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megatherium

megatherium

el rey del mambo
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
10,522
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Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul

ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/welcome-to-the-world-of-president-rand-paul/2018/12/27/0f91


By Josh Rogin

December 27, 2018

President’s Trump’s foreign policy follows no firm ideology but is often a combination of his long-held personal views and the influence of whoever currently has his ear. These days, Trump is listening more than ever to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is quietly steering U.S. foreign policy in a new direction.

After Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria — against the advice of his entire national security team — a stunned Washington establishment rushed to blame Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who reportedly asked Trump to leave Syria during a Dec. 14 phone call. But Erdogan has made that request for years. What’s changed recently is whom Trump is listening to back home.

Several U.S. officials and people who have spoken directly to Trump since his Syria decision tell me they believe that Paul’s frequent phone conversations with Trump, wholly outside the policy process, are having an outsize influence on the president’s recent foreign policy decisions. The two golf buddies certainly are sounding a lot alike recently.

Paul told CNN on Dec. 23 that he had talked to Trump about Syria and was “very proud of the president.” That night on Twitter, Trump quoted Paul as saying, “It should not be the job of America to replace regimes around the world… The generals still don’t get the mistake.”

[Robert S. Ford: Trump’s Syria decision was essentially correct. Here’s how he can make the most of it.]

Speaking to U.S. troops on Wednesday in Iraq, Trump preached noninterventionism and bragged about denying his own generals six more months to fight the Islamic State inside Syria before withdrawing. “America shouldn’t be doing the fighting for every nation on Earth [and] not being reimbursed,” Trump said. “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.”

Criticizing past U.S. policy at a campaign rally is one thing. The commander in chief telling U.S. soldiers in a war zone that he has lost faith in their generals, and is therefore changing their mission, is another. Trump’s Iraq trip moved U.S. foreign policy one big step in Paul’s direction.

Officials told me that, throughout the national security bureaucracy, everyone is aware that Paul’s voice is one to which the president is paying increasing attention. The existing concern over Paul’s influence on Russia policy has now boiled over with respect to Syria.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a senator advising the president on foreign policy. Hawks such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) do it all the time. But the Trump-Paul bromance is troubling because Trump may be taking Paul’s word over that of his own advisers. Moreover, Paul has a history of pushing false claims and theories, especially with regard to the Middle East.

Paul regularly says the GOP hawks “created” the Islamic State. In 2015, he apologized for repeating a debunked claim that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had met with Islamic State members inside Syria. Paul has said the United States could become the “air force for al-Qaeda” in Syria, misrepresenting the cooperation between U.S. and local Syrian forces against the Islamic State. He doubts U.S. intelligence assessments that Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people.

To paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Paul is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts. If a senator the president trusts is feeding him bad information, that’s a huge problem.

Fans of the president’s Syria policy will argue that Trump and Paul are simply responding to the American people’s war weariness after two decades of failed U.S. interventions in the Middle East. But the implications of Trump following Paul on foreign policy extend beyond Syria.

Trump has already decided to slash the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, which Paul has long pushed. Is South Korea next? Trump often says he wants to bring U.S. troops there home, too. Paul’s idea is to swap out U.S. soldiers with Chinese troops, which would be a huge blow to U.S. leadership in Asia

Walter Russell Mead wrote this week that Trump is choosing a Jeffersonian foreign policy (Paul) over a Jacksonian foreign policy (Cotton). But that ascribes too much consistency to Trump’s decision-making. The foreign policy Trump touted during his campaign contained elements of both isolationism and internationalism, and he has shown he is capable of both.

In the run-up to 2020, Trump should realize that most Republicans — and most Americans — favor a robust U.S. foreign policy. Most voters recognize that worldwide threats to our country are growing and believe now is a time for American leadership, not American retreat.

In his resignation letter, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis suggested that Trump doesn’t believe in traditional American foreign policy values and therefore should surround himself with advisers who share that view. In fact, Trump has often sought out a diversity of opinions. What he needs are experienced professionals with good information whom he actually trusts.

Trump’s worldview is not predetermined. He’s not a neocon or a hawk or a realist. Right now, he is listening to Paul because Paul is telling him what he wants to hear.

Ideally, Trump will soon realize that adopting Paul’s vision for the future of U.S. foreign policy is not only dangerous for our national security but bad politics as well.
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Sheepdog

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,224
KWingJitsu said:
I disagree, and here's why. Warren might or might not be a great candidate, but she can definitely win against Trump.
This is because anyone can defeat Trump in 2020. Dems can run a brick against him and win - for one reason. He has peaked.
There's no surprise, and he's worse than anyone anticipated. It's all downhill now.

The biggest reason though, is 2019. This year, a couple of things will happen:
  1. The economy tanks.
  2. His scandals get bigger/worse.
  3. The (presumed) end of the various investigations landing more of his inner circle in jail and at least one or two of his kids indicted.
RE: #1. This might be the most impactful. Not even his "base" will gut it out through a faltering economy when they start losing jobs, retirement accounts and sales due to economic depression from effects of his "tax plan" and failed trade war tariffs.

Just like everyone who said he couldn't win was wrong, those saying he will win again, will also be wrong.
This time, no Russian help will be enough to overcome the 2019 disaster.

