Speaking with ABC News on Wednesday night, President Trump said that he would like to resume the use of waterboarding, stating that it works and that we have to fight fire with fire. But he acknowledged that he would follow the lead of CIA director Mike Pompeo and defense secretary James Mattis, both of whom opposed the use of waterboarding. Trump said, if they don't want to do, that's fine. If they do want to do, then I will work toward that end. I want to do everything within the bounds of what you're legally allowed to do. But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works. Pompeo has already stated that he would absolutely not comply with an order to waterboard. The media predictably have gone insane. How could Trump say the torture works? Well, first of all, it's actually unclear whether waterboarding is torture. Some people find it to be self-evidently torture, but as Senator Ted

Cruz said during the primaries, under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is

equivalent to losing organs and systems. This is enhanced interrogation. It is vigorous

interrogation that does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. I've

actually watched my friend Stephen Crowder get waterboarded. It looked highly unpleasant, and Stephen's an idiot and nuts for doing it, but he emerged not only unscathed, but he actually joked during the experience. Waterboarding is used regularly to train Navy SEALs. Then there's the second question, is Trump right? Does waterboarding work? James Mitchell, a former chief CIA interrogator,

wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year, quote,

it is understandable that General Mattis would say he never found waterboarding useful,

because no one in the military has been authorized to waterboard a detainee.

Thousands of U.S. military personnel have been waterboarded as part of their training,

though the services eventually abandoned the practice after finding it too effective in getting even the most hardened warrior to reveal critical

information. Mitchell claims that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man behind the 9-11 attacks, a crucial

source of American information about al-Qaeda, only broke because of waterboarding. KS.M was

waterboarded some 183 times. Crowder, by the way, was waterboarded several times just during the session that I watched by way of contrast.

Jose Rodriguez, who once headed the CIA National Clandestine Service, has claimed that terrorist mastermind Abu Zubida also gave up key intelligence after being waterboarded.

In the media's ardent desire to paint Donald Trump as a nutty dictator in waiting,

they've actually made Trump more popular.

Again, Trump isn't saying anything that Americans don't believe.

A poll from last March showed that almost two-thirds of Americans thought waterboarding was appropriate

for use on suspected terrorists.

Only 15% of Americans thought waterboarding should be ruled out entirely.

Trump has his finger on the pulse of Americans when it comes to rhetoric about fighting terrorism.

The media's overstated outrage only makes it clear why Americans trust Trump to fight terrorism rather than the members of the press.

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