One might think it's a smoke screen to distract Americans from whatever shenanigans the Trump government is up to now.

I guess that this government thinks that if they can distract people with trouble abroad by a lot of posturing and warmongering, they will get away with anything. Like taking away basic healthcare from millions of people to give tax cuts to a couple of hundred extremely wealthy families, for example.

Eish

Trying to say that all politicians lie or distract is an excuse for any one politician to lie or distract is an argumentative fallacy.

Besides there has never been in the history of a democracy a leader like Trump who has lied so blatantly and does not even keep track of his lies. Short term memory loss? I, informally, and many others, have been keeping track of what he tweets in the early morning before something might happen that is negative for him - such as when Comey was to testify. Usually it is something meant to distract, even outrageous. But it is working for him with his base.

And his nastiness is on display for all to see, yet Forever Trumpers think it is great and continue to support him. Check out his tweets today about TV personalities - tweets I won't even repeat here.

Buzzito, If you want him, you are welcome to him with the hope you keep him and his ideas behind the walls of your borders. Unfortunately his negativity is creeping north with a minority of Canadians, although a recent Pew Research poll shows that most of us dislike him intensely, do not trust him, and do not think he will do what is best in foreign affairs, while most of us thought Obama would do what was best in foreign affairs of the world.

And it is disheartening that you still mention Benghazi after all the money wasted on investigations and witch hunts by Republicans that produced no results. Where were you when all this went on by Republicans?

Most dstractions have been brought on with investigations by Republicans who are now still even trying to get investigations of Hillary when she is just a citizen while Trump is using unsecured phones and giving the Russians information right in the WH that could compromise security. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Related - I can't even imagine a party that would be so stupid as to spend a million dollars to hijack a member of THEIR OWN party because he does not like a horrible GOP healthcare bill. And he is up for reelection.

US Has Long Record of Starting Wars on False Pretexts.

The statements of US policymakers about the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Assad are often being compared with the famous speech of US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the UN Security Council in 2003.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK: So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”

General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned - Seven Countries In Five Years