House committee chairman advising Trump on national security

MSNBC ^ | 1 April 2016 | Alexandra Jaffe

[mandaladon]

Donald Trump is getting some national security advice from Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, a major coup for the candidate and one that could give him some needed gravitas on an issue he’s had problems with in the past.

A Trump campaign source confirmed to NBC News that Miller attended Trump’s meeting with national security advisers on Capitol Hill this Thursday. The Florida Republican, who’s retiring this year, is seen sitting at the front of a photo Trump sent out on Twitter after the meeting. It’s unclear whether Miller is officially advising Trump or only attended the one meeting.

Miller serves as chairman of the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and is a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees. He’s known as a prominent voice on national security issues —particularly on veterans’ issues— on Capitol Hill.

In a series of print and television news interviews over the past few weeks, Trump has sought to lay out his foreign policy platform, cobbling together at times contradictory positions on U.S. engagement abroad, the use of ground troops, nuclear weapons and diplomacy into a “Trump Doctrine” that he’s characterized as “peace through strength.” But it’s an issue on which he’s made numerous gaffes over the course of his campaign, and many critics see Trump’s unfamiliarity with foreign affairs as one of his biggest weaknesses in the race. Miller’s support and stamp of approval could help Trump make up some of that lost ground. And his outspoken advocacy on the VA crisis is sure to be a boon for Trump, who routinely pledges to clean up the VA and offer better services to veterans on the campaign trail.

[Daniel Ramsey]

Somebody can see the writing on the wall?

Instruct Trump on sensitive issues that are fluid and that a campaign retoric can be, complicated?

I think they fully realize maybe he should get indoctrinated about the next job.

Hope they tell him about Area 51...just kidding, Trumos gonna ge POTUS, might as well bring him up to date.

[be-baw]

Sounds good. Trump’s instincts are good but he needs to fine tune on a lot of issues. He seems like a guy who learns from his mistakes and continues to improve. If you can do that at age 69, you’re pretty darned solid.

[Bryanw92]

The official narrative for this year has been “Trump is a narcissist and won’t listen to anyone but his own ego”.

Perhaps the businessman does listen to knowledgeable people he trusts, instead of listening to and chasing after every pundit who can get to a microphone (as career politicians tend to do).

[hoosiermama]

Unfortunate he is competing against people who get briefings from those in the know. As a private citizen he does not. With the knowledge he already has just from reading five newspapers a day it won’t take him long to “catch up”

[BigBobber]

Hmmm. Does Jeff Miller agree we should shut down NATO and divert the money to a school in Brooklyn?

Or was that from the time when Trump was taking advice from himself and “talking about things a lot” to build expertise?

[blueplum]

The more I read about the inside workings of actually getting elected, the more I wonder if any private citizen would be capable of getting as far as Trump has gotten now. Trump is single-handedly tearing down the lawyer-class insider wall and he’s doing it as the front-runner. Go Trump Go!!

[map]

There is no NATO. We are NATO.

What we need are bi-lateral agreements with like minded nations. The cold war is over.

[PrairieLady2]

Sounds good. Trump’s instincts are good but he needs to fine tune on a lot of issues. He seems like a guy who learns from his mistakes and continues to improve. If you can do that at age 69, you’re pretty darned solid.<<

I absolutely agree with you. Not only CAN he learn, he’s still willing. This kind of thing is what I really like most about the man. And that’s why when they accuse him of being in it for his own ego/narcissism, I know they speak foolishly.

His give-a-damn factor is tops.

[No Dems 2016]

I like this. I think this will help Trump.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Does Jeff Miller agree we should shut down NATO

What's wrong with that?

Let the Euroweenies hire us if they need some help.

[1rudeboy]

The Russians say the Cold War is on.

[map]

Albania will come to our aid when Kurds attack Turkey.

NATO is over.

[ETL]

"50 years is enough , " Trump said in an interview with the Daily Caller published Tuesday, referring to Obama's decision to re-establish U.S. ties with Cuba.

"I think it's fine. I think it's fine, but we should have made a better deal," Trump added. " The concept of opening with Cuba is fine."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/donald-trump-cuba-diplomatic-opening/index.html
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Russia Boosts Arms, Training for Leftist Latin Militaries

Moscow defense minister inks deals with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua for joint exercises

BY: Bill Gertz
February 20, 2015

Russia agreed to provide military training for three leftist regimes in Latin America and increase military visits and exercises following a visit last week to the region by Moscow's Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Pentagon officials said.

Shoygu met with defense and military leaders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and signed several agreements on warship visits and military training during the visit, which ran from Feb. 11 to 14. It is not clear whether any new arms deals were completed during the visit.

Defense officials said the Russian leader is seeking bases in the region for strategic bomber flights that Shoygu recently promised would include flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-boosts-arms-training-for-leftist-latin-militaries/
___________________________________________________

How Russia arms America's southern neighbors

Ioan Grillo
May 9, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Russia's push into Ukraine has put many on edge. But less known is that Russia is also strengthening its military links south of the Rio Grande and re-establishing itself as a power in the region.

Vladimir Putin has been strengthening military links here, and Russia is now the largest arms dealer to governments in Latin America, surpassing the United States.

Russia has even floated the possibility of building new military bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and putting its warships permanently in the Caribbean.

In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov recently visited Cuba, Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua, where he announced that Russia would also pour money into the new Central American canal project. ..."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140508/russian-arms-military-trade-latin-america
___________________________________________________

"50 years is enough , " Trump said in an interview with the Daily Caller published Tuesday, referring to Obama's decision to re-establish U.S. ties with Cuba.

"I think it's fine. I think it's fine, but we should have made a better deal," Trump added. " The concept of opening with Cuba is fine."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/donald-trump-cuba-diplomatic-opening/index.html
___________________________________________________

Trump: Vladimir Putin's praise is 'a great honor'...It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond ,"

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
___________________________________________________

Dec 2015...

During Friday's 'Morning Joe' interview, Trump said he was impressed with Putin's high poll ratings among the Russian people.

He went on to say he has 'always felt fine about Putin.'

'I think that he is a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader,' Trump said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3365976/At-s-leader-Trump-s-extraordinary-verdict-Vladimir-Putin-two-cozy-up.html
___________________________________________________

"I think that I would probably get along with him [Putin] very well."
--Donald Trump, CBS' Face The Nation, Oct 2015
___________________________________________________

Joe Scarborough: Again, he [Putin] kills journalists that don't agree with him

Trump: Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so, you know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. Lot of killing going on, a lot of stupidity, and that's the way it is.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3365976/At-s-leader-Trump-s-extraordinary-verdict-Vladimir-Putin-two-cozy-up.html
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Russia Ramping Up Military Drills to Cold War Levels, NATO Says

Feb 5, 2016 - FoxNews.com

Russia has stepped up its military maneuvers to a level unseen since the height of the Cold War, according to a new report released by NATO Thursday.

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary general and author of the report, noted that Moscow has conducted at least 18 large-scale exercises over the past three years, "some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops."

Those exercises included several simulated nuclear attacks against NATO allies and partner nations ..."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/05/russia-ramping-up-military-drills-to-cold-war-levels-nato-says.html

[ETL]

Trump accused of Putin favors with NATO criticism

By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
FoxNews.com
March 25, 2016

Donald Trump once again is being accused of giving Vladimir Putin a helping hand, on the heels of the Republican presidential front-runner’s tough NATO criticism.

After the billionaire businessman criticized the alliance earlier this week as expensive and “obsolete,” his political foes noted that any pull-back from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was created in 1949, would be greeted as welcome news in Moscow.

“That would be a massive victory for Putin and a massive victory for ISIS,” his opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, told Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” ...”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/25/trump-accused-putin-favors-with-nato-criticism.html

[ConservativeMind]

“Peace through strength.” Where have I heard the before...?

Go Trump!!

[ETL]

Here's Trump giving his support to the traitor-in-chief on his 2009 world apology tour...

TRUMP [on the Larry King Show (April 15, 2009), referring to the then newly elected communist president (Obama)]: "Well, I really like him. I think that he's working very hard. He's trying to rebuild our reputation throughout the world. I mean, we really have lost a lot of reputation in the world. The previous administration [GW Bush] was a total disaster, a total catastrophe."

CNN LARRY KING LIVE Interview with Donald Trump
April 15, 2009

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0904/15/lkl.01.html

_________________________________________________________

The President's Apology Tour
Great leaders aren't defined by consensus.
By Karl Rove
April 23, 2009

President Barack Obama has finished the second leg of his international confession tour. In less than 100 days, he has apologized on three continents for what he views as the sins of America and his predecessors. ..."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124044156269345357
_________________________________________________________

"Well, I really like him. I think that he's working very hard. He's trying to rebuild our reputation throughout the world."

--Trump, CNN's Larry King Live, April 15, 2009

[ConservativeMind]

Russia is broke.

There is no credible expansion from Russia. Cuba was its closest ally, and look at that place.

Russia is saber rattling.

[ETL]

Putinistas 4 Donald “Make Russia Strong Again” Trump!

[ETL]

Aug 2015

______________________________________________________

Russian build-up in Syria part of secret deal with Iran's Quds Force leader

September 11, 2015
Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson
FoxNews.com

As the Pentagon warily eyes a Russian military build-up in Syria, Western intelligence sources tell Fox News that the escalated Russian presence began just days after a secret Moscow meeting in late July between Iran's Quds Force commander - their chief exporter of terror - and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. ..."

The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran’s proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. ..."

Officials who have monitored the build-up say they've seen more than 1,000 Russian combatants - some of them from the same plainclothes Special Forces units who were sent to Crimea and Ukraine. Some of these Russian troops are logistical specialists and needed for security at the expanding Russian bases.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/11/russian-build-up-in-syria-part-secret-deal-with-irans-quds-force-leader/