President Trump referred to his own “great and unmatched wisdom” in a tweet on Monday, the latest in a string of boastful remarks the controversial, divisive commander-in-chief has made during his rocky tenure.
“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” Trump tweeted. “They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families.”
....the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2019
Trump has, in the past, referred to himself as a “very stable genius.” As recently as last week, in a news conference with the president of Finland, he said, “There are those that think I’m a very stable genius.”
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This summer, talking to reporters, he also said, “I am the chosen one” and looked up to the sky, while arguing that he was waging a trade war with China that should have been waged by others years ago.
Earlier the same day, he had retweeted a quote from a non-Jewish conservative radio host who described Trump as the “King of Israel” and claimed Israeli Jews “love him like he is the second coming of God.”
Trump has also claimed he deserves a Nobel Prize, saying last month, “I think I’m going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.”
Trump’s “great and unmatched wisdom” tweet was one of a stream of nearly two dozen tweets and retweets he sent Monday.
The threat to Turkey’s economy in the tweet was a reaction to the overwhelming criticism of his stunning earlier announcement that the United States would pull its troops out of Syria for an expected Turkish attack on the Kurds, who have fought alongside the Americans for years, officials suggested to the Associated Press.
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The unusual language of Trump’s tweet elicited criticism, alarm, and derision on the Internet, even as his decision to pull out the troops was widely decried as a potential catastrophe for the Kurds.
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, who is waging a long-shot challenge for the GOP nomination against Trump, tweeted that it was “the unhinged raging of a megalomaniacal malignant narcissist who feels his powers slipping away.”
“Great and unmatched wisdom"?? All we have seen from @realDonaldTrump is unmatched greed and corruption, and now—the unhinged raging of a megalomaniacal malignant narcissist who feels his powers slipping away. Truly disturbing to watch this truly disturbed POTUS unravel. pic.twitter.com/tPWtcalWyb
— Gov. Bill Weld (@GovBillWeld) October 7, 2019
Former US labor secretary Robert Reich, who served under Bill Clinton, tweeted that it was the “language of an authoritarian.”
"Great and unmatched wisdom"
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) October 7, 2019
"I am the chosen one."
"What you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening."
"I alone can fix it."
"The press is the enemy of the people."
"[Immigrants] will infest our country."
This is the language of an authoritarian.
Some Twitter wags heard a similarity between the phrase “great and unmatched wisdom” and the wizard of Oz’s description of himself as the “great and powerful wizard of Oz.”
George Takei, the actor and activist, cited a remark by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in a debate last month that Trump reminded her of the wizard and his ultimate unmasking.
Kamala Harris was right. The “great and powerful Wizard of Oz” is just a little man behind the curtain. https://t.co/Ufjs9ZkIdt
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 7, 2019
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report.