The End of Trump; the Dawning of the Age of Bolton.

[pineapplemike]

[TheReal_ND]

Did 9/11

[ssu]

I think the axis here likely will be Pompeo and Bolton.

The Tillerson-McMaster-Mattis-Kelly was basically old school republican
policies, which likely would be the way any military person (and a CEO)
would behave when put into a political position and not have a political
background.

Pompeo and Bolton aren't from this mold. Both are politicians and likely
will get along and have better ways to manage Donald. Even if it (thankfully)
will be hard.

Just a month ago, the prevailing wisdom in Washington was that the triumvirate of General McMaster, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was the only restraining influence on Mr. Trump’s confrontational urges. Now only Mr. Mattis is left, and there are increasing questions about how long he will last.

The new team unites two of the most virulent opponents of the 2015 Iran deal: Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director who was nominated as secretary of state after Mr. Tillerson was unceremoniously fired last week, and Mr. Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations who famously declared two decades ago that if 10 stories of the organization’s headquarters disappeared, “it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

Even before the announcement on Thursday night that General McMaster was leaving the White House — following months in which Mr. Trump chafed at his briefings and complained that his national security adviser was “managing” him — it seemed likely that the president would follow his instincts and abandon the Iran deal.

Even the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said over the weekend that he expected the president would “move away from it.”

Now that seems inevitable.

If so, this new team of hard-liners will be cast, in their first month together, into two of the most volatile nuclear issues of the post-Cold War era. The question is whether, once in office, they will manage America’s allies and adversaries by ultimatum or by diplomacy.

[C-Mag]

I think the axis here likely will be Pompeo and Bolton.

The Tillerson-McMaster-Mattis-Kelly was basically old school republican
policies, which likely would be the way any military person (and a CEO)
would behave when put into a political position and not have a political
background.

What era do you consider Old School Republican ?
WWII / Pre-WWII
Korea/Vietnam
Nixon/Reagan
New Millenium

[ssu]

What era do you consider Old School Republican ?
WWII / Pre-WWII
Korea/Vietnam
Nixon/Reagan
New Millenium

Closest to Nixon/Reagan era, not the "let's take over the World because we can" neocon enthusiasts. The best example of this approach was Brent Scowcroft, the National Security Advisor of Gerald Ford and HW Bush and who was at his time very influential. Even if the policies were interventionist and aggressive at times, the approach understood the countereffects and the backlash that actions might have. And he btw was also a general, a lieutenant general from the USAF.

Scowcroft some years ago:


Mattis, McMaster and Kelly just as Scowcroft basically have the realpolitik approach of a military person and weren't into the political side of US foreign policy (of basically asslicking Israel). Military generals have a pragmatist mold from where their thinking starts. They don't worry much about domestic politics. Above all, none of these generals were politically active and licking politicians as those who after retirement who jump on political campaigns. Mattis even had quite negative views about Trump right from the start. Likely all of them were quite liberal in their views: Mattis is against torture, Kelly is basically very centrist and McMaster had written a scorching book about how the military leadership went on with the foolish ideas of the politicians into Vietnam. Yet all of them would be considered republican in their views.

Tillerson, again a person plucked totally out from politics, was a person that acted as the position was a civic duty were he was more responsible to the US than personally to Trump. This can be seen from his earliest interviews where he made it clear that secretary of state and the CEO of a large firm are totally separate roles and don't mix. And hence he didn't understand Trump at all, but thought to do his job as if it would be an ordinary administration. Of course neocon swampthings see this as something extremely naive.

Bolton and especially Pompeo seem to understand Trump better. After all, Pompeo has had the ability to exist as the CIA director during these times, so he understands quite well how handle the President. And Bolton understood that in order to get the job, he has to be on Fox News all the time. They surely won't come into their jobs thinking it's business as usual and that the administration functions like an ordinary one would do.

[Hastur]

[Fife]

[kybkh]

Jews

Now I get it...

[SuburbanFarmer]

Don't forget to "support the troops", as they march forth to "defend freedom" in every corner of the earth. What are you, some kind of commie?

[TheReal_ND]

Jews

Now I get it...