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It’s a boy/girl thing. It’s a weak/strong thing.
Yesterday, to the horror of his opponents, Donald Trump came
out swinging. He went at them, directly, unapologetically. He sounded steroidal.
Unsubtlely, he attacked his predecessor for being weak and
cowardly, for refusing to name the enemy as “radical Islamic terrorism.” Trump
pronounced the words, not quite to Obama’s face, but clearly and forthrightly.
The media was horrified.
Trump declared that he wanted to unite the nation under the
banner of patriotism. He declared that there was no room for prejudice when we
were all Americans. He wanted to fight against the divisiveness engendered by
his predecessor. The media was more than horrified. It was apoplectic.
Barack Obama had submitted to Iran, had surrendered to
Islamic terrorism, had happily declared himself to be a citizen of the world,
and embraced Angela Merkel’s cosmopolitan “open arms” madness. Trump retorted
with an assertion of manliness, toughness and an aggressive posture. He
declared that he would destroy ISIS and reclaim America’s inner cities from
gangs and drugs.
True enough, he overpromised. One suspects that he will not
be able to deliver. And yet, as Chris Matthews said last night, if
he makes significant progress in these arenas, he will be counted a success. Surely,
it matters that we now have a president is not willing to coddle criminals and to blame crime on white police officers.
If the nation has been fighting what Christina Hoff Sommers
calls “a war against boys,” Donald Trump started the counterattack yesterday.
Women are going to march today to reassert more womanly
values. We shall see how that works. I suspect that it will unintentionally
reinforce the Trump message.
After all, how could anyone not be sickened by the spectacle
of American college students, traumatized beyond endurance, crying into the
towels, hugging their puppies, sucking their lolly-pops, whining, whimpering and moaning over the result
of an election? By Trump’s lights, and I am sure he is not alone, the snowflake
generation needs to be slapped around… metaphorically, of course.
A little forced discipline, whether by a Trump or by the
Tiger Mom, is better than sending out an army of therapists to listen empathetically to their
plaintive wails.
Trump would certainly have done better to avoid the
discredited slogan “America first.” His nationalistic and patriotic
message would have worked much better if he had not evoked a slogan that was
at best pacifist and isolationist, and at worst, pro-German.
Of course, Trump now has to deliver on promises that seemed
more like threats. He has to do what he said he was going to do, to attack
problems and to solve them. Otherwise, we were watching macho bluster, a giant
bluff.
Yet, the barely loyal opposition is continuing its fight. It
will fight against Trump as it fought against the Tea Party, as it fought
against conservatives, as it fought against climate change skeptics, as it
fought against Republicans, and as it fought against Fox News. The American
Left, the Obamified Left has always known who the enemy is. It has been more
comfortable fighting the enemy within, especially the enemy within the American
mind than it has been fighting the nation’s enemies.
Recently, the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat offered this
assessment of the Obama policy in the Middle East:
My
fellow citizens, during the last eight years, the Obama administration has
pushed for a settlement-building freeze, has surrendered to the Iranians and
radical Islam and abandoned Israel to a hostile U.N. resolution
.
And, of course, Obama’s legions, having conceded world
leadership to Russia and China now insist that Trump must declare war on
Russia. Talk is cheap, especially on the pusillanimous left. For his part Trump
has declared that he wants to deal with Russia and with Vladimir Putin.
He laid down another gauntlet yesterday when he repudiated
the Wilsonian foreign policy that had been practiced by three prior
administrations. When Trump said:
We will
seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with
the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own
interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather
to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow.
It brings back memories of John Quincy Adams.
Last week I noted that Stephen Cohen, writing in The Nation,
declared that Trump ought to resist those who don’t want him negotiate with
Russia. According to Cohen, the true enemy is radical Islam and we might need
Russia as an ally to fight and destroy it.
We recall that Wilson was not only the architect of the
administrative state. Winston Churchill
once intimated that Wilson was the one man who could have stopped World War I.
Considering that the Great War was, according to George Kennan, the defining
event, that is, the defining catastrophe of the twentieth century, failing to
stop it was a world historical error.
As you recall, in early 2015, when Germany sank the British
ship, the Lusitania, Theodore Roosevelt argued in his op-ed columns that
America should intervene in the war. To which Wilson opined that he was: “too
proud to fight.” Cowardice can exact a terrible price.
One notes in passing that yesterday Trump returned the bust
of Winston Churchill to the oval office. A symbolic, but meaningful gesture.
Wilson wanted to “make the world safe for democracy.” George
W. Bush had a freedom agenda. Trump has rejected those policies and has discarded a
moralistic, ideological foreign policy in favor of a Kissingerian Realpolitik,
a balance-of-powers policy. The goal of Realpolitik is to balance the interests of the
different players, not to try to make the world into a new Jerusalem.
Fortune magazine reported on a recent Kissinger interview. I
quote its report at length.
Henry
Kissinger is OK with Donald Trump's bromance with Valdmir Putin. In fact, he
said he hopes the two leaders get even closer.
Speaking
via live stream at the World
Economic Form in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, shortly before Trump's
Inauguration, Kissinger said that he agrees with Trump's "general
attitude" toward Russia. The former Secretary of State said America needed
to be less confrontational with Russia, and that that should be a major
priority for Trump.
"I
hope that an effort will be made for a serious dialogue which tries to avoid
the drift towards confrontation and in which Europe, America and Russia come to
some agreement about the limits within which military pressure is carried
out," Kissinger outlined.
Kissinger
also took a jab at outgoing President Obama, saying that the he had withdrawn
from areas of the world that he shouldn't have.
At one
point, Kissinger said that Russia's leader Putin has "secured equilibrium
in the world."
To be continued….
15 comments:
When offering advice to a new president, probably you can't go wrong with "Be bold" and "think big". At least you'll get to be responsible for what happens.
Here's some quotes from Trump to consider. My favorite "Rules are meant to be broken." What could go wrong?
http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/21-donald-trump-quotes-to-inspire-your-success-and-happiness.html
Here are 21 of Donald Trump's best quotes from a lifetime in business.
1. "Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make."
2. "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate."
3. "It's a blip, not a catastrophe."
4. "As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big."
5. "I don't hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don't trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions."
6. "Everything in life is luck."
7. "If you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you."
8. "A tiny leak can sink a ship."
9. "When you are wronged repeatedly, the worst thing you can do is continue taking it--fight back!"
10. "Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the ability to act effectively, in spite of fear."
11. "Remember, there's no such thing as an unrealistic goal--just unrealistic time frames."
12. "Criticism is easier to take when you realize that the only people who aren't criticized are those who don't take risks."
13. "I only work with the best."
14. "Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team, and understand that they must also take responsibility for the failure."
15. "Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game."
16. "Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war."
17. "Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion."
18. "Rules are meant to be broken."
19. "Your business, and your brand, must first let people know what you care about, and that you care about them."
20. "In the end, you're measured not by how much you undertake, but by what you finally accomplish."
21. "Anyone who thinks my story is anywhere near over is sadly mistaken."
There's a difference between an opening position and a "giant bluff".
Believing a billionaire is bluffing is a bad bet.
Of course, it's not all up to him. There's Congress, who rarely deliver anything except ridiculous, megalomaniac legislative titles (e.g., the "Affordable" Care Act, affordable only when other people are paying the bill).
"As you recall, in early 2015, when Germany sank the British ship, the Lusitania!" Changing the date makes history fresh.
The best Trump quote ( I think it was him, but at the very least someone much like him), particularly apt today with the Womyn's March on Fertility in DC, is...
"What is best in life?
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."
The women marching today have resorted to knitting pink hats to protest President Trump. How ironic. They are not the least concerned about women that suffer under Islam, or women trying to raise children in crime infested neighborhoods.
They are open to every culture as long as it is not American. They don't want to be protected by American men. Islamist men are waiting in the wings.
They are Burka Ready Women.
Mostly white women who need therapy. Kali's death cultists
The Great War.
1. By end of 1915, leaders of all the major powers knew it was hopeless. Victory would be Phyrric (sp).
But Peace Talks were out of the question. After so much loss, leaders feared Riots & Revolution. Perhaps correctly (IMO). Two more years of mindless massacre.
2. Soon, the Triple Entente lost Russia. Strengthening & emboldening Germany.
England & France were bankrupt. W/o US, they'd be forced to seek peace. Wilson lengthened the war (a v bad decision IMO).
Several Brit historians, including Niall Ferguson, assert it. And convinced me.
Wilson was a terrible POTUS. Virtually comatose during final two years. COL House & Mrs. Wison (illegally) took power. -- Rich Lara
It is clear that the concept of "America First" is a really, really radical and disturbing idea to a great many Americans. That's where we are in America today. Curious.
Really think about that... "America First" is radical and somehow divisive. Well then, what ought to go first? Really, let's hear it. What should go first? Being a citizen of the world? Are America women in burquas a possible option? A fashion choice? Would that bring happiness to American women? People had better wake up and realize that culture is E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Everything! People are being hopelessly naive. We are a nation. To pretend otherwise in some self-congratulatory and morally magnificent manner is to be living in an alternate universe. Safe spaces, indeed. Safe spaces for what?
An article from The Daily Caller is about one of the four main organizers for the women's march today. She is Linda Sasour, head of the Arab American Association and is linked to Hamas.
Ever consider what the average or median income of today's protesters is? You might be shocked to find out it's not low.
Brookside,
"When I think of feminism I think of Hamas (not mine)". They seem of have commonly shared goals, killing children for they own benefit and beliefs. I am trying to think of what the differences in blowing up a Palestinian child and partial birth abortion? I guess the Palestinian child does not know it faces death whereas the partial born child feels the pain of having its brain sucked out or being killed. If one can kill in this gruesome manner is it not easier to justify killing anything that gets in the way of self actualizing?
You have come a long way baby.
After listening to these women talk about abortion and other topics one wonders whether Florence Nightingale was not only right, but prescient as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/1fpmzf/florence_nightingale_women_have_no_sympathy/
Also interesting that Soros is tied to at least 50 groups involved in this so called Women's march. https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/22/soros-has-links-to-56-partners-of-the-womens-march-on-washington/
I do love free speech. I would do nothing to stop these protests especially the Women's so called march. This was one of the best examples of why the left will fail. It was an orgy of insulting and alienating millions of Americans. You go girls.
Does one really want to take moral instructions from any of these women? Women running around dressed as a Pu**ys screaming expletives, threatening to "blowup the WH," and not one cogent example or explanation of why they were there other than hate and the desire to kill their failures to take responsibility for their own bodies, et al. Yeah women's march.
Another example of why a "fish" really does need a bicycle for who would the fish blame every time the fish falls off.
Dennis @January 22, 2017 at 7:51 PM:
Thank you for sharing that quote by Florence Nightingale. Very interesting. While I will not cast dispersion categorically on women that Nightingale did, I will say there is a danger in our age of phony sympathy that requires no effort, no care, but is merely a public relations in pretending sympathy.
My wife read off a number of Facebook posts from Saturday. These were from women who are her friend, of which I know many. These women were going on in posts about how they were standing up against injustices 97% of us would find unjust. These platitudes were somehow meant to contribute solidarity to this culture of angst that expressed itself in women's marches across America. There was genuine fear, and the emotive harangues and the "Likes" flying around were dizzying. It was all so cathartic and silly. It wasn't serious. It demanded sympathy for their plight as women... women in Trump's America, a brutish and vengeful place.
I really didn't see the point at all. How does one disagree with "Stop Rape"? Or, as one mutual friend so eloquently said, "Don't touch the wet paint." What really settled in with me is how these were all well-to-do women. College educated. Either homemakers or with outstanding careers. These women wanted for nothing. They are protected in one of the most affluent, protected communities in America. Yet they are scared, and they are angry. Angry as hell.
What gives? It seems the more we have , the more we complain and fret over peripheral issues we read about or see on the Glowing Box. I'm inclined to agree with Nightingale. These women don't appreciate what they have, and I doubt they express gratitude to others. They're just want something to get pissed off about, and express phony sympathy to and for others. Clicking a button is not generous. It's patronizing and emotionally voyeuristic. It's not real. Yet point this phoniness out to any of these women and, well... you might as well be Donald Trump, too.
No perspective. Nothing real. No effort required.
Phony.
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