Remember Pete Hoekstra, the Michigan Congressman who made national news by running a racist attack ad against Debbie Stabenow during the Super Bowl? [Stabenow went on to kick his ass in their 2012 race for Senate.] Well, guess what? He’s back in the news. And, once again, it’s for being a lying, racist asshole.
Remember how we’ve talked in the past about how very few competent people want to serve in Trump’s Diplomatic Corps? Well, Hoekstra, it would seem, is one of those people who stepped up in the absence of qualified applicants, offering to serve as Donald Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands. And, it would seem, the people of the Netherlands aren’t terribly happy about his portrayal of their country as a place where there are “no-go zones” full of Islamic militants who are wrecking havoc and setting people on fire. Here’s Ambassador Hoekstra being questioned about his comments by Dutch journalist Wouter Zwart just recently. Hoekstra, as you would expect from a Trump appointee, calls the assertion that he’d ever said any such thing “fake news.” Then, just a minute or so later, after apparently being told that video exists of him saying exactly that, Hoekstra says to the bewildered journalist that he never used the phrase “fake news.”
Just perfect.
Dutch journalist to new US Ambassador: you said there were 'no go zones' in Netherlands, where are they?
Ambassador: That's fake news, I didn't say that
Journalist: We can show you that clip now.
Ambassador: Err pic.twitter.com/8ohIOzmYAc— Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) December 22, 2017
I know it’s not much of a silver lining, but at least Trump got Hoekstra out of Michigan.
7 Comments
Jake Tapper just posted about this. “US ambassador denies own comments, then denies denial,” he said.
Sadly, Trump’s base thrives on this kind of bullshit because they believe it only provokes liberals and foreigners. It’s another variant of “Fuck you, what are you going to do about it?” Hoekstra serves at the pleasure of Trump, not the Netherlands. And certainly not the ‘fake’ Dutch press. “Oh, Hoekstra provoked liberal foreign media? Well done!”
Beautifully, brilliantly, properly portrayed: “Trump’s base thrives on this kind of bullshit because they believe it only provokes liberals and foreigners. It’s another variant of “Fuck you, what are you going to do about it?”
We are ugly Americans.
Retired U.S. Air Force four-star general Michael Hayden didn’t mince words when it comes to Donald Trump’s “outrageous assault on truth, the free press and the first amendment.”
“I have wasted 40 years of my life” if Trump’s lies represent “who we are,” Hayden said.
I’m amazed at how the liberal establishment has lined up behind the National Security State. But I suppose I should not be. McCarthyism got its start with the Democrats under Truman who needed to suppress the Wallace and Progressive folks on the left.
Russiagate is just the 21st century version.
It’s good to see another trump partisan being exposed as an inveterate, incorrigible liar whose grasp on reality should be questioned relentlessly. They should be treated with nothing but contempt and derision.
UK Independent: “Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Netherlands struggles to defend claim Muslims ‘burned’ Dutch politicians”
Read more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-netherlands-ambassador-peter-hoekstra-islamophobic-comments-muslims-politicians-burned-a8152761.html