John Bolton: Trump is looking A LOT like Obama
MAY. 24, 2017 12:55 PM BY THE RIGHT SCOOP
John Bolton has some tough words for President Trump in this op-ed he wrote for the WSJ, pointing out that Trump’s foreign policy isn’t looking much different than did Obama’s, and he’s almost past the point of no return:
WSJ – The White House decided last week to continue President Obama’s waiver of significant economic sanctions against Iran. The news, coming hard on the heels of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s April 18 certification that Iran is complying with the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement, was both revealing and distressing. New missile-related sanctions, simultaneously imposed, were small consolation.
This continuity with Obama-era policies fits a larger pattern. Despite generally tougher rhetoric against Iran and North Korea—including the president’s weekend speech in Saudi Arabia—the Trump administration’s actions against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction increasingly resemble its predecessor’s.
Rhetoric doesn’t faze Iran so long as the nuclear deal’s goodies keep coming, and the ayatollahs have had the effrontery to complain they aren’t flowing fast enough. President Obama and Tehran crafted the Vienna accord in ways that front-loaded the benefits for Iran, intending to lock America and Europe into economic ties that would be too costly to untangle. Every passing day validates that strategy.
Meanwhile, Iran’s violations—regarding uranium enrichment, heavy-water production, ballistic-missile testing and concealed military dimensions such as warhead development—continue unimpeded. Unexpected, unnecessary and divorced from reality, Mr. Tillerson’s certification of Iranian compliance blindsided the White House, which responded by toughening up the final presentation but lacked the wherewithal to reverse the decision. Friday’s election returning Hassan Rouhani to Iran’s presidency changed nothing, since the nuclear and ballistic-missile programs are controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A similar policy continuity can be seen regarding North Korea. Unlike his predecessors, Mr. Obama did not obsess over negotiations with North Korea (preferring to obsess over negotiations with Iran). Instead, he propounded the doctrine of “strategic patience,” a synonym for doing nothing, which proved equally as dangerous as making foolish concessions. Predictably, Pyongyang took advantage of American passivity. It concentrated on making steady, significant progress on both nuclear weapons (a sixth test is reportedly being readied) and long-range missiles.
Mr. Trump’s current policy differs little from that of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Mr. Obama, relying mistakenly on China to pressure Pyongyang. As before, Beijing is feigning pressure, but as yet there is no evidence it will be any tougher than is necessary to quiet America down. South Korea has just thrown Kim Jong Un a lifeline by electing a president eager to return to the “sunshine” policy—appeasement by another name. And the full scope of Pyongyang’s cooperation with Tehran remains unknown.
This article was written on Monday, before Trump went to Israel and made his comments on Iran. But I don’t think that would change Bolton’s position very much, as he already suggests that Trump’s rhetoric is certainly tougher but his policies aren’t.
There’s a lot more in the article that you can read here, but Bolton ends it like this:
The Trump administration has not yet passed the point of no return on these critical issues, but it is getting perilously close. Warning flags are multiplying. Ronald Reagan once said he wanted a Republican Party that stood for “bold colors, no pale pastels.” Mr. Trump should get out his paintbrush.
When it comes to foreign policy, it doesn’t get much better than Bolton. This is why we wanted him to lead the State Department instead of Tillerson (or anyone else for that matter). We also wanted him to be Trump’s NSA after Flynn was ousted, but Trump chose McMaster instead.
And now look where Trump’s foreign policy is ending up.
Even on Israel Trump is looking more like Obama. Bolton basically calls him out for breaking his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, pointing out that his administration won’t even recognize that the Western Wall is a part of Israel. As he points out:
Before Mr. Trump’s current trip to the Middle East, senior administration officials repeated the mantra that Jerusalem’s Western Wall was not “in Israel” because Jerusalem’s final status remained to be negotiated. The White House responded that the wall is “clearly in Jerusalem” — a point no one has disputed for several thousand years.
Trump is so invested in the delusion of peace that his administration (minus Nikki Haley, of course) is treating Israel almost exactly as Obama did from a policy standpoint.
So yes, I think Bolton has it exactly right in his assessment. Trump has become Obama and I don’t think much is going to change that in the near future.
therightscoop
D Son?MyWizIzTheShiz
The key to Buyers Remorse is to NEVER have it in the first place. #NeverTrump
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By the way what did the greatest deal-maker in the world get from Saudi Arabia for the 350 billion dollar deal he signed? Will they be helping with troops to fight ISIS - I don't think so. How about them taking in Syrian refugees - nope. In other words, other than a bunch of promises that could change tomorrow and Trump's gold chain, we got nothing. Boy, it sure sounds like we got screwed. (Of course Trump just had to have that chain).
AT
I said this a year ago Bolton. All it took to conclude it was a rational review of the principles behind what he was saying.
Trump has always preached More Government to fix Bad Government.
Trump has always espoused that the Ends Justify the Means.
Trump has always asserted that He'll Fix Everything if you'll just give him Total Control.
Trump has always pandered to Telling People What They Want to Hear.
Trump has always promised Unilateral Action (as opposed to Separation of Powers).
Trump has always advanced Cronyism in return for Unquestioning Fealty.
Trump has always portrayed himself as a Benevolent Dictator candidate.
He did this his ENTIRE campaign. and has continued into his Administration. These are the ideas inherent to Collectivism, including Progressive Liberalism. Barack Obama was the exact same way. The only differences between the two is that Trump does stuff we don't like, and Barack did stuff we flat out hate. But the principles that drive their actions are exactly the same. They may get to different destinations, but they drive the exact same vehicle to get there.
This is why I have repeatedly said that if you support Trump, you necessarily cannot be a Conservative (and probably never were). Because Conservatives don't live according to those principles, and they sure as hell don't support them being put to work in big government.
Sentinel
We warned Trump-supporters about this during the GOP Primary.
This was readily apparent from the get-go. As I said, the GOP forwarded the absolute WORST candidate that they had in the primary. ANYTHING but a Conservative.
This is accurate and VERY telling... and true!
Mycroft
As I listened to Trump's "the Palestinians want peace" speech yesterday, I could not help but think that Obama could have read the same words, and no one would have batted an eye.
ryanomaniac
I think it's a little harsh but very accurate in most areas. Don't know why the Iran deal is still in place. Maybe a national security reason we don't know of? Who knows, but I want it gone yesterday.
IllinoisPatriot
No one that has stood by their principles and sense of decency since the primaries (ie: those that never jumped on the Trump-Train for the sake of popularity) has ever believed that Trump was much different from Obama.
Many of us believed that Troump could turn out to be much worse.
That Trump is actually turning out to be worse than Obama is becoming more clear daily.
I'll add an off-topic observation to demonstrate my point:
There's a lot of fresh hatred being directed toward Dir Comey because of people piling on Trump's accusation that he's a "nut job". In doing so, many are disregarding the fact that Comey never had legal authority to recommend (or not) prosecution - his ONLY function at the FBI has always been to investigate and turn the results over to the DOJ/AG.
In the case of Clinton, Comey not only did an honorable and impartial investigation, but he took the additional step of publicizing the results so the results could not be denied or lied about as "having found no evidence". He then (knowingly or otherwise) made his controversial, non-binding "recommendation" that insured the presser not only became national news, but also remained in the public consciousness.
From the time Trump won the election up to now, the statute of limitations has been in effect. The investigation is complete. The case has been made. The public knows the results of the investigation and the controversy around those results and "recommendation" insures that those results can not be covered up or dismissed as irrelevant. Yet Jeff Sessions is continuing to refuse to prosecute. Is he doing this because of Trump's public protection of Hillary or on his own authority ? Either way, the ball is in his court as it was in Loretta Lynch's court before him.
The big damage that Trump has caused in this example is that so many supposedly "conservative" pundits, commentators and general Republican voters have been deceived into thinking that it is James Comey rather than than Loretta Lynch (and now Jeff Sessions) that is responsible for Clinton not being prosecuted. With the ball squarely in Jeff Sessions court and Jeff Sessions having recused himself from Russia-gate, he should be free from distraction and able to work on his inherited backlog of prosecutions of previous Obama-era political miscreants where the statute of limitations has not run out. Yet we see no results - no indictments, no subpoenas, no court dates, no evidence of prosecution of any kind.
Given how much praise Trump got for nominating Jeff Sessions as a "very conservative pick that will restore law and order to Wash DC and drain the swamp", why are we seeing no legal prosecutorial action after 4 months ? Why are those that claim to "praise good Trump, criticize bad Trump" not raising their voices against Jeff Sessions and his refusal to prosecute those that have repeatedly demonstrated their clear guilt only to have received protection from the Obama administration ?
I think this example and Jeff Sessions' refusal to prosecute (or even have the FBI investigate) those from Obama's administration where the statute of limitations has not run out), show that the Trump administration is just as corrupt and liberal as the Obama administration was - if not even more corrupt and lawless. |
