In a Monday appearance on the Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, former Army captain and Stand Down author James Hasson ripped the liberal media for their bizarre anti-Trump spin after ISIS founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was eliminated in a raid on his compound in northern Syria.
He chalked it up to them being unable to get past their mentality that “what is good for Donald Trump is bad, and what is bad for Donald Trump is good.”
“Killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a victory to the United States and it was a great day for all Americans, whether on the left or right or center,” Hasson told Carlson. “But instead, some in the media and the left, although I repeat myself, seem to be incapable of viewing any issue outside the prism of ‘what is good for Donald Trump is bad, and what is bad for Donald Trump is good.’”
He recalled how shortly after news of Baghdadi’s death broke, there was “a cascade of attempts to either downplay the significance of the mission, or to find a negative angle from which to spin it.” Hasson also informed his host about how “CNN had a story on their homepage called: ‘How does killing Baghdadi affect the impeachment inquiry?’”
“They actually had that,” Carlson asked in disbelief.
Moving on, Hasson pointed to the Twitter post of CNBC’s John Harwood which “compared killing Baghdadi to killing an ant.”
Hasson saved some of his toughest criticism for Washington Post columnist Max Boot, who’s so afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome that he actually stuck-up for Baghdadi’s bravery when President Trump called him a coward:
HASSON: And, Of course, you had Max Boot, who takes the cake as he normally does with stupidity, and decided to defend Baghdadi from the charges of being a coward. Let’s take a step--
CARLSON: Stand up for the manly virtues of Baghdadi.
HASSON: Right. And let’s take a step back here. Baghdadi ran down a tunnel with three children as human shields and he got to the end of the tunnel, and was cornered, and then he blew himself up.
CARLSON: He committed suicide.
HASSON: And the children with him.
“That's not anything other than cowardice,” he added, noting that Boot’s behavior was indicative of his first point regarding the anti-Trump “prism” in which they view seemingly everything. Hasson went on to mock Boot: "[I]f you find yourself defending the leader of ISIS, you should take a long walk, take the fedora off, look in the mirror, and, you know, rethink some things."
That’s not to mention the Washington Post’s ridiculous obituary headline that touted Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.”
The interview concluded with Hasson detailing just what the elimination of Baghdadi meant for our troops on the ground. “[A]ny time you take a major player like Baghdadi off the battlefield, anytime you have a major success like that, it's huge for morale. And it sends a message that, no matter where you are, the United States is going to come hunt you down and bring you justice,” he explained.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
October 28, 2019
8:10:49 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: James Hasson is an attorney, a former U.S. Army captain, who we think is a reliable voice on questions of foreign policy. It’s great to see you, tonight.
JAMES HASSON: It’s great to be back, Tucker.
CARLSON: Put this in context for us. What does this mean for the United States? Were you impressed by the operation itself?
HASSON: Yeah, absolutely. Killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a victory to the United States and it was a great day for all Americans whether on the left or right or center.
CARLSON: Right.
HASSON: But instead, some in the media and the left, although I repeat myself, seem to be incapable of viewing any issue outside the prism of “what is good for Donald Trump is bad, and what is bad for Donald Trump is good.”
And so, immediately after this story broke, you saw a cascade of attempts to either downplay the significance of the mission, or to find a negative angle from which to spin it. So, John Harwood from CNBC, for example, compared killing Baghdadi to killing an ant. CNN had a story on their homepage called: "How does killings Baghdadi affect the impeachment inquiry?" And, of course--
CARLSON: They actually had that?
HASSON: Not even kidding. On the front page. And, Of course, you had Max Boot, who takes the cake as he normally does with stupidity, and decided to defend Baghdadi from the charges of being a coward. Let’s take a step--
CARLSON: Stand up for the manly virtues of Baghdadi.
HASSON: Right. And let’s take a step back here. Baghdadi ran down a tunnel with three children as human shields and he got to the end of the tunnel, and was cornered, and then he blew himself up.
CARLSON: He committed suicide.
HASSON: And the children with him.
CARLSON: Right.
HASSON: That's not anything other than cowardice. But yet, we go back to this prism of “what's good for Donald Trump is bad and what's bad for Donald Trump is good,” to many on the left and you follow that to its logical conclusion, and there you have Max Boot somehow defending the leader of ISIS. Which, if you find yourself defending the leader of ISIS, you should take a long walk, take the fedora off, look in the mirror, and, you know, rethink some things.
CARLSON: When you find yourself hating Trump more than you love America.
Very quick, give us – since you served – give us the perspective of the guys who did this. What must they think of this?
HASSON: I don't want to speak for them in particular.
CARLSON: Of course.
HASSON: But I can tell you is that any time you take a major player like Baghdadi off the battlefield, anytime you have a major success like that, it's huge for morale. And it sends a message that, no matter where you are, the United States is going to come hunt you down and bring you justice. And they did that and they deserve all the credit in the world.
CARLSON: Even if you are underground in Northern Syria. James Hasson, great to see you, tonight. Thank you for that.
HASSON: Thank you very much.
