Donald Trump reacted to the suicide bombings at the airport in Istanbul by claiming that we need to torture our enemies. MSNBC reports,
Trump seemed particularly annoyed that the United States feels the need to act lawfully. “We have laws; they don’t have laws,” the GOP candidate said last night in Ohio, adding, “Their laws say you can do anything you want and the more vicious you are the better.”
From there, Trump transitioned to emphasizing his support for barbarism. “You have to fight fire with fire,” he declared. “We have to be so strong. We have to fight so viciously. And violently because we’re dealing with violent people viciously.”
Trump added, “Can you imagine [ISIS members] sitting around the table or wherever they’re eating their dinner, talking about the Americans don’t do waterboarding and yet we chop off heads? They probably think we’re weak, we’re stupid, we don’t know what we’re doing, we have no leadership. You know, you have to fight fire with fire.”
I could not care less whether members of ISIS think we are weak and stupid. Their opinions are irrelevant. We will win the war against ISIS on the battlefield with superior military forces, tactics and weapons. We will win the hearts and minds of the people by fighting honorably and respecting the rule of law.
Torture, which includes waterboarding, is prohibited by international law. When used during witness interrogations, it does not reliably produce the truth. Instead, it produces confirmation of the interrogator’s suspicions. Used otherwise, it’s a manifestation of a psychosexual disturbance that will produce incalculable suffering, multigenerational hate, desire for revenge and war everlasting.
Donald Trump is unfit to govern because he does not understand the consequences of using torture. He is a one-trick pony who only thinks in terms of being meaner and nastier than his opponents. The world is not a junior high school playground and he needs professional help.