It has long been said that President Trump only acts in his own self-interest, not the nation’s. And while in recent days President Trump has described the Iranian general he assassinated, Qasem Soleimani, as a “sadistic mass murderer,” and lambasted his predecessors for not having killed him earlier, the truth is few Americans had ever heard of Soleimani before his death, and not once had Trump, at least publicly, ever mentioned his name.
So why was he assassinated, and why now?
The administration and President Trump on and off have claimed there was an “imminent threat” of an attack against the U.S. personnel or U.S. Armed Forces. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday insisted any evidence to support that claim is far too sensitive to share, even with top members of Congress, sworn to secrecy, in a classified briefing.
Numerous reports put Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an end-times Christian extremist who believes the Middle East is a hotbed of Biblical proportions, as the driving force behind the killing of Soleimani.
“We will continue to fight these battles,” Pompeo said in 2015, insisting there is a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”
But like all things Trump, it boils down to self-protection and self-interest.
The Wall Street Journal published a deep dive Thursday night, headlined, “Trump’s New National Security Team Made Fast Work of Iran Strike.”
And buried in the center of the article, dozens of paragraphs in, is the devastating revelation that President Trump ordered the assassination of a top Iranian general to gain favor with key Republicans whose support is vital to winning his impeachment trial:
Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.
Some have just started to weigh in on the grotesque news.