President Trump has been correct in shifting US military efforts away from never-ending jihadist wars and redirecting them to existential threats to the US posed by China and Russia.
But this approach can only be viable if the US provides backup to the allies who are fighting the jihadists in our stead. The US military presence in Syria is a tiny 2,000 troops. Yesterday, the President created a major uproar among both opponents and allies by declaring he would be withdrawing those troops as soon as possible.
This also proved to be the proverbial last straw for Defense Secretary Mattis, who resigned in protest against this abandonment of the Syrian Kurds, our stalwart allies there for many years.
Walking away from the Kurds, first in Iraq and now in Syria, makes no sense whatever from the standpoint of the anti-Iran policy the Trump administration is zealously pursuing through a trade boycott against that country and by exiting the nuclear treaty that President Obama concluded. The Kurds are the only reliable ally that the US has inside Syria to stand athwart Iran’s efforts to create an arc of control from Teheran to Beirut.
Trump has had a very bad week: unending selective prosecutions by a runaway Special Counsel and “blue state” attorney generals, aided by a personal attorney throwing client confidentiality to the winds. But to overcome such hostility, nothing is more important than to run up solid achievements rather than own goals. Instead, the President has lately accomplished more of the latter:
- Border fence fiasco (from $20 bn. to ?),
- Space Force defeat (will be situated inside Air Force, not an independent branch as Trump originally correctly called for),
- Farm Bill and welfare payments to farmers (no work requirement for food stamps, farmers getting billions in compensation for retaliations caused by the Trump tariffs),
- Anti bump stock executive order, likely unconstitutional.
One very positive achievement, however, has been his moves to wean Europe and especially Germany from excessive dependence on Russian energy sources (here and here).
President Clinton survived an impeachment attempt because he had a strong economy behind him. The Democratic takeover of the House in November shows that won’t be enough to save Trump in 2020. The Mattis resignation has seriously shaken and divided the President’s Republican base. One can now hear Republican county and precinct leaders saying privately they hope that the President will declare victory in the third year of his present term and bestow his blessings on Vice President Pence — rather than wiping the party out in 2020 by running for a second term.
Trump’s best hope for softening this adverse shift in sentiment will be to make well-considered, well-prepared decisions that reunite the Republican Party and win over independents. He’s leading a constitutional republic, not a hotel.
Hat tip: Eaglebeak
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