Nigeria Clarifies What Really Happened With Trump’s Airstrikes | The Nigerian foreign ministry is fact-checking Donald Trump.

When the Nigerian government sounds more professional (and more mature than a 5 year old) than the U.S. government…

So while these airstrikes were joint coordinated with Nigerian officials, authorities pushed back against Trump’s claims that “Christian persecution” and the “slaughtering of Christians” were uniquely the problem and the rationale behind these bombings.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed that Christians in Nigeria are facing widespread oppression and disproportionate killings. They’ve used this argument to justify threats of military escalation, air strikes and sanctions.

But, as you might expect, the situation is more nuanced and complex.

The fact of the matter is, both Christians and Muslims are being killed. A larger portion of the victims of these armed groups are actually Muslim, and also because these attacks are being orchestrating in majority Muslim regions.

Data not only shows that Muslims are being explicitly targeted more than Christians, but also that these deaths pale in comparison to the total number of civilians who are being killed as a result of armed conflict and who have no religious affiliations. Meaning that there really isn’t evidence of the disproportionate targeting of Christians.

Do these terrorist groups attack Christians? Yes, but not only Christians.

Even when it comes to the sub-conflict between Fulani Herders and some Christian farming communities, the violence is predominantly rooted in non-religious dynamics and motivations.

This whole narrative of global Christian persecution and “genocide” is no doubt linked to this administration’s promotion of white nationalist/supremacist talking points.

The government is stacked with appointees and staff members who amplify extremist rhetoric, push racist conspiracy theories, and pander to white supremacist and Christian nationalist sympathies. This can’t go without mentioning Stephen Miller, who is one of the loudest mouthpieces for the Trump administration and has almost single-handedly helped center its messaging around white nationalist grievances.

These officials have also adopted harsh rhetoric that is openly hostile towards non-white groups; including, of course, minorities, immigrants, Muslims, and marginalized segments of society.

It’s not just the Trump administration either. These narratives are also heavily promoted by right wing “influencers” on social media, Christian nationalist/evangelical networks and Republican lawmakers.

It’s become a unifying cause and rallying point for conservatives; a persistent theme that Republicans often fall back on to provoke hostility, fear and outrage from the far right.

They come to believe that their very identity is under attack, which is then used to justify extremist, anti-immigrant attitudes and military interventionism.

So, when the Trump administration frames the violence in Nigeria as a direct attack against Christians, It can also conveniently ignore the fact that Muslim civilians are frequently the victims and targets of armed terrorist groups in the region.

This is no coincidence. If Republicans can control the narrative in a way that emphasizes Christians as the only casualties of targeted violence in places like Nigeria, then this affords them free license to continue scapegoating and demonizing minority groups or communities of people with disparate religious, ethic and cultural backgrounds.

They can carry on with their racist, xenophobic conspiracy theories and their hostile rhetoric aimed at Muslims and African immigrants; identifying these groups as existential threats to a white, Christian hegemony, and even “western civilization” itself.

Slightly off topic but there’s a hilarious, and I do mean hilarious, situation that is ongoing in America. The first wave of ‘persecuted’ white South Africans got off the plane in America, presumably glad to be alive. The next day they went to wherever you go to affirm your refugee status. The Department in charge of refugee status said ‘there’s nothing happening in South Africa that could have caused you to flee, you don’t qualify.’ (This is back when Trump believed any old shit that Musk told him. ) So now, there’s five hundredish white South Africans who are pretty much destitute in America. Having renounced citizenship of their own country they can’t go back. Having been denied refugee status they can’t claim government assistance and they’re not allowed to work. Tiny violin.

Pretty telling that the strikes came 24 hours after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative prohably had a bead on the cell responsible but didn’t have the reach to hit them. Which is kind of the whole point of the initiative.

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. But what’s the point of doing this when you banned Nigerians from even coming here. I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t even care enough to allow Nigerians to come here, why do you care about what happens there.

In a nutshell Trump needs to build support for violence with a base that prefers isolationism. Easiest way to do that is say Christians are being targeted. It’s a half truth, many people are being targeted including Christians.

So the strike was good, but the lie about specific christian persecution is red meat for trump’s zombie base.

“Look at that face!” 😄

*The New Republic* is hardly an unbiased factchecker either.

Trump and white house is lying

Pedophile bombs other country to distract from being a pedophile.

Fixed your headline.