Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete F.
Fool, if you kill a whole nation it’s not genocide?
Good luck with that
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First, I went by your choice of definition by the Oxford Dictionary, as well as Webster's. By those definitions, we committed genocide. By those definitions, all wars in which large numbers of people are killed would be considered to be genocides. There is a reason that they are not, except by people who have some agenda, anti-war, hate for or ideological differences with the winners, etc. Destruction caused by war, especially defensive war against those who try to kill or destroy you, is considered horrific collateral damage. Genocide is the killing of large numbers of people with whom you are not necessarily at war with for domination or defense, but whom you wish to eliminate simply because they are who they are. We do not consider the destruction of the German state along with the killing of millions of Germans in WWI and WWII to be genocides. We didn't consider the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to be genocides.
Second, Your quote "I don’t want to kill 10 million people,” he said. “I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth, it would be gone, it would be over in literally 10 days” begins with Trump saying he didn't want to kill 10 million people. That is the opposite of genocide in which the intended objective is absolutely to kill those people. Nor did Trump express any animus against Afghans or any desire to kill them all. Which is the opposite of the motivation for genocide. His quote actually, if you read it carefully, implies that he doesn't even want to have that war as in "if I wanted to win that war".
What he did imply was that among the various plans for dealing with the Taliban, there was one that could result in the destruction of the Afghan state. I would assume that if he wanted to commit genocide that he would have gone along with that plan, actually did it, basically so he could kill all the Afghans, not merely to win a war. He didn't. And it wouldn't have been considered genocide, just as the destruction of the German state in WWII was not considered genocide. He even wanted to meet with the Taliban to work things out. Which is the opposite of wanting to commit genocide.
But, by the simplistic definitions in Oxford and Webster, one could say that it would be genocide. And that our wars in Germany, and Japan, and Viet Nam were genocides. If that is what you actually think, then I have a glimmer of insight into why you think Trump threatened genocide rather than to win a war.
But, actually, I believe you chose that word for effect rather than accuracy. You like to paint everything Trump does or says as a horror show. And I think you are not only a fool for thinking that Trump actually threatened genocide, but that you are a malevolent ideologue who wants to destroy Trump--a sort of mini political and even personal "genocide" against him.