When Donald Trump was a presidential candidate visiting Louisiana a few years ago, he made a promise.
His promise came after he caught a lot of flak for calling a "p" noun, another word for cat, but when used as profanity means someone is a coward or a weakling.
"I won't use foul language. I'm just not going to do it," he told a crowd in Baton ROuge at the Raising Cane's River Center in February 2016. "I'll never do it again, actually ..."
Never, he said.
That was a lie.
I'm sure many of you heard what I heard when President Donald Trump was being interviewed by journalists as he was about from the White House to the NATO summit.
If you missed it, this was a moment when the president — rightly so — expressed anger, exasperation and frustration with Iran and Israel after he had announced a ceasefire. "Complete and Total CEASEFIRE," he said on social media.
Small problem: Both Iran and Israel fired after the announcement.
"I'm not happy with them," Trump told a group of reporters. "I'm not happy with Iran either."
That wasn't enough for Trump.
Whether it was anger, off-the-cuff or intentional, the president of these United States, in a position respected across the globe, no matter who occupies it, let loose an f-bomb.
"We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing, you understand that?"
The president and I make different choices when it comes to emphasizing something. He, some Republicans, some Democrats and some others prefer using that four-letter — and some five- and six-letter — cuss words. Instead of saying what he chose to say earlier this month, I might've said "what the heck," or "whiskey tango foxtrot ."
If I were president and I had been relying on Iran and Israel to commit to a ceasefire and they both disappointed me, it's likely I might've said "I'm deeply disappointed that the agreement, our agreement, was violated. There is too much at risk. The world deserves a peaceful resolution without additional strikes — and certainly not nuclear warfare."
If I were really feeling salty, I might add, "If they don't know how serious this is, they can go to the nearest pay phone and call me."
"Oops. Forgive me. I'm chronologically gifted. I guess they can pick up the hotline."
On June 13, Ի and scientists to deter Iran from developing an atomic bomb. Iran retaliated, , killing civilians.
Trump abruptly left the G7 summit June 16 to focus on the Iran-Israel conflict. Then, on June 21, — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — with bunker-buster bombs delivered by seven B-2 stealth bombers.
During his January inauguration speech, Trump asked that he be judged based, in part, on his military moves. "Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen," he said. "We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Is/was what happened in Iran-Israel a battle, a conflict or a war?
Unfortunately, world leaders, prominent politicians, people with huge television and social media platforms and news media have confused the public about what this action should be called. The U.S. Constitution divides the authority and responsibility for military involvement and entering war. further defines who can do what. Only Congress can declare war. The president can direct military operations.
Democratic representatives said the president had violated the War Powers Resolution. , R-Benton, said the WPR is unconstitutional. Democratic and Republican presidents have used the act to justify military actions, so that debate will continue.
Meanwhile, however our nation handles the Biblical land of Persia, it's good to remember that the Bible and the West continued to call the area Persia while the people living there have called it Iran for centuries. Most of the world acknowledged their preference in 1935. The revolution in 1979 solidified the cultural preference when the nation became the .
When candidate Trump was in Baton Rouge, the crowd egged him on, encouraging him not to demur and showered him with colorful language as he spoke. Perhaps Louisiana helped rubber-stamp him cussing at world leaders as many worry about starting World War III.
We don't need four-letter words as a part of "diplomacy."
Just use Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.