Late yesterday, the White House leaked a letter written by Donald Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan almost too insanely absurd and juvenile to be believed, threatening Erdogan with phrases like “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool.”
Wrote Trump: “Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will. History will look upon you favourably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.”
The BBC reports that Erdogan threw the letter into the trash: “Donald Trump’s mixture of threats and locker-room banter infuriated Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His staff told the BBC that he threw the letter into the bin and launched the Syrian operation the same day. That could be proof there was no Trumpian green light. … Presidents Erdogan and Trump discussed military action last December. Diplomatic sources here in Ankara suggest that Turkey’s broader strategic objective was to detach the Kurds and the Americans. That, at any rate, has happened.”
