Donald Trump: We Need To Be More Like the Terrorists

I know, I know, I wasn’t planning to write about Donald Trump again, and Trump is, well, Trump. But I am going to give in and write about him anyway, because one of the things he said in a recent interview is just too grossly wrong that I can’t let it pass without comment. And I think that’s because of the sheer hypocrisy of his statement.

Here are the relevant comments:

I mean, one of the problems that we have and one of the reason we’re so ineffective, is they’re trying to, they’re using [civilians] as shields. It’s a horrible thing. They’re using them as shields. But we’re fighting a very politically correct war.

And the other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. But they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.

Lauren Nelson has already covered the international law aspect on the Friendly Atheist, so I won’t get into that except to say that Trump is advocating war crimes. Instead I want to point to the sheer hypocrisy of Trump’s statements.

Trump says that ISIS is using civilizes as human shields and rightly describes that as “a horrible thing.” He then advocates that we do what amounts to the same thing, except perhaps even worse—he suggests that we actively and intentionally “take out” civilians. Trump is upset that the terrorists are putting civilians in harm’s way and his response is for us to . . . intentionally and actively kill civilians. Is there any world in which this makes sense?

We like to see ourselves as the “good guys” in conflicts like these, and in this particular case it’s clear to almost everyone that ISIS is bad. What’s less clear is whether we’re good. Being the “good guys” means more than having good intentions, it also means not violating international law, at a bare minimum, and going above and beyond to protect and respect civilian life. At a time when millions of people already look skeptically at us (or worse) as a result of drone strikes, civilian casualties, and abuses at Guantanamo, we have a lot to prove, and Trump isn’t helping.

What’s particularly striking is that, in combatting terrorism, Trump would have the U.S. use the terrorists’ own tactics. Using civilians as military pawns and tools of war is their method, not ours. In some sense Trump is suggesting that, in order to combat terrorists, we should become terrorists ourselves.

I realize that it is unlikely that Trump will win either the nomination or the presidency. Still, Trump clearly reflects the ideas and feelings a not-insignificant segment of the American population, and that’s a problem, especially given that this segment may be the one most invested in patriotic narratives that position the U.S. as the unabashed “good guys.” What’s scary is that Trump and his followers can view the U.S. as the “good guys” while simultaneously advocating for committing war crimes against civilians. That is dangerous.

This is not what being the “good guys” looks like.