On January 6th, Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to fight like hell and went to his office and watched the attack. He did nothing for hours…didn’t get his hands dirty. Trump would later deny riling up the crowd at his “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “I have nothing to hide,” Trump later told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “I wasn’t involved in that and if you look at my words and what I said in the speech, they were extremely calming, actually.”

Do you see the play in action? “Encourage,” Sit Back and Watch, then Deny.

I hear a lot of folks saying Trump was just being Trump when he made the veiled threat against NATO members a couple of days after Putin tried to blame WWII on Poland in Tucker Carlson interview…claiming “the Poles pushed Russia.” 

On Saturday, Trump recalled a conversation he claims he had while in office, saying “one of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’” ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. Trump the said, “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

First, there is the absolute gall of Trump threatening anyone over not paying their bills. I digressed.

Second, Trump’s words solicited a response from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saying in a statement on Sunday Trump’s attack could endanger both civilians and troops.

“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,” stated Stoltenberg. “I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election, the US will remain a strong and committed NATO ally.”

I beg to differ…but that’s an entirely different article. One only has to look at the pieces President Biden has put back together since Trump left office. 

But if harm comes to American and European soldiers, we can expect Trump to watch, and then deny his words were instrumental in the harm. 

Nikki Haley put it simply after Trump questioned her deployed husband’s whereabouts, “If you don’t respect our military, how should we think you’re going to respect them when it comes to times of war, and prevent war and keep them from going?” Haley said on CNN. “If you don’t have respect for our military and our veterans, God help us all if that’s the case.”

Haley also shredded Trump’s own lack of military service…might I note none of his children have been near military service. That in and of itself doesn’t matter but his disrespect toward the military is disturbing.

“The most harm he’s ever come across is whether a golf ball hits him on a golf cart,” she said during a Monday gaggle to reporters in South Carolina. “And you’re gonna go and mock our men and women in the military? I don’t care what party you’re in, that’s not okay.”

Trump has used the “Encourage,” Sit Back and Watch, Then Deny play in all of his court cases. Just ask all of the defendants who worked for him. This is what he does. There was a time when most Americans, liberal, moderate, or conservative regardless of party would have called this play…bullying and cowardly. Today, there are many who want to call this person Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief.

It’s not too late to defeat him. It’s not too late to put ourselves out of our misery.  But the clock is ticking. Trump and his enablers are attempting to make sure that it ticks right past his day of reckoning.