Having come to America in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany, I have strongly felt that it was both a privilege and an obligation to vote in this great Democracy of ours. I have voted in every presidential election ever since I voted for Harry Truman in 1948. Of course, I also voted in local and state elections as well. I am sorry to say that I no longer plan to vote for president in the November 2020 election.
Three years ago, I held my nose when I voted for Trump. Actually, I did not vote for Trump, I voted against Hillary. I thought the two nominees -Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton – were the worst choices for president this country ever had. I chose the lesser of two evils.
To be fair to President Trump, he has accomplished much more in his first three years as president than did his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump has been pro-police whereas Obama was antagonistic toward the police. He stopped the Justice Department’s race-driven investigations of police agencies that were ordered by AG Eric Holder at the direction of Obama. Trump has been the most pro-Israel president since Truman whereas Obama was unfriendly to the Jewish state. He recognized Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people and moved our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And Trump’s policies have resulted in a booming economy with the highest employment rate in years.
But along the way, to me at least, he’s proven himself to be a jerk. Although his supporters love the constant barrage of tweets bad-mouthing his critics, many of Trump’s tweets are beneath the dignity of the president’s office.
And the Trump-haters have been very unfair to the President. Trump has been bashed daily by the Democrats and the media because he defeated their beloved Hillary. They are determined to destroy the Trump presidency. The media is adhering to the Goebbels principle by smearing him over and over and over again, hoping that the public will thus come to believe that Trump is a racist and a lawbreaker who has no regard for the Constitution.
The impeachment proceedings in the House have only on goal, and that is to end the Trump presidency prematurely. In my opinion, the accusations made against him by Adam Schitt (oops, typo) and Jerry Nadler are not grounds for impeachment. Neither is the fact that two whistleblowers are horrified over the phone call Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It was dumb of Trump to ask Zelensky to investigate his possible opponent next year, Joe Biden. But being dumb is not an impeachable offense. Then, instead of putting the fire out, Trump threw gasoline on it by publicly asking the Chinese to investigate Biden. Dumb and dumber. Trump obviously never enrolled in Firefighting 101 – never try to extinguish a fire with gasoline. The Democrats accuse Trump of asking the Ukraine and China to interfere in our election, but trying to dig up dirt on Biden is a far cry from that.
For me, the straw that broke the camel’s back was Trump’s decision to pull our troops out of Syria, a move that leaves the Turks free to slaughter our close allies, the Kurds. For four years the Kurds have been fighting alongside our troops against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. They have shed blood that would otherwise have been shed by American soldiers. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies called Trump’s decision “a stain on America’s honor.”
Within days of Trump’s announcement, the Turks started to bomb Kurdish positions in Syria. Reports say that in a phone call, Trump gave Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a ‘green light’ to attack the Kurds. Trump denies it. But if it’s not true, then why did Erdogan’s forces start attacking the Kurds so soon after Trump’s announced decision?
Trump reacted to criticism from Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley and other Republicans by inviting Erdogan to the White House. Shame on top of Shame!
Erdogan is an Islamist slimeball who has vowed to exterminate the Kurds and who is vying with Iran for domination of the Middle east. Although elected president, Erdogan is a despot who imprisons any of the opposition leaders to his regime. Invite a despot who wants to exterminate our Kurdish allies to the White House – how disgraceful and disgusting!
And then, in defending his betrayal of the Kurds and leaving them to be slaughtered by the far more superior Turkish forces, Trump said: “They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy.” Fake news? No, he actually said it on Wednesday at a White House bill-signing event.
The Kurds didn’t help us with Normandy. What a jerk … no, make that an idiotic jerk! Or is Trump no longer of sound mind?
But what about the Democratic presidential candidates? For starters there is Joe Biden. He does not want to put anyone in jail. That makes him almost as crazy as Crazy Bernie. And the media has buried the fact that when he was Obama’s vice president, he demanded to have Ukraine’s top prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired if the government wanted $1 billion in U.S. aid. At the time it was rumored that Shokin was investigating corruption involving Biden’s son Hunter.
Biden’s quid pro is exactly the same as the quid pro the Democrats are blistering Trump for.
As for Crazy Bernie, his socialist agenda is why he’s called crazy. Now that he’s had a heart attack, his chances of being nominated as the Democratic president are slim to none.
Elizabeth Warren? Forget that Pocahontas crap. She’s got a bigger problem now. She can’t make up her mind why she left a teaching position. Warren, who graduated from the University of Houston, has been saying on the campaign trail that in 1971, she was fired from a teaching job in Riverside, N.J. because she was visibly pregnant. But in 2007, she gave an interview at the University of California at Berkeley which indicated she left her teaching job by choice. Warren said:
“I worked with the children with disabilities. I did that for a year, and then that summer, I actually didn’t have the education courses, so I was on an ’emergency certificate.’ I went back to graduate school and took a couple of courses in education and said, ‘I don’t think this is going to work out for me.’ I was pregnant with my first baby, so I had a baby and stayed home for a couple of years, and I was really casting about, thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’”
Aside from conflicting tales about leaving her teaching job, Warren’s socialist agenda closely resembles that of Crazy Bernie.
Then there is lunatic Beto O’Rourke who wants to confiscate our AR-15s and AK-47s. He belongs in the funny farm, not in the White House.
And there is Kamala Harris. She appears to have had her 15 minutes of fame when during the first Democratic debate she attacked Biden for supporting two racist senators when he was in the Senate. She’s been fading ever since.
Pete Buttigieg, an Afghanistan war veteran and two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, isn’t going anywhere. And Corey Booker, who has proposed a national license for gun owners and a clemency plan that would shorten the sentences of and release 20,000 ‘non-violent’ inmates from federal prisons, is all but out of the race.
Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro, Tom Steyer, Tutsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang also made it to the next Democratic debate, but they are also-rans with about as much chance of getting the nomination as a snowstorm in hell.
From here it looks like either Biden or Warren. Rumors have it that Hillary Clinton will present herself as an alternative candidate during the nomination process. Don’t count the Hildebeast out.
João Lemos Esteves, a lecturer in the Law Faculty of the University of Lisbon and a contributor to two major Portuguese newspapers, says: “Democrats have all but lost their minds – this is not a biased or partisan assumption; it is a fact which is right in front of us. And the strangest thing of all is that [Stormy] Daniels could actually be the most decent and competitive Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, considering the real potential nominees.”
So, in November 2020, we will be confronted with a Democratic candidate who is absolutely unacceptable to me and a Republican jerk who this time I don’t think I could vote for even if I held my nose again.
God, why couldn’t former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley be the Republican nominee?
Next year, if I’m still alive, it will be none of the above as I cast my vote down ballot.
Voter says
Wouldn’t it be great if we could reverse the order of races on the ballot, elevating the state and local offices closest to our everyday lives to create a true Jeffersonian republic, where the role of the federal government was far less a focus of our daily lives and citizens were more engaged in self governance at the local level.
Dan Lan says
Yes. So run for Precinct Chair.
The fling deadline is early December.
Pick a party and get involved.
We should get back to a representative republic
Instead of the parliamentary party system we have devolved into.
Tom says
Howie: I failed to vote for president only twice. Both times, Ronald Reagan was the Republican nominee. I didn’t refuse to vote for him based on policy reasons. I refused to vote for him because he torpedoed Jerry Ford’s re-election and gave us four years of Jimmy Carter.
In my opinion, Carter was a simply horrible president. RR could have supported and worked his butt off for Ford, then in 1980 been the winning GOP nominee. He just wouldn’t wait and he gave us Jimmy Earl. Because of his ambition, we were saddled with a truly bad Democrat.
BTW, don’t count on Hillary Clinton ever being considered for president under any circumstances. She was a horrible candidate in 2016 and she managed to blow an election she should have won.
Nobody’s going to give her a second chance to muck it up.
DanMan says
Always amusing when one projects what they won’t do.
Howie, when did we sign up for taking sides in Syria’s civil war? Just because the Kurds had a common enemy with us re: ISIS doesn’t necessarily make them our ally does it? After all we did PAY them join the fight and supplied the weapons. The Turks and Kurds have been at war with each other for centuries. Why is this our problem again?
If the Kurds have no other ally in the region they dang sure better find one because the US protecting them from 7000 miles away is a loser’s gambit. I want us out of the middle east as much as possible. If we are going to be involved let it be arming whatever side is losing until they’re down to the last sunni struggling with the last shi’ite for air.
I am still solidly in Trump’s camp. He is doing something no one in DC would do. Draining the swamp. I saw a report today there are 82 politicians in DC with family members being paid by LLCs and such run by said politicians. 42 repubs and 40 dems with enough power to profit handsomely from their positions. If Trump has to show his taxes, every damn one of the the elected members of congress AND their immediate families should be shown as well. Full audits of their holdings going in and what they own now. No more of this ‘holdings between $10,000 and $10 million’ crap. Let’s keep this party going.
Bill Daniels says
Nicely stated!
Rob says
I agree Trump is a coarse ass who makes me wince and gives me no pride in the executive. Based purely on the judicial appointments being made, I’ll wear a clothespin to the booth. Policy and judicial appointments “trump” being able to be proud of the man.
Berna Mac says
I agree with DAN THE MAN … i want our soldiers coming home and staying put. You dont see China, Russia running all over the world to fight and tear up lands, and homes in other peoples countries. They provide weapons and consulting staff and help with SOME finances.
America needs to stay home and will our economy and infrastructure now. Let the UN and all its members fight wars around the world. Let Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama , Middle Eastern countries all part of UN step up pay and learn to fight.
I AGREE with our President. In all the years with Republican Presidents I have voted for I have not seeing this much gotten done enen when we gave the a full house with controlling Republicans. They were seat warmers only.
Tell me what agreat packages or economy, labor forces, infrastructure, BORDER WALKS and policies even got done.
I am okay with my President’s manner of speaking. I hear it when I am around people from both parties. I hear it from my friends, in clubs, sports, people cutting up with each other. Even around YRepublicans too, at colleges in Houston, and A&M. So where have you been shiekded from all of this.
I am cracking up each time he speaks because he has the stenama and guts to hit back. He have been abused by the Democrats and each of our past Republican Presidents took it on the chin and our economy too a beaten from foreigners. Why? Why did we had to put up with that, was it okay with you? Nonsense..thank God for my younger Redneckers that stood a voted for a BIG WHOOPING change and gave us a Ring fighting wrestler like Trump.
My heart is with my President, and his family having yo listen to loosers within the R Party becsuse Dems STAND as a Marine together.
What does our Republican Party stand for before Trump, during Trump age now. Yeap break that down in common sence for this over 70+ senior… i am read to kerp typing for a while longer. While you may now vote this time around our President grew our Party to take uour place.
President Trump had to fly quickly to Houston to save us against BETO because we were still sitting around at LUBBYS eating hot biscuits, right… There were hardly any signs around town othen than Beto’s.
Yes, lets have all taxes opened up for us too see.
Bill Daniels says
Look, Howie, you should know better than anybody that the Muslims are a hot mess, world wide. We can’t stay in Syria to be human shields to protect the Kurds, or anyone else. Not our circus, not our monkeys. If you’re upset we withdrew from the Syrian border area now, when, exactly, would it be OK with YOU to leave?
10 years?
100 years?
How many US soldiers need to die there before it’s OK with you that they leave? Why not just line up that number right now and shoot them now, so we have lived up to our committment?
Look, I get it. Lots of Republicans are warhawks. Y’all gave the world the Bushes, the McCains, the Cheneys, etc. You’re not happy with anything that even resembles a non interventionist foreign policy. Having said that, if you don’t vote Trump in 2020, you’re voting for a liberal Supreme Court judge, maybe more than one. That has repercussions that can last for a generation or more. Is your bloodlust so overpowering that you won’t vote for your own self interest?
Trump is the best president in my lifetime. He’s the first president I have ever voted for that won. After a voting lifetime of voting 3rd party because both the (R) and (D) candidates were horrific, I finally picked a winner, and what a great pick it was.
Look you’re never going to agree with a president on every single policy. I’m still livid Trump banned bump stocks, and with zero compensation at that. I’m pissed he bombed a Syrian airfield because warhawks goaded him into it. Still, I’ll stick with Trump because I’m mostly getting exactly what he promised (sans locking her up, sadly).
You need to rethink your never-Trump stance.
Bob Walsh says
Trump is, IMHO, a reasonably bright guy. Trouble is, he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is and his grasp of history and geopolitics isn’t nearly as good as he thinks. In days gone by the President of the United States had a filter or two or three, in the form of a press secretary, speech writers and often a friendly press. Trump just throws shit out there on Twitter, kind of like a stoned 22-year old who thinks he is both wise and profound but who is merely stoned out of his mind. Nobody cares if a 22-year old living in his parent’s basement has no grasp of history or geopolitics. With a President, not so much.
Trump fanatics like the fact that “he tells it like it is” without a filter. I can appreciate that, I really can. Most of the stuff you get from politicians is homogenized bullshit and is utterly devoid of any personal belief, feeling or soul. Not so Trump. That doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing.
I didn’t vote for Trump. Neither did I vote for Hillary. If Trump had a snowballs chance in hell of winning in CA I probably would have voted for him just to tweak the Democraps noses. I may vote for him next time around just to screw with the stats. I think it would be GREAT if he got more votes in CA in 2020 than he did in 2016, just for shits and giggles.
You have to play the cards you’ve got. Or else you can fold, walk away from the table and hope for the best. My late wife never voted in her life. She considered all politicians bilge rats and believed that her participation in the process was the same thing as her endorsement of an essentially corrupt system. I didn’t agree with her position, but I understood it. My position is simple. Decisions are made by those who show up. I might not win, but if I loose it won’t be because I forfeited the game. (Besides, if he can get one or two more judges on the Supreme Court some of our basic constitutional rights might be safe for another 50 years. That is not such a bad thing.)
Fat Albert says
Howie,
Last time I checked, “none of the above” is not on the ballot. Texas is probably solid for Trump, so, chances are you can climb up on your high dudgeon and claim your moral superiority by refusing to vote, without causing too much harm.
But you should remember, “In politics the difference between bad and worse is always much more important than the difference between good and bad.” A skipped vote for Trump equates to a vote for Bernie, or Warren, or even Hillary.
As for the Kurds, well the situation (as is often true in international relations) is a lot more complex than you seem to believe. For instance, Turkey is a full member of NATO. Which means that they are allies. Regardless of who’s running their country. They are also a significant component in the effort to keep Russia constrained, especially on their southern border.
Also note: the Kurds that people are complaining that we are abandoning are part of the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party). As you might surmise from the name they are a Marxist/Leninist group that are militantly separatist. Their goal is a separate Kurdish state. A state which doesn’t currently exist. By the way, the PKK has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the US government. If you give them money or support as a private citizen, you are committing a felony.
Finally, I might note that this is one more example of Trump actually doing what he said he was going to do. I realize that we aren’t used to politicians keeping their promises, but the fact is that you’re mad at Trump because he did exactly what he said when you voted for him the last time.
Shannon says
We owe the Kurds nothing, certainly not American blood to assist in nation-building. From scratch.
We pay our subcontractors very well but we don’t guarantee to keep them in business in perpetuity.
You have the privilege to be a non-participant against the relentless Leftist march.
Sleep well, buster.
Fat Albert says
Just as a further note. In order to give the Kurds what they actually want, we would need to take lead from Iran, and Iraq, and Turkey and form a completely new country that has never existed before. Stop and ask yourself what are the odds of that successfully happening?
Fat Albert says
Sorry: “take land”
Bob Walsh says
I would like to point out, just as an aside, that the Kurds are the largest extant recognized ethnic group that do not have their own country. The modern state of Israel did not exist 75 years ago, and the British considered the Irgun, Haganah and Stern groups to be terrorists. From their point of view, they were.
