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Geraldo Rivera may have intended on making a statement that eased the concerns of Americans, but his tweet seems to have sent many Americans on social media into a frenzy.
People critiqued everything from the opening “Praise #Iran…” to the sentiment of being grateful that violent regime did not continue to kill Americans after such long track record of carrying out and funding the killing of Americans.
Read the tweet for yourself on Twitter.
Give Iranians credit for their prudence last night. They missed on purpose.
Also praying there is no connection between what was going on last night with the missile strikes and the #ukraineplanecrash that killed 176 innocent passengers & crew.— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 8, 2020
Geraldo has been raised within multiple iterations of the strategy of “appeasement” that several of Trump’s predecessors decided to take with Iran. Negotiating on the defensive, tentative to upset a violent regime has brought us to the day where a dressed general can plot an attack on a U.S. embassy and believe there will not be consequences.
Daily Wire reported on the statement released by the White House after the attacks.
In a press conference on Wednesday, President Trump said that the Iranian missiles did not strike any American soldiers and that the regime is now standing down.
“As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump began. “I am pleased to inform you, the American people should be extremely grateful and happy: No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.”
“Our great American forces are prepared for anything,” he continued. “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned, and a very good thing for the world. No American or Iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well. I salute the incredible skill and courage of America’s men and women in uniform.”
“For far too long, all the way back to 1979, to be exact, nations have tolerated Iran’s destructive and destabilizing behavior in the Middle East. Those days are over. Iran has been the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens the civilized world. We will never let that happen.”
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asked President Trump to end “needless provocations” that led to the missile attacks on Tuesday, but did not reference the decades of violence that occurred before Qassem Soleimani’s death. Pelosi did not share the same view on military acts when Obama was routinely bombing Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, or Libya.
President Trump has communicated that Iran has lessened the intensity of their anger and that America’s new reputation of a nation that will retaliate is now well known across the planet.
