While he’s doing his best to uphold the taboo against torturing people, he’s doing it in a way that makes him just look terrified of his own intelligence apparatus, and that is not comforting to watch. It may be eminently sensible, but this bending over backwards not to be “sanctimonious” about people who torture folks in their custody and at their mercy is very hard to stomach. And then there’s that taboo against lying that the president is not trying to uphold.
Overall, one of the worst performances of his presidency. But, at least he said “we tortured some folks,” which is unvarnished truth-telling.
