Donald Trump is totally owning low-energy RINO chump Jeb! Bush on one of the most crucial questions of the GOP primary: What really happened on 9/11? Trump has blamed Jeb's brother, former President George W. Bush, for failing to "keep us safe" from al-Qaeda on that tragic day. On Tuesday, the Donald doubled down, according to the news website InfoWars:
"They did know it was coming. George Tenet, the head of the CIA, told them it was coming. So they did have advanced notice," the billionaire candidate added.
Trump emphasized once again that he was not "blaming" Bush for 9/11, but did say "They said that our country was safe under Bush. Well, what about the World Trade Center coming down in the worst attack in history?"
Trump is entirely correct that US intelligence, and in particular the CIA had advanced knowledge of 9/11. This was documented by every major news organisation just days and weeks after the attacks and it is not a conspiracy theory.
George W. Bush should have listened to Trump, who accurately predicted the 9/11 attacks in his 2000 bestseller, The America We Deserve:
Trump, who at the time was considering a presidential bid on the Reform Party ticket, went so far as to say that an attack on a major U.S. city was not just a probability, but an inevitability.
"I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers," wrote Trump in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. "No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen."
Trump even mentions Osama bin Laden by name, in a criticism of an American foreign policy that too quickly jumps from one crisis to the next.
"One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan," The Donald wrote. "He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis."
Trump made a sophisticated point on Twitter:
See, the attack very possibly could have been stopped. We need real leadership and vision. https://t.co/JA1Fo5H6FP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015
As much as I respect Donald Trump for his formidable genius and rock-hard analytical foresight, as a top supporter of his campaign I must express disappointment at Trump's failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Normal citizens, especially RINO dopes like the Bushes, whose brains weren't expertly forged in the high-stakes world of billion-dollar deals—and who did NOT go to Wharton—simply are not capable of envisioning terrorist attacks before they happen.
With great power comes great responsibility. Instead of writing about it in a book, Trump could have brought some of his considerable financial resources to bear against al-Qaeda, and destroyed them with tremendous capability. Perhaps he could have run for president in 2000 and won? That would have shown real leadership. Donald Trump is a very wealthy man, with many thousands of employees, and a global brand, and a bully pulpit that is, if anything, more effective than the one occupied by any non-Trump president of the United States.
The only possible conclusion: If Trump had been more aggressive in warning the United States about Bush's vulnerability to terrorism, it's highly likely Osama bin Laden would have failed.
Trump remains the only candidate with the virility America needs to become great again. But it would have been nice if he had prevented 9/11 from happening. And we should probably hold against him the fact that he didn't stop an attack he clearly foresaw.
Disclosure: The author has donated to the Trump campaign and is the Donald's #1 fan. His editors have given him permission to discuss the Trump campaign as we await the findings of the Biff Diddle probe of his donations.