Monday, February 6, 2017

Trump’s Interview with Bill O’Reilly

Here:



Comments:

(1) it’s a shame President Trump is shifting to Neocon-style agitprop on Iran, though admittedly he was always hawkish-sounding on Iran during the campaign. I hope sense prevails here, rather than another war in the Middle East.

Trump was elected partly because of his promise to reject Neoconservative militarism and nation-building. This is what made him such a remarkable candidate. He must resist the demands to attack Iran from the usual suspects in the region who hate Iran – namely, Saudi Arabia and Israel – as well as their lobbyists and supporters in the Pentagon or State Department.

(2) by contrast, his comments on Putin deserve praise. Ditching the suicidal hostility to Russia, if done, will be a big roll-back of Neoconservative and liberal interventionist warmongering.

(3) at last we have an honest President who admits the American government is not innocent of bad deeds which kill people:



Amazingly, Trump even condemned the 2003 Iraq war as a horrendous mistake that killed many people, implying that George W. Bush and his administration bear moral responsibility for this, and that the media are hypocrites for saying America shouldn’t have a realistic political engagement with Russia just because Russian governments have committed human rights abuses and crimes in the past.

Isn’t this a rather obvious truth? (I will put aside the obvious criticism that we can also say that the 2003 Iraq war was a deliberate war crime, rather than a “mistake”.)

Of course, the American media went absolutely insane over this comment, with denunciations of Trump left, right and centre for (allegedly) committing the crime of “moral equivalence” – that is, for supposedly saying that America is exactly morally the same as Russia.

Of course, Trump said no such thing, and the media was being disgustingly unfair to him.

(4) it’s great to see Trump promoting re-industrialisation of America through protectionism. I think he may well deliver on his promises here, and, if so, he deserves credit.

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6 comments:

  1. Probably the scariest part about Trump is when his analysis makes significantly more sense than what passes for serious analysis in the US. Outside of the tough talk on Iran, this interview is Trump making a lot more sense than the so called serious people.

    It's a bit alarming that Trump continues the talk about Iran promoting terrorism, but seems to have dropped the tough talk on Saudi and terrorism. Mad Dog Mattis was his best cabinet pick thus far, but Mattis's rhetoric favoring America's Arab allies (not just Saudi, but Jordan as well) and damning Iran is a pretty gaping flaw in his understanding of the region. Saudi Arabia probably spends almost as much buying off think tanks as they do promoting Salafi Jihadists, and the US will need a guy like Trump who's willing to buck conventions if the US intends to take on the heart of the rot in Saudi.

    Given Trump wants to collaborate with Russia to fight terrorism in Syria, and Iran has been working with Russia to fight Jihadists in Syria, hopefully he'll recognize the glaring contradiction and understands the reality on the ground means you can't weaken both Iran and the Jihadists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a bit alarming that Trump continues the talk about Iran promoting terrorism, but seems to have dropped the tough talk on Saudi and terrorism

      Indeed. The fact that Trump won't talk about the Saudis raises a serious red flag.

      Mad Dog Mattis was his best cabinet pick thus far, but Mattis's rhetoric favoring America's Arab allies (not just Saudi, but Jordan as well) and damning Iran is a pretty gaping flaw in his understanding of the region

      If Mattis is your idea of "the best," I'd hate to see what you think is the worst.

      Delete
    2. Trump @0:57 "We gave them 1.7 Billion Dollars in cash, which is unheard of"

      LOL!!!

      http://fortune.com/2016/09/13/us-israel-military-aid

      Delete
  2. Trump was elected partly because of his promise to reject Neoconservative militarism and nation-building. This is what made him such a remarkable candidate. He must resist the demands to attack Iran from the usual suspects in the region who hate Iran – namely, Saudi Arabia and Israel – as well as their lobbyists and supporters in the Pentagon or State Department

    His Son-In-Law and several members of his administration are "Israel Firsters." What do you expect? Israel does not want peace in he region, they want continued destabilization towards the goal of Greater Israel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And yet the biggest advocates of such a policy -- the Neocons -- have been sidelined and ejected from Trump's administration.

      This is massive change. You're simply too ignorant and too stupid to see it.

      Delete
    2. The neocons loathe Trump. Most jumped the GOP for Hillary.

      Delete