Trump Doubles Down on Waterboarding: Even If It Doesn’t Work, They Deserve It Anyway

During a rally last night in Columbus, Ohio, Donald Trump told the crowd “you bet your ass” that he will bring back waterboarding and explore other ideas for enhanced interrogation techniques.

Trump generated yet another controversy when, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, he said he would bring back waterboarding after it was banned in 2006. The practice is meant to simulate the experience of drowning and has been viewed with disapproval by many as a form of torture.

The Constitution forbids the use of punishments that could be seen as “cruel or unusual,” and as the Huffington Post noted, Senate Intelligence Committee reports showed that its use produced a yield of debatable intelligence gains at best for the CIA. Nonetheless, Trump continued to defend the practice because it is “peanuts” compared to ISIS’ brutal methods, and that “I would approve more than that. It works.”

“Believe me, it works. And you know what? If it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway, for what they’re doing,” Trump said. “It works, okay? It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work.”

Watch part of his remarks above, via CNN.

[h/t The Guardian]
[image via screengrab]

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