Welp, that was a massive pile of bullshit.

[nolabear]

Do you suppose he actually thinks he's telling them something they care to hear? He set up another bad guy (Iran) and expects, what? These authoritarians and kings to slap their foreheads and break into song? The backstage deals with terrorists to go away? The ethnic battles to stop?

That was a regime change speech with Iran as the "enemy." I have friends in Iran who were trying hard to back this country and create change from within to re-enter the global system, and are beginning to feel abandoned in their own fight, cannon fodder for a madman's ambitions.

He's a user. He's a despot. He's trying to use the Middle East as fuel.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. He is too stupid to know what he is doing or saying. Just a manipulated mouthpiece

[nolabear]

2. Pointvwell taken. Is this Miller and Bannon?

What's the gain other than propping up an image?

[Wounded Bear]

5. Miller supposedly wrote the speech...nt

[tavalon]

35. Miller is a creepy sociopath

[dalton99a]

3. It was worthless

[nolabear]

6. That's my take. Everyone is calculating how they can use him.

Not that they've, or we've, ever done otherwise, but he's such a tool I imagine they're calculating in ways he'll understand about as well as a hammer understands how the house is built.

[Hortensis]

14. You nailed it with that one.

[nolabear]

33. *snort!*

[bellmartin]

29. I'm sorry, that post is offensive to hammers.

[nolabear]

34. ...

[BumRushDaShow]

4. He read a speech on the teleprompter that someone else wrote

while huffing and puffing and snorting.

[nolabear]

8. He is looking rough. That's the only bright spot.

[kskiska]

23. And the primary author of the speech

was Stephen Miller, who also authored Trump's travel ban.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. But neglected to include the RW-demanded term

"Radical Islamic Terrorism™".

[oasis]

7. "Drive them out". The "Trump Doctrine".

[nolabear]

10. I heard that on CNN. "Drive them out of the earth?"

He won't just say "kill them all," which pisses me off. There's no acknowledgment about what really goes on; they, and we, support whichever terrorists that we can profit from.

[oasis]

17. That clown was "lecturing". The condescending tone didn't fly with

the educated assembly. Trump gets in front of a microphone and believes his audience can be instantly transformed into his deplorable minions.

[ronnie624]

36. It was sickening.

A thorough distortion of reality, from beginning to end.

[luvMIdog]

9. He's a bull in a china shop. There is a delicate balance in the middle east and he does NOT get that

[nolabear]

11. RIGHT? This speech doesn't trouble me except for how useful he looks.

He's like a kindergartener addressing a university.

[luvMIdog]

12. Well I can guarantee you this will not abode well in Iran ;)

[R B Garr]

13. It sounded like he was trying to pitch building hotels and lots of McDonalds

but it can't be done until it's safe for the white folks.

[MFM008]

15. WHY

Didn't someone throw a SHOE????

[samnsara]

16. a yawner for sure.....

.....I bet he had to pee....

[ButSeeYa]

18. Yup

Words he didn't write, values he doesn't hold, promises he can't keep.

[oberliner]

19. The Saudis definitely wanted to hear that

In fact, they were definitely pushing for a hard line speech against Iran.

Did you hear King Salman's speech? He basically said Iran is the source of all terrorism in the Muslim world.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Iran is Saudi Arabia's regional rival. . . . nt

[SunSeeker]

21. K & R

[czarjak]

22. The self proclaimed Evangelical....

Says what?

[FairWinds]

25. Compared to the Saudi royals . .

the Iranian ayatollahs are choir boys.

And yeah, the US Reich used to throw a total hissy fit
that Obama did not use the term "Radical Islamic Terrorism™"

What amazing hypocrisy.

[grantcart]

26. Compared to Saudi, the current Iranian leadership is more moderate than Turkey

and a hundred years ahead of Saudi Arabia.

I wonder how forgiving the Saudis would have been had they, and not Iran, been the object of Operation Ajax where the CIA deposed a secular and democratic Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh?

Or I wonder how the American people would be if we found out that Iran had arranged the murder of JFK?

Rouhani, who just won a landslide re-election on a conciliation ticket, got his Ph'd in Scotland.

It is hypocrisy at a level that makes you choke.

[FairWinds]

27. Not only that, but . .

Shia islam does not really have much in the way of
a fundamentalist branch like the Sunni salafis.

In fact, and in contrast to the Sunnis, the Shia have
generally had a significant social justice component.

I'm no expert, but I read my Juan Cole (Informed Comment).
In part, this is what he wrote today . .

"Not only has Saudi Arabia stood for absolutism at home, it has mobilized to destroy populist and democratic movements in the region. Arguably it was a major force behind the derailing of the brief Egyptian experiment with parliamentary democracy. It suborned liberal Syrian revolutionaries into a fanatical Salafism (the Jaysh al-Islam) that threatened Alawite Shiites and other Syrian minorities and preached against democracy. Behind the scenes it has pushed a destabilizing fanatical Salafism throughout the Muslim world."

And there is also a VERY lively debate in the comments that follow his article . .

[grantcart]

31. Exactly right.

This goes to the very core of the problem.

Shia doesn’t believe in hierarchical structures that are run by strong dictatorial leaders.

Iran follows more of a principle of group leadership than that of a king or president.

It is this process of constant deliberations and discussions that can drive you mad if you are engaged in discussing anything with many Iranians. It is also the culture that gave the world the scientific method.

This is why the Sunnis have so much animus with the Iranians. They want elites talking to elites. Rouhani won by a landslide and represents intellectuals, moderates and conciliation with the West. The attempt to paint him as a terrorist will fail.

[ronnie624]

37. +1000 n/t

[Aviation Pro]

28. Some intrepid journalist should ask....

... the fucking moron the difference between Sunni and Shiite muslims and watch the amusement begin.

[grantcart]

32. While they are gagging ask them to explain Islamic Sufism.

[NastyRiffraff]

30. I didn't watch it

I had to wash my hair.

[ronnie624]

38. After a few minutes, I had to finish with a transcript.

He's almost gag-inducing to watch.