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Neoconservatives Declare War on Donald J. Trump
The Intercept ^ | Feb. 29 2016, 12:08 p.m. | Zaid Jilani

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.


TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 2016election; 2016issues; antitrump; boohoo; c2ir; cons; election2016; handwringers; israel; kerryhawks; maxboot; mccainsbuttboys; neocons; newyork; paleocons; robertkagan; theintercept; theweeklystandard; trump; trumpisbad4thesoul; weeklystandard; zaidjilani
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To: Democratic-Republican
That should be ... The Mississippi Strategy ...
121 posted on 03/02/2016 4:24:36 PM PST by Democratic-Republican
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

The Real Trump University is a Kindergarten for Patriots
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3404485/posts


122 posted on 03/03/2016 12:31:11 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Liz

Right on.

‘I insist the pukes quit sipping chilled Cristal w/ room-temperature Brie and water crackers in the Four Seasons lounge w/ our tax dollars...that/s where they get these half-baked ideas about US foreign affairs.’

What could be more corrupt than a group of govmn’t workers whose job is to be constantly exposed to foreign interests?

It takes a strong will to clean up the State Department, someone determined to put America First.

If someone is willing to ...

ban muslims ...

build a wall ...

defund sanctuary cities ...

negotiate agressively on trade deals ...

find ways to save money on the Keystone Pipeline ...

waterboard terrorists ...

That’s the kind of leader who can actually reform the State Department. Someone tough, patriotic, and even ruthless toward the wicked.


123 posted on 03/03/2016 12:38:39 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Grampa Dave

Trump just doesn’t want to take out moderate strong men in the Middle East who keep the radicals in line.

But he would not mind appearing to be a dove right now.

I predict that he will send the National Guard to the Mexican border and have them well armed with looser rules of engagement. He will decimate ISIS. He will restore a military presense in the Philippines ...

China takes Philippine atoll
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3404004/posts
‘This is clearly inside the EEZ of the Philippines.’ — ch.man

They needs us very badly, but they will need to cut a deal with him first.

And he will attempt to make Russia part of the solution via Islamo-terrorists.


124 posted on 03/03/2016 1:35:46 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Democratic-Republican
Permit me to bask in the aura of your infinite wisdom...and I quote:

Cruz has really ratcheted up the stupid lately.... his followers have gone full tilt nutso.... history-challenged, borderline insane zealots rambling about anti-Semitism and KKK about someone from NYC.... Levin is clearly in this class now and I say good riddance. This exact same smear tactic occurred just two years ago, and Cruz was a member of that cabal, although cloaked with deniability from Mitch. I wonder how Cruzers feel about being drafted into the GOPe cesspool by Saint Ted?

Cruz/s long-laid plans for Super Tuesday was a complete strategy failure. Donald ate his lunch all over the conservative south....Cruz/s supposed strongholds. So that answers your question.

As deluded Cruz continues making victory speeches, one can discern another strategy aborning in the calculating Cruz mind. If he can manage to stay in the race, the opportunistic Cruz can dupe donors into ponying up more and more money.

He now has $100 million to do whatever he wants with...said to be building new houses. Better hang onto your hat....Cruz is about to twitch himself into the really big bucks.

125 posted on 03/03/2016 2:29:11 AM PST by Liz (SAFE PLACE? A liberal's mind. Nothing's there. Nothing can penetrate it.)
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To: Liz
Thanks Liz.

On that last part, $100 million bucks for Ted, I'm not so sure.

I've seen some tweets today saying that Cruz blew through lots of dough in Texas and needs an infusion from his billion dollar baby puppet masters.

BTW ... this is one of the things I mentioned last June or July, that Trump uniquely brings to the table, something unprecedented for a (R) candidate. I said that by self-funding he can do something to the (D)ummies that no-one has ever done before. He can launch Doolittle raids straight into the enemy capitols like LA, SF, Chicago and NYC, expensive markets that they never have to defend ( and naturally the RINO pukes never thought to hit them like this, they stacked all their bets on FL and OH like a degenerate gambler in a casino ).

Since then ( June or July ) he has followed this "advice" in the primaries jetting into all kinds of rallies and shown how it can be done. Now just imagine doing this in the general to Hillary. They have never had to defend those expensive media markets and since their party bankroll is lower than ever before, he can hurt them badly. Not to mention he can quite possibly put several "blue" states in play, though probably not IL, CA and NY. He can however, cause the enemy to bankrupt itself in those markets leaving their flank ( all other areas ) wide open for easy pickings.

With proper coordination, his self-funding the main ticket and the party funding the down-ticket offices they could easily engineer a historic wipeout of the enemy.

So what happened in Texas was a great example of this. He kept Cruz below 50% in his ( and the Bushies ) home state, grabbed a bunch of delegates to boot, and emptied Ted's bankroll. Win-Win.

One more thing. It has been said that one of the ways that Reagan got his 1981 economic recovery act and tax cuts passed was by threats to House and Senate members that he would fly Air Force One into their districts and make sure they lost their re-elections. This is the prototype for an effective President Trump, whether the Congress is (D)ummy or (R)epublicrat.

126 posted on 03/03/2016 4:03:42 AM PST by Democratic-Republican
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To: Democratic-Republican
Cruz going for broke, eh? That sure explains his obsession to stay in the race...gotta get those bucks to fund the lifestyle M/M crave.

========================================

With proper coordination, Trump/s self-funding the main ticket and the party funding the down-ticket they could easily engineer a historic wipeout of the enemy. ..... what happened in Texas was a great example...Trump kept Cruz below 50% in his (and the Bushies) home state, grabbed a bunch of delegates to boot, and emptied Ted's bankroll. Win-Win.

N-i-c-e deconstruction. A great Trump slapdown of the execrable Cruz and the dam Bushes.

============================================

.....Reagan apparently got his 1981 economic recovery act and tax cuts passed was by threats to House and Senate members that he would fly Air Force One into their districts and make sure they lost their re-elections.......

Beautiful.....Donald needs to do that....fly in his plane...the one w/ Trump emblazoned across it.

127 posted on 03/03/2016 4:52:23 AM PST by Liz (SAFE PLACE? A liberal's mind. Nothing's there. Nothing can penetrate it.)
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To: Democratic-Republican
FYI---just came across this on another thread-----in case you missed it.

Bush got 88% in the 2000 Texas Primary.

Cruz got 44%.

128 posted on 03/03/2016 5:06:01 AM PST by Liz (SAFE PLACE? A liberal's mind. Nothing's there. Nothing can penetrate it.)
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To: OwenKellogg

Yes. We must give them no quarter anymore. We have been generous for decades. Generosity is seen as kindness, and kindness, weakness.


129 posted on 03/03/2016 5:10:55 AM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: publius911
I have yet to see a definition of "neoconservative" that makes any sense.

Maybe "defense industry lobbyists with imperial fantasies" would be clearer. :)

130 posted on 03/03/2016 5:34:25 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
He will declare war against the drug cartels in our hemisphere and take them out from the top down with drones and whatever is needed.

I January, we will start building a fence like the one shown below and finish it in February. The wall will come later.

Mexico-Guatemala border fence.


131 posted on 03/03/2016 6:06:34 AM PST by Grampa Dave (, Voting to elect Trump as president is the only known cure for chronic TDS!))
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To: Grampa Dave

‘He will declare war against the drug cartels in our hemisphere and take them out from the top down with drones and whatever is needed.’

I really hope you are right!

Seriously?

He flirts with prohibitionist thinking as I understand it!


132 posted on 03/03/2016 6:41:30 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March (Dire Threat to Internet Free Speech? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3394704/posts)
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To: Jane Austen

These folks are Neo-Cons alright, New Conmen.


133 posted on 08/15/2016 1:04:50 PM PDT by attiladhun2 (The Free World has a new leader--his name is Benjamin Netanyahu)
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