Charles Krauthammer on Donald Trump:

BlackbirdCharles Krauthammer on Donald Trump:

We are entering a period of unprecedented threat to the international order that has prevailed under American leadership since 1945. After eight years of President Obama’s retreat, the three major revisionist powers — Russia, China and Iran — see their chance to achieve regional dominance and diminish, if not expel, U.S. influence.

At a time of such tectonic instability, even the most experienced head of state requires wisdom and delicacy to maintain equilibrium. Trump has neither. His joining of supreme ignorance to supreme arrogance, combined with a pathological sensitivity to any perceived slight, is a standing invitation to calamitous miscalculation.

Two generations of Americans have grown up feeling that international stability is as natural as the air we breathe. It’s not. It depends on continual, calibrated tending. It depends on the delicate balancing of alliances and the careful signaling of enemies. It depends on avoiding self-inflicted trade wars and on recognizing the value of allies like Germany, Japan and South Korea as cornerstones of our own security rather than satrapies who are here to dispatch tribute to their imperial master in Washington.

It took seven decades to build this open, free international order. It could be brought down in a single presidential term. That would be a high price to pay for the catharsis of kicking over a table.”

Norwood Born a long time reader of this blog asked me to compare today with the late 1960s and early 1970s. I told him what is happening today pales in comparison to all that was happening back in those days when America was really in turmoil as we adjusted to pressure from African-Americans demanding to be treated as equal Americans, women seeking an equal share of the pie, anti-war groups asking for a halt in the Vietnam war, the spring shooting at Kent State, and so on.

There is one thing though that never happened before in America which is two such unpopular candidates vying for the presidency. One of them will win. Each one brings with him or her a great dread. I cannot come close to Krauthammer in expressing the danger that Trump brings to the presidency. He is the ultimate con man egotist who is really dumb when it comes to foreign relations. He knows how to make money and build buildings but nothing much beyond that.

Hillary may be a crook and her husband a brigand. She may corrupt many of the institutions in the U.S. and appoint judges who wipe out not the Second but the First Amendment – hate speech will no longer be free and what determines hate will be the government; separation of church and state will be expanded to separation of church goers from government jobs; and other mischievous things will be done. But we can recover from all of those.

We cannot recover from not protecting our allies or being a strong force for liberty. We cannot recover by withdrawing from our alliances and having our allies question our commitment to them. The American Way since WWII has been to keep other nations free; to withdraw from the world and lose allies endangers us greatly. It has been our unwavering commitment to our friends freedom that has been our trademark.

Trump does not understand that. He is a real and present danger to our standing in the world; he more than any candidate is apt to get us into nasty wars with little support from others.

Considering it all it is best if Hillary wins. We lose too much with Trump.

 

19 Comments

  1. Per Henry’s article: Trump adviser Carter Page apparently shares mine and the non-interventionists’ views that the US and NATO have needlessly provoked Russia, noting that “aggressive policies of pushing NATO right to Russia’s doorstep have instigated today’s predicament(s).” Margaret Thatcher aptly viewed the Soviet Union as the aggressor; of late, US-NATO initiates and instigates war and aggression (Serbia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, etc.) and encroaches upon Russian territory.

  2. John King McDonald

    Some bombast from Krauthammer, Charles. Humans have a shadow side. Trump, in his fulminations and non PC gesticulations , petit-mal 3 a.m. Twitter goofy seizures and post- Studio 54 era rich playboy sensations leaves nothing in the locker room. Warts and all we see the frog prince. We instinctively doubt that he is nothing if not slavishly in love with women. And thus, TRUMP!

    Krauthammers crafted hysteria aside we suspect that Trump’s ego may be overbearing for many. But it is not the psychological profile of a person who, beloved Performance Art and Celebrity Apprentice hi-jinks aside, is not supremely in control of a calculated bluster. This is ” Bluster” as a bargaining tool . Behind that is a very hale and rugged guy. He is nobody’s fool. He will not be the loose cannon Krauthammer predicts .

  3. It’s worse than you think. I do not believe Trump knows how to read.

  4. Charles Krauthammer is the most fanatical of the neocon Israel Firsters. Born in NYC he was educated in a religious school in Montreal and later at McGill. Consult with Mr. Google and you will find that he is widely believed to be a dual citizen of the US and Israel.

