The Instability Of Trump As Commander-In-Chief

Last updated on: April 13, 2017 at 8:21 am by John WL Berry

The Instability Of Trump As Commander-In-Chief 2017-04-13T08:21:21-04:00 John WL Berry

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Carrier Group Heading To Confront North Korea

During the presidential campaign I was assured repeatedly by people supporting Trump, especially Christians, that he would not be prone to use the military. He would not repeat the mistakes of Bush and the neocons and rush to war and military intervention except where America was threatened.

Of Trump it was said and repeated in various forms that:

“The ostensibly more reckless, infantile, inexperienced and bombastic candidate may actually be more mature, level-headed and reasonable on foreign policy than his critics, who, against all the good advice our parents gave us as children, pout and refuse to talk to those they don’t like, escalate arguments to violence when they are upset…”

Trump they insisted, unlike the neocons, would not misuse the military. “He reassures that the United States will be respected and also that we will not employ our troops as cannon fodder on distant battlefields.” They even claimed, against all evidence, that he was “Far less petulant than most of the former Republican candidates.” What?!?

But, 71 days into his administration and we have been treated to a botched raid in Yemen that killed an American sailor and a number of children. A $70 Million dollar fireworks show in Syria that accomplished nothing. And now we have him openly threatening the very unstable regime in North Korea. This is not “level-headed and reasonable on foreign policy.” This is crazy!

Trump Publicly Threatens North Korea

This is far different from the rhetoric Trump used on the campaign trail when he promised to not publicly broadcast his military moves and strategy publicly. This promise actually gave hope to his supporters who thought, along with his “America First” rhetoric, that he would be a very different military leader. Not bombastic and confrontational. A real negotiator.

“I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do in North Korea, and I don’t have to tell you what I’m going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn’t know, and eventually you guys are going to get tired of asking that question. So when you ask me what am I going to do with a ship, with a Russian ship as an example, I’m not going to tell you, but hopefully, I won’t have to do anything, but I’m not going to tell you,” he said.

“I’m not going to tell you anything about what response I do. I don’t talk about military response.

Now he has launched two misadventures in the Middle East, continued regular bombing in Syria that regularly kills civilians, and is now needlessly antagonizing the unstable leader of North Korea. This is not diplomacy nor is it a sane strategy or negotiating tactic. North Korea could potentially hit Seoul, South Korea with a nuclear weapon. The United States has 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea. How is this not needlessly putting them in harms way? Not to mention the millions of South Koreans.

Trump sold himself as a great negotiator. Surely there is a way to negotiate with the brutal dictator of North Korea. We do it all the time with brutal dictators like our ‘allies” like Saudi Arabia. Conservatives and Christians got behind Trump because he was not the standard Washington insider. He, they claimed against all evidence to the contrary, would be different. He would be better for America. Well, this is not what they were promised.

Conservatives need to be worried and they need to be vocal. Trump is doing what they said he would not. He is risking major wars in the Middle East and in Asia for things that are none of our concern, not existential threats to us, and which could be worked out diplomatically. We need conservatives and Christians who supported Trump to stand up for America and make it very clear to Trump that his base is not happy. Trump is failing as a Commander-In-Chief and when the Commander-in-Chief fails Americans die and America suffers.

You wanted to make America great? Now is the time to do the difficult work and speak up. Now is the time for America to do the difficult work of negotiating solutions to these problems. As the last 15 years have showed us, we may have the biggest and most powerful military in the world, but its use is not always successful or good for America.

Speak up! Show that America is truly great.