Tag: saber-rattling

Donald Trump’s saber-rattling, with a threat to send the military into Nigeria to stop “horrible atrocities” against Christians, is directly related to billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ending aid to the troubled African nation. That was the conclusion of an MSNBC panel on Friday morning, with “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough calling out the tech billionaire who is no longer whispering in Trump’s ear. At the beginning of November, Trump wrote a menacing post on Truth Social, where he claimed, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U. S. A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”That led New York Times columnist Nick Kristof to write a column where he claimed, “He [Trump] has expressed such outrage at attacks on Christians in Nigeria that he has threatened military intervention there, and the Pentagon has obligingly prepared plans for attack. Trump’s concern for Nigerians is welcome, but here’s the awkwardness: Trump’s aid cuts are killing far more Nigerian Christians than Islamic terrorists are.”Using that as springboard, Scarborough remarked, “Let’s underline what Nick Kristof has said here, and this is what we warned when Mr. Chainsaw-man was running around cutting U. S. aid and celebrating it: The number of deaths in Africa, in places like Nigeria were going to be explosive.”“Nigeria is the most populous country on the African continent and nearly 200 million people,” MSNBC contributor Eugene Robinson contributed. “I think this is a very substantial country that he’s talking about wading into somehow. It’s just it’s a ridiculous idea. The much better idea, yes, is to restore the aid programs that really did save millions of lives. And again, for a pittance, for money that was returned to the United States in a million ways, not just through good will but through economic development and everything.”“This U. S. aid that we have been giving for years, we’ve done it because America has fed and freed more people on this planet than any other nation ever. But we also did it for our own self-interest by handing out aid. We got intel that helped us know what jihadists’ next move, what they were going to be. And now that’s cut off,” host Scarborough added before sarcastically exclaiming, “Great job Elon. Hope you enjoyed your moment with your chainsaw.”“We need to get the aid flowing again to save lives and to get intel on the ground that will help us save more lives; when Islamic terrorists want to strike,” he added before exclaiming, “So stupid what they have done on the slashing of aid on so many levels.” YouTube youtu. be.