    Having read his columns for many years I have concluded his lodestar is not American interests. His excessive ad hominem vitriol is a reaction to Trump’s telling a group of Jewish fat cats that he didn’t need their money and he understood that for that reason would not garner any support from them.

    There are things that in endless columns about Israel Krauthammer never mentions. Factor this into your evaluation of the value of his opinions. Clinton will get us into unnecessary wars with fearful consequences. If you think no more American boys should die for a nation that murdered 34 American Navy men and maimed over 170 more in the attack on the USS Liberty vote for Trump.

    Stand by the brave heroes who were betrayed by Washington in 1967. America First is a promise worth voting for. Only one candidate has made it.

    • Former Bostonians Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, pro-Israel fat cats extraordinaire, owners of gambling casinos and newspapers, have contributed millions to Trump’s campaign.

    • Brave heroes betrayed by Washington in 1967? What are you referring to?

      • The peerless crew of the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. LBJ called back their rescuers. You have enough information to quickly research the traitorous incident. Am surprised and find it hard to believe that you do not know of it.

  5. Lance Tapley is a former tenant.

    Google Lance Tapley Maine

    He just sent me this email

    Dear Friends,

    Here below is a link to my column today, “The Progressive Case for
    President Hillary Clinton,” in two dailies, the Kennebec Journal in
    Augusta, Maine, and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Maine–both print
    and online.

    http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/11/04/column-the-progressive-case-for-president-hillary-clinton/

    If you think doing so is worthwhile, please forward it extensively,
    including on Facebook; tweet it; and use any other medium you can. I’ve
    just made it “public” on my Facebook account.

    It is Maine-oriented because the state is something of a swing state now
    (explained in the piece), but the arguments hold, I believe, for many other
    places.

    These are desperate times.

    Best wishes,
    Lance

    • ‘Psychopath’ is a favoured buzzword for Trump: “Others — especially the Republican nominee himself, by his own words and actions — have made the case over and over. I believe he’s a dangerous psychopath” writes Lance Tapley.

      When these Down East journalists use pejorative adjectives such as ‘psychopath’ they might first research the meaning of the word.

      I quote: “While the term is often employed in common usage along with the related but distinct “crazy”, “insane” and “mentally ill”, criminal psychology researcher Robert Hare stresses that a clear distinction is known among clinicians and researchers between psychopathic and psychotic individuals. Hare claims that psychopaths “are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders. Unlike psychotic individuals, psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why. Their behavior is the result of choice.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy)

      Sounds Presidential to me.

  6. When Krauthammer points to three revisionist powers Russia, China and Iran as a threat is that the same as the Axis of Evil? Has he stolen W’s line? Or is this the same old Neo Con baloney?

  7. The dumbest thing America ever did was to enter WW1. No vital American interest was at stake. It was strickley a European conflict. We were duped by Britain into entering a conflict they started but couldn’t finish. The first war was the condition precedent for the second where 35 million civilians were killed. The greatest geo political blunder in our history. was our entering WW1. Our founders warned us against foreign entanglements. J. Q. Adams said we should not go abroad seeking monsters to destroy. Ben Franklin advised a policy of Commerce with all War with none. The Monroe Doctrine was designed to keep us out of European affairs. Our country has been sidetracked by the think tanks and foreign lobbyists. The media relentlessly paints a false picture of the Sunni Arabs ( ISIS, Al Qaeda. Al Nusra etc.) as our allies and the Shia who are fighting the terrorists as our enemy. The Sunnis and Shia have been fighting for 14 centuries. Their’s is not our fight. We don’t need Saudi oil anymore. Why should we do their bidding? 2. Krauthammer is a total fraud. In his mid thirties, along with O’Reilly, they voted against Reagan for re election. That act demonstrates profound ignorance or exposes one as a bogus conservative. Don’t believe anything one hears on Fox. The other networks are even less truthful. It is laughable to hear foreigners and their American shills insist we sacrifice our blood and treasure so a German, Korean or British enterprise can protect it’s interest. We don’t need a war with Russia, China and Iran. HRC is more likely to produce one than Trump. Great presidents, Ike and Reagan, kept us out of these unwise foreign wars. The flops, Bush, Clinton, Bush2 and Obama have given us Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Serbia, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan et al. Endless war with no victory in sight What were the lessons of Viet Nam? Our last four Chief Executives never learned them.

