Letter to Trump

Mr. President,

I know that it is against your very nature, but you don’t need to attack Biden any more in your campaign to get re-elected next November ... not for his perviness, not for his dementia, not for his corruption, not for his bone-headed foreign-policy mistakes ... not even for son Hunter. May I suggest you let him keep digging the hole he is is in. It’s already so deep, it is unlikely he can climb out before the walls cave in.

Sincerely,
A Voter

In a Nutshell

Maybe this is a foolish errand ... but nonetheless allow me to try to summarize President Trump’s foreign policy ... in a nutshell.

Keep ‘em guessing. Get close to your enemies and call out your friends when appropriate ... and speak harshly ... at least initially ... and then use a big stick, when required, to show you are not spineless. But avoid war and nation-building at all costs. Practice pragmatism and, most importantly, always put American interests first.

Marie Yovanovich

First read: Her Opening Schiff Statement. Does she protest too much?

Trump recalling Ambassador Yovanovich, who had been hostile to him and was working against his foreign policy toward the Ukraine, is obviously an impeachable offense. 

How dare the president revoke those former corrupt policies which had been finagled by Biden and Obama’s august administrative state!

There is obviously a lot more to this story. I suspect, if Trump is formally impeached, we will learn what is what with this woman.

Elections

I’m not a pollster pundit, but I do have a few studied thoughts about America’s recent elections:

In 2016, Trump won the presidential election because so many voters could not pull the lever for Hillary Clinton. In 2018, the Republicans lost the House of Representatives due primarily to effective sliming of Republicans with the Mueller investigation into Russian collusion. In 2020, Trump will win or lose based upon what he has done for the American economy, no matter who the Democrat candidate ... and how successful his foreign policy initiatives have been ... no matter how much the media tries to cloud these efforts.

So far Trump is winning on the first count ... and the jury is out on the second one.

Deaf and Dumb

“Biden is not as smart as Bernie” — Donald Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden shows once again why he is so tone deaf (and dumb) on foreign policy. (Or could it be because China gave $1 billion to his son Hunter’s hedge fund? See: The Federalist Story.)

Who?

What president has overridden his military generals on battle plans ... has castigated and investigated the national media ... has been suspected of colluding with the Russians ... has defied Constitutional scholars and courts with his executive orders ... his foreign policy has been confused and disruptive ... has demanded complete loyalty from those around him ... has been accused of crony capitalism ... his economic judgments have often been questioned ... has been a divider not an uniter ... yet is still adored by a good percentage of Americans as he is comfortably ensconced in a D.C. mansion.

How has he weathered all that has gone wrong ... and yet he still preserveres? A huge ego and self confidence, that's how!

Of course, we're talking about Barack Hussein Obama ...

March

In like a ...

Out like a ...

A little like President Obama's foreign policy ... which, unfortunately, is just the opposite of President Putin's.

Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour

Back in the day there was a radio program called “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour” … kind of like these new televised talent-search programs such as Star Search, American Idol and America's Got Talent. … only not so contrived.  Back then, there were true amateurs striving for their big break … and a few actually got one … such as Gladys Knight, Ann Margaret and Pat Boone.

Of late I can think of no better analog to the U.S. foreign policy than another “amateur hour.” We appear fumbling and directionless. Russia’s Putin is running circles around our hapless State Department and our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry. We are sending oodles of mixed signals as to how we plan to deal with the world’s crises … the Israeli/Palestinian [lack of] peace process, the threat of an Ukrainian invasion by Russia, China’s expansionist designs, and our finger-in-the-wind dealings with Syria and Iran. It honestly appears that we are making things up as we go along.

I wish that President Obama’s Teleprompter could, for once, tell the world, in just a few clear sentences, what exactly our foreign policy is. Can the evil-doers of the world have their way with us without any real consequences? Are there limits to our possible responses to the mischief these bad actors are engaged in? Are we at all interested in improving circumstances around the world? Does our nuclear deterrent mean anything anymore? Why are we so hell-bent on leading from [our] behind?

Perhaps we might call our current foreign policy “lazy fare?” And just where are the grown-ups, such as Dick Cheney and Jim Baker, now that we really need them?

Pearly Gates

I have had mixed feeling about Obama’s former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates … see: Swinging Gates.  However now that Gates has unloaded on President Obama, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and VP, Joe Biden, Gates has suddenly risen in my estimation.  (“The enemy of your enemy is your friend.”)

Now Gates has written a soon-to-be-published book, portions of which have been leaked to Bob Woodward in the Washington Post ... and it does not sugar-coat his feelings toward these three administration hacks.  Viz: Obama is two-faced, a very poor manager, and willing to sacrifice American lives in Afghanistan to no real purpose.  Biden is anti-military and has been, over the years, consistently wrong on all foreign policy issues.  And Hillary Clinton’s motivating factor has been how something might play politically … independent of the true merits of each situation.

Gates even takes a deserved dump on Congress. 

When this book, “Duty.” comes out next week,  I look forward to more of such relishing revelations.  However, I do think that Bob's Gates and Woodward will receive even fewer invites to inside-Washington social elbow-rubbings than they are getting today ... but they should get a gold star on St. Peter's ledger.

Afterward: See also: Wall Street Journal Article.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Do you sometimes feel that the U.S. foreign policy is at loose ends? Do you get the impression that world events are happening without any prescience on the part of the pundits in Foggy Bottom or the White House? Has the U.S. accomplished anything on the international stage recently? It’s like watching a play where the actors are wandering around not knowing their lines or reading off of different scripts. Our "reset" foreign policy appears to have been stage-managed by Samuel Beckett. Viz:

- The high-priority Israeli peace talks have spun down to nothingness.
- North Korea is flexing its belligerence with silly and dangerous abandon.
- China has just completed its victory lap with White House catering.
- WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of State Dept. cables ... embarrassing many world leaders.
- Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan are on the brink of civil war.
- Iran has successfully stifled the democracy-inspired riots of last year.
- Syria has annexed Lebanon … and, as a reward, the U.S. just reestablished diplomatic relations with them.
- Iraq seems to have deteriorated back into a Hatfield/McCoy shootout between the Sunnis and the Shiites.
- The European Union is holding its currency, the Euro, together with chewing gum.
- The President has made many gaffs and breaches of protocol in direct dealings with U.S. allies.
- Afghanistan, the “necessary war,” is grinding on with little real hope of success.
- Venezuela is rapidly becoming the North Korea of Latin America.
- Mexico (at least the northern part) seems to be run by the drug lords and the coyotes.

But, to me, the much more hair-raising thought is: what if all this is not just bumbling incompetence on our part … but rather crafty competence? Nah! … ?