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Posted on 03/03/2026 3:41:29 AM PST by texas booster
Trump’s doctrine is simple: strike first at the guilty, strike hard from afar, skip the nation-building, and end wars on America’s terms.
War is the use of arms to settle differences—tribal, political, religious, cultural, and material—between organized groups. It is unchanging. The general laws of armed conflict stays immutable, given the constancy of human nature.
However, the manner in which war is conducted remains fluid. New weapons, tactics, and strategies elicit counterresponses in an endless cycle of tensions between defensive and offensive superiority.
That said, has President Trump introduced a novel way of waging Western war against America’s foreign enemies?
We saw glimpses of it during his first term, when he eliminated Iranian general and terrorist kingpin Qassem Soleimani and ISIS terrorist grandee Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the former case, he preferred hitting the cause rather than the effects of Iranian terrorism in Syria and Iraq, while making it clear that he had no intention of striking the Iranian mainland and entering into a tit-for-tat “forever war.”
In large part, he was successful. Iran never quite replaced the venomous Soleimani. And despite tired threats, its performative art responses did not kill any Americans, and they were seen by Trump as venting and not worth a counterresponse.
In the case of the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Trump likewise went after the catalyst of ISIS terrorism. But he also bombed ISIS into near nonexistence in Iraq, since, unlike Iran, it lacked the financial and material resources of a state sponsor of terror, and it had no independent ability to make weapons or finance its terrorism.
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
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In these three cases, Trump successfully portrayed his antagonists as the unprovoked aggressors, employed overwhelming force to eliminate them, and declared them one-off occurrences with no need to punish the ultimate source or sponsor of the aggression with further force, and he was largely successful in limiting subsequent attacks on American installations.
As for attacking Iran, Trump cited the theocracy’s past terrorist attacks on Americans and U.S. allies, its effort to assassinate Westerners, and its unwillingness to abandon plans to create a nuclear weapon.
An excellent, cogent article from Prof hanson. Worth your time to read the whole thing!
FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR
Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall
American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness
His website: Victor Davis Hanson The Sword of Perseus
One of his sponsors' website: The Daily Signal
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As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.
Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.
Nor does he worry much about veiled threats from Russia or China. He is careful to consult a key few in Congress, but cares even less that the American Left opposes anything he does. Or rather, he expects their Pavlovian resistance and considers their shrill outbursts and street theater public relations as pluses and the stuff of future campaign ads.
One of the excellent points in the article that we should consider.
Thank you Prof Hanson.
> strike hard from afar, skip the nation-building <
A wise policy. Let’s hope Trump will stick to it.
And he probably will, as Trump has no John Bolton or Dick Chaney types near him this go-around.
Trump is Thomas Jefferson in his approach to hard power, we broke it, you still own it. Not unique - punitive raids are as old as war itself, but a re-assertion of national interest over telescopic philanthropy that assumed the US had a limitless budget to play social worker, while exposing GIs to outsized risks due to constrained ROEs, guaranteeing defeat as casualties piled up and the public grew impatient.
“In 2018, Trump probably killed more Russian ground troops (more than 200?) than America had during the entire Cold War, with his furious response to the Wagner Group assault on a U.S. Special Operations base near Khasham, Syria.”
The Russians left the Wagner troops exposed, perhaps intentionally. Our troops in Syria were in direct contact with Russian assets in the area. We asked no less than 3 times if they had troops in the area, and 3 times they said “no”. After the 3rd time our troops went weapons free and turned the Wagner troops into a greasy stain on the desert sand.
CC
What about Michael Flynn?
For example, by boosting US energy production and hammering oil producers Venezuela and Iran while protecting the Sunni petrostates of the Mideast, the US is gaining a strong measure of influence and control over the global oil supply and price. Cuba, Russia, and China are all feeling the pressure. We may soon see Cuba liberated, the Russia-Ukraine war brought to a cease fire, and China dissuaded from an attack on Taiwan.
Wow. Brevity. That is talent.
I'll get a memo out to Halluburton.
.
A clean sweep would be great to see, but not as neat and easy as it looks.
What’s with the twins? I thought they were the good guys.
Yep - and several Islamic countries are actively assisting the US and Israel against Iran..not to mention OPEC upping its output.
Also our guys already had the artillery dialed in and were, gee, just waiting around with not much to do...
Someone heard something, somewhere...
Some should not be on the poster that is from X
Some I frankly say "whaaat..."
Let's see here.. the top row... no questions...
Second row... I only know one of those people and he's been uh, incriminated by "the files".
Third row, I know 2 and 2 that I don't, but no back story on any of them...
Fourth row, who are those black guys? And yeah, what's the deal with the general?
I must be really behind the times.
The mullahs screamed “Death to America!” but it was Trump’s America that finally brought death to them.
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