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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: HarleyLady27; Liz

There is no such thing as a “neoconservative” It is a code name for FAKE conservative.

I call them PUKEneos.

I stole this from Liz : )


41 posted on 02/29/2016 3:13:42 PM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: OwenKellogg

TRUMP Taj MAHAL Host hard core porn expo, is this the man you want as president?
http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/29/trump-taj-mahal-hosted-hardcore-porn-convention-in-2013-2014-video/


42 posted on 02/29/2016 3:13:48 PM PST by RaceBannon (Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for)
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To: DesertRhino

TRUMP Taj MAHAL Host hard core porn expo, is this the man you want as president?
http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/29/trump-taj-mahal-hosted-hardcore-porn-convention-in-2013-2014-video/


43 posted on 02/29/2016 3:14:17 PM PST by RaceBannon (Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for)
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To: drewh

Erik Ericsson just anounced on his show that if Trump is the nominee he will refused to vote for him in November.


44 posted on 02/29/2016 3:14:51 PM PST by BubbaJunebug
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To: MNJohnnie

your support of a clinton supporter who runs strip bars, casinos , runs with the mob, all the while calling your views conservative would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.


45 posted on 02/29/2016 3:15:50 PM PST by RaceBannon (Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for)
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To: DesertRhino
Max Boot? Robert Kagan?! Fast Times at Ridgemont High photo: fast times at ridgemont high hahafast.jpg Those guys are ... neo-cons!
46 posted on 02/29/2016 3:17:10 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: RaceBannon
TRUMP Taj MAHAL Host hard core porn expo, is this the man you want as president?

Lol, I don't think Trump sets up the engagements at any of his hotels. When I make arrangements for parties or group blocks at a motel, pretty well the highest I get is a manager of some sort. I don't get the owner, I don't often even get the manager - I get the person who books parties and banquets and often they are two different people.

47 posted on 02/29/2016 3:18:10 PM PST by ozarkgirl
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To: RaceBannon
Not only that, he only owned 10%. Why would you post something like that when you know Trump had absolutely nothing to do with it?

Before this Friday, Trump had owned a 10 percent total stake in the hotel that prominently features his name. He had not been involved in the operation of the Trump Taj Mahal since 2009.

Now, Trump’s interest in the property is extinguished and it is fully owned by another billionaire, Carl Icahn.

48 posted on 02/29/2016 3:21:19 PM PST by ozarkgirl
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To: RaceBannon

He had soft core porn at his hotel? I couldn’t care less. And you tell me with a straight face you’ve carefully avoided ever looking at anything naked? Clutch your pearls and run for the fainting couch snowflake.

I want the damned Mexican and moslem flood to stop. Nobody else will do it. The two establishment anchor baby Hispanics who spoke Mexican in a debate wont. Hitlery wont. Bernie wont. The only one I trust to even try is Donald.


49 posted on 02/29/2016 3:21:39 PM PST by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble mined asses overthrown,,,")
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To: dmzTahoe

Threats, threats. We aren’t scared. I’ll never ever ever vote for that pervert, liar, con-man, orange racist jack**s.

Never ever.

Hillary and Trump are 2 of a kind.


50 posted on 02/29/2016 3:22:08 PM PST by JRochelle (A vote for Trump in the primary is a vote for Hillary in November.)
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To: drewh

The NEOCONS have been destroying this country for decades, they are the a huge part of why Trump is sitting in the drivers seat today.


51 posted on 02/29/2016 3:23:21 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: RaceBannon

Good graphic! And yes, there are many.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/nevertrump?src=hash


52 posted on 02/29/2016 3:24:11 PM PST by mlizzy (America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe/Wade has deformed a great nation. -MT)
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To: RaceBannon

A casino, hosting a porn convention. SHOCKING! And here I thought most of the casino hotel business was going after the Womens Christian Temperance Union business.


53 posted on 02/29/2016 3:24:27 PM PST by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble mined asses overthrown,,,")
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To: BubbaJunebug

“Erik Ericsson just anounced on his show that if Trump is the nominee ....”

Damn, and we needed those 14 voters.


54 posted on 02/29/2016 3:25:40 PM PST by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble mined asses overthrown,,,")
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To: RaceBannon

No.


55 posted on 02/29/2016 3:25:44 PM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Jane Austen

Nor will you. Hillary is, herself, a neocon. (0bama is just an anti American, pro Muslim psychopath.)


56 posted on 02/29/2016 3:36:11 PM PST by KGeorge
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To: HamiltonJay
exactly!


57 posted on 02/29/2016 3:36:31 PM PST by drewh
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To: KGeorge

I agree.


58 posted on 02/29/2016 3:37:59 PM PST by Jane Austen (Marco Rubio, the White Obama)
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To: Jane Austen

:-) It was probably a Mistress of the Obvious statement.


59 posted on 02/29/2016 3:42:24 PM PST by KGeorge
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To: drewh
Neoconservatives (READ: JEWS) Declare War on Donald J. Trump

Zaid Jilani

Nope. No potential for an anti-semitic perspective there, no sirreee!

60 posted on 02/29/2016 3:43:38 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (Make America Grate Again!)
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