You can stop looking for the top example of Trump Derangement Syndrome, because it was found on Wednesday's MSNBC Live. In a New Year's Day segment that could end up on a future year-in-review, Hillary Mann Leverett went all in for Iran and their Kata'ib Hezbollah proxies that killed an American on Friday and injured four soldiers.
Bennett began with a recollection of a pre-show discussion he had with Leverett, "You mentioned something that we talked about before the show started with these 750 U.S. troops going to the region. That's 750 targets as you put it."
Leverett, who has co-authored a book with her husband entitled, Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran, did not just question the wisdom or practicality of the airstrikes, but outright condemned them as immoral, "He’s attacking war heroes, people who fought ISIS. Iraqis who fought ISIS and claiming somehow they're just proxy puppets in Iran when in Iraq, many are seen as war heroes and so he's sparking these types of backlash against the United States, against the U.S. military presence, diplomat presence and this just gives Iran all sorts of assets around the region."
Trump is "claiming" they're Iranian proxies because they are and on Tuesday, Newsweek reported U.S. and Iraqi officials that Iran itself orchestrated the demonstrations.
Leverett was not done. She not only implied that this was Trump's Benghazi, despite the fact that he has not blamed a YouTube video and sent reinforcements that she condemned sending, but that it was actually worse than Benghazi. She said it was analogous to Saigon, "But for some it’s also Saigon in Vietnam where U.S. diplomats were forced to flee from the roof by helicopter. How else are they going to get out of Iraq today? This is all a victory for Iran and 750 more troops just gives the Iranian and their friends more targets either to shoot at or even to take hostage."
To answer the question, they'll get out the standard way one exits a building, because the mob has dispersed. No rooftop evacuations needed.
Just when you think it couldn't get any worse, Bennett asked about the very existence of the embassy, "That embassy, that 100 acre wide embassy, really is a symbolic of the U.S.' enduring presence in Iraq, is it not?"
Leverett stated that the embassy's existence is a symbol of a non-Muslim occupier, "It's not seen as the presence of a friend. To have 100 acres in the heart of your capital. The beating heart of the Arab and Muslim world: Baghdad. That is—it’s an occupier. It is an enduring symbol of an occupier."
After saying that Trump's actions will result in the U.S. being kicked out of Iraq or will result in a negotiated withdrawal, Leverett's final confused analogy was to compare him to Jimmy Carter, "Otherwise his 2020 election campaign is going to be like Jimmy Carter's 1980 where he's forced out of the presidency by Iran."
Here is a transcript for the January 1 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live
12:02 PM
GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned something that we talked about before the show started with these 750 U.S. troops going to the region. That's 750 targets as you put it.
HILLARY MANN LEVERETT: Yes. President Trump keeps giving the gift that keeps on giving to Iran. He's sending more troops, he’s attacking war heroes, people who fought ISIS. Iraqis who fought ISIS and claiming somehow they're just proxy puppets in Iran when in Iraq, many are seen as war heroes and so he's sparking these types of backlash against the United States, against the U.S. military presence, diplomat presence and this just gives Iran all sorts of assets around the region. In Iraq, the U.S. Embassy, the diplomats are sitting ducks. Many have compared it and even President Trump has tried not to compare it to Benghazi.BENNETT: Yeah
LEVERETT: But for some it’s also Saigon in Vietnam where U.S. diplomats were forced to flee from the roof by helicopter. How else are they going to get out of Iraq today? This is all a victory for Iran and 750 more troops just gives the Iranian and their friends more targets either to shoot at or even to take hostage.
BENNETT: That embassy, that 100 acre wide embassy, really is a symbolic of the U.S.' enduring presence in Iraq, is it not?
LEVERETT: It's not seen as the presence of a friend. To have 100 acres in the heart of your capital. The beating heart of the Arab and Muslim world: Baghdad. That is—it’s an occupier. It is an enduring symbol of an occupier. Even many Iraqis who are angry at Iran don't like that either. So what we see happening and this is the real strategic problem for the United States is that U.S. troops are going to leave Iraq. They're going to be forced out by Iran's friends in a horribly humiliating defeat or its going to be a negotiated settlement and Trump really needs to get on to negotiating track and negotiate his way out of there. Otherwise his 2020 election campaign is going to be like Jimmy Carter's 1980 where he's forced out of the presidency by Iran.
