Posted on 04/09/2017 7:38:52 PM PDT by LS
By way of disclaimer, I have known Steve Bannon for years and we regularly communicate in rather short bursts. So my info on the "inside Team Trump" is pretty one-sided. I don't know Jared Kushner, know OF McMaster and recommended him to Team Trump (as did Victor Davis Hanson). So I know what I know, but it's a pretty limited range of insight.
1. The Syria strikes. I knew going in this would be a firestorm for Trump among his voters, especially the Ron Paul/non-interventionist backers (many of whom you see on Twitter).
I agree with many of you that the evidence was not clear that it was Assad---indeed, it could well have been ISIS. I also agree this does not help in our fight against ISIS. I further agree that regime change is dangerous on a number of levels.
That said, the strike was a multifaceted message, and unfortunately one that absolutely had to be sent, somewhere, somehow.
Recall as many of you have posted, in the past two years, the Russkies have been getting extremely provocative, doing flybys of American ships, sailing into our waters, and so on. Forget who is "responsible" for Ukraine, the fact is Ukraine unloaded its nukes cuz we promised them we would protect them via NATO. Now that promise is vanishing. Our word certainly is not good from the Ukrainian perspective.
I start Syria with Russia because at some point, somewhere, Putin had to get a message that while we want peace and want to work with him, he cannot possibly be allowed to threaten (as he already has) American ships at sea and sail in our waters. This is flat out aggression.
It can be stopped, and nipped in the bud, but how? Consider Syria a "brush back pitch" to the Russian batter. (In baseball, when the hitter takes advantage of the plate and gets too far into the pitcher's zone, the pitcher throws one high and tight to brush him back and say, "No, you have to play by the rules.")
I do believe Putin not only got this message, but was expecting it. He wanted to see if Trump was Obama The bad news is that it had to go on this long, but like any aggressor, the longer you wait, the bloodier it becomes to stop him. I think Putin got the message. Yes, he's making a lot of threats. But he now knows Trump will act when provoked and act DECISIVELY. Whether you agree with the strike or not, you can't accuse Trump of "indecision."
Further, I think the brush-back pitch worked on Iran and the NORKs. Coming as it did when Xi was at dinner (indeed, I hear he was the first one to receive the news of the attack!), it was the equivalent of Trump pulling out a Colt .45 and laying it on the table and saying, "ok, Xi, let's chat." The fact that Xi apparently gave his blessing to American responses to the NORKs--in their own back yard---suggests the meeting was a 100% success. The brush back pitch was felt in China, too.
Many here do not agree with Trump's action. Many think he was being "played." I have heard (haven't verified it) that the "vote" to fire the missiles was unanimous among the NatSec team, including Bannon. He of course would never confirm or deny, nor would I ask. But what we have from "fake" news is one story that it was Kush v Bannon, another that it was Kush/Bannon v Mattis, and a third that it was everyone agreeing.
For the reasons I've outlined above NOT particularly relating to Syria, I believe the latter. Further, this was an opportunity to throw the brush-back pitch without civilian casualties and without a bunch of dead bodies being hauled out of a mosque. In other words, if Team Trump was looking for the "perfect" place to send a message, gas or no gas, this was it.
2. "Chaos/Turmoil inside Team Trump" Lately the Twitter people have been going nuts against Kushner thinking he is engaging in a war on Bannon. First, if you look at the picture of the "bunker" with everyone during the strike, the two people closest to Trump are Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, right behind him. Kush is one person removed. Small things. Second, Bannon himself told me three nights ago, "I ain't goin' anywhere." I'm pretty sure that means DT said so, too. We keep missing this and missing this, but REGULARLY Team Trump throws out a piece of media "cheese" into the maze and the media rats chase it while Team Trump governs. I don't know if the Kush/Bannon "clash" is real or just cheese, but it would not surprise me if the two guys don't go get a beer every night and laugh.
Trump's management style is much like Lincoln's: get a bunch of top, smart people who have different ideas, let them fight, come to a decision that may favor one, the other, or even neither. Don't forget businessmen do not hesitate to drop non-producers. Trump fired Lewandowski, Manafort, and his OWN BROTHER (as did Thomas Watson, Jr. at IBM!) If anyone thinks he won't dump Kush for good reason, think again. Ditto Bannon.
3. McMaster. I vouched for McMaster as did Victor Davis Hanson. McMaster is one of the few people in the Pentagon with actual hands-on success at forming alliances with Muslims against other Muslims. He was a rebel throughout the Iraq war, which kept him from being promoted. He's exactly the type of outside-the-box thinker you want. I'm NOT concerned about his early comments on "radicals" being a minority. Folks, you will not find any commanders in the field, anywhere, saying all Muslims are terrorists. Won't happen, cuz they need locals as interpreters and most of the time as allies. Maybe personally they have different thoughts, but they cannot express those in a combat zone. I think McM's comments were typical of that battlefield thinking.
