Called NATO Cowards, Then Said He Was Winding Down, While Sending More Marines

Honey, I need you to hold still a second, because I’m about to describe three things that happened on the same day, and I need you to understand I am not making any of this up.

First: the president of the United States called NATO — the whole alliance, our oldest friends, the people who invoked Article Five after September 11th — “cowards” and a “paper tiger.” Because they wouldn’t send warships into the Persian Gulf to support a war they had no say in starting.

Second: that same day, the same man floated the idea that he might be “winding down” the whole Iran operation. Just letting it settle. Walk away, maybe. Who knows.

Third: while he was doing both of those things, the Pentagon was loading more Marines onto ships headed toward the region.

Now, I want you to think about what it would take to do all three of those things in one day and feel good about yourself. I’ve had customers in here who couldn’t decide between the chicken fried steak and the patty melt, and they at least had the decency to look embarrassed about it.

This man called our allies cowards for not joining a war he can’t explain the objectives of, and then in the same breath suggested maybe the war is basically over, while his own military was doing the opposite of winding down.

You want to know what a paper tiger looks like? It’s a man who talks bigger than his plan. It’s someone who needs everybody else to be the problem because the alternative is admitting there ain’t a plan worth joining.

NATO saw what they saw, sugar. So did the rest of us.

More coffee, or you good?