Patterico's Pontifications

10/18/2016

Trump Invites Obama’s Half Brother To Tomorrow’s Debate

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:00 pm



Troll level: weak. A distraught mother of a Benghazi victim will not be Donald Trump’s only surprise guest at tomorrow’s debate. He’s also bringing President Obama’s half-brother:

As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton prepare to spar during the third and final presidential debate, Trump has continued his tradition of inviting controversial guests.

As an attack on the sitting president, the campaign has invited the half-brother of President Barack Obama, Malik, to attend the debate as Trump’s guest, ABC News has confirmed. The news was first reported by the New York Post.

Malik Obama, a native Kenyan, has been an outspoken critic of Clinton and said that his support is with Trump.

So why is Obama’s half-brother an anti-Hillary figure? The New York Post provided some insight in this article from July:

Obama, 58, a longtime Democrat, said his “deep disappointment” in his brother Barack’s administration has led him to recently switch allegiance to “the party of Lincoln.”

The last straw, he said, came earlier this month when FBI Director James Comey recommended not prosecuting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her use of a private e-mail servers while secretary of state.

“She should have known better as the custodian of classified information,” said Obama.

Oh, okay. Gotcha. That makes sense. Anything else?

He’s also annoyed that Clinton and President Obama killed Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, whom he called one of his best friends.

Malik Obama dedicated his 2012 biography of his late father to Khadafy and others who were “making this world a better place.”

That also seems like a perfectly sensible . . . wait, what?

I can understand someone saying it was a bad move to take out Khadafy because the power vacuum created an opportunity for terrorists to run wild. That happens to be my view. But the man Trump is inviting tomorrow went further and said: Khadafy is my best friend! He made the world a better place! As a reminder, Khadafy is generally thought to be behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was a genuine son-of-a-goat herder. And, to those paying attention, the presence of Malik Obama will remind people that Trump has flip-flopped on what was the right thing to do about Khadafy.

But I think even more people will squint in a confused fashion and ask: “What is Obama’s half-brother doing at the debate?” As a way to throw off Hillary, it seems pretty lame.

[Cross-posted at RedState.]

34 Responses to “Trump Invites Obama’s Half Brother To Tomorrow’s Debate”

  1. It works for me. Shorty may not be my man, but I’m a big fan of cheap political theater.

    There are many lessons to be learned from the Trump candidacy, especially now that he’s got Bannon calling the shots. This is one.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  2. Substance is out; semblance is in.

    Its my new mantra.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  3. The worst part isn’t that I think you might be serious.

    The worst part is, even if you’re not, millions who say similar things are.

    Patterico (186129)

  4. LA Times wrote a hard-hitting article on the Wikileaks publication of Democrat Party emails.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  5. “Hey, Obama’s brother likes me!” Pitiful.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. I feel like I’ve become an old fuddy duddy. I want to be with it. This is my chance. And the wife – what a looker. Hubba hubba.

    I am, at least, semi-serious about political theater. Trent Lott-style “graciousness” turns my stomach.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  7. LA Times wrote a hard-hitting article on the Wikileaks publication of Democrat Party emails.

    Brutal. That L.A. Times is hard as nails!

    Patterico (186129)

  8. I feel like I’ve become an old fuddy duddy. I want to be with it. This is my chance. And the wife – what a looker. Hubba hubba.

    I don’t think I should say out loud what I really think of her.

    Patterico (186129)

  9. Lockerbie was of a kind and proportional to the inadvertently downed Iranian Air 655, which from the standpoint of Muslims must have seemed more an attack than an accident.
    Proportional and timely. Might have staved off other horrors in the planning.

    papertiger (19ee0b)

  10. A Times wrote a hard-hitting article on the Wikileaks publication of Democrat Party emails.
    AZ Bob (f7a491) — 10/18/2016 @ 10:27 pm

    Patterico, click the link and see that the LA Times muckraking angle is that, hold your breath, Eric Garcetti was being considered as VP. Now that’s really getting the most out of those emails. Maybe my sarcasm was too subtle.

    There was Demo concern over Garcetti’s ethnicity:

    “The emails’ earliest mention of Garcetti came in November 2008, when Podesta asked, ‘Did we figure out whether he is Italian or Latino?’

    The answer: “Eric Garcetti is a 4th generation Angelino descendant of Mexican immigrants … but again … they don’t consider him Hispanic.”

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  11. Off-topic: nk, the Cubs are now trailing the Dodgers in the playoff series. I remember what happened the last time the Cubs lost to a California team in the NLCS.

    Chuck Bartowski (211c17)

  12. The last time the Dodgers were in the World Series, I went to Game 1, and it was worth every penny.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  13. A debate Q&A I want to hear:

    Q: Mr Trump, you ahve said that Hillary and the media have rigged this election. What proof do you offer?

    A: The Wikileaks emails have shown that she and the media conspired to get the weakest possible opponent, and HERE I AM! Q.E.D.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  14. I can understand someone saying it was a bad move to take out Khadafy because the power vacuum created an opportunity for terrorists to run wild. That happens to be my view.

    Patterico, this brings a smile. Check your email.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  15. “GREAT MOMENTS IN PROJECTION:

    ● ‘This is advocating hatred and violence’: Silicon Valley slams PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s $1.25 million donation to Donald Trump.

    —Headline, the London Daily Mail, yesterday.

    ● ICYMI: Activist Who Took Credit For Violent Chicago Protests Was On Hillary’s Payroll.

    —Headline, the Daily Caller, yesterday.

    According to the DNC-MSM, fascism is forever descending upon the American right, but it always seems to land rather far left of the target, to paraphrase Tom Wolfe.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/246724/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  16. As a reminder, Khadafy is generally thought to be behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

    Among other things…

    JP (f1742c)

  17. Yes don’t forget the discoteque! And how France made us fly around them when we leveled his compound.

    urbanleftbehind (573535)

  18. “GEORGE WILL: Trump Is Right: The Elections Are Rigged, And The IRS Scandal Is Part Of It.
    It is hard to think of an innocent reason why Democrats spend so much time, energy and money, scarce resources all, resisting attempts to purge the voter rolls, that is to remove people who are dead or otherwise have left the jurisdiction. It’s hard to think of an innocent reason why they fight so tremendously against Voter I.D. laws. They say, well that burdens the exercise of a fundamental right. The Supreme Court has said that travel is a fundamental right and no one thinks that showing an I.D. at the airport burdens that fundamental right.

    We know — we don’t surmise — we know that the 2010, ’12 and ’14 elections were rigged by the most intrusive and potentially punitive institution of the federal government, the IRS. You can read all about it in Kim Strassel’s book Intimidation Game. She’s familiar to all Wall Street Journal readers and FOX viewers. This is not a surmise. I have talked to lawyers in a position to know they say it’s still going on. The IRS is still intolerantly delaying the granting of tax exempt to conservative advocacy groups to skew the persuasion of this campaign.”

    Gangster government, as Michael Barone calls it.

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/246781/

    Colonel Haiku (7967f2)

  19. And the operative that was behind the disruption and thuggery at Trump rallies visited the White House 342 times.

    But Trump said the P-word!

    http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/18/exposed-dem-operative-who-oversaw-trump-rally-agitators-visited-white-house-342-times/

    Colonel Haiku (7967f2)

  20. 17.Yes don’t forget the discoteque! And how France made us fly around them when we leveled his compound.

    Yeah he was a bit of a scamp.

    It’s surreal that he spent so much time and energy trying to create havoc in Europe (he wholeheartedly succeeded in destabilising chunks of Africa) but is held up as someone who kept the lid on Libya and mass illegal immigration.

    JP (f1742c)

  21. Oil.

    nk (dbc370)

  22. We’re talking about Islamist terrorists, at the time they swore out a warrant to Interpol at the time, recall according to shayler, mi 6 was recruiting the future late am link for a hit on him

    narciso (d1f714)

  23. If a Republican had done up Qaddafi and was responsible for the chaos we have today in the middle east, the press would have above the fold journalism about this every day and the President’s approval would be in the teens.

    And remember, Qaddafi was the guy who gave up his nuclear weapons program so that he wouldn’t be the next dead Saddam. Meanwhile Iran and North Korea’s despots are much safer. The Obama administration didn’t care about the long term safety of the world and mostly didn’t want to support any successful concept from the Bush administration. Bastards.

    If Trump weren’t a democrat in every single way that matters, of course I’d donate, volunteer, and vote for him. It is a total shame that there’s nothing I can do to express my political views on a ballot.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  24. If memory serves this fellow wrote the Manchester manual, that jackalope eichenwald attributed to Egyptian jihad

    narciso (d1f714)

  25. 23.If a Republican had done up Qaddafi and was responsible for the chaos we have today in the middle east, the press would have above the fold journalism about this every day and the President’s approval would be in the teens.

    Could be, I get the impression that most of the US press corps is basically an afterparty for journalism school grads, and all the biases contained therein.

    On the other hand, the US electorate (like the general public of most places) has a pretty short memory as far as foreign policy goes, and very little knowledge of related history.

    This is how you end up with millennials who sincerely believe that Bush probably killed more people than Stalin, or (in my case) a potential date asking “who’s the Vatican?”

    JP (f1742c)

  26. Putin would have been my choice.

    mg (31009b)

  27. @ papertiger, who wrote (#9):

    Lockerbie was of a kind and proportional to the inadvertently downed Iranian Air 655, which from the standpoint of Muslims must have seemed more an attack than an accident.

    In the summer of 1981, after my judicial clerkship but before beginning fulltime employment with a private law firm, a co-clerk & I took a driving vacation from corner to corner of Great Britain. Our rental car broke down on a Friday afternoon in a little town near the Scotland-England border, and we spent the weekend in one of its B&B’s waiting for the local garage to acquire the needed part. We made friends with quite a few of the locals, who thought we (being from Texas) were quite the curiosity. I recall being surprised at the large number of Texas Swing and other country-and-western tunes on the jukebox in our favorite local pub, which was packed on that Saturday night; and I was absolutely bolloxed when, after I punched one up, roughly 90% of the locals immediately began singing along, boldly and loudly, even imitating the Texas twang of Bob Wills (who is still the king, just not “The King”).

    It was like a very odd and modern version of Brigadoon, but the town was called Lockerbie. I don’t know how many of my fond acquaintances from that weekend were killed or injured when that 747 came down on top of them, but even pondering that makes me sad, and angry.

    It makes me angry mostly at Kadafi and his terrorists, of course. They were what lawyers call the “sole proximate cause,” or at least the most proximate and immediate one.

    But it also makes me angry at the kind of sad excuse for a human being who can compare their deaths — their deliberate murders — the the victims of a genuine tragedy. Oh yes, the Islamic terrorists and many others in the world who are hostile to the United States (not limited even to Muslims) portrayed that as an act of deliberate aggression by the United States. But that is a lie.

    And yet here you are, papertiger — someone who claims to be a good American, who claims to be a patriotic Trumpkin eager to make America great again, drawing this same false equivalency and promoting this same lie. That was a loathsome comment, even from someone as hate-filled as you’ve shown yourself to be for months.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  28. Beldar, do you find the cryptic touch at the end of the same comment a bit more troubling? To wit:

    Proportional and timely. Might have staved off other horrors in the planning.

    What event, or series of events, or even hypothetical situations, would be proportional and timely here?

    JP (f1742c)

  29. The only other similar argument to the staving off argument is when people say “If Gore had been President on 9-11, he would be apologizing to Osama Bin Laden et al”. Its possible smaller cells than AQ would have took offense to “zionist” Lieberman ascending to VP and attempted assassination of him well before September, which would have a ramp up in surveillance and other measures that might have thwarted 9-11 or at least limited it to a spirited fist fight on a single plane.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  30. Beldar (fa637a) — 10/19/2016 @ 9:05 am

    Oh yes, the Islamic terrorists and many others in the world who are hostile to the United States (not limited even to Muslims) portrayed that as an act of deliberate aggression by the United States. But that is a lie.

    Ayatollah Khomeini actually thought it was deliberate, because a lot of Revolutionary Guards were on that plane, and it caused him to put an end to Iran-Iraq war.

    It wasn’t deliberate at the operational level, but U.S. Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, had caused the U.S. Navy to be extremely wary of Iranian planes, even though it was Iraqi planes that posed the danger.

    President Reagan wanted to be neutral in that war, Oliver North and John Poindexter wanted to side with Iran, and Casper Weinberger wanted to side with Iraq, so that’s what he did.

    I suppose you could say this election is like the Iran-Iraq war.

    I think Khomeini wanted Syria to cause the destruction of a U.S. plane, but they didn’t seem to be capable of doing so, and some of the plot at least was contracted out to Quaddafi in Libya. Then, to prove that he did it for his own reasons Quaddafi downed a French plane in 1989.

    A friend or acquaintance of my late Rabbi, was on Pan Am 103.

    Sammy Finkelman (22cc00)

  31. The friend of your late rabbi was murdered, Mr. Finkelman. Do you grasp that distinction? Can you accept it without quibbling to the end of time?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  32. @ JP (29): I shudder to think what papertiger meant by that last bit. But this is the guy who — when Trump insisted during a GOP debate that the American military would obey his orders to commit war crimes by murdering family members of terrorists — bragged that he would give the American taxpayer a discount if they’d let him (papertiger) personally execute every prisoner at Guantanamo Bay.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  33. Beldar – point.

    JP (683605)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.2309 secs.