Trump's World, and We Live In It

For John, BLUF:  Folks can denigrate the President all they want, but he is still the President.  Perhaps more can be accomplished by working with him, rather than just putting him down.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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TRUMP AND THE END OF SMUGNESS

From War on the Rocks, an on-line Magazine on National security, by senior fellow and director of the Asia program at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Devin T Stewart, 11 October 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Like most Democrats, I reacted to the stunning 2016 election of Donald Trump with a combination of confusion and dread.  After all, Hillary Clinton was the favorite and, to Democrats like me, a Trump victory seemed to portend certain economic disaster, nuclear war, and pretty much the end of America as we knew it.

But now nearly two years into his administration, Trump has presided over a “winning streak” that includes a booming economy and stock market, an unemployment level at a nearly 50-year low, two Supreme Court appointments, no new foreign wars or domestic terrorist attacks emanating from abroad, a significant degree of progress on trade relations with Canada and Mexico, a “needed reset” on the China relationship, and the prospect of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Perhaps it is time that even his opponents reconsider Trump.  Does Trump have a strategy that we can describe? Is Trump a return of Richard Nixon, of Ronald Reagan, or of something else entirely?  After several months of watching the news without gaining any answers, I finally canceled my cable subscription and sought out other sources.  I found some insights in unexpected places.

You will have to read the article to find the places Mr Steward rummaged around.  The magazine is free on line.

Here is the author's conclusions.  It is a call to recognize him, and his approach, for who he is and what it is.  The world President Trump inherited is not the world of 1990 and perhaps the approaches of 1990 no longer apply.

This essay was an attempt to put concepts to Trump’s actions, to describe Trump in a new way.  Critics may argue that in fact Trump is a narcissistic megalomaniac who likes strongmen, but no one can actually know what he is thinking. They should give up on the efforts at amateur psychoanalysis.  If the political opposition wants to gain any ground, it needs to look for patterns in Trump’s actions and understand what it’s up against.  Most of all, Trump’s opponents should stop their condescending attitude.  Put up against Trump’s growing string of successes, such an attitude will ring increasingly hollow.  For now at least, the era of smugness is over.

I wish the era of smugness was over.  There are too many important issues we all need to be engaged on.

As an aside, you can get WOTR delivered to your in-basket daily.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff