Posted on 11/19/2016 12:28:06 AM PST by Sontagged
Jim Webb is, at least in a nominal sense, a Democrat. Last year, he briefly pursued the Democratic nomination for president, a run best remembered for his joke about killing the Vietnamese soldier who threw a grenade at him.
Now Webb is singing Donald Trumps praises, and may have his eye on a cabinet job. I would like to salute Donald Trump for his tenacity and for the uniqueness of his campaign, Webb during a speech to a hundred or so attendees at a foreign policy symposium in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
To hear Webb tell it, in fact, he tried to do what Trump did. It took an outsider, whatever his wealth and lack of government experience, to tell the truth, Webb said, before explaining that his own efforts in this regard were tripped up by his lack of wealth and an intransigent Democratic elite.
Conservative writer Bill Kauffmann floated Webbs name as a possible cabinet pick in his introduction of the former Virginia senator. Later on, a questioner mentioned an incredible rumor going around that Webb might be offered secretary of defense, and asked whether he would accept the role. Webb did not answer the question.
It all had the look and feel of a trial balloon being launched. Here was Webb, with his sterling resume, laying out a vision of Americas vision in the world that roughly hewed with what Trump said on the campaign trail: Putting America first, minding our own business, avoiding foreign entanglements. And of course he had nothing but nice things to say about the president-elect, even though he declined to say whom hed voted for.
He also spoke quite a bit about how Democrats left working class whites behind: It made white working people their most convenient whipping posts, particularly white males.
It was a message likely to resonate with the audience. The American Conservative, a right-wing publication with a dovish, populist bent, had put the symposium together. Founded in 2002 as a home for anti-war conservatives, it can in some sense be credited for providing the intellectual architecture of what we now think of as Trumpism.
Whether any of that architecture still interests Trump is another matter. Regardless, Webbs resume is immaculate. Hes a graduate of Annapolis and of Georgetown Law. Hes a highly decorated war hero. Hes already been an assistant secretary of Defense, secretary of the Navy, and a U.S. Senator.
And hes also an acclaimed author of ten books, including Born Fighting, his 2004 history of the Scotch-Irish people that was the Hillbilly Elegy of its time.
That resume didnt serve him in his no-hope bid for the Democratic nomination last year. But it would likely make a Senate confirmation vote a breeze, and that fact alone could make a Webb nod tempting to Trumps White House team.
John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani, two floated names for Trumps secretary of State, could easily be stuck in confirmation hearings for months. (Sen. Rand Paul is already saying hell do anything possible to stop Bolton.)
Meanwhile, Steve Bannons elevation to White House strategist has already produced tremendous blowback. Possible Defense pick Gen. Michael Flynn could face trouble explaining some of his foreign ties. And getting an immigration hardliner like Kris Kobach or Jeff Sessions to a major post could be a hard-fought battle as well.
Not so with Webb, a known quantity that would likely appease both Trump fans and some detractors within Washington officialdom. It would also give Trump a Democrat in his cabinet. Cross-party moves like that tend to be attractive to presidents, and may be particularly so to an off-and-on Democrat like Trump.
It would also reassure supporters and critics alike that Trump has no intention of getting the U.S. into a war. Webb, unlike Trump, was an early and outspoken critic of the Iraq War, a position that launched his career in electoral politics. His non-interventionist bona fides are rock solid.
Webbs big idea is that we need a clear statement of national security interests. Hes critical of NATOs expansion to Russias borders, and said he feels humanitarian military adventures are deeply unwise. But first and foremost, we need a strategy thats easily understood by enemies, allies, and the American people alike.
Tell me what our national interest is, how we are going to defend it, how we will know we have accomplished our mission -- and if you can do that, you have a strategy, he said. And in Webbs version of that strategy, generally speaking, wed be preoccupied to containing Chinese influence in Asia in lieu of wars of choice like the Libya intervention.
Regardless of what anyone makes of Webbs pronouncements, he has the authority to make them, and could provide a degree of nuance to Trumps foreign policy impulses. Whether the president-elect has any interest in that is another matter, but on the merits, a top job for Jim Webb would make a fair bit of sense.
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No, my politics are in line with Bannon’s. I was intrigued by Webb back in May because I wondered if a bipartisan ticket wouldn’t just destroy the Uniparty Establishment; because I knew how afraid Rove was about it in both ‘04 and ‘08.
Now I am just curious about Webb’s true backstory.
No my politics are in line with Bannon’s. I was intrigued with the idea of Webb as Trump’s VP because I knew how scared Rove had been of a bipartisan ticket in ‘04 and ‘08... it destroys the Uniparty Establishment’s manner of raising election year cash.
Lord, I love Trump for what he has exposed.
A loose cannon type ...
he was Secretary of the Navy at one point, during the Reagan years and resigned.
I think Cheney is in Congress now. Bachmann is very available.
no no
Carl Jung said everyone in your dream is you.
All I know is instead of a small ceremony in DC when appointed he made a HUGE show, pomp and circumstance with all the midshipmen required to attend and parade in Annapolis at the Academy when he was made SECNAV in the 80s. I know because I was one of those middies.
His turnover I never figured out, despite being in at the time. Didn’t bother me one way or the other to be honest.
His books are decent and based on bits and pieces of his life. But yeah...he’s a promoter.
Many of us think all the speculation being posted and the opinions that follow are a waste of time.
I don’t know a whole lot about Webb yet. How bout Col. Oliver North or Col. Alan West? Maybe the two of them together would make a good team.
“I remember this odd event too:
Webb Is Vague About Gun Incident “
Yes. Webb demonstrated that he viewed himself above the law. While I agree that DC’s gun laws are awful, I don’t break them. He also showed his lack of loyalty to employees by how fast he threw this guy under the bus. At first, he didn’t even admit that it was his gun. Then he sort of admitted that he regularly carried in the Capitol. Then he blamed the aide for the “mix-up” about the gun, even though the aide must have known the .45 and ammo were in the case. So, essentially, Webb used his aide to break the law for him and then abandoned him when he was caught.
Hey MSM Pukes! We won...you lost.
The election results say that the little people are sick and tired of you liberal assholes.
Liberals can go find seats in the back of the bus...you, too, Webb!
I read his book about the Scots Irish in America. It was interesting but not particularly well written and his personal stories bloated the book. There was plenty of patting himself and ancestors on the back.
The bottom line is that Webb is a Democrat. That fact alone should tell one everything one needs to know about him.
I’ve learned a lot in the years I’ve been on FR. Who thinks it is a waste of time?
thank you! I remembered he wrote a story with male sex in it. yuck!!!
I was serving when Webb was the Secretary of the Navy! As a Marine Infantryman, we all had great hopes and ideas about what Webb would do for the Navy-Marine Team.
I was sorely disappointed and, although I was a young man, found him to be slightly unstable! He had this ability to make everyone angry yet really do nothing of consequence.
I always thought that his way-out, after finding that SECNAV required a tremendous amount of work, was to claim outrage over the “600” ship Navy and submit his resignation to Reagan! He then ran off into Democrat land.
Lastly, never forget, this guy allowed a Staffer to take the fall for his loaded pistol found in his briefcase that his Staffer fetched for him from his Automobile!
Na, James Webb would prove to be unstable, untrustworthy and impossible to control!
Interesting, thank you.
I don’t like Ollie North. He worked for HW, not Reagan, imho. Allan West was against Trump, so, no.
(Personally, I was only ever for Trump and now very proud of it.)
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