  8. Hillary is the advocate of “no-fly zones” and American interventionism. I want less imperialism, less interventionism and less confrontation from my country.
    I read today of 3 U.S. service members killed in Jordan and yesterday of 2 killed in Afghanistan. U.S. service members are deployed in over 100 countries. Enough!
    Henry is right: Hillary’s no-fly zone in Libya was a disaster and her proposal for one in Syria would be another disaster and trigger war with Russia.
    Dan is right: “Hillary is more hawkish than Obama” and that’s another reason why I’m voting against the Big Government Interventionist Glib Lib, bigly.

  9. Hi Matt:
    I view Krauthammer as kind of a one-note conservative. But I agree with him about Trump, and the fact that there are certain things that can’t be screwed up without putting the country in danger. One of those thing is our relationship with Russia. Putin is a serious rival — not our pal or somebody to hang out with. No bromance is wanted or needed. Hillary is more hawkish than Obama, and smarter and more experienced than Trump.

  10. Bill is not only a brigand, he’s a notorious sexual predator found as such by the courts. Of course, that depends on what ‘is’ is and that the Bible doesn’t specifically mention oral sex under a desk.

    Here is one significant endorsement for Trump:

    ‘The ex-head of the British Army rubbished claims Mr Trump’s bombastic interventions on foreign policy would undermine Nato and threaten security.’

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3902066/Ex-British-Army-chief-Lord-Richards-endorses-DONALD-TRUMP-White-House-claims-make-world-safer-place.html

    • YES – NATO is A BAD THING. It began as a coalition of peacekeeping – not it threatens war, governs and loans entire countries’ futures into oblivion. The last 3 presidents (at minimal) were loyal to them over the US. But then to consider this article/interview, and to see the projection of ignorance on someone who is backing someone like Clinton – where she and he BEGGED Americans (and the world) for money, then ROBBED THAT MONEY/Charity – destroying an entire nation. But yes, by all means – we should totally believe that the answer to “not Trump” is to vote Clinton. If people cannot see the load of crap this is – and how Steing is A MILLION more times more qualified for the job… the logic used against Trump is constantly mind blowing. It often carries zero logic – and from someone who closely studies ALL sides, not just the two made up idealists of Dems and Rep, I – like the greater % of Americans have recognized the projection of farces onto Trump for no reason but to cloud the judgement of my fellow people. Whether you like or hate him, he does not come close the the amount of scandal, lies, and overall failures in tenure – as we see with Clinton. I think the only truth we could all find is that it comes down to ANYONE being better than Clinton.

      But, if you do not want to believe the FBI, or other agencies who are going against DIRECT ORDERS to expose the nasty TRUTH behind Clinton – and you do not want to believe ALL the proof and evidence compiled out there by objective (truly objective) people… then do I have to suggest that people do themselves the favor of taking an hour to OBJECTIVELY look at the facts on both sides. Not what people misconstrue as factual… but the ACTUAL truth (where you can find credible sources, experienced individuals, and not just journalists). When you find that average people have gone out and performed PLENTY of comparisons with ACTUAL citations and sources…. it is easy to see what our media and biased fellow people introduce to the world as fact. Yet – it cannot be further from it.

      We must also consider what news comes out – and if some BS is used to obscure more important evidence. We have seen this time and time again throughout history, and people are starting to recognize that they cannot make the same stupid mistakes anymore. We have suffered enough – and life being “natural” in this society is about as “fictional” as it gets. We are comparing apples and oranges with this. Our society cannot go back to “natural” when we have based so much on being wasteful and inefficient. When our own people cannot recognize the truth, and blindly believe in causes without considering the issues – detached from the people. We actually do the opposite – where we detach the people from the issues, THEN we choose “sides” based on a popularity contest – citing issues likes experience and nonsense that is illogical. A drug dealers or killer could have a ton of exp too – and it does not make them more qualified to do the job. Whatever job it may be. Politics, selling the drugs, “marginalizing” competition, etc. They might have done it 1000x, but have done it 1000x the wrong ways. It does not mean you have Rambo in your hands if you were placing this template on a soldier-type of scenario. The dedication of this popularity contest is simply to divide and control people – to push people into one way of thinking or another. But just like there is more than one right and wrong answer/solution to a problem, there are more than 2 sides to the political reality. But – many are still disillusioned by such nonsense, and they align themselves to issues they do not agree with or only partially support – if at all! Yet, they will say, “Im this type of voter”, and will vote to their “side” even though they do not agree fully, or do not consider that they are changing themselves to conform to someone else’s ideals. A way of convincing people they are growing – yet they dont do anything different but change to fit someone else’s idea of what the solutions should be.

      To me – I have had to deal with a ton of the bombarding BS from the media – which I could not believe after a while. So I did my own research. My own comparisons of historic events, and similarities. I have realized one constant throughout the issues – the same things I realized last time but worse – that Clinton has just escalated her games. Other historic figures get things achieved over their lifetimes and tenure – but Hillary has all of NOTHING in her list of achievements that have been tied directly to her. In a similar comparison – she has more scandals being TRUE than she has even ATTEMPTS to do something FOR the people. IT has been the constant that even her own supporters have and do say as you read, interview and discuss/debate the issues with others who are professionals that are able to remain unbiased. These few types of people can detach from the people, and look at the issues alone. To see who does what – and this is exactly what reporters utilize (the ground reporters do the story – then pass it to another, higher up the food chain) to make their biased forms of the reports they put on tv, or the news outlets – or the majority of press available. Yes, citizens provide their own reporting, and you CAN find much more accurate things within this type of writing/reporting as well, but they usually skew it one way or another. IT is truly a skill to find those who do not slant the stories – and report it as it is…. but then also provide their own, separate input – labeled as such.

      I honestly laugh when I see “interviews” and “reporting” like this – b/c it is the most one sided load that I read (commonly). This gets reported as news, when the “source” is generally a biased person with “experience”. As as I pointed out w/ exp, it does not make the person ANY better at ANYTHING, than someone new to it. Many times – taking a fresh look at things will help change the stagnant environment created in the wake of the “experienced”. It is like the saying goes – you cannot change something by doing the same old things – you need to change what you do, what you look at, what you see, what you respond to… .if you want ANYTHING to actually change in terms of anything we work for in life. Those who come to tell you any different, clearly do not understand that you cannot change (clinton) by doing the same old things (obama). And that is common among various topics – not just political scenarios.

      -Sorry for replying to this post, it was just the highest in the list – to respond to such one-sided “news”. People like this, as much as their hearts may be in the right idea – are not in the right places. They push aside their own logic to promote something that they themselves have only done one-sided research upon. After comparing all “sides”, you quickly find that we will never have an “optimal choice” until we CHANGE (and not for the worst like w Obama)… and we admit to ourselves that we need to look at the issues separate from the people who are promoting them. B/c in many cases… ppl promote a choice that doesnt even believe in their own words – but their supporters buy it so they go out and “report” it like its the pure hard facts – when nothing is changed.. and when you can clearly see a pattern of how the people do not follow what they tell everyone else.

      But by all means – let the women be degraded by going to get BJs from Madonna for votes (in her promotion of womens empowerment). Or follow people like Jay Z – who raps about killing, and promoting women being only out for money and worthless beyond petty “uses” (literally – he does not have ANY respect – yet this is someone who believes in empowering women). Or we can believe in those who do not even an hour of objective research… in their so-called beliefs. No matter what we do – we are following others… not having ourselves be REPRESENTED like originally intended by the people who died to give us this opportunity.

      But by all means – yes lets worry about the UN, as if its our effn government. Lets do what we need to, to make this into a true dictatorship. B/c we are clearly too dumb to make our own choices. Or do check if the things being spouted are even true. Careless to the fact that millions look up the truth, and find horrific things. To see that their fellow people are lied to, and that they are being led down a path by people who dont even have the integrity to stop stereotypes, and to actually do the work to ensure they are doing the best for the country, and the people. Not to pick your fav in popularity. Although that is EXACTLY what our joke of elections has turned into. And people know this, they see the audits being removed, our country being sold/given away, and they follow without considering their choices or support being true in the first place. They look to a few, to tell them what the truth and reality is, when those people have no better clue than they do. I guess its just cool now to give up our power w/o doing work. To just expect that we wont be deceived. To expect that we will just be told the truth, and not what we want to hear – especially with all the main news outlets being owned/affiliated with 4-5 entities TOTAL, which they ALL use to credit the info to. No care of integrity or any self-respect. And these types think they are doing anything for the country. It is honestly just sad to see. My prefs just follow what I know for sure – that Clinton is not only a horrible person, but a horrible representation to choose as well.