At President Trump's UN speech yesterday, the cameras caught Chief of Staff John Kelly in a studious face-palm, looking not unlike a college basketball coach whose team was down by 40 points at the half, trying to convince himself that this was a young team in a building year, and surely, the recruiters hadn't been having him on. The White House can try and tell us he's just tired because of Trump's vigorous schedule or what have you, but I think the real story is--he can't not know that this speech boxed Trump in and fubar'd his options massively.
This was a speech Trump gave as if for one of his rallies for the maybe 30% die-hards who need to hear his MAGA line of business. But he gave it in front of an audience of world leaders, and this was not the speech he needed to give to them. In addition to threatening to totally destroy a country of 25 million people in a war that would probably also kill millions in South Korea and Japan and elsewhere, he shit-talked the multi-lateral Iran deal that the leadership of Iran is, while they are not simon-pure little angels of joy and light towards the West, basically adhering to. Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described it as belonging to "medieval times".
The problem I see with this speech is, that it took a long, steaming crap on diplomacy, and wasted a large part of the goodwill needed for non-military interventions to succeed. Trashing diplomacy is a stupid and backwards tactic with regards to North Korea that shows a person with no concept of recent history. It obliterates any hope that Trump's State Department (such as it is) is competent or capable of finding or maintaining non-military solutions for what should be diplomatic problems.
This speech, however, does seem to have been copacetic to Russia. (They do not have our best interests at heart. This is why they backed Trump.)
I am well aware of Trump's base and what they like to hear regarding "America first" and "sovereignty" (which means nothing at all if Russia decides our elections, right?) But knowing there is a world outside of Fox News and Breitbart, this speech nearly gave me the screaming horrors, because nuclear war...mind me, here, because this is important...is BAD. Even one successful missile strike here is a disaster. And the tough talk that Trump likes to think makes Kim Jong Un (not "Rocket Man"--because we are not in 4th grade) respect him, is more liable to make him try just a little bit more. As a leader of a small country that feels beleaguered and wants respect.
Trump has no idea. And he showed his ass.
UPDATE: This is what no-maneuverability looks like.
1 comment:
That bit about his friends bragging about looting African nations is especially appalling. His successor will have one hell of a time undoing the damage this idiot is inflicting on the US. We'll be in a generational hole.
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