Never-Trump CNN analyst and Washington Post contributor Max Boot argued in an op-ed for the newspaper that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “blew himself up,” so he “did not die a coward.”

Boot deleted the line, but only after facing serious backlash following its publication.

The neoconservative pundit’s article was titled “Baghdadi’s death could have been Trump’s finest hour. He messed it up anyway,” and originally argued that “the assertion that Baghdadi died as a coward was, in any case, contradicted by the fact that rather than be captured, he blew himself up.”

Washington Post columnist Max Boot says that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was not a "coward" because he blew himself up instead of being captured #1. Committing suicide instead of facing justice is the definition of cowardice #2. He also blew up three 3 kids in the process pic.twitter.com/4DyQu3a7UE — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 28, 2019

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A sane person might argue that suicide, rather than being taken into American custody, was the act of a coward. It is important to note that the terror leader did not only kill himself, he also killed three of his children in the blast.

An update at the bottom of the article now reads, “an earlier version of this column included a sentence questioning whether Trump was right to call Baghdadi a coward. The line was removed because it unintentionally conveyed the impression that I considered Baghdadi courageous. As I wrote on Sunday, ‘Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was, as President Trump said, ‘a sick and depraved man,’ so his removal from this earth is good news.'”

An earlier version included a sentence questioning whether Trump was right to call Baghdadi a coward. That was removed b/c it wrongly conveyed the impression that I considered Baghdadi courageous. As I wrote Sun: Baghdadi was "a sick and depraved man." https://t.co/R77v7ef0GR — Max Boot (@MaxBoot) October 28, 2019

Boot also tweeted something backpedaling his earlier assertion — but was still met with the outrage and mockery that he deserved.

Given that you view the leader of ISIS as a profile in courage, does this mean you would sooner vote for Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi than you would vote for Trump?! #BlueWave #Resist #Drumpf! — Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) October 28, 2019

Seeing the left defend a rapist & mass murdering terrorist has been fun to watch #TrumpEffect😂 pic.twitter.com/5NQfXKb7UY — Melissa Tate (@TheRightMelissa) October 28, 2019