Not my cup of tea

In which we examine Trump's bizarre response to a straightforward question

Have you been following the Alexei Navalny story? No?

Here's the summary: Alexei Navalny is a Russian anti-corruption activist and politician. He's an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On August 20, Navalny was mysteriously poisoned in a Russian airport. Yeah. Poisoned. He drank a cup of tea at the airport. A short while later, Navalny was writhing in agony on an airplane, and he was eventually whisked away to Germany, where he's being treated.

German officials recently announced that their toxicology analysis indicates Navalny was poisoned with a concoction called Novichok. Novichok is a weapons-grade nerve agent, developed by the Russian military. It’s the same stuff that's been used to poison other rivals of Putin. Of course, most of the world's Kremlin-watchers assume Putin is behind these Novichok cocktails, including Navalny's bad cup of tea.

The question is what freedom-loving nations should do about it.

So at a press conference yesterday, a reporter asked Trump this very question. What does Trump think should be done about this apparent assassination attempt on Putin’s critic and rival?

Question for you, dear reader:

Before you watch the video or read the transcript of the press conference, ask yourself this question: in his response to this question from the reporter, what single person was Trump most critical of?

BZZZZPHTT!

Wrong answer! Good guess, but nope, Trump said nothing about Putin.

The answer:

The answer we were looking for is Hillary Clinton, of all people.

That’s right: the theme of Trump’s response was to speculate how many people would be dead in a hypothetical war with North Korea if Hillary Clinton had been elected 4 years ago. No, a hypothetical war with North Korea has nothing to do with the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. No, Trump didn't mention Vlad Putin. No, Trump said nothing about the autocratic regime who apparently tried to kill this poor fellow Navalny.

Instead, Hillary Clinton is the person he chooses to criticize.

That Hillary Clinton. The one who hasn't been involved in world affairs for four years.

Watch it here:

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

Trump on what he might do about the poisoning of Putin opponent Alexei Navalny: "If Hillary got elected, you would be at war with North Korea."

Follow-up question for you:

WTF?

Follow-up to the follow-up:

How is it possible that 40 percent of Americans think such a small, weak man with such a black, tortured soul should be the President of the USA?

Follow-up to the follow-up to the follow-up:

If you happen to be among the 40 percent, can you explain why?

---

The chemical composition of Novichok, the Russian-made nerve agent that poisoned Alexei Navalny.

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Novichok_3D.jpg

ChiralJon / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)