Richard Engel knew exactly what was going to happen even before Donald Trump "won" the election.

Damn that is almost spooky how spot on all of his predictions turned out to be.

• Catastrophic for the United States. Check.
• Catastrophic for our position in the world. Check.
• Emboldens our enemies and adversaries. Check.
• Allies terrified we will not be their allies anymore. Check. 
• Trump provokes constitutional crisis. Almost a check.
• Attempts to impeach Trump. Also moving toward a check.
• No longer leading the world. Double check. 

I think in many ways, due to his experience with other governments and dictators around the world, Richard Engel could not help but see this coming.

Actually there were a lot of us who saw this coming, but perhaps not with quite the same clarity that Engel was able to summon on election night.

The sad part is that there are millions who even STILL cannot see what Richard Engel saw so clearly on November 8th.

Furor over Donald Trump's recent remarks reaching critical mass. Update!

Remind you of someone? Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering U.S. @StuBykofsky @joeberkery @PhillyDailyNews Tues. pic.twitter.com/lVc9jjTm2S

— David Lee Preston (@DavidLeePreston) December 8, 2015

You know it has seemed that the Donald was coated in Teflon the way every criticism seemed to slide right off of him without leaving a discernible mark.

However this time Trump may have taken his "politically incorrect" shtick a smidge too far.

Today's @NYDailyNews cover accompanied by an emotional guest column about @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/Ue4IXx97gr pic.twitter.com/X9xLdSlaYG

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 9, 2015

Not only did newly elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan come out strong against Trump's remarks, but even the usually non-partisan reporter Richard Engel could not let this pass:  

"This is really not the country that I know," he said on MSNBC on Monday night. He continued: 

This is not small ball, actually. This matters. It would be interesting to say, "Oh, this is just fun. This is just more, you know, he's trying to score a few points." But the world watches this. The world sees the leading political candidate from one party making these kind of statements and still doing well and having these rallies. ... Those are going around the world right now, and people realize this person is leading in the polls. That must be what Americans think. I was today with an ambassador from the Middle East. Today. And we were talking exactly about this subject. And he said, "Well, people in our country watch what is going on, and it makes us very concerned." So from the world perspective, it is absolutely an image, an impression, a black spot on our collective foreign policy and our conscience. And it also just feeds into the ISIS [Islamic State] narrative.

Ricard Engel is well known for reporting the straight facts, with virtually no political spin, so for him to weigh in like this you have to know that Trump's remarks are upsetting and angering his sources.

In Britain there is already a petition, with well over 200,000 signatures, asking the Parliament to block Donald Trump from entering the UK.

Perhaps even more impactful, at least in Trump's eyes I would imagine, is news that his remarks have pissed off some of the Middle Eastern businessmen that he has long wanted to work a deal with:  

Emirati business magnate Khalaf al-Habtoor only months ago proclaimed his support for the Republican presidential candidate, but that's all changed in the wake of Trump's increasingly incendiary comments about Islam.

"If he comes to my office, I will not let him in. I reject him," al-Habtoor told The Associated Press. "Maybe we can meet somewhere where I can debate with him in a very civilized way, not in the way he approaches people." 

There is no way that I am going to suggest that this is the end of the Donald Trump campaign for President,  because at this point we are so far down the rabbit hole I cannot discern up from down.

However I will say that if this INCREASES his poll numbers, that the Republican party might just as well all start donning their white hoods in public right now.

Because there will no longer be ANY doubt as to just who they are from this point forward. 

Update: Stephen King weighs in as well.

I can no longer tweet about Trump. That anyone in America would even CONSIDER voting for this rabid coyote leaves me speechless.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) December 9, 2015

Such a way with words.

NBC correspondent Richard Engel escapes Syrian kidnappers!

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

NBC News correspondent Richard Engel and his four-person crew have been freed unharmed after being kidnapped inside Syria and subjected to five days of forced moves and death threats. 

The journalists were released Monday following a gun battle between their captors and Syrian rebels at a checkpoint manned by the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, NBC said. They crossed safely back into Turkey. 

Appearing on the “Today” show Tuesday morning, Engel, 39, said his captors were part of a government militia known as Shabiha, which is loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Engel described the kidnappers as Shiite Muslims, trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and allied with Hezbollah. 

The kidnappers told the journalists they wanted to exchange them for four Iranian agents and two Lebanese Shabiha members who had been captured by the rebels, Engel said. That plan was thwarted when the kidnappers unwittingly drove into a rebel checkpoint while trying to move the captives to a new location. In the ensuing gunfight, two of the group’s captors were killed. 

“It is good to be here. I am very happy that we’re able to do this live shot this morning,” Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, said on “Today.”

Yesterday I received a number of comments linking to Gawker and saying that Richard Engel was missing.

On Gawker I learned that NBC had asked for a media blackout and was actively asking people not to tweet or blog about the news. Here is how Gawker rationalized their refusal to comply with the NBC request:  

No one told me anything that indicated a specific, or even general, threat to Engel's safety. No one said, "If you report this, then we know, or suspect, that X, Y, or Z may happen." It was infinitely more vague and general than that.

That, to me, seemed a rather weak justification for doing something that might place another person's life in danger, so I refused to post the story.

You know it is great to be among the first to break a story, and it sometimes makes blogging an exhilarating experience, however there is also a responsibility to make sure you do no harm to others.

I really respect Richard Engel, and think he is one of the best, and most heroic, reporters that I have ever seen. Essentially he is a national treasure and I am beyond glad to see that he is now safely back among us.

I am also glad that those who could not wait to break a story, with little regard for this man's safety, did not seem to complicate his situation or result in harm coming his way. They got lucky this time.

Richard Engel tells Rachel Maddow that things in Afghanistan are much worse than we have been led to believe.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have tried very hard to support President Obama's decisions since he took office. Sometimes it has been difficult. Perhaps the most difficult decision to support of them all was his decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan.

I believe this war is unnecessary, unwinnable, and will ultimately end in disaster. I realize that President Obama is in a very ticklish position. Leaving Afghanistan in the state that it is in right now will have a huge backlash on America, just like pulling out of Vietnam did.

However, there is simply no way to rectify the problems in this country if the military is uncooperative, the political leaders are illegitimate, and the people believe the American forces are invaders.

As we have seen with the "underwear bomber" potential terrorists come from all walks of life, they do not need a base of operation to continue to terrorize the world, but they do need a reason to justify their hate, and the war in Afghanistan provides that.