Holy telephone game... the Kissinger quote you are referring to was about if they let the South Vietnamese leader fall, then the world would take away the message that we wouldn't support our allies.

Instead we get this butchered caricature all over the internet

"If Thieu meets the same fate as Diem, the word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal"