Posted on 02/29/2016 2:41:44 PM PST by drewh
Donald Trump’s runaway success in the GOP primaries so far is setting off alarm bells among neoconservatives who are worried he will not pursue the same bellicose foreign policy that has dominated Republican thinking for decades.
Neoconservative historian Robert Kagan — one of the prime intellectual backers of the Iraq War and an advocate for Syrian intervention — announced in the Washington Post last week that if Trump secures the nomination, “the only choice will be to vote for Hillary Clinton.”
Max Boot, an unrepentant supporter of the Iraq War, wrote in the Weekly Standard that a “Trump presidency would represent the death knell of America as a great power,” citing, among other things, Trump’s objection to a large American troop presence in South Korea.
Trump has done much to trigger the scorn of neocon pundits. He denounced the Iraq War as a mistake based on Bush administration lies, just prior to scoring a sizable victory in the South Carolina GOP primary. In last week’s contentious GOP presidential debate, he defended the concept of neutrality in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is utterly taboo on the neocon right.
“It serves no purpose to say you have a good guy and a bad guy,” he said, pledging to take a neutral position in negotiating peace.
This set off his rival Marco Rubio, who replied, “The position you’ve taken is an anti-Israel position. … Because you cannot be an honest broker in a dispute between two sides in which one of the sides is constantly acting in bad faith.”
The Jerusalem Post suggested that Rubio’s assault on Trump’s views on the Middle East was designed to win Florida. If that’s the case, it’s apparently not working — in the Real Clear Politics averaging of GOP primary polls in the state, Trump is polling higher than he ever has.
In his quest to take up George W. Bush’s mantle, Rubio has arrayed a fleet of neoconservative funders, ranging from pro-Israel billionaire Paul Singer to Norman Braman, a billionaire auto dealer who funds Israeli settlements in the West Bank. His list of advisers is like a rolodex of Iraq War backers, ranging from Bush administration alumni Elliot Abrams and Stephen Hadley, to Kagan and serial war propagandist Bill Kristol.
Kristol also sits on the board of the Emergency Committee for Israel — a dark money group that assails candidates it perceives as insufficiently pro-Israel. The group started airing an ad this weekend against Trump portraying him as an ally to despots like Bashar Assad, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Qaddafi — mostly because he argued that military invasions of Libya and Iraq left those countries worse off:
Even when Trump echoes certain elements of neoconservative orthodoxy — he repeatedly and emphatically calls for strengthening the military — he does so in a unique way. He talks not about spending more money but defying the “special interests” who make the Pentagon order “missiles they don’t want because of politics … because the company that makes the missiles is a contributor.”
Jacob Heilbrunn, author of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons, suggested in July 2014 that neoconservatives might be preparing to ally with Hillary Clinton.
With Trump’s ascendancy, it’s possible that the parties will reorient their views on war and peace, with Trump moving the GOP to a more dovish direction and Clinton moving the Democrats towards greater support for war.
“Max Boot, an unrepentant supporter of the Iraq War, wrote in the Weekly Standard that a “Trump presidency would represent the death knell of America as a great power,”
Sorry, that happened already with the current moron in the White House.
May the Lord preserve and protect future President Donald J. Trump and may he be elected with the goodwill and support of all honest, clear-thinking Americans who love this nation. Donald J. Trump will, with the help of Almighty God, put this nation on the path to peace and prosperity. Amen.
Of course they will vote for Hillary— they are ashamed of the mistakes they made getting us into the war in Iraq and if Trump wins it will be as if the American people said “screw you neocons.. you were wrong”.
Robert Kagan to vote for Hillary
Every time he is attacked, Trump’s polls go ten feet higher.
Max Boot Born: September 12, 1969 (age 46), Moscow, Russia
“Neoconservative historian Robert Kagan — one of the prime intellectual backers of the Iraq War and an advocate for Syrian intervention”
Well with chops like that,,,,maybe this guy needs a listen! lol
FYI - Kagan’s wife is Victoria Nuland, Obama's Under Secretary of State for EU and Eurasian affairs, who has also worked under Clinton and Bush. She was the one caught on a leaked telephone call in Feb. 2014 with Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, infamously saying “F*** the EU!,” and discussing how they were going to push to install Arseny Yatsenyuk as the new Ukraine President.
Another failed, dangerous, arrogant, globalist social-engineering experiment. Falls into the category of Libya and Syria.
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Neoconservative historian Robert Kagan…ESAD.
Most people don’t even know that these neo-cons are actually leftists who moved from the democrat party when that party became more of a peace at any price party. They still support all the leftist social causes, open borders, abortion, gay marriage, affirmative action, political correctness, and whatever else all liberals support. Their only goal is to drag the US into every war they can in the Middle East.
Thank you for noticing my tagline, I quite like it...
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