WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Friday it was moving to increase the number of American forces in Iraq and announced that U.S. forces have killed the Islamic State's finance minister.
"We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said, using an acronym for the terrorist organization.
One of the things I love about a certain segment of the intellectual commentary class is that, even in the midst of immediate political battles, its constituents are constantly striving to understand how and why the pieces of the world are fitting together as they are. The mystery of Donald Trump has been fertile ground.
After all, the notion of a President Trump was so absurd in 2000 that The Simpsonsmade it an incidental part of the joke about a future in which one of the show's characters would become president. That fact, of itself, doesn't say much, but the fact that it's in absolutely perfect keeping with the sense that many of us have of Trump from 40 years of his being in the public eye does. Making "President Trump" a punchline in 2000 wasn't partisan or ideological in the least, so how is it that so many are actually considering making the joke reality? How is it that so many are perfectly comfortable brushing aside or ignoring facts from his biography that ought to count against exactly what his fans claim to like about him?
