The Neoconservative Comeback

Striped Horse · Sep 6, 2018

Trump is toast. And the War Party is back.

That's basically what the below article by Lawrence Wilkinson - former US Army Colonel and Chief of Staff for SecState Colin Powell - is basically saying.

And now that Trump is cornered in the Oval Office, preoccupied with his personal survival, the neocons are scuttling out of the woodwork and back into positions of power.

The Neoconservative Comeback
August 28, 2018
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley

by Lawrence Wilkerson

To those who are strongly opposed to Donald Trump, his present troubles no doubt resonate positively. The looming prospect of his successful removal from office through impeachment proceedings—or his just leaving as pressure for such proceedings builds—might even be such opponents’ fondest wish. But as Colin Powell used to say to me, “Be careful what you wish for…”

In this instance, such a warning has nothing to do with the line of succession and what Jane Mayer in The New Yorker called “The Danger of President Pence.” It has to do instead with the return of the Neoconservatives (Neocons) and only by extension, then, with a Pence or other caretaker presidency.

Because what is happening today, as Trump is preoccupied increasingly with the considerable, ever-growing challenges to him personally and to his presidency institutionally, is the reentry into critical positions in the government of these people, the people who gave America the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Even those many of them who declared “Never Trump”—as arch-Neocon Eliot Cohen summed it up—are salivating at the prospect of carrying out their foreign and security policy while Trump essentially boils in his own corrupt juices.

Opening the Door

A vanguard, of course, is already in our government to beckon, comfort, and re-establish others of their type. John Bolton as national security advisor to the president leads this pack though he’s not, strictly speaking, a card-carrying Neocon. Bolton is, like Dick Cheney, an ultra-nationalist who finds the Neocon camp both a convenient hiding place from time to time and possessed of a set of views in which he dare not deny believing since they dovetail with his own purposes more often than not, and the Neocons muster a significant following. Moreover, the Neocons enjoy unfettered access to Israel’s right-wing government as a matter of course.

Nikki Haley at the United Nations, a true-blue Neocon, is almost as important as Bolton as she gives off the air of 2020 and replacing Trump as the new, duly-elected Republican president. To this point, Trump’s having exiled her to New York—as Barack Obama did finally with the war-loving Samantha Power—has not quelled her strident support of Israel (while women and children die in Gaza) or of Saudi Arabia (while thousands upon thousands die in Yemen) one iota.

Recently, one of the leaders of the pack of Neocons outside government, aptly enough a convicted felon (therefore fitting right in with the Trump team), Elliott Abrams, has written about this latent possibility in a very public manner. His screed might as well have been entitled, “Come back, come back. There is unparalleled mischief to be done.”

The very idea of such people being given another go at the ruination of the Republic ought to curdle our blood, rattle our bones, and give us immediate and effective pause. “Never again” is an appropriate battle cry because these people are certifiable. They have had as much to do with the almost 18 years of war in which the U.S. finds itself inextricably enmeshed, with the brutal and bloody turmoil in the Middle East, and with the destruction of American credibility in the world, as any president, legislature, or special interest group.

Presently, their first and most identifiable target is the unfinished business—which they largely commenced—with Syria and Iran, Israel’s two most serious potential threats. If the Neocons got their way—and they are remarkably astute at getting their way—it would mean a reignited war in Syria and a new war with Iran, as well as increased support for the greatest state sponsor of terrorism on earth, Saudi Arabia. We would see all our efforts to halt U.S. support for that country in the bloody and brutal war in Yemen prove fruitless, as well as a deeper fracturing in the Gulf Cooperation Council as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates press their vendetta against Qatar. As Turkey continues its efforts to shore up tiny Qatar, no doubt Neocon ire, already aimed directly at Ankara, will increase.

--snip--
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https://lobelog.com/the-neoconservative-comeback/

Relevant to the foregoing, I think, is an article in The Atlantic that is captioned: "We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold" and discusses how POTUS is being sabotaged by his own team.

We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold

Acts of sabotage against the president are perilous to the American system of government. They're also self-serving.

David A. Graham Sep 5, 2018

Yuri Gripas / Reuters
The title of Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear, contains a multitude of meanings. For one thing, it describes the attitude of many of President DonaldTrump’s own aides toward his judgment.

It’s not just that many sources were willing to tell Woodward damaging stories about Trump: The most stunning examples are those in which top aides reportedly thwarted his will. Even more stunning is an anonymous op-ed published in The New York Times Wednesday afternoon written by a purported “senior official in the Trump administration.”

The writer says that senior Trump officials “are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them.” The official adds: “We believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”

The search for a magical way to stop Trump

The op-ed is so bizarre that it is tempting to dismiss it as fantasy—akin to the obviously bogus Twitter accounts that flourished early in the administration claiming to be by saboteurs inside the White House. (While the Times has likely done its homework, expect the president to question the veracity of the source.) Yet what the anonymous official says lines up closely with the accounts in Woodward’s book, in which officials steal documents, act on their own, and simply disregard orders from the president.

If you believe that Trump does not have the judgment and temperament for office—not a difficult conclusion to draw—this is a win of a sort. Yet the actions described in the book and in the op-ed are extremely worrying, and amount to a soft coup against the president. Given that one of Trump’s great flaws is that he has little regard for rule of law, it’s hard to cheer on Cabinet members and others openly thwarting Trump’s directives, giving unelected officials effective veto power over the elected president. Like Vietnam War–era generals, they are destroying the village in order to save it. As is so often the case in the Trump administration, both alternatives are awful to consider.

In the prologue to Woodward’s book, obtained by The Atlantic, the economic adviser Gary Cohn conspires to swipe a letter from the president’s desk terminating the United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement. Cohn considered it a danger to national security, so he grabbed it.

“I stole it off his desk,” Cohn told an associate, according to Woodward. “I wouldn’t let him see it. He's never going to see that document. Got to protect the country.”

When it became clear that there were other copies of the letter floating around, Staff Secretary Rob Porter snapped those up, too. Trump never noticed, and the letter wasn’t signed.

In another instance Woodward describes, Trump reportedly reacted to a chemical-weapons strike by the Assad regime in Syria by telling Defense Secretary James Mattis, “Let’s ****ing kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the ****ing lot of them.” Woodward describes what happened next:

--snip--
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https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/569416/?utm_source=fbia&__twitter_impression=true

kazenatsu · Sep 6, 2018

Those on the Left really have to ask themselves whether they think the alternative is preferable.

I suspect if they did succeed at ousting "Trumpism" out of the Republican Party those on the Left are eventually going to look back with some qualms and misgivings.

Then again, I doubt they have the wherewithal to mentally make the connection between what they did and what the result was.

Steady Pie · Sep 6, 2018

Striped Horse said: ↑

Trump is toast. And the War Party is back.

That's basically what the below article by Lawrence Wilkinson - former US Army Colonel and Chief of Staff for SecState Colin Powell - is basically saying.

And now that Trump is cornered in the Oval Office, preoccupied with his personal survival, the neocons are scuttling out of the woodwork and back into positions of power.

https://lobelog.com/the-neoconservative-comeback/

Relevant to the foregoing, I think, is an article in The Atlantic that is captioned: "We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold" and discusses how POTUS is being sabotaged by his own team.

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/569416/?utm_source=fbia&__twitter_impression=true
Click to expand...

You can't steal stuff of the President's desk he is going to sign. That is unacceptable. You should see double-digit Federal prison time for that.

Lil Mike · Sep 6, 2018

Steady Pie said: ↑

You can't steal stuff of the President's desk he is going to sign. That is unacceptable. You should see double-digit Federal prison time for that.
Click to expand...

I don't think that actually happened.

Tim15856 · Sep 7, 2018

and amount to a soft coup against the president.
Click to expand...

At the very least, sedition.

Given that one of Trump’s great flaws is that he has little regard for rule of law,
Click to expand...

Such as? What law is Trump ignoring? Seems he is trying to enforce laws that have been ignored at will by previous admins.

Tergara · Sep 7, 2018

Tim15856 said: ↑

At the very least, sedition.

Such as? What law is Trump ignoring? Seems he is trying to enforce laws that have been ignored at will by previous admins.
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He's literally encouraged people to break the law. And not just an unjust law. That is why we say he doesn't have regard for the rule of law.

And before you say when, he told police officers to rough up suspects a little.

APACHERAT · Sep 7, 2018

Lil Mike said: ↑

I don't think that actually happened.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking.

Nobody gets into Trump's office or is able to see President Trump without first going through Gen. Kelly.
Not even Donald's daughter Ivanka Trump.

Steeling a document from the desk of POTUS is a huge crime, a felony.

jimbo1 · Sep 7, 2018

Striped Horse said: ↑

Trump is toast. And the War Party is back.

That's basically what the below article by Lawrence Wilkinson - former US Army Colonel and Chief of Staff for SecState Colin Powell - is basically saying.

And now that Trump is cornered in the Oval Office, preoccupied with his personal survival, the neocons are scuttling out of the woodwork and back into positions of power.

https://lobelog.com/the-neoconservative-comeback/

Relevant to the foregoing, I think, is an article in The Atlantic that is captioned: "We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold" and discusses how POTUS is being sabotaged by his own team.

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/569416/?utm_source=fbia&__twitter_impression=true
Click to expand...

I knew something had gone wrong when he brought in that zionist shitstain Bolton.

Mac-7 · Sep 8, 2018

Striped Horse said: ↑

Trump is toast. And the War Party is back.

That's basically what the below article by Lawrence Wilkinson - former US Army Colonel and Chief of Staff for SecState Colin Powell - is basically saying.

And now that Trump is cornered in the Oval Office, preoccupied with his personal survival, the neocons are scuttling out of the woodwork and back into positions of power.

https://lobelog.com/the-neoconservative-comeback/

Relevant to the foregoing, I think, is an article in The Atlantic that is captioned: "We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold" and discusses how POTUS is being sabotaged by his own team.

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/569416/?utm_source=fbia&__twitter_impression=true
Click to expand...

First you have to define what liberal foreigners call a neoconservative

Do outsiders even know what that means?

I doubt it

Texas Republican · Sep 8, 2018

Nikki Haley tells the truth. And that rubs some people the wrong way.

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The Neoconservative Comeback

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Striped Horse Well-Known Member

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Tergara Active Member

APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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Texas Republican Well-Known Member Past Donor

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