The President Who Cried Wolf

by Tom Shafer

February 27, 2020

You likely know this Aesop’s fable.  A shepherd boy cries “wolf” several times as he is watching his flock, then laughs at villagers who arrive to find no wolf.  When a real wolf shows up, the boy cries out again, but no villagers come.  His flock scatters and he returns to the village weeping, telling them what has happened.  An old man comforts the boy, saying that he will help find his sheep in the morning.  Of course, in true Aesop fashion, the old man then philosophizes, “Nobody believes a liar – even when he is telling the truth.”

The modern version of this fable involves a U.S. President who has had a long history with falsehoods and fabrications, going all the way back to his business career in the seventies.  Alair Townsend, former deputy mayor of New York City and publisher of Crain’s New York Business, once said, “I wouldn’t believe Donald Trump if his tongue were notarized.”

Now, Trump has ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani, claiming that he “was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel.”  Within twenty-four hours, Trump surrogates were already walking back the word “imminent,” and still no one from the administration is providing any specifics about those “attacks.”

Of course, the Trump-right believes this claim because they drank the Kool-Aid long ago.  But the rest of us, well, we find it difficult to believe anything Trump says because he might well be the most prolific liar of all time. 

Without a doubt, Suleimani was a bad actor and had been for many years, and was likely behind a series of recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities and detained oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.  He was also responsible for numerous American deaths throughout the region.  But there are lots of bad actors in the world, many who are responsible for atrocities far worse than Suleimani (think Duterte, al-Bashir, and Afwerki).  But we don’t just “take out” bad actors on a whim – though we certainly have the capability to do so.  In fact, we could have eliminated Suleimani many times over the past several years.  But, we didn’t because we considered the ramifications of his death, ultimately applying the proverb “better the devil you know.”

However, with the assassination, Trump was reacting to media outlets who were calling his responses to these recent events in the Middle East “weak.”  He acted only after the death of an American contractor in Iraq – in an effort to save face and look strong on the world stage.  (Interestingly, it took Trump twelve days to respond to the deaths of four American soldiers in Tongo Tongo, Nigeria, in 2017 – and no one was assassinated in the aftermath.)

I want to believe Trump.  I want to believe that he was truly acting to protect American ambassadors, soldiers, and citizens.  I want to believe that our intelligence agencies provided evidence of imminent threats to American assets or personnel.  I want to think that Trump can step beyond the fray and be presidential, or more importantly, President of the United States.

But unfortunately, he is merely a shepherd boy crying wolf.  We will discover no imminent threats or actionable intelligence.  We will learn that our citizenry abroad was in no more danger than usual before Suleimani’s assassination – but are definitely more threatened now. 

No, at the end of this, we will find an impish Trump, caught up in yet another lie, perhaps bringing the world to the brink of war.  I’m pretty sure Aesop doesn’t have a fable for this tall tale.  But American writer, cartoonist, and humorist James Thurber does – check out his graphic parable, “The Last Flower.”

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