In Defense of Trump

Townhall.com ^ | Aug. 27, 2016 | John C. Goodman

[Innovative]

Almost everything I read about Donald Trump these days is negative. Writers on the right have been almost as critical as writers on the left.

Is there nothing that can be said about Trump that is positive? I think there is.

Since his nomination by the Republican Party, Donald Trump has made a number of serious policy speeches. In each case he is saying things that no other Republican presidential candidate has said. What he is saying is worth listening to.

On foreign policy, he has basically noted that our entire approach, from NATO to military bases, is based on 1950s Cold War thinking. That must change. He is the first modern leader of consequence to say this.

[Innovative]

Yes, indeed. It's time that people start pointing out the many positives about Trump and a Trump presidency.

[867V309]

Writers on the right have been almost as critical as writers on the left.

i.e. rush limpbaugh. Makes me ill.

[867V309]

Rush? Though I hardly tune into AM these days, Rush seems to be pretty even-handed.

I can't stand to listen much anymore. Rush's position is a passive negativity. He highlights negative Trump poll numbers, and goes into his crazy-voice when paraphrasing Trump.

It's too bad rush lost his hearing, I think he'd be appalled if he could hear himself now.

[867V309]

Oh, one more thing. Today rush ACTUALLY SAID that Trump said, early in his campaign, "mexicans are rapists."

To me there's no doubt, rush sides with the GLOBALISTS.

[Ann Archy]

I heard him say that today and I turned him OFF! He makes me furious sometimes.

[867V309]

I heard him say that today and I turned him OFF! He makes me furious sometimes.

It's sad. For many years I looked to his show for a fresh breath of media air.

Now it takes an act of will to turn it on, and I usually get p'd off in a few minutes.

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

Yes, Levin really missed the forest for the trues this time. He has utterly failed to realize during the primaries that Trump has qualities the county needs right now. Those Republican debates left a couple of good candidates out in the rain, but once that happened, it was clear that Trump was the only person talking real talk, clear talk, and talk that was right on the money of what needs to be done to reverse the evil wrought by Obama/Clinton.

[jazminerose]

Trump has been something of a Rorsach test, separating those who genuinely care about the country from those with an agenda.

We won’t forget.

[ETL]

"On foreign policy, he has basically noted that our entire approach, from NATO to military bases, is based on 1950s Cold War thinking. That must change. He is the first modern leader of consequence to say this."

This author is either a Putin loyalist or another naive, easily manipulated idiot. Russia, although helping take on ISIS, is absolutely still a threat on the world stage. They've been invading their neighbors and basically looking to restore their lost (evil) empire. They have a strong propaganda campaign going on which includes the use of internet trolls to help spread disinformation and pump up Putin. We have a bunch of them here. Why they are tolerated remains a mystery to me, as they are clearly influencing otherwise good people into trusting Putin.

[ETL]

Russia Ramping Up Military Drills to Cold War Levels, NATO Says

Feb 5, 2016 - FoxNews.com

Russia has stepped up its military maneuvers to a level unseen since the height of the Cold War, according to a new report released by NATO Thursday.

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary general and author of the report, noted that Moscow has conducted at least 18 large-scale exercises over the past three years, "some of which have involved more than 100,000 troops."

Those exercises included several simulated nuclear attacks against NATO allies and partner nations ..."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/05/russia-ramping-up-military-drills-to-cold-war-levels-nato-says.html

***********************************************

Russia decries 'new Cold War' as East-West tensions cloud talks

AFP, by Frank Zeller, Eric Randolph
February 13, 2016

"...a panel of eastern European leaders lined up to add their own accusations of Russian aggression.

"Every single day, Russian troops, Russian weapons, Russian ammunition penetrate into my country," said Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.

He addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not present, saying:

"Mr Putin, this is not a civil war in Ukraine, this is your aggression. This is not a civil war in Crimea, this is your soldiers who occupied my country."

http://web.archive.org/save/http://news.yahoo.com/russias-medvedev-says-world-cold-war-091417194.html

[ETL]

How Russia arms America's southern neighbors

Ioan Grillo
May 9, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Russia's push into Ukraine has put many on edge. But less known is that Russia is also strengthening its military links south of the Rio Grande and re-establishing itself as a power in the region.

Vladimir Putin has been strengthening military links here, and Russia is now the largest arms dealer to governments in Latin America, surpassing the United States.

Russia has even floated the possibility of building new military bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and putting its warships permanently in the Caribbean.

In the midst of the Ukraine crisis, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov recently visited Cuba, Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua, where he announced that Russia would also pour money into the new Central American canal project. ..."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140508/russian-arms-military-trade-latin-america
___________________________________________________

Russia Boosts Arms, Training for Leftist Latin Militaries

Moscow defense minister inks deals with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua for joint exercises

BY: Bill Gertz
February 20, 2015

Russia agreed to provide military training for three leftist regimes in Latin America and increase military visits and exercises following a visit last week to the region by Moscow's Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Pentagon officials said.

Shoygu met with defense and military leaders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and signed several agreements on warship visits and military training during the visit, which ran from Feb. 11 to 14. It is not clear whether any new arms deals were completed during the visit.

Defense officials said the Russian leader is seeking bases in the region for strategic bomber flights that Shoygu recently promised would include flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-boosts-arms-training-for-leftist-latin-militaries/

[ETL]

March 2012...

"Obama was talking with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when neither of them realized that their conversation was being picked up by microphones. Here is what they said:

Obama: "On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it's important for him to give me space."

Medvedev: "Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you ..."

Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That statement tells us much about the president's mindset.

The specific mention of missile defense is worrisome enough. Mr. Obama has retreated from the missile defense plan that was negotiated with European allies during the George W. Bush administration. Apparently, he is signaling Moscow that he intends to retreat further. The clear implication from the president's comments is that he cannot tell the American people before the election what he plans to do after the election.

In addition, there is the phrase "on all these issues," implying more is at stake than just missile defense."

Article: Obama plans double cross on missile defense
When it comes to keeping America safe, we shouldn't be too flexible:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/obama-plans-double-cross-on-missile-defense/print/
__________________________________________________________

[ETL]

Aug 2015

___________________________________________________

From Real Clear Politics, Sept 10, 2015...

"In a 2014 New Yorker interview, Obama said his goal was to create a 'new equilibrium' in the Middle East.

In the short run, at least, his signature diplomatic undertaking can be counted on to bring more violence to this volatile region.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the [Obama-Putin Iran deal] agreement is formally known, provides the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism an infusion of somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 billion of unfrozen assets and a great deal more of continuing revenues as businesses and governments around the world rush to profit from oil-and-gas-rich Iran's reintegration into the world economy.

The agreement relaxes the international isolation of the Islamic Republic and ratifies Tehran's status as a nuclear threshold state. And it relieves restrictions on Iran's acquisition of weapons, including ballistic missiles. ..."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/09/10/iran_deal_throws_sparks_on_mideast_tinderbox_128034.html

______________________________________________________

Russian build-up in Syria part of secret deal with Iran's Quds Force leader

September 11, 2015
Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson
FoxNews.com

As the Pentagon warily eyes a Russian military build-up in Syria, Western intelligence sources tell Fox News that the escalated Russian presence began just days after a secret Moscow meeting in late July between Iran's Quds Force commander - their chief exporter of terror - and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News has learned Quds head Qassem Soleimani and Putin discussed such a joint military plan for Syria at that meeting, an encounter first reported by Fox News in early August. ..."

The Quds Force is the international arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, involved in exporting terrorism to Iran’s proxies throughout the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. ..."

Officials who have monitored the build-up say they've seen more than 1,000 Russian combatants - some of them from the same plainclothes Special Forces units who were sent to Crimea and Ukraine. Some of these Russian troops are logistical specialists and needed for security at the expanding Russian bases.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/11/russian-build-up-in-syria-part-secret-deal-with-irans-quds-force-leader/
__________________________________________________________

Pro-Hezbollah Paper: Russia, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah Form Alliance

Sept 23, 2015

A prominent pro-Hezbollah newspaper in Lebanon reported Tuesday that Russia and the terrorist organization have formed an alliance and will fight together in Syria. "The parties to the alliance are the states of Russia, Iran, Syria, and Iraq, with Lebanon's Hezbollah as the fifth party,"

Al-Akhbar Editor in Chief Ibrahim al-Amin wrote. The pact would be called the "4+1 alliance", a pun based on the P5+1 that negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran based in Lebanon and Moscow has been working with Tehran to save Bashar al-Assad's regime, even sending men and weapons to Syria.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/09/22/report-russia-partners-with-hezbollah.html

[ETL]

From Investor's Business Daily, Jan 2012:

Obama To Betray Missile Defense Secrets To Moscow

Investor's Business Daily ^ | January 9, 2012 | IBD staff

Appeasement: From ObamaCare to recess appointments, honