US Foreign Policy

For John, BLUF:  One of the questions that needs to be asked in our Nation's corridors of power is who runs US foreign policy, the President or the Establishment.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Trump Criticized For Breaking With Longstanding American Tradition Of Remaining In Middle Eastern Countries Indefinitely

From The Babylon Bee, 19 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

After Trump announced that US troops would be pulled out of Syria, the President was quickly criticized by leaders on both the left and the right for breaking with the longstanding American tradition of remaining in Middle Eastern countries indefinitely.

Trump drew ire from both sides of the aisle for his "careless and reckless" disregard for the beloved American custom of meddling overseas without a congressional declaration of war and then hanging around for another few decades.

It is satire.  On the other hand, a year and a half later it still seems real.

While there is talk, from time to time, about President Trump not following the advice of the experts in foreign policy, in fact he is reflecting the beliefs of the voters.  Many Americans, I would think a majority, are against this continuing deployments in foreign lands with risks to our young men and women in the military and the foreign service.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit, for this posting today.

Regards  —  Cliff

Showing Initiative

TRIGGER WARNING:  In which I talk about how President T Jefferson colluded with the French to displace a large number of Native American tribes.

For John, BLUF:  This day in history, a long time ago.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From the Instapundit, Posted by Gail Heriot, 30 April 2018.

Here is the blog post:

On this day in 1803, American Minister to France Robert Livingston, James Monroe and Barbé Marbois signed the Treaty for the Louisiana Purchase in Paris.  The Americans had been authorized by President Jefferson to offer up to $10 million for New Orleans and its environs and were shocked to be offered the whole enchilada for only $15 million (cheap!).  Certain that the United States would approve, Livingston took the deal.  Back then, owing to the difficulty of communications, diplomats had to have more discretion that they do now.  That was also true for a whole lot of other people separated by distance from their “superiors.”

And, today the proposed increase in scope would have to be staffed through several Departments and independent agencies.  The establishment would then say no.

Ah, for the days when the Admiral could put his telescope to his blind eye and act on his own judgement.

Regards  —  Cliff

Best Line of The Day

Trump’s particular gift is goading the allegedly sane, sensible, responsible establishment into revealing that it is actually none of those things.

The InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

President Trump's Press Conference

For John, BLUF:  President Trump not bowing to the way the Establishment thinks it should be.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Imaginary News

It is Mr Scott Adams again:♠

There are two clues that the Huffington Post is hallucinating and I’m not.  The first clue is that they have a trigger and I don’t.  Reality violated their egos, whereas I was predicting a Trump win all along.  My world has been consistent with my ego.  No trigger.  All I have is a warm feeling of rightness.

The second clue is that the Huffington Post is seeing something that half the country doesn’t see.  As a general rule, the person who sees the elephant in the room is the one hallucinating, not the one who can’t see the elephant.  The Huffington Post is literally seeing something that is invisible to me and other observers.  We see a President Trump talking the way he normally talks.  They see a 77-minute meltdown.

I would say, based on my observations of the Press Conference that President Trump talked the way he normally talks and felt free to not just provide a canned response to each reporter's question, but to also interact with the reporter, like the reporter was a fellow human being in a conversation.  And, the President was having fun.  Maybe that is the be no that was being violated.

And, it is time the rest of us got to ask some questions, not just the Main Stream Media.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Creator of Dilbert.