Thread by @bansisharma

"Presidents from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan — and many before and after — took courageous stands for human rights." - Washington Post

Please name the presidents after Reagan who have done this. Weasel words won't do. Maybe the way we conduct foreign policy has changed. 1/

My point is not so much about how Trump is handling Khashoggi's murder, but that the entire mainstream media is holding Trump to a different standard than they ever held Bill Clinton or Barack Obama to. Why is that? 2/

Did you ever read breathless editorials and opinion pieces from NY Times and WaPo excoriating Obama for not vigorously going after the perpetrators of Benghazi assassinations of four Americans? 3/

Did you ever read breathless editorials and opinion pieces from NY Times and WaPo excoriating Bill Clinton for not vigorously going after the perpetrators of World Trade Center bombing? Yes Virginia, WTC was first bombed by Muslim terrorists in 1993, killing six people. 4/

And don't forget how Obama stood up for human rights when he responded to Iranian Green Movement uprising in 2009 by siding with ... Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Find me a WaPo editorial excoriating Obama for his fecklessness. 5/

Liberal mainstream media and Democrats always respond to every international incident by asking Republican presidents to find a way to hurt American interests first and foremost so the weasels can assert their faux moral superiority. 6/

Yes, condemning barbarous behavior abroad is important, but we don't live in a simple world anymore. Sometimes the more effective way to do good is to forgo instant gratification of moral preening, and figure out a way to produce more beneficial outcomes through a longer game. 7/

It remains to be seen how Trump will leverage this situation vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia long term, but I wouldn't rush to judgment that we have seen the end of it. Middle East is a very messy theater. Expect no instant miracles, no matter what. 8/8

The End