I so wanted to avoid talking about Trump this week, but he leaves me no choice. He's already made a week's worth of news, and this is only Tuesday.
Trump ratcheted up tensions with Iran, the country that Americans love to hate after they took over our embassy and took fifty-odd Americans hostage for fourteen months. Maybe he won't start a war with the Iranians (though it could lead to higher gas prices if Iran takes action, which could mean SUVs becoming obsolete overnight, and I would love to see that, of course), but he can certainly distract from his disastrous summit with Putin last week with this ploy. Don't expect his tough talk to cool tensions with Iran like it did with North Korea; Iran is deeply committed to refusing to improve relations with the U.S. except on its own terms. You can't win with the Iranians, as Ronald Reagan found out when he tried back-channel negotiations and arms sales with them. He was hoping for a "Nixon goes to China" moment but got a Laurel and Hardy "fine mess" moment instead.
Iranians love to punk us, but not as much as Trump loves to punk his base. As I type this, he's addressing a VFW convention and promising $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers affected by tariffs. Hey, isn't it illegal to buy votes? Again, he's trying to distract his base. It might not work for the midterms, as farmers don't want a handout. They want foreign markets.
And former national-security officials advising current national-security officials need security clearances because they need to give their successors advice. Trump wants to take them away because he can't tolerate their negative criticism. Another distraction from that "Russia thing."
One of them is former national security adviser Susan Rice. Don't worry, she'll get her credentials back if she loses them - she'll get them back when she becomes President Martin O'Malley's Secretary of State in 2021.
Forget 2021 - is it Friday yet?
These Trump-triggered brain dumps could ruin my writing . . ..
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