Teflon Don

You almost need a scorecard and a pad of paper to keep it all figured out. In the wake of a terrible attack on his own citizens by Bashir Assad, Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer has figured out whom to blame. Barack Obama.

“Today’s chemical attack in Syria against innocent people, including women and children, is reprehensible and cannot be ignored by the civilized world,” Spicer said on Tuesday. “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution.”
“President Obama said in 2012 he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing,” Spicer continued. “The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable act.”

But just yesterday U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that we were not going to focus on getting him out.

“We have no love for Assad. We’ve made that very clear,” she said, according to Reuters. “We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He’s a war criminal. What he’s done to his people is nothing more than disgusting.”
Her statements came just days after both she and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stirred controversy when they said the U.S. was no longer trying to remove Assad from power and may work with him to help fight the Islamic State. The comments represented a sharp departure from the strategy of former President Barack Obama, whose administration for years worked to remove the Syrian dictator from power.
Haley told reporters on Thursday that the plan has changed, and the United States’ “priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out.”
“Do we think he’s a hindrance? Yes. Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No,” she said. “What we are going to focus on is putting the pressure in there so that we can start to make a change in Syria.”

Quite the mixed message. We will hold our nose and work with the guy. If any thing goes awry we can always blame it on Obama. Spicer said that he saw no relationship between the gas attack and recent statements from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

And this all takes place a day after Rex Tillerson is filmed shaking hands with his new associate. Tillerson refused to take questions on the matter. Here is Rex from the other day, setting the table for the chemical attack. Guess somebody got the message.