Samantha Power, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Barack Obama, received a lesson in self-awareness over the weekend.
Power took to her Twitter account Saturday to criticize a $110 billion arms deal that President Donald Trump inked with Saudi Arabian King Salman on the same day. Power seemed to oppose the deal arguing that Trump just agreed to provide arms to a country that has killed innocent civilians in Yemen, a country that borders Saudi Arabia to its south.
"For a country whose attacks on civilians in Yemen -- and inability to learn from mistakes -- have been devastating to human life," Power wrote on Twitter.
For a country whose attacks on civilians in Yemen -- and inability to learn from mistakes -- have been devastating… https://t.co/o3zw2mGXau— Samantha Power (@Samantha Power) 1495294904.0
In her tweet, Power appeared to appeal to a moral high road, but Twitter users weren't so convinced.
In fact, the response to Power's tweet was filled mostly with tweets slamming the former Obama official for being a hypocrite. Not only did Obama ink many arms deals with the Saudis, one user pointed out, but the Obama administration also "watched hundreds of thousands of Syrians die and did nothing."
@SamanthaJPower Laughable - dont pretend 2 take the high ground. The admin you worked for watched hundreds of thousands of Syrians die and did nothing
— Khalid Saleh (@khalidh)May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower Obama did $115 billion worth of arms deals with the kingdom.
— فيصل ابراهيم الشمري (@Mr_Alshammeri) May 20, 2017
You were part of the administration hmm
That's hypocrisy Ms.power.
@SamanthaJPower @leloveluck So did you oppose an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Samantha?
— X Soviet (@XSovietNews) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower Come on now this is a bit rich coming from rep of admin that inked 100B in arms deals to #Saudi despite attacks on #yemen civilians
— Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) May 21, 2017
@SamanthaJPower For your records, during Obama's 8 years term, we bought weapons for $115 billion ! Did you oppose those deals back then? No #Hypocrisy pic.twitter.com/X0vyoJMGQU
— بن هباس (@5a1di) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower For context, the Obama administration inked over 100 B in arms deals to Saudi over 2 terms pic.twitter.com/ABcCyEj1We
— Akshaya Kumar (@AkshayaSays) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower @leloveluck So did you oppose an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Samantha?
— X Soviet (@XSovietNews) May 20, 2017
Indeed, the Obama administration offered the Saudis more than $115 billion worth of arms during their eight years in the White House — almost $5 billion more than the deal that Trump inked Saturday — according to a Reuters report last year.
Others piled on, noting the destruction many Obama-era policies likely had in the Middle East:
She watched a genocide unfold in Syria from her office at the UN. https://t.co/iSlVdLGevJ
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower Not to defend the Saudis, but you're leaving out that Iran is in Yemen. But then you & the Admin you represented love Iranian oppression.
— Mark Jacobs (@mr_markjacobs) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower Are you forreal? How many civilians died in Yemen and Pakistan due to your drone strikes?
— يوسف (@CalumChamberss) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower @BaFana3 These attacks on Yemeni civilians started over two years ago, during your watch at the UN.#Hypocrisy
— Jalal Yaqoub (@JalalYaqoub) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower lol you would know. Good job on Libya btw!
— Bruce Failson Reed (@underscoremorgn) May 20, 2017
@SamanthaJPower In today's edition of Self Awareness we give you the foremost example of how-not-to.
— Ed Kirwan (@EKDramatist) May 20, 2017
UNBELIEVABLE: THIS politician has been absent 33.4% of the time, but there’s someone with an even WORSE record