“Trump’s move will not put an end to endless wars.  What it *will* do is reward Russia, Iran, and ISIS.”

~Ilhan Omar on Trump’s plan to start troop withdrawal from northern Syria

On the occasion that Obama did something good in terms of liberty, I could compliment the move while still opposing all of the horrible things that Obama did.

There were wars and coups started by the Obama administration, or assisted in some manner, in various countries such as Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine.  But when he loosened sanctions against Cuba, I acknowledged that it was a move in the right direction.  When he signed the JCPOA to ease sanctions against Iran, I praised the move.  It may not have been the perfect agreement, and he really should have just dropped all sanctions without any agreement at all, but overall I praised the action as moving towards peace.

I didn’t like Obama then, and I don’t like him now.  I think he is a fraud.  I think he sold out to the military-industrial complex and the spy state.  He broke the few promises from his original campaign that were actually good.  But I don’t have Obama Derangement Syndrome.  I am capable of not liking him while still acknowledging when he did something positive for peace, even though most of his policies were against peace.

This brings us to the so-called progressive left.  They have Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) for the most part.  No matter what Trump says or does, they will flip out about it and heavily criticize him.  The high-profile leftists in Washington DC may or may not have TDS, but they prey on those who do.

So if it comes to choosing to help end war or to score political points against Trump, they will generally choose the latter.  Maybe this is what their constituents prefer, but it is still telling nonetheless.

This tells us that these politicians aren’t really concerned about protecting innocent lives. If they do care, it is secondary to scoring political points.  You may think it makes no difference, but it makes a huge difference.  If the far left were to fully support Trump on his foreign policy when he occasionally does or says the right thing, then we would have a much better chance of gaining peace.  Instead, the only support Trump gets for a peaceful foreign policy is from libertarians and a fraction of his base.  There are a few leftists who will praise Trump when he does the right thing, but it is a tiny fraction of the left.

Bernie and the Hypocrites

Ilhan Omar is one of the women in Congress who has gained national attention for her leftist politics.  I think she occasionally gets things right on foreign policy.  She was accused of being anti-Semitic when she implied that American politicians are being bought out by Israelis.  I don’t know if she is anti-Semitic, but her statements in this regard are obviously true and not hostile to Jews in general.  Is it really any different than saying American politicians are bought out by pharmaceutical companies or defense contractors?

So it is disappointing when she gets on board the anti-Trump train to criticize his foreign policy when he is actually seemingly doing (or trying to do) something right.

On Twitter, Omar said, “Trump’s move will not put an end to endless wars.  What it *will* do is reward Russia, Iran, and ISIS.  He’s not leading us toward peace.  He’s showing the world that his political interests are more important than reliable leadership and keeping our commitments to our allies.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), another darling of the left, also tends to be decent on foreign policy issues on the occasion that she isn’t promoting her welfare/ socialist polices on domestic issues. But again, she has to criticize Trump, no matter what.

AOC said on Twitter, “Trump’s sudden withdrawal from northern Syria & endorsement of Turkey’s actions could have catastrophic consequences & risks laying the ground for immense violence and suffering.  We can pursue a strategy to stop our endless wars without endangering the lives of innocent people.”

Actually, whenever any proposal is made to scale back a war or reduce the presence of troops, the war hawks themselves will claim that it will endanger lives and cause more violence.  In other words, there is never a right time for troop withdrawal according to the war hawks.  It is hard to differentiate what AOC says as compared to any shill for the establishment.

Bernie Sanders said on Twitter, “I have long believed the U.S. must responsibly end our military interventions in the Middle East.  But Trump’s abrupt announcement to withdraw from northern Syria and endorse Turkey’s incursion is extremely irresponsible.  It is likely to result in more suffering and instability.”

Again, saying we must do it “responsibly” is no different than any typical war hawk.  There will never be a “responsible” time to do it in their eyes.

And Trump has to be “abrupt” in his announcement because otherwise the opposition will have time to build up against him.  If he has any chance of a troop withdrawal, it almost has to be done abruptly.

This isn’t to say that Trump said everything right in regards to withdrawing troops from northern Syria.  I certainly wouldn’t have chosen all of the same words as Trump, but his intended actions seem to be on the right track in reducing U.S. government interventionism overseas.

This also isn’t to say that Trump will follow through on what he said, just as his previous announcement of withdrawal from Syria didn’t happen.  But a major part of the reason it doesn’t happen is because there is so much backlash against him when he makes such an announcement.  If the left were to align with Trump when he actually does something that they would typically see as correct, then we would have a much better chance of seeing a reduction in interventionism overseas.

This is why I don’t trust Bernie Sanders at all when it comes to foreign policy.  He barely puts any emphasis on foreign policy because he is too busy talking about vastly increasing the welfare state at home.  And we must always remember that Bernie campaigned for the bloodthirsty war hawk that is Hillary Clinton in 2016, even after her campaign and the DNC rigged the primaries against him.

If Bernie became president, his foreign policy would almost immediately be taken over by the establishment.  There is little doubt about this.

You should never trust a socialist/ statist, even when it comes to foreign policy.  If they think violence is the solution on the domestic front, then they can find reasons to excuse violence when it comes to foreign affairs.

Libertarians (and I mean true libertarians who oppose initiated violence) are the only ones who can be trusted to consistently oppose wars and foreign interventions.

The good news is that in reading the comments to these leftist Twitter rants against Trump, there is recognition of the hypocrisy. If Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Ilhan Omar will not support a troop withdrawal in northern Syria, then they should be recognized as the hypocrites that they are.