when explaining to the American people that he , too , cares about terrorism ? The Turkey press conference , I told him , “ was a moment for you as a politician to say , ‘ Yeah , I hate the bastards too , and by the way , I am taking out the bastards . ’ ” The easy thing to do would have been to reassure Americans in visceral terms that he will kill the people who want to kill them . Does he fear a knee - jerk reaction in the direction of another Middle East invasion ?