The only question is whether he'll be around in 2020 to be voted out.
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Pocahontas is a terrible candidate and your confidence in Trump's demise is delusional.
 
KWingJitsu

KWingJitsu

ยาเม็ดสีแดงหรือสีฟ้ายา?
Nov 15, 2015
10,311
12,690
lordofthepies said:
Pocahontas is a terrible candidate and your confidence in Trump's demise is delusional.
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Reading this extremely deep, erudite pontification has been soooooo enlightening. Illuminating even.



Or better yet, to quote the Trumpanzee, shut your big dumb mouth.
 
Sheepdog

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,224
KWingJitsu said:
Looks like I'm not the only "delusional" one sharing my predictions. Read and you just might learn something, momo.

Ex-Bush and Whitman adviser: Trump won’t be impeached, but he will leave the presidency in 2019
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Mate, it's not delusional to suggest that that plenty of things might go wrong for Trump and that he might lose. He's hardly popular.

What is delusional is to act like it's a certainty and say things like the Dems could run anyone against him and win. How'd that type of thinking work out in the last election?

Pocahontas is dead in the water. Trump has wrecked her with that nickname and her own idiotic actions have sealed her fate. Her image is irreparably tarnished. She is a former Republican and fake progressive who would get exposed anyway.

And yet she is still one of the top Dem candidates. Which shows they are hardly invincible.
 
Freeloading Rusty

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,589
Source: Trump tells Schumer he can't accept Dems' offer because he'd 'look foolish'
President Donald Trump told a group of lawmakers he can't accept Democrats' offer to re-open the government as the two sides negotiate border wall funding because he "would look foolish if I did that," according to a person familiar with the exchange.
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Trump says former Soviet Union was 'right' to invade Afghanistan, prompting ridicule
"Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. "The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there."

The former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up Afghanistan's then- communist government, which was battling anticommunist guerrillas. The U.S. condemned the Soviet move and eventually helped the mujahideen rebel forces. Under then-President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. provided the mujahideen with anti-aircraft missiles, among other assistance.

In part because of U.S. involvement, the Afghan conflict became a quagmire for the Soviet Union, costing Moscow billions of dollars and dealing a blow to the reputation of its Red Army. It was one factor among many that helped lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Political experts seemed taken aback that Trump said Russia was "right" to invade Afghanistan in a Cold War conflict that pit the U.S.S.R. against the U.S.

"I'm old enough to remember when GOP presidents didn't think the USSR was right to invade Afghanistan," Jonah Goldberg, a conservative columnist and political analyst, tweeted after Trump's remarks.

Others suggested Trump had flat-out misstated history.
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View: https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/1080570305578336256


View: https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1080560031974739968


View: https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1080542630763732992


View: https://twitter.com/DefenseBaron/status/1080542680445317123
 
Sheepdog

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,224
MC Gusto said:
Source: Trump tells Schumer he can't accept Dems' offer because he'd 'look foolish'

Trump says former Soviet Union was 'right' to invade Afghanistan, prompting ridicule

View: https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/1080570305578336256


View: https://twitter.com/MaxBoot/status/1080560031974739968


View: https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1080542630763732992


View: https://twitter.com/DefenseBaron/status/1080542680445317123
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Firstly, lol at Trump. Never thought I'd ever be nodding in agreement with that piece of shit Max Boot, but there's a first for everything.

Secondly, the Afghan war did not bankrupt the USSR. It is a common fallacy that goes completely unchallenged. It's bullshit.
 
Disciplined Galt

Disciplined Galt

Disciplina et Frugalis
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
26,030
30,793
lordofthepies said:
Firstly, lol at Trump. Never thought I'd ever be nodding in agreement with that piece of shit Max Boot, but there's a first for everything.

Secondly, the Afghan war did not bankrupt the USSR. It is a common fallacy that goes completely unchallenged. It's bullshit.
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What ran the soviets out of bank?
 
Hauler

Hauler

Been fallin so long it's like gravitys gone
Feb 3, 2016
47,681
59,574
lordofthepies said:
Mate, it's not delusional to suggest that that plenty of things might go wrong for Trump and that he might lose. He's hardly popular.

What is delusional is to act like it's a certainty and say things like the Dems could run anyone against him and win. How'd that type of thinking work out in the last election?

Pocahontas is dead in the water. Trump has wrecked her with that nickname and her own idiotic actions have sealed her fate. Her image is irreparably tarnished. She is a former Republican and fake progressive who would get exposed anyway.

And yet she is still one of the top Dem candidates. Which shows they are hardly invincible.
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But she drinks beer, bro. She's so relatable.





Things not to do if you want to be president: Drink your first ever bottled beer on social media.



She better lay off that sauce! We know how it makes Native Americans go crazy!
 
Disciplined Galt

Disciplined Galt

Disciplina et Frugalis
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
26,030
30,793
Hauler said:
But she drinks beer, bro. She's so relatable.





Things not to do if you want to be president: Drink your first ever bottled beer on social media.



She better lay off that sauce! We know how it makes Native Americans go crazy!
Click to expand...
Next president. For sure.
 
Hauler

Hauler

Been fallin so long it's like gravitys gone
Feb 3, 2016
47,681
59,574
My name is Elizabeth Warren. I am the salt of the earth. I promise I'm not a lunatic liberal. I even like beer.
 
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