As a further aside, Ho Chi Mihn’s life was saved during WWII by an American OSS officer. He was actually fairly favorably inclined towards the U. S. We got involved in Vietnam (against our own stated positions against colonialism) on behalf of the French, who made our backing their play in S. E. Asia part of the deal to join NATO. So we sent French troops, with American supplied uniforms and weapons, into S. E. Asia to help the frogs maintain a semblance of their once great nation and empire, to the detriment of the people who lived in Vietnam and eventually to our own detriment as well.
The point is that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist, we don’t always know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and sometimes we don’t give a shit. What I am pretty sure about is that the Turks’s don’t care what they look like on the international stage and will be happy to slaughter the Kurds just like they slaughtered the Armenians 100 years ago, a genocide that the Turks still claim did not actually happen.
Had I been in charge (which I am happy I am not and was not) when President Asshat started using chemical weapons on his own people in Syria I would have dropped a MOAB on Damascus, told whoever was left over to play nice in the future or else, and walked away. Simple, cheap and probably effective. If not effective, repeat as necessary. They are not going to like us anyway, so fuck them. Same thing for Tehran if they start getting stupid (stupider). You get one warning, then you get flattened. Say it, mean it, do it. Keeps foreign relations simple.
Shannon says
Fat Albert
Take lead, too.
Don Sumners says
Howie:
There has only been one perfect man and he was often misunderstood. I agree Trump’s comment that the Kurds didn’t “help us with Normandy” is one of the most stupid things I have ever heard anyone say. But, he has done very good things for the country. And, with all his faults he is much better for America than any of his possible opponents. In fact, if any of his possible opponents wins in 2020 it most likely bring the end of the America we love.
As to his tweets, Trump is in a difficult situation. You can probably count the elected Republican members of Congress that actively support Trump on two hands. Because the media refuse to cover his accomplishments, he often left to make his opinions known through Twitter. Even on Twitter, Trump must make his posts sensational for them to be disseminated. We saw how ineffective President George W Bush was by not standing up to the democrats constant lies. They drove his favorability in to the dirt.
As much as you may wish it wasn’t, lets face it, at this time the country needs a General George Patton as its leader, not a Neville Chamberlin.
To all those who see no problem with the US abandoning the Kurds, lets not forget the Kurds lost the thousands of fighters that the US would have otherwise incurred to defeat ISIS, which was a threat to US national security. If the US doesn’t stand with those that stand with them, the US may well have no one to stand with them the next time they need an ally. Obama, after pledging to protect the Ukraine if it would give up its nuclear weapons, did nothing when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. Now the Russians are fighting for control of other parts of Ukraine.
To rap it up, Howie, how can you not vote for Trump when faced with his opposition. After all of those years defending America, now is not the time to quit. Please change your decision.
howie katz says
In defense of President Trump, “The forecast for autumn: Gloomy” is an article by Amnon Lord that was published in Sunday’s issue of Israel Hayom. A portion of that article explains that the Kurds Trump abandoned were the PKK, a communist terrorist group aligned with Iran, something that most of his critics, including myself, are not aware of. Here is that portion of Lord’s article:
Are these the same Kurds?
The US move in Syria does not empower Iran, but it sends a message of American weakness in a critical area of the Middle East.
One of the problems with US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US was opening the door to a Turkish incursion into northeast Syria and abandoning the Kurds was exactly the use of the general name “Kurds.”
The mid-1970s saw the first major US abandonment of the Kurds. Henry Kissinger managed to mediate a deal between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Iran, which was still ruled by the shah. The Kurds paid the price of the deal, and Kissinger forced Israel to cut off its ties with and assistance to the Kurds.
They were the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan, whereas the Kurds of northern Syria – no matter what initials you assign them – are the PKK, which is basically a communist terrorist group.
There have been endless analyses of and responses to Trump’s announcement, and in the meantime, the Turks have already started aerial bombardments ahead of a ground incursion. I’m backing strategic analyst Michael Doran from the Hudson Institute, who was able to – in real time – parse former President Obama’s complicated decisions and how he was moving closer to the Iranians and the Russians.
Doran lays out Trump’s latest move in light of the long-standing war between the PKK and the Turks. Some 40,000 Turks have been killed in that war, and in the ongoing battle against the Islamic State, the Kurds of northern Syria occupied areas they had never dreamed of. Obama had bet on them as part of the deals he struck with Russia and Iran.
So no one needs to panic about Trump abandoning the Kurds; the problem is that it happened immediately after the Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia. The message received was that America was weak and fleeing the Middle East and betraying its allies.
Some claim that the move puts Iran into a stronger position, but Tehran was furious about it since the American move paved the way for the Turks. The Kurds, who will withstand the Turkish assault, were allies of Iran. During the years they were fighting ISIS, they received a lot of air support from the Americans, but the alliance was only temporary.
paul a kubosh says
There is no such thing as none of the above. You either are or you are not. Not voting for Trump means a vote for the opposition is not cancelled out by your vote. If you are not a Republican that is o.k. Clearly not a heaven or hell issue. However, just say it. Elizabeth Warren would be a better President the Donald Trump. You are not alone a lot of people believe that. Just say it. Don’t beat around the bush.
Texas2Step says
Howie,
As the mother of two fine young men, one serving in the Navy, I have begun to see these conflicts in the Middle East as something much different than you do, and as I once have. I am horrified by the number of young men and women coming home with one or both legs blown off, missing genitalia and PTSD. We are killing our future for people who truly don’t want what we have, a Constitutional Republic.
Pulling out of overseas conflicts is one of President Trump’s initial platforms. Did you agree with it then? I did. How did you think that it would look?
President Bush 43 said at the beginning of this war that it would take years to fight this war on terror. I was in agreement with fighting terror on all fronts to keep America and Americans safe, but nation building and policing parts of the world that have no desire or ability to become Democracies or Republics is not where USA should be expending our most precious resources – our young adults, our next generation. Their societies can’t comprehend how to view the tribe next to them without suspicion, and it may take them hundreds of years, or more, before they are ready to do it. I am convinced that they will continue fight each other whether we help them with our troops or not.
Finally, last week President Trump mentioned how many of our troops are lost to “green on blue” attacks. A “green-on-blue” attack is when an Afghan policeman or soldier fires on coalition forces in Afghanistan. This has also happened with the Kurds, by the way. I don’t see how this advances American security and freedom.
Howie, the truth is that we need Donald Trump to fight the good fight. In my opinion, you should be nauseated by what the Democrat Socialists are doing to this country instead of our President’s defense of it. #MAGA #KAG
Tom says
Somebody better think about the long term effects of throwing the Kurds under the bus.
First, the US has a long history of dumping on people who served US interests in dangerous situations. One need only look to 1975, when we abandoned tens thousands of South Vietnamese, Cambodians and members of tribes who fought the NVA and VC to further US interests. It doesn’t make any difference whether the Vietnam War was good or bad. Those folks put it on the line for the United States and ended up either in Vietnamese reeducation camps or Cambodian graves. All because the US ambassador to Vietnam didn’t want to evacuate them with the NVA advancing because it would look like the US was giving up on South Vietnam.
And, think about what is going through the minds of Afghans who have taken the side of the US. They’ve got to be thinking what is going to happen to them when the US pulls out and leaves them high and dry. It doesn’t take too much to figure out what they’re thinking. After all, the US has been refusing visas to translators who worked with the US Army and were promised relocation to the US.
We have been working with the Kurds since the aftermath of the first Gulf War when Saddam nerve gassed Kurds in Northern Iraq. The Kurds have been the pointy end of the US spear for years in fighting ISIS. They were guarding ISIS prisoners who now are running free.
Now, to save themselves from genocide by the Turks, they are getting help from Assad and his Russian and Iranian friends. The Kurds have every reason to fear a Turkish genocide. The first modern genocide was the Turkish genocide of the Armenians just before World War I.
Gee, that’s a great result. A murderous regime supported by the Russians and Iranians is going to win the Syrian civil war. What a great result.
People are going to be lining up all over the world to support the US after seeing how we treat those who help us. NOT. Sooner or later for some reason or other the United States is going to need foreigners to help us to protect a US vital interest. And, the people we ask for help are going to remember what we did to the Kurds.
And, sooner or later, the US is going to have to defend US troops from Turkish artillery or air attack. Isn’t that a going to be pretty picture. US Air Force planes taking off from a US base in Turkey to bomb the Turkish Army and shoot down Turkish planes.
Turkey is a NATO ally. What happens there. We’ve already said we won’t sell them F-35s because they bought a Russian air defense missile system. Sooner or later, Turkey will pull out of NATO or be kicked out and become a Russian supporting state.
And, what does that do for the future of NATO, our most important alliance? The current administration has been pretty darn negative about NATO. EVERY president since Truman has seen NATO as an important alliance both to guarantee peace in Europe and defend the US. NATO troops supported US troops in Afghanistan. Germans, Poles and others died there supporting the war on terror.
You can bet that Putin would love to see NATO break up. I’m sure the Baltic states will be thrilled to lose the protection of NATO. I remember when George W. Bush said he looked in Putin’s eyes and said he saw someone he could work with. John McCain said he looked in Putin’s eyes and saw KGB. McCain was right.
The decision to pull the US troops supporting the Kurds was a foolish decision made on the spur of the moment without any input from people ranging from Special Forces sergeants on the ground to top government diplomats.
It’s going to turn out very badly for the US, both in the short run and in the long run.
We’re going to have blood on our hands and we’re going to be very unhappy when the Iranians gain power in the Middle East. And, that’s just for starters
Bill Daniels says
We turned our backs on another ally of convenience years ago….the Russians, after WWII.
Other than having a mutual enemy, ISIS, we really have no common interests with the Syrian Kurds. Sound familiar?
Have you seen? Once the Syrian Kurds lost our American human shields, they quickly kissed and made up with the Syrian government.
So, what have we lost, really? More mujahedin that would turn on us in a heartbeat anyway? Bin Ladin was so happy we helped him fight the Soviets that he…..knocked down our buildings. That’s gratitude for you.
As it stands now, Syrians are killing Syrians. Hey, lookie, Russians are also having their people killed over there! I don’t see a problem with that. Oh noes, now Turkey is getting their folks killed there, too! Again, what’s the problem for us?
We have no dog in the Syrian fight. It was a Soviet Union client state long before we disastrously invaded Iraq, and it will most likely STAY a Russian client state. That’s a push, but a win for us as people we really don’t like wear themselves out fighting each other.
We withdraw and leave a never ending mess to the groups that want to play in that mud. I’m just thankful that American kids will no longer be among the combatants. If you want American kids dying over there, write your congressional representatives, and demand that they declare war, as they have the power to do.
DanMan says
Bill you may want to bone up on Russia following the defeat of Germany. FDR was not inclined to limit Stalin’s revenge for the German’s assault on them. It was at the summit at Yalta that Churchill advised FDR that it would require the abundant natural resources available in Germany to rebuild Europe. Having Russia either destroy or exploit those resources would have caused more problems than allowing Germans to recover their devastated country.
Under no circumstance did we abandon Russia. It was Russia invading Poland as the war wound down that soured our relationship. FDR’s driving issue was the incorporation of the United Nations, which he believed would limit rogue nations from fomenting war. And it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in a cold war with Russia.
O/T Howie, I’m giving you a pass on that previous post. I like you too much to hold a grudge for that hot mess.
DanMan says
oops, I meant this post so it’s not O/T after all.
Mainstream says
The speaker was inaccurate. About 23% of registered voters participated, still low, and some part of the registration list includes persons who have moved or passed away, so the real level of participation is slightly better. In District C about 30% of voters turned out, and in HD 148 about 25%.