Is Trump’s Presidency Doomed?
Here’s an opinion piece in today’s Los Angeles Times predicting that the Trump presidency won’t end well. While this may be a widely held belief, the author offers an interesting set of reasoning; he bases his prediction on an observation first written by the ancient Greek philosopher (“nothing endures but change”) Heraclitus: Our character defines our fate.
He notes that the things that bedevil Trump’s tenure in office have little to do with his ideology, but rather his character, that intangible quality that social scientist James Q. Wilson defines as decency, politeness, self-restraint, commitment, honesty, cooperativeness and the ability to think of others’ well-being.
Let’s examine that last ingredient, i.e., the ability to think of others’ well-being. This is what makes the Trump presidency so weird and so tragic. As President of the United States, considering and then improving the well-being of others is your main job. That we elected and continue to support a leader who clearly thinks about no one and nothing but himself is bizarre beyond measure.
The way this is manifesting itself here and around the globe creates a minute-by-minute stream of evidence of Trump’s character: his coddling of dictators while insulting our allies, his support of white nationalism, his lashing out at anyone remotely critical of him, his childish government shutdown, his incitement of violence, his disdain for science, his indifference (at best) to the environment, his attacks on the free press. And, as could have been predicted, many of his followers are taking on his crass, hateful persona.
Craig,
One day, long after all the passion and emotional rhetoric has died away, historians may look back on the Trump Presidency more objectively.
In all the confusion and obsession with the President’s personal foibles, his critics ignore his accomplishments.
Trump critics loudly complain he lacks ” foreign policy vision”, yet a “Trump Doctrine’ has emerged ignored by his critics and the foreign policy establishment.
President Trump’s policies promote global freedom and prosperity, by making real commitments to state sovereignty, economic security and energy independence.
The President’s foreign policy relies upon US economic, commercial and innovative leverage, only deploying the threat of military power or inducement of foreign aid sparingly to counter geopolitical competitors like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
President Trump is reluctant to engage US troops, and only as an extreme measure, even then such engagement must be very short, and have limited specific objectives. The President has no desire to be drawn into expensive civil conflicts where local pro-American puppet regimes need permanent US military support to remain in power.
It’s true President Trump doesn’t employ the sort of “Beltway” diplomatic language so beloved of career bureaucrats, instead articulates his policies in his own clumsy style so hated by the political and media establishment, who arrogantly assume that if not articulated in politically correct vernacular, any policy must either not exist, or fail.
Meanwhile in the real world, Trump’s foreign policy has already reasserted America’s global dominance with a very tough, practical manner.
In contrast, President Barack Obama foreign policies were couched in all the right language, but when all the froth an bubble evaporated, it seemed less like the leader of the most powerful nation, but an elaborate pantomime by someone hoping to be elected prom king !
The Obama administration appeared to be desperately seeking international approval and it’s hallmark was countless instances of “symbolism”, deference to international organizations, appeasement of enemies, increasing globalization to the cost of the US economy, weakness and helplessness to an increasingly competitive and aggressive China, abandonment of allies like Israel, while paying “Danegeld” to enemies like Iran and North Korea.
History may judge the Obama era as the time America retreated from the world stage and abandoned real leadership in favour of being being praised by largely leftist and intellectual media pundits and showy, but useless, symbolic international agreements and organizations weakening the US economy and international influence.
Media outlets such as the Washington Post, NYT, Guardian, CNN etc, sneer at the crude language of President Trump, and dismiss the administration’s foreign policy initiatives, claiming “There is no “Trump Doctrine”, and ” he doesn’t understand foreign policy and will never be able to deal with other nations in a manner acceptable to the rest of the world”.
What these effete neo-liberals fail to understand, is although the world was initially taken aback by President Trump’s somewhat crude and direct policies, they’ve quickly realized the flim-flam era of President Obama is over and the US is now playing a very different game.
