Donald Trump finds a way to screw up the release of Pastor Brunson
Whatever you think of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, he doesn’t belong in a Turkish prison, and so today was supposed to be the rare feel good day for an otherwise dark and scandal-plagued Donald Trump regime. But even as Trump tried to play up Brunson’s release today, he managed to botch it in a particularly ugly manner.
There were already a number of problems with the supposed “feel good” nature of Pastor Brunson’s release. Donald Trump has corrupt financial ties to the criminal regime running Turkey, so it’s not difficult to figure out that Trump pulled some inappropriate strings in order to secure Brunson’s release. And while Brunson is not a criminal, his bigoted faux-Christian evangelical beliefs mean that he’s not one of the good guys.
On top of this, there’s the fact that trump is springing one of his own evangelical supporters from prison while showing no interest in the fact that an American newspaper reporter, who happens to be Muslim, was just murdered by Saudi Arabia. But even with all of that aside, Trump could have simply shut his mouth today and let the media write the story of how he freed an American from a Turkish prison. Instead, Trump decided to open his mouth.
During a joint press conference with Andrew Brunson today, Donald Trump said “I have one question, who did you vote for?” Considering the overall circumstances, it was wildly inappropriate, even if it was intended as a joke. Then Trump sad “I already know the answer,” admitting that he was making a point of freeing one of his own partisan supporters. Trump took a potential feel good story for himself, and turned it into yet another corruptly partisan scandal. Trump’s base loves this evil crap, but the people in the middle – who are going to end up deciding Trump’s fate – see it for what it is.
