Donald Trump threatened that the U.S. could launch military action against Nigeria after becoming irate while watching a Fox News segment.
Trump posted two unhinged messages on Truth Social over the weekend, warning that the U.S. could target the West African nation “guns-a-blazing” after viewing a report on his favourite network about Christians being killed by Islamic terrorist groups, sources told CNN.
The president was said to have become “immediately” angered by the Fox News segment while traveling aboard Air Force One, and fired off his first post shortly after landing in Florida.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN,’” Trump wrote. “The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”
Trump escalated further on Saturday, suggesting that the U.S. could launch a “fast, vicious, and sweet” attack as part of a crusade to protect Christians in the allied nation.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote.
Trump instructed the Pentagon to prepare for possible action, prompting U.S. Africa Command personnel to be recalled to headquarters in Germany over the weekend to discuss contingency plans, according to CNN.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that potential action against Nigeria “could” involve sending U.S. troops into the country.
“I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing a record number of Christians in Nigeria,” Trump said. “And killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told CNN the government is “shocked” that Trump is “mulling” an invasion.
The Fox News report Trump watched largely ignored the fact that Islamic militant groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State’s branch in West Africa have killed far more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria. Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, even expressed this view last month following a meeting with President Tinubu.
“People of all religions and of all tribes are dying, and it is very unfortunate, and we even know that Boko Haram and ISIS are killing more Muslims than more Christians,” Boulos said. “So people are suffering from all sorts of backgrounds. This is not specifically targeted at one group or the other.”
In a statement to CNN White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “At President Trump’s direction, the Department of War is planning options for possible action to stop the killing of Christians in Nigeria. Any announcements will come from the President directly.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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