When Trump was a candidate for president, his inconsistencies were noticeable. On the one hand, he said the Iran deal was a disaster and that he would bomb the families of terrorists. On the other hand, he said that Bush lied us into Iraq and that we (the government) needs to stop these endless wars in the Middle East.
Since becoming president, Trump has maintained his inconsistency. I have said several times though that I prefer his inconsistency to the consistency of most everyone else in the establishment. People like Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio would take the wrong and evil side on virtually every issue dealing with foreign policy. They are consistent. I would rather someone who is inconsistent and sometimes wrong and evil over someone who is consistently wrong and evil.
Trump has been horrible with his appointments, particularly with people like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. You can’t really get much worse than those two. Trump has been bad on Venezuela and Iran. He has been mostly bad dealing with Russia, perhaps to push back against the fake stories of him being in collusion with Putin. Trump has been bad with China because of his tariffs. This is not good for relations.
Trump made great strides with North Korea until he let Bolton get involved and ruin any goodwill. Trump tried to withdraw troops from Syria, and the entire DC establishment went ballistic.
The best you can say about Trump in regards to foreign policy is that he has not started any new major wars up to this point. That is a better record (so far) than Bush and Obama.
A Vote for Trump
There is an old joke regarding the 1964 election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater. The joke goes something like this:
They told me if I voted for Goldwater, our boys would end up fighting in Vietnam. And they were right. I voted for Goldwater, and they are fighting in Vietnam.
I could almost tell a similar joke that, for me, would be personally true. Some of my libertarian friends told me I should vote for Trump or else we’ll have greater tensions with Russia. And they were right. I didn’t vote for Trump and we have greater tensions with Russia.
It’s not because Trump wants greater tensions with Russia. But because the anti-Trump crowd hates Trump so much, they are willing to risk war with Russia just to try to take down Trump. They may not see it quite this way, but they slightly raise the chance of nuclear annihilation because of their hatred for Trump.
Most of the left was never really anti-war. Trump has shown this to be true. If Trump takes a more non-interventionist position on something, the left will criticize him.
There really is such a thing as Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). People who suffer from it can’t think clearly. It doesn’t mean you have TDS if you don’t like Trump. I am highly critical of Trump, particularly in regards to his stupid tariffs, his spending, and his mostly hawkish foreign policy. But I don’t get upset with Trump over his Tweets and name-calling, unless that name-calling is to a foreign leader.
I don’t care about Trump’s tax returns. I hope his accountants stiffed the IRS good and hard.
I don’t care about Trump’s brash personality. If anything, it is refreshing to hear someone who is not a total phony.
On most days, I don’t much like Trump, but I do not suffer from TDS. I can see when he does something positive, and I can still think clearly when his name comes up in a conversation.
Trump’s Moment of Truth
Trump recently did an interview, and it is probably not getting as much attention as it deserves. He gets several things wrong on Iran, but then goes the other way. You can watch the whole thing for context, but these are the key statements that Trump said.
“And don’t kid yourself. You do have a military-industrial complex. They do like war.”
In regards to Syria: “I say I want to bring our troops back home. The place went crazy.”
Eisenhower mentioned the military-industrial complex when he was leaving office. But that was a little late. It’s like when the former president of Mexico started criticizing the war on drugs afterhe had left office.
In this case, Trump is still president, and he actually said on video that we are dealing with a military-industrial complex. This is what is so refreshing about Trump, despite his horrible positions on so many things, including foreign policy.
Trump basically admitted that he is not in charge. I mean, if he is in charge, then he should just ignore the military-industrial complex. He is commander-in-chief. He can order all troops home immediately. If he does so, and the orders are not obeyed, at least he is putting it out there for all to see.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was struck down by Darth Vader in front of Luke Skywalker for him to see. Trump needs to play Obi-Wan. He needs to expose the evil of the establishment, but I am not sure he has the courage to do so. (Sorry for the Star Wars analogy to anyone who’s not a fan, but you get the point.)
Trump just told the world that he is not in charge. I wish he would make it clearer through his actions. I wish he would order an end to all of the wars. Force the establishment and their military-industrial complex to react with furor. At least it would be a good lesson for the American people.