Fareed Zakaria elected to apply the term to Trump at a particular moment, I'm not about to tear them to shreds.

It's disturbing how some DUers foam at the mouth and pile on when analysts who have been in our corner all along break with popular opinion here. As if a single statement undermines all of the other valid critiques both men have offered of the Trump administration.

Unfortunately, some people are seeking any opportunity to insinuate or directly accuse pundits like these of being imposters or turncoats the moment they "step out of line." It's beyond the pale.

[58Sunliner]

32. Eye witnesses say Russian planes were involved in the gas bombings.

What do you think Russia is doing there? Do you really think Assad makes a move without Russia knowing what they are doing? Calling someone presidential when the whole situation looks like a shit show with dead bodies as props and collateral damage is beyond the pale. They did not do anything significant. It looks like collusion and a dog and pony. That's the mark of a sociopath, not a president.

[True Dough]

33. Listen, bud

I am in no way agreeing with Zakaria now or with Van Jones at the time he referred to Trump as presidential (when Trump acknowledged the widow of the special ops soldier slain in the Yemen mission).

What I am saying is that we are free to disagree with them, but to accuse them of being sellouts is taking things way too far. They have put forward many useful insights and will continue to do so, many of them condemning the Trump administration.

To write off Zakaria or Van Jones based on a single statement is folly.

[58Sunliner]

41. We can agree to disagree. To say someone is presidential when it is obviously and credibly an attack

that was staged is a poor choice of adjectives. It becomes propaganda. Zakaria should have this pointed out to him.


"Trump acknowledged the widow of the special ops soldier slain in the Yemen mission". I would argue he used her like a prop, in the most cynical way possible.

[True Dough]

46. Yeah, that's fine

I wouldn't argue with you on either point. But do you know any pundit who gets it right every single time without fail? I sure don't.

What bothers me is the attempts to completely undercut the reputations of fine analysts like Zakaria and Van Jones because they make an errant statement. You will see posts and threads here that accuse them of being Republican sympathizers. Their bodies of work, extensive and thorough (and often aligning with the Democrats' positions) will be overlooked because some DUers get their noses so out of joint over one misguided statement. It's ludicrous.

[58Sunliner]

47. My feeling is that the stakes are far too high for sloppy punditry. It should not have been uttered.

One could easily argue it looks un-presidential, weak and feckless.
I definitely see an implied chauvinism to say that the esteem of someone's public perception has risen because bombs were dropped. Van Jones did himself no favors-DT's speech was malignant. They both should have been much smarter.

[anneboleyn]

39. I have zero respect for Van Jones after his absurd display following BLOTUS' speech. He is a paid

pundit who sits on panels and is supposed to state his informed political opinions -- that is simply not the same as relating to your wife or parents or co-workers who have different opinions.

Jones isn't our "friend," and he is only on CNN to talk about politics. He used his extremely privileged opinion to do a sudden 180 on the people who liked and trusted him the most, dishonestly informing millions of people that an extremely dangerous, unstable buffoon, who very likely is a traitor to the country, "became president" because he invited a woman to his speech whose husband had just died in an attack Trump ordered.

Sorry, I have zero respect for Jones after that incident. I don't mind thoughtful differences of opinion, and differences b/n friends is totally different than what a paid pundit chooses to say as part of a powerful media that can crown or criticize Trump. Hysterical 180 degree turns based on obvious propagandistic appeals to emotion are disturbing and it showed me that Jones is not a pundit whose views are consistent and based on solid, rational thinking. I thought it was highly irresponsible to sob like he did and as he was sobbing proclaim that Trump was "president" and that "even democrats" couldn't deny that fact any longer. Sorry, but that was it for me with Jones.

I have never been a big Zakaria fan as he has said other things in the past (re Bush and critical remarks re Obama) that I considered very problematic (obviously for my own political tastes). This makes me like him even less.

[still_one]

8. Honestly, did you really expect anything less from the media? They helped create him after all

[workinclasszero]

13. Nope, BLOTUS 45 is their

Frankenstein monster for sure.

[JCanete]

82. yep...we get the best journalism money can buy. nt

[AngryAmish]

9. We are well and truly fucked now.

[BSdetect]

10. Yes, reinforce his mania with stupid comments about being presidential

He's not even remote so.

He's a malignant narcissist.

That is all.

[Cha]

42. Really.. maybe he'll send them another "thank you" via twitter

[Lindsay]

11. At Eschaton,

Atrios's blog post title compared Zakaria's comment to Pinocchio becoming a real boy.

That pretty well sums it up for me.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2017/04/how-you-become-real-boy-in-america.html

[Cha]

45. THIS thank you, Lindsay

comment..

gdma • 2 hours ago

Van Jones told me it was when he read that teleprompter speech without pooping on the stage.

[grantcart]

62. If you didn't study Greek the irony will not be obvious

es·cha·ton

/ˈeskəˌtän/

noun Theology

noun: eschaton

the final event in the divine plan; the end of the world.

Seems like we are getting closer

[vlyons]

12. not much of an endorsement

if the best one can say is, at least he didn't launch a nuke. While Trump may have listened to his generals about a tempered and measured response, it won't end the civil war in Syria. Maybe no more chemical gas attacks, but plenty of ballistic attacks still the same. I have every confidence that in a few weeks (maybe less) when the MSmedia gets tired of chewing and regurgitating this Syrian episode that Trump will once again embarrass us and make us grit our teeth and go grrrrrrrrr.

[ismnotwasm]

14. Ew.

Really? That's what it takes? Smh

[treestar]

23. Military action

it seems the macho still rules - and that's all it takes. Unless Hillary had done it, of course. Then the right wingers would actually have to find a way to oppose a military action.

[oldtime dfl_er]

52. THIS

Exactly.

[underpants]

15. Sorry folks but they are all going to say something like that today

When a POTUS does his first military thing the press risks looking unpatriotic if they don't.

Now I do also remember airtime being wasted repeating the RW "He didn't do it! The Navy Seals did it!" BS when Obama got bin Laden.

[July]

57. Yemen was his first "military thing."

He had to have another because he couldn't wave his dick around after that one.

[underpants]

78. You're correct. My mistake.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. These gasbag TV pundits keep WAITING for him to "pivot"

Wishing he would "pivot". Begging for him to "pivot".

News flash - He will NEVER "pivot" and you can't manufacture a "pivot" out of this. He struggles to read whatever bullshit is put in front of him and will usually insert his own psychobabble in the middle of it for good measure.

And then years from now, these same "media" will bemoan - "We coulda, woulda, shoulda...".

[flamingdem]

18. Fareed you are sounding mesmerized by the "masculinity" of dropping bombs

There must be a primitive psychological reason for this. Desire to be in the pack?

[MFM008]

58. yeah

and Brian Williams thinks flying missiles are "beautiful"...................

[NRaleighLiberal]

19. We are all being played..

[Blues Heron]

20. Not this garbage again

everybody has a woody for bang bang

[L. Coyote]

21. And #TrumpRussia is something that never happened now. Mission Accomplished.

[world wide wally]

24. OK, Fareed. Then who was it that eliminated our environmental laws, equal pay laws,...

Oh, you know the list.
There must have been an imposter in the WH forging documents to undo everything our former, legal President did.
You just love that war shit, don't you?

[spanone]

27. so, even fareed likes the bully now.

[Vinnie From Indy]

28. Those sweet media paychecks have made Fareed stupid!

Trump "became President" when Russia colluded with the Trump campaign to attack our electoral process. Nothing the orange clown does will ever change that fact!

[jrthin]

29. Really? Sending Airstrikes...

to Syria is all it takes to become President. Jeeze, Fareed should have told this to 45 on Jan 21.

[Initech]

31. When Russia and Syria both knew about it ahead of time?

If that's presidenting, I'm Elvis Presley.

[anneboleyn]

34. Van Jones did the same following BLOTUS speech to congress. Jones SOBBED over the war widow

whose husband had been killed in a raid on Syria (Trump, always the gentleman, told her that the applause for her husband had broken applause records -- he is always so humane and so thoughtful). Jones started sobbing so hard they had to cut him out of most of the segment even though you could still hear his sniffing and crying. I was so disgusted by the display that I still can't look at him and immediately turn off CNN now when he appears. That night he pronounced that his liberal friends would be angry but "Trump became president tonight" all because Trump was able to read a speech written for him by other, marginally more literate people, off a TelePrompTer. So CNN ding-dongs have pulled this stunt before. Of course this won't last, as the happy times following Trump's speech didn't last either. Trump will fuck it up.

Of course it is ridiculous and seriously creepy for Zakaria to claim that an act of violence, done in a sudden move clearly designed to save Trump face and distract from his political problems, while he sat chomping on a fancy dinner at his idiotic resort, after warning his friend Putin of course, makes a person, especially THIS CREEP, "president." He couldn't even face live cameras but handed over a recorded statement delivered in a "fake WH room" at Mar-a-Lago -- and he looked terrible in it, bloated, breathing in a labored manner (nervous? Guilty? Who knows), reading the sentences slowly and painfully, and the sound was terrible.

I will add Zakaria to the Van Jones list of CNN ding-dongs who fell for two of the tackiest and oldest tricks in the book.

[BannonsLiver]

50. Van's star fell after that moment

I don't think I've heard much from him since. Hope something similar happens to this fuckstick.

[BSdetect]

35. Fareed you have been DOUBLE DUMBED DOWN

[rock]

36. "became President"

Again? How many times is he gonna do this?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

60. Looks like about once a month. If he threatens enough network executives. Might be twice a month? nt

[rock]

73. Bingo!

[WoonTars]

37. Wait, i thought Van Jones said he "became President" after he didn't fuck up reading...

..from the teleprompter at the SOTU?

I'm so confused...

[Eugene]

38. Shooting off missiles makes one presidential?

The Loathsome One is being driven by gut reaction.
Someone showed him the photos of gassed children
and he reacted.

Never mind that this missile strike appears to be
pure theatre.

Fareed, please don't go soft on the Bullshit Artist
just for an ever so slight movement towards
something that appears sane.

[AgadorSparticus]

40. FFS....

[malaise]

43. Fareed is a well-known

asshole - nothing's changed

[Baitball Blogger]

44. It was his tank moment.

Or is that, tanking?

[Denzil_DC]

49. "Donald Trump signs executive order calling for a plan to defeat Isis within 30 days"

Donald Trump has ordered his generals and security advisors to deliver him within a month a plan on how to defeat Isis.

In the latest three executive orders to be signed by Mr Trump, the president said that within 30 days he needed proposals for taking the fight to the Islamic extremists. ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-executive-order-isis-defeat-30-days-a7551521.html

That was back in late January. Any word or other evidence of it yet?

And now, according to reports:

Here's how ISIS used the US military strike to its advantage

America’s military strikes on a Syrian airbase probably played into the hands of ISIS.

... ISIS were able to take advantage of the strike, launching a major offensive to gain control of oil areas near Palmyra.

Homs Governor Talal Barazi said the airbase had been providing air support for army operations against Islamic State east of Palmyra and the attack served the interests of ‘armed terrorist groups’.

While the offence reportedly failed, local military sources say that without essential air support, the situation could get worse at any moment.

http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/07/heres-how-isis-used-the-us-military-strike-to-its-advantage-6559333/

Even newly become "presidents" are hostage to the laws of unintended consequences.

[Solly Mack]

51. If leadership is defined by war and assorted acts then America is beyond help.

Any bully can throw a punch. An ego under attack will lash out. Lashing out, itself, can cover all manner of crimes and bad acts.

Such is not leadership.

[delisen]

53. If only Fareed would use his big brain instead of his little one.

[Eliot Rosewater]

55. How horribly upsetting that is. It is as if Fareed has been in a cave his whole life

and knows nothing that has happened on earth until yesterday.