President Trump doesn’t care if International talk-fests like or dislike his policies, he deals in brutal reality not empty symbolic gestures. He is an American President, who openly and candidly declares his paramount priority is what’s in America’s best interests.
He’s not running for “Prom King”, his constituency is not among the intellectual or diplomatic establishment of foreign nations or Washington, but back home in the US.
He understands “US allies” are not allies because they admire US “values” or “moral leadership”, but have no alternative. US power is a fact, for US allies there is no real alternative. America doesn’t need allies as much as the allies need the US.
The Trump administration is intent on rebuilding US strength, not a “symbolic’ strength but real economic and military strength.
To that end, the US has stopped paying “Danegeld” to appease enemies, ended or reduced foreign to corrupt regimes, demanded the EU and NATO start pulling their own weight and start to accept responsibility for their own defense.
Why does the US need to station nearly 50,000 military in Europe, or 40,000 in Japan ? Why should the US taxpayer pick up the bill ?
Even the 50, 000 based in South Korea are no longer needed. South Korean armed forces are far more powerful than North Korea, although an argument can be mounted for retention of some US bases,(especially Air force) as rapid deployment and logistically useful assets, many are just a waste of taxpayer funds.
History may judge this President, less by who he is perceived to be or any perceivable “character flaws’, but by the success or failures of his his policies and achievements.
President Carter was, and still is, a very nice guy, but will be remembered, perhaps undeservedly, as a weak and inept President unable to deal with sudden changes in American society and international affairs. (Although he’s made a success of being a ‘past-President’).
History tends to regard Presidents more kindly and objectively, than the hysterical rhetoric employed by the President’s opponents. This is especially true of unpopular Presidents, who often fare better than more popular figures like JFK.
Craig,
Astonishing news! In a rare display of objective journalism, the Guardian has broken ranks with the rest of the liberal media, and published an article that while still an anti-Trump rant, actually manages to concede the President made the right decision to pull the US military ground troops out of Syria.
Sadly, the NYT, once a reputable publication repeatedly castigates President Trump as anti-Semitic, despite a total lack of evidence.
The NYT ignores the President’s closeness to his Jewish son-in-law, and fondness of his grandchildren, life long friendships with a large number of prominent conservative Jews, pro-Israel policies, even the highly controversial transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
But even more amazing is the NYT’s praise and whitewash of the shockingly anti-Semitic Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker.
The NYT published an interview with praising this virulently anti-Semitic author describing her belief in the authenticity of the fraudulent “Protocol of Zion” as being true, questioning whether Holocaust ever even happened, while claiming the world is run by a cabal of giant, shape-shifting lizards, most are Jewish.
This isn’t just some rabid journalist who slipped through the cracks, the editorial board of the NYT refused to take any action to remedy their support for Alice Walker, perhaps because she is also a vehement Trump hater.
Her accusation, ” are “Are Goyim (non jews) meant to be slaves of Jews?” “Are three year old (and a day) girls eligible for marriage and intercourse? Are young boys fair game for rape?” re all Jewish beliefs and practices, crosses not just he border of hate speech, but sanity !
Yet the NYT editor described the outburst by Alice Walker as simply ” anti-Semitism is just another opinion, taste or judgment”!
But the editor is not alone, Congress member Maxine Waters (Dem) described Alice Walker as a great out-spoken American “who tells it how it is” !
Yet Craig, in all your rant’s against the inequities of President Trump, I’ve never yet heard you raise your voice in protest against the vilest excesses of “progressives”.
You complain against “money in politics”, yet when billionaires like Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Tom Steyer and others donate to the Democrats to buy influence, you are suddenly silent.
The entire liberal-progressive media remains politely subdued as Alice Walker extols racial hatred that makes David Duke look mild by contrast, yet you still castigate the President as a “white Supremacist” on no evidence whatsoever except a media distortion that was denied by the local chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)who said he understood and agreed with the President’s observation.
Don’t you think 2019, might be a wonderful opportunity to put your own house in order ?