Trump's base goes "ballistic" over his "unlimited war"

[Jacque67 7,328]

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Monday night that the new Afghanistan strategyhe unveiled is a reversal of his long-held objection to the very idea of having a U.S. military presence in the country. 

But in announcing a ramp up of U.S. forces with no defined timeline for their departure, Trump tailored and mangled and obscured the policy to such a degree so as to make it both difficult to understand and—he hopes—palatable to his base. At one point, he asserted that his strategy was to have no publicly-stated strategy at all. 

“We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities,” Trump told a crowd of servicemen at Virginia’s Fort Myer on Monday.

President’s have made abrupt foreign policy reversals before, often breaking with campaign pledges when presented with a new set of geopolitical realities. Trump’s reversal stands out not just for the outright vehemence with which he previously argued that America needed to put an end to its 16-year-long war—Trump has called for total US withdrawal from Afghanistan and for handing the country over to an army of mercenaries—but also because of what it says about his foreign policy at large. In the seven months since taking office, Trump has expanded military operations in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and, now, Afghanistan. And that’s in addition to an escalated nuclear standoff with North Korea.

And so, when pitching the notion that the time had come to enlarge America’s military presence, the president used a variety of different selling points to re-frame the context. This was, he stressed, an agenda based on counter-terrorism principles and devoting American blood and treasure purely to the country’s first-order military interests.

"We are not nation-building again,” he said. “We are killing terrorists.”

It was “America First” rhetoric plastered atop a military-oriented interventionist policy. And it was done, ostensibly, to ensure that Trump’s base, disillusioned with decades of Republican-led foreign policy adventurism, heard someone who remained skeptical.

Alas, many didn’t.

“Why did we even have an election?” wondered Mike Cernovich, a popular far-right internet media personality generally supportive of Trump. He mockingly tweeted a photo of a flak jacket-clad Jared Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, during a trip to Afghanistan this year, with the caption “General Jared.” In another tweet, he wrote, “Congratulations to President McMaster!” a derisive reference to White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who pressed the president to boost troop levels in Afghanistan.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-s-base-bewails-unlimited-war-after-his-afghanistan-policy-speech

 

Globalists 1

NatPops 0

Edited August 22, 2017 by Jacque67

[Jacque67 7,328]

Phoenix tomorrow.

 

hmm...

[CaliCat 3,957]

18 minutes ago, Jacque67 said:

President Donald Trump acknowledged on Monday night that the new Afghanistan strategyhe unveiled is a reversal of his long-held objection to the very idea of having a U.S. military presence in the country. 

But in announcing a ramp up of U.S. forces with no defined timeline for their departure, Trump tailored and mangled and obscured the policy to such a degree so as to make it both difficult to understand and—he hopes—palatable to his base. At one point, he asserted that his strategy was to have no publicly-stated strategy at all. 

“We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities,” Trump told a crowd of servicemen at Virginia’s Fort Myer on Monday.

President’s have made abrupt foreign policy reversals before, often breaking with campaign pledges when presented with a new set of geopolitical realities. Trump’s reversal stands out not just for the outright vehemence with which he previously argued that America needed to put an end to its 16-year-long war—Trump has called for total US withdrawal from Afghanistan and for handing the country over to an army of mercenaries—but also because of what it says about his foreign policy at large. In the seven months since taking office, Trump has expanded military operations in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and, now, Afghanistan. And that’s in addition to an escalated nuclear standoff with North Korea.

And so, when pitching the notion that the time had come to enlarge America’s military presence, the president used a variety of different selling points to re-frame the context. This was, he stressed, an agenda based on counter-terrorism principles and devoting American blood and treasure purely to the country’s first-order military interests.

"We are not nation-building again,” he said. “We are killing terrorists.”

It was “America First” rhetoric plastered atop a military-oriented interventionist policy. And it was done, ostensibly, to ensure that Trump’s base, disillusioned with decades of Republican-led foreignenturism, heard who remained skepticallas, many didn’t

“Why did we even have an election?” wondered Mike Cernovich, a popular far-right internet media personality generally supportive of Trump. He mockingly tweeted a photo of a flak jacket-clad Jared Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, during a trip to Afghanistan this year, with the caption “General Jared.” In another tweet, he wrote, “Congratulations to President McMaster!” a derisive reference to White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who pressed the president to boost troop levels in Afghanistan.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-s-base-bewails-unlimited-war-after-his-afghanistan-policy-speech

 

Globalists 1

NatPops 0

 

Funny, that after all these years of criticizing the way former presidents managed the war in Afghanistan, his plan is one of continuance. It was a tacit admission he was wrong all along.

 

Kudos to the so-called president for recognizing that his two predecessors did a great job in keeping America safe.

Edited August 22, 2017 by CaliCat

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

Now that he is in the Oval Office things must look different. He was always talking about his generals before he took office so I am assuming he listened to their advice. 

 

From your first link. http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-worried-hell-change-his-mind-again-on-afghanistan-war-plan

 

"President Donald Trump is expected to endorse an Afghan strategy that keeps U.S. troops on the ground, but overturns what the military sees as two Obama-era mistakes: announcing a deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal; and later, forcing the Pentagon to send costly contractors instead of U.S. troops to stay under the Obama-imposed troop cap, current and former U.S. officials say."

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-expected-to-announce-small-troop-increase-in-afghanistan-in-prime-time-address/2017/08/21/eb3a513e-868a-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?utm_term=.07c7873db7d8

 

 

"Trump’s new approach to Afghanistan is the result of a long policy review within his administration that was finalized during a presidential retreat with top advisers at Camp David on Friday.

 

His decision to endorse a Pentagon plan to boost troop levels reflects mounting concern among military leaders that battlefield setbacks for Afghan government forces against the Taliban and al-Qaeda have led to a rapidly deteriorating security situation."

 

 

[Póg mo 1,749]

The Afghanistan war is running? I thought Trump was going to show the generals how to win all wars and the American people were to be getting pretty tired of winning by now? 

[Jacque67 7,328]

New details =0

 

no plan, just an old man on ludes reading off a Teleprompter. 

Hastily arranged speech arranged as a distraction.

 

America First crowd going nuts. Breitbart is interesting.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Honestly I am a little passed but that's it because we are screwed no matter what away we go. We have got ourselves into a quagmire and don't know what to do.

[jg121783 3,921]

Afghanistan is a big mess Bush created and Obama made worse. Trump really doesn't have any good options. Personally I think we should cut our losses and leave but I don't have access to all the information Trump has. I do like how he isn't announcing to the press every move our military makes months before they do it like Obama did. Obama made our strategies ineffective and put troops lives at risk by doing this.

[Going through 5,671]

7 hours ago, Mr&Mrs G. said:

He was always talking about his generals before he took office so I am assuming he listened to their advice. 

Maybe now he is, finally.

I remember during his campaigning where he said "I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me."

 

On an interesting note----he apparently is a mastermind when it comes to the visa process, too:

 

"Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me." (said during an election debate)

Edited August 22, 2017 by Going through

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

9 hours ago, Jacque67 said:

New details =0

 

no plan, just an old man on ludes reading off a Teleprompter. 

Hastily arranged speech arranged as a distraction.

 

America First crowd going nuts. Breitbart is interesting.

And he never mention mentioned those three magical words: "Radical Islamic Terrorism"

[Going through 5,671]

4 minutes ago, CarlosAndSveta said:

And he never mention mentioned those three magical words: "Radical Islamic Terrorism"

He did refer to his inauguration and the fact that he is President four times, though....I guess just in case people forgot?

[CaliCat 3,957]

10 hours ago, Jacque67 said:

New details =0

 

no plan, just an old man on ludes reading off a Teleprompter. 

Hastily arranged speech arranged as a distraction.

 

America First crowd going nuts. Breitbart is interesting.

 

His policy is being dubbed Obama 2.0. But of course, it was bad when Obama was in the Oval, but it's so bigly and great now.

[IAMX 3,055]

3 hours ago, Going through said:

Maybe now he is, finally.

I remember during his campaigning where he said "I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me."

 

On an interesting note----he apparently is a mastermind when it comes to the visa process, too:

 

"Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me." (said during an election debate)

I have no idea why people (aside of the left) take these statements literally. It's clear bombast.

[Going through 5,671]

33 minutes ago, IAMX said:

I have no idea why people (aside of the left) take these statements literally. It's clear bombast.

You're right.  We shouldn't believe anything Trump says.

[IAMX 3,055]

3 minutes ago, Going through said:

You're right.  We shouldn't believe anything Trump says.

For me, since I'm not throwing a tantrum it's a very easy thing to discern:

 

- Gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay for it (campaign promise, take literally)

- I'm the smartest guy in the world / I know more than the generals / etc (obvious bombast, don't take literally)

 

I guess since the TDS is rife and it's become a daycare for tantrum throwers we need to go back to the basics of ways to interpret communication.

Edited August 22, 2017 by IAMX