Ernest Hemingway defined courage as grace under pressure.
One might think a terrorist detonating a suicide vest with his children in tow rather than facing sweet American justice did not live up to Hemingway's description.
One would be wrong.
Just ask Max Boot, the Washington Post columnist who wrote upon the demise of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: "The assertion that Baghdadi died as a coward was, in any case, contradicted by the fact that rather than be captured, he blew himself up."
A response to President Trump's claim the ISIS founder died "whimpering" and "screaming," Boot clearly couldn't abide some well-earned jingoism. But he didn't merely check the president's facts.
Max Boot does not do half measures. He always brings the Maximum Bootness to his takes.
After all, this is the author of "18 Reasons Trump Could Be a Russian Asset" we're talking about. This is the man who brings remarkable variety to his content, such as how he won't vote for Republicans, won't vote for Trump, will vote Democrat, and will never, ever vote Republican.
Boot personifies the age-old question: if a NeverTrumper doesn't remind us every 20 minutes he's a NeverTrumper, has he died?
So nailing the president in this case required praising the most agreed-upon bastard in the known universe. Take note, Resistance members: This is how you do it.
Alas, Boot did not have the courage to stand by his description of the fallen austere religious scholar. He deleted the sentence after social media "backlash."
Yet in this sad ending to the tale, we learn a valuable lesson. Boot, believe it or not, is just a man. Even he can fall short of his own lofty standards, just like the rest of us.
Sometimes, we're just a Minimum Shoe.
We should always strive to be a Max Boot, a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.