Bannon's removal from the NSC planning group was predicted in Trump's own plans early on. Bannon was there to de-politicize it, and he has, and he still has top clearance, as you've all seen. I could be wrong, but of all the things to worry about, McM ain't one of them.
Finally, we are in a VERY dangerous position due to Obama. If anyone thinks we could just retreat to our borders, it's way too late for that. The NORK nut could wipe out the entire west coast with a single EMP bomb over the north Pacific. Many here would say "yay," but of course that's crazy. The entire US would be set back massively, Japan would be wiped out and we'd have to retaliate big time. (I do think it's time we reconsider assassination as a policy). Zero let the Russkies run wild. We can nudge them back into their stall, but to act like they aren't out would be a mistake. And we still have to deal with Iran.
None of this is easy, and no one will agree with any one policy. Trump was handed an absolute bag of excrement in foreign policy. I think he is trying to avoid not just one, but three wars, and we all better hope the "brush back pitch" was heeded.
I don’t know much about Bannon, but I hope he understood the need for the Syria strike. Putin has been undermining our prestige — weakinging our alliances.
And North Korea might, I hope, see the need to assassinate its own dictator. Things like the Syria strike help convince them.
“McMaster. I vouched for McMaster ... He was a rebel throughout the Iraq war, which kept him from being promoted. He’s exactly the type of outside-the-box thinker you want.”
Interesting!
Military leaders are historically far too regimented and conformist. They’ve also gotten overly-cautious. I hope McMaster can bust those traditions!
” ... no one will agree with any one policy.”
So true. Few people have a broad knowledge base and most refuse to admit it.
You can take quotes out of context to your heart’s desire. You are REALLY stretching it when you take our division from George III in 1776 and try to place it in the same context as a warning to Russia/Iran/N. Korea/Assad in today’s world. I’d strongly suggest you go back to school to learn something about our history.
As far as George Washington is concerned, the world was not a shrunken apple in Washington’s time. I’ve been to enough places on the planet to have a full appreciation for relative distance in today’s world. Don’t try to mix apples and oranges. Wilson promised to keep us out of War until along came the Zimmerman Telegram. Roosevelt promised to keep us out of war until along came Pearl Harbor. “There will be wars and rumors of war until the end of time.” The Bible.
You can quote whomever you like and I’ll up you with ten. I will quote another view of one of our founders which DOES apply to today:
Samuel Adams
“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say ‘what should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” — Samuel Adams
FYI We have been at war for decades against the scourge coming from the M.E. Siding with Assad does nothing to further our cause. Turkey is not our friend and needs to be dealt with judiciously. Erdogan is not Attaturk!
My life has been quite nice and is continuing at its normal pace. From your comments I would judge your intelligence is far inferior to mine. I hope you enjoy your future...and wake up before it is too late.
I read that Pres. Trump asked Ivanka to meet with the PP head butcherlady to see if some understanding could be reached.
What a lot of people don’t seem to get about Trump is that he is willing and able to meet with just about ANYONE to see if something good can come out of it. Heck, he even met (so far that I read) THREE times with Rep. Elijah Cummings about pharmaceutical pricing.
I should check my ping list more. Thank you!
Very informative.
FRegards ....
You said it was the 600s yesterday.
EMP blast sends us back to the 600s
I thought you were supposed to be the big shot smarty guy.
But you vary by half a millennia in your day to day rhetoric.
‘My disagreement is ... with the lack of information he has given us to justify his actions.’
I don’t know all the specifics of what’s reported on why Trump made the conclusion he did, but ...
If he’s being vague, that’s because intelligence assets are on the line. He might be getting intel from Israel, for example? The Saudis? Hard to say. But you don’t compromise them unless you’re a first class creep.
It help me understand better.
A few FR posters just trash Ivanka and the Trumps to the point, I don't enjoy FR like I use to...
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(p.s. just to share a personal note to you, we named our Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, ‘Jeremiah’ the weeping Prophet from the Bible, and when the pup turned out to be ‘female’ we kept the name, and we call her ‘Miah’...she is so special and now 13 yrs old and in failing health, knowing one day, I'll have to make that difficult decision..JEREMIAH, our gift.) just sharing...
I love going after nitpicking.
Actually, there’s a learning curve after a Pulse bomb.
People don’t have the skill sets to cope with no technology the way we did back in the 40s. We don’t have enough old school blacksmiths for example. So in some ways technology would be helplessly primitive shortly after an EMP. In other ways we would at least enjoy basic machinery and tools along with outside help. So it’s a fools errand to critique someone on that basis — it’s a grab bag.
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Pretty name. I like it.
I chose the name “jeremiah” for some personal reasons - someone found me here as I was stupidly using the first syllable of my unusual first name for a screen name, relatives got extremely riled up - liberals -.... so had to get a new account and chose jeremiah since his family didn’t like what he said either. Little since I am tiny and insignificant compared to the original Jeremiah.
THANKS...
It takes a fur kid to make a house, a Home.. they love us unconditionally.
Yes, it’s hard when animals, or anyone we love, has to continue their journey somewhere else.
I hear you. :)
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