Want to understand any scandal and attempted coverup? Start by following the timeline. In the case of Donald Trump’s deadly Niger scandal, which he’s been desperately trying to cover up since it took place on October 4th, the timeline reveals that four U.S. troops died in such needless fashion – as a direct result of Trump’s own idiotic move five days earlier – that he might as well have pulled the trigger himself.

Yesterday, Palmer Report pointed out that Trump had added the nation of Chad to his Muslim ban in September without explanation, and that Chad had responded by pulling its support troops from Niger. Then last night, Rachel Maddow pinned down the the withdrawal date of Chad’s troops to September 29th. Just five days later, without the support of the Chad troops, the U.S. troops in Niger found themselves outgunned – and four of them died. It was already clear that Trump had at least indirectly caused their deaths. Now it’s becoming more fair to say that he directly caused their deaths.

Chad’s withdrawal from Niger has essentially handed Niger to ISIS, as the small number of U.S. troops stationed there – most of whom are tasked with building a drone farm as opposed to engaging in combat – are clearly no match for the much larger ISIS forces attempting to take over the barren desert nation. It’s been widely reported that the Pentagon repeatedly asked the Trump White House for additional support in Niger, but those requests were ignored. Even as Trump falsely tries to take credit for the Obama era efforts which decimated ISIS in nations like Iraq and Syria, he’s handed an entire nation to ISIS. Yet that may be just the beginning of the scandal.

There are so many unnerving yet necessary questions here, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Why did Trump belatedly add Chad to his Muslim ban, months after he had originally rolled it out? There is no official explanation from the Trump administration. Some have suggested that it was simply an inept mistake. Others have pointed out that ExxonMobil, the former company of Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, had just had a falling out with Chad. And considering Trump’s obsessively jealous desire to undo every inch of President Obama’s legacy, it’s possible Trump punished Chad simply to sabotage the military alliance that Obama had worked out with Chad.

Although the mainstream media is still ignoring it, there’s no overlooking the fact that the governments of Niger and Russia announced a military partnership just seven weeks before the four U.S. troops were killed in Niger. Within the context of Trump’s overwhelming ties to Russia, that probably wasn’t a coincidence. In any case, Trump’s Muslim ban was nothing more than a buffoonish racist fit of rage to begin with, and it got the four U.S. soldiers killed.