ACTUAL “SMART DIPLOMACY” IN ACTION: “White House officials said Mr. Trump took a personal interest in her case…. ‘He just said, ‘Let’s bring her home.’”

It’s hard — isn’t it? — for the liberal media to give President Trump credit for anything, but they should gracefully give him the credit he genuinely deserves. Imagine what the NYT would look like if President Obama had brought Aya Hijazi home! Trump was portrayed in a negative light for cozying up to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, but the Obama administration tried and failed to bring Hijazi home. . . .

Let’s talk about which is better, Obama’s words or Trump’s words? Do Trump’s words seem ridiculous and clownish — calling Sisi “fantastic” — when we see that Trump got results? . . .

Successful action is camouflaged in verbiage about things that have been said. Some of his words may sound like confusion, but that doesn’t mean Trump is confused about what he is saying. Maybe he knows how to use words. There’s an awful lot of evidence that he does. You can look down on him and call him confused, but when the results come in, you ought to question your analysis of what he is doing with words.

Acknowledging that would interfere with the smugness.