Joe Lockhart: Trump’s Sending a Message to Tyrants If They Have Cash They Can Get Away with Murder

‘He thinks it works politically for him, and there’s not much we can do about that’

EXCERPT:

LOCKHART: “Well I think he thinks it works politically for him, just like he thinks it works politically for him to deny climate change this morning on Twitter. So there’s not much we can do about that. This is really a dangerous thing. In addition to going against his own intelligence community, he is sending a message to tyrants around the world that they can get away with it. But probably just as important he's sending a message to democratic countries. We've been critical of other countries in the past, France in particular, for selling weapons to tyrants, and we've -- we've used our leadership to try and keep that curtailed and we've been successful at that. But now we've sent a message to everyone, which is, if you have cash, and you are willing to do business with us, you can do anything you want, and that is just one further step away from America’s leadership in the world. And while that may play to Trump’s base, it is a very dangerous situation for our own national security because we'll pay for this down the road and the safety of the world.”

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