[Doreen]

56. So far the only ones ( news cast personnel ) that have not budged on their feelings

and the truth has been Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell.

[GeorgeGist]

59. He bought Colin Powell's bs too.

[TNLib]

63. I also support the air strike against Syria

But let's be honest, the establishment hawks have their foot on Trump's throat.
Trump is up to his eyeballs in Russian collusion and treason. I don't think he had a choice.

[Abu Pepe]

91. I concur with all of that. nt

[NastyRiffraff]

64. I thought he "became President" when he spoke to Congress

I was wondering what moron would be the first to come out with that crap. It was just a matter of (a little) time.

[uponit7771]

69. +1

[Turbineguy]

67. I must have mistaken him

for an intelligent, discriminating journalist.

Of course, anybody can have an off day.

[0rganism]

70. he "became president" on Jan. 20

everything that has followed from it since then is on his watch, and his responsibility.
let's not kid ourselves on that account.
just because someone "becomes president" or "acts presidential" doesn't mean they're good at the job.

[Freethinker65]

84. +1000

[alarimer]

72. Geez, these guys love them some bombing

It's almost sexual. Eww.

[WinkyDink]

74. Everybody on TV hopes to be "The One Whose Phrase Will Be Repeated." This is his lame-o attempt.

[Judi Lynn]

75. Hideous. There is nothing Trump could ever do which would be "presidential." He's not qualified. n/t

[LisaM]

76. For Chrissake....

Him and whomever the nutbag was that thought he "became President" after he failed to botch his speech to Congress (I remembered, it was Van Jones).

Dropping bombs and making speeches does not make a president. It's about taking care of your own people and being a good world citizen.

What is with these guys?

[lsewpershad]

80. Bunch

Of crock.

[JCanete]

81. This is why these people are so hard to actually trust. Even if this was a broken clock getting the

time right once, which it wasn't, how could one right action somehow negate all of the ongoing failures of leadership? For that matter, how could somebody so eagerly spew this bullshit EVEN in the wake of the backlash against Van Jones and others who got all gushy after Trump's stupid fucking speech?

Either the circles they travel in are fucking up their perspective, or they are in the business of always trying to normalize and legitimize pro-corporate Republicans, regardless of how unAmerican their actions.

For that matter, NO ONE should use an act of war as a metric for when somebody became President. "You're not really President until you've blown up your first airfield."

I've never been particularly fond of Fareed. His politics have always seemed comfortably situated in the center of what is an already right leaning corporate institution. So I'm not as taken aback as i was by Jones, even though I wouldn't go to bat for Jones--I've only caught him on other people's shows, not his own, so I'm not sure what kind of truth he brings on a regular basis.

[KingCharlemagne]

83. His middle name must be 'shitforbrains' - nt

[Vinca]

85. This BS will continue for a couple of days and then . . . BOOM . . . like another bomb

blowing up . . . Dear Leader will tweet something totally ridiculous and we'll be back to the status quo of idiot in office.

[JCanete]

86. Sure, but that's just because Trump is that bad, that foolish, tactless and incompetent. That they

are STILL trying to bolster him in spite of how quickly he is going to turn around and make an un-spinnable ass of himself, should tell us all we need to know about our fourth estate.

Its not just the media being the media. Its not a byproduct of ratings chasing. It is something else altogether.

[tblue37]

88. Oh, FFS! will these pundidiots evestop pronouncing this stupid "Trump just became president" claim!?

He did NOT become president by reading a crappy prepared speech before congress, and he did not become president by impulsively lobbing a hundred million dollars' worth of bombs at an airfield after Assad was warned to move out everything of significance there.

This is Kabuki theater, but the pundidiots swallow the bait every darned time!

[JHB]

89. No, and even if you think so, just wait until Ivanka lets him have his phone back...

...and he'll erase your fantasy SuperTrump with a single tweet.

[roamer65]

90. Popping of a handful of cruise missiles doesn't not make one president.

Wrong answer, Fareed.