Trump misspells his defence secretary's name in rambling rant about securing oil in Syria

[progree]

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2019, 12:07 PM - Edit history (5)

Source: The Independent (UK)

Donald Trump has misspelled his defence secretary's name while discussing his controversial decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria.

The US president tried to quote Mark Esper in a tweet, but instead he referred to him as "Mark Esperanto".

He wrote: "Mark Esperanto, Secretary of Defense, "The ceasefire is holding up very nicely. There are some minor skirmishes that have ended quickly."

In a rambling conclusion the president added "USA soldiers are not in combat or ceasefire zones. We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!"

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-misspells-defence-secretary-name-132248368.html

---

To me, a bigger and disgusting story is Trump saying, "We have secured the Oil"

So he's admitting it was all about Oil, that's all that mattered? (Yes, he capitalized oil)

And did we really "secure the Oil"? I need some explanation of that.

And resettled the Kurds in "new areas"?

and "bringing soldiers home". Esper said they are going to Iraq ( https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50117765 ) . This is another big story.

I'm working on getting the Twitter thing, but appears to have been deleted?

Well here is the content of the tweet:

Mark Esperanto, Secretary of Defense, "The ceasefire is holding up very nicely. There are some minor skirmishes that have ended quickly. New areas being resettled with the Kurds." USA soldiers are not in combat or ceasefire zones. We have secured the Oil. Bringing soldiers home!

-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019

He's apparently quoting Esper, but there are stories out there that Esper said nothing about oil or settling Kurds. Or bringing soldiers home. Here's one example:
https://taskandpurpose.com/trump-mark-esperanto-tweet

which is another big story if true - making up quotes, of his defense secretary no less.

Edited to add - yes, per BumRushDaShow in #6, the tweet I'm showing was deleted and about 2 hours later another tweet was posted. Essentially the same tweet content-wise except (a) Esper's name is correctly spelled, and, (b) rather significantly, "Bringing soldiers home!" was replaced by "Ending endless wars!"

The article title is unfortunate (with its focus on the misspelling), but Latest Breaking News rules require that we use the title of the article as the title of the OP. I would never have titled my OP this way if I had a choice.

[trusty elf]

1. Syphilis and dementia, a terrible combination

[Eugene]

2. Trump Said to Favor Leaving a Few Hundred Troops in Eastern Syria

Last edited Mon Oct 21, 2019, 12:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: New York Times

Trump Said to Favor Leaving a Few Hundred Troops in Eastern Syria

The president appears to be trying to balance competing impulses: bringing troops home while ensuring that efforts to contain ISIS will continue — and answering withering criticism for his Syria policy.

By Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman
Oct. 20, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump is leaning in favor of a new Pentagon plan to keep a small contingent of American troops in eastern Syria, perhaps numbering about 200, to combat the Islamic State and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region’s coveted oil fields, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

If Mr. Trump approves the proposal to leave a couple of hundred Special Operations forces in eastern Syria, it would mark the second time in 10 months that he has reversed his order to pull out nearly all American troops from the country. Last December, Mr. Trump directed 2,000 American troops to leave Syria immediately, only to relent later and approve a more gradual withdrawal.

The decision would also be the potential second major political reversal in a matter of days under pressure from his own party, after he rescinded on Saturday a decision to host next year’s Group of 7 summit at his own resort.

Mr. Trump has come under withering criticism from former military commanders, Democrats and even some of his staunchest Republican allies for pulling back United States troops from Syria’s border with Turkey, clearing the way for a Turkish offensive that in nearly two weeks has killed scores of Syrian Kurdish fighters and civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/world/middleeast/trump-troops-syria-turkey.html

[progree]

3. Thanks, very interesting. It's getting harder and harder to keep up.

(By the way, did you mean Source: New York Times ? )

[Eugene]

22. Thanks for catching that.

[Maxheader]

11. 200, to combat the Islamic State

I dunno..maybe enough in a small scope engagement
but then they add;

and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region’s coveted oil fields

Whoa nelly!! Talking a whole new ballgame there stumpy..200?? Get real dumb shit...

[olegramps]

29. The damage can not undone: He can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, but I will watch him try.

[dem in texas]

4. In the Middle East, it's always about the oil

Remember when we first went into Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz said the oil would pay for our troops and the invasion - Ha! What a fool he was.

[Paladin]

21. Always. Always. (nt)

[aggiesal]

24. Or that the original name of GW McIdiot's Iraq invasion was "Operation Iraqi Liberation" ...

or OIL for short.

They changed it immediately.

[jcmaine72]

5. Jesus H Hanukkah.

We've got to get this hollow-headed imbecile out of office. The sooner the better.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. That original tweet actually did get deleted

/snip

Around two hours later, that tweet had been deleted and the president posted another one with the correct spelling of Esper’s name.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/trump-refers-defense-secretary-esper-esperanto-tweet-syria.html

But it was captured by others -

Link to tweet

TEXT
Kyle Griffin
✔
@kylegriffin1

The name of Trump's Secretary of Defense is Mark Esper. Not Esperanto.
View image on Twitter
16.4K
9:25 AM - Oct 20, 2019

The updated tweet ended up being this -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

“The ceasefire is holding up very nicely. There are some minor skirmishes that have ended quickly. New areas being resettled with Kurds. U.S. soldiers are not in combat or ceasefire zone. We have secured the Oil.” Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense. Ending endless wars!
73.4K
11:03 AM - Oct 20, 2019

None of the reporters traveling with Esper heard anything mentioned about oil, etc. -

/snip

It’s also unclear what Trump was referring to when he wrote that “We have secured the Oil.” In fact, some journalists traveling with Esper noted that they didn’t recognize the quote the president was citing. “I’m travelling with Defense Secretary Esper and cant recall the quote Trump is using,” tweeted Reuters correspondent Idrees Ali. “While speaking with us Enroute to Afghanistan, Esper also made no mention of new areas being resettled with Kurds or oil.” The Wall Street Journal’s Nancy Youssef agreed, saying she “did not hear Esper mention resettled Kurds or oil.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/trump-refers-defense-secretary-esper-esperanto-tweet-syria.html

All of these lies are talking point assertions for his base that go back to his ridiculous "campaign promises", because to them, whatever he says is "gospel" and anything else is "fake news".

[progree]

14. Wow, "Bringing soldiers home!" morphed into "Ending endless wars!"

Thanks BRDS. I noticed the two tweets towards the end of my long "evening" (went to bed at 4am Central) and thought "what is going on" and just threw up my hands. Thanks much for clarifying.

I also noticed that "Bringing soldiers home!" in the first tweet was replaced by "Ending endless wars!" in the second one.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. The tweets have been a literal "Diary of a Madman"

The soldiers are not being brought "home". They are being redeployed elsewhere in the area - meanwhile he sent 1800 troops to Saudi Arabia.

As they say - watch what he does, not what he says.

[progree]

18. I think the "madman" thing is contagious, I think I'm beginning to lose my grip too. nt

[gab13by13]

7. There are oil and gas pipelines

that go through Syria that Russia administers and makes big money from. The gas and oil is coming from Iran and Iraq. Maybe Trump is saying he secured the oil for Russia?

[safeinOhio]

8. Now he is sending 2,000 American troops to Saudi Arabia

to secure the oil?

[gab13by13]

9. Quid pro quo,

The Saudis pay in cash and stay at Trump properties. Nothing to see here other than the selling out of America to Donald Trump.

[bill]

10. Isn't Esper....

Esperanto in Esperanto?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

31. Yes, and Mike speaks many languages.

[Ramsey Barner]

12. And now, "We have secured the oil" in Esperanto:

"Ni havas sekurigitan la petrolonjnn"

Also: "America First" = "Usono Unua"

https://traduku.net/

[flibbitygiblets]

30. Nicely done.

[left-of-center2012]

13. "Bringing soldiers home!" -- Nope, they're going to Iraq

All news channels say they are being sent to northern Iraq,
and not coming home.

[PatSeg]

15. And I'm quite sure

the Secretary of Defense did not say, "The ceasefire is holding up very nicely." That sounds like something Trump would say in his fifth grade vocabulary.

[progree]

17. US SpecOps forces jeered in Syria: "America liar! Fuck Turkish! Fuck America!" (with video)

US SpecOps forces jeered in Syria: "America liar! Fuck Turkish! Fuck America!"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212605365 (Dennis Donovan thread )

with video showing Kurdish residents throwing tomatos and who knows what else at departing U.S. military vehicles.

[Arthur_Frain]

19. Listen, he tweets a remarkable number of idiotic things

But my first thought on seeing this story was “auto complete claims another victim”.

The rest of the quote is his usual gibberish, but drawing focus to this specifically seems questionable to me. Worse, it looks stupid and petty. Don’t we really have bigger fish to fry this week?

[progree]

20. Listen, I agree that the misspelling of Esper is not a big deal. But as for making up quotes from

his own secretary of defense and claiming we are bringing troops home, and the "we have secured the oil" nonsense and resettled the Kurds -- this is newsworthy IMHO, especially from a madman with the launch codes.

It's also an opportunity to discuss what the heck is happening over there and what is the U.S. intending to do next -- the tweets raise a lot of questions.

The article title is unfortunate (with its focus on the misspelling), but Latest Breaking News rules require that we use the title of the article as the title of the OP. I would never have titled my OP this way if I had a choice.

Thank you for sharing your concerns.

Don’t we really have bigger fish to fry this week?

Well, go fry them, nobody is stopping you.

[aggiesal]

23. "There are some minor skirmishes that have ended quickly", translation ...

the insurgents kurds were massacred.

[SpankMe]

25. Looks like an auto-suggested text error to me

My phone suggests many words as I start typing. I've sent out "buffoon" instead of "buff" and other choice errors.

Trump is still the most corrupt asshole ever to hold the office. But, this isn't a misspelling. It's an auto-complete snafu.

[Wellstone ruled]

26. Well,this morning at 9:30 the

Chinook Helios based at Nellis Air Base ferried to California for transport to the Mid East. All Sixty of the Nevada Air Guard Chinook's are being transported as well as their crews. Full Mobilization.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

32. I do NOT like the sound of that.

[Wellstone ruled]

33. Crews are getting a one week crash course

training session in Texas. Understand it is the whole Guard Unit being deployed.

60 Chinooks is one hell of a lot of Helio's. Which means a massive troop deployment of a massive Bug out is planned.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

34. Have you ever seen a Chinook ?

Those things are huge. And unlike other choppers, they are not the easiest things to fly because of their gargantuan size. You say a one-week "crash course" -- that may be more true than it sounds.

Now, they're sending 60 of them ?

If you want to "bug out" massive amounts of personnel and materiel, you call in the NAVY. You don't off-load in a convoy of Chinooks.

This does not pass the smell test . . . .

[Yavin4]

27. Sorry, auto correct is no excuse.

A president's words can start a war. You have to be careful with everything that you say. That's why you have proofreaders on staff 24/7.

[Zambero]

28. What's the big deal with adding a few more letters and a couple extra syllables?

It's in keeping with the false and misleading content included in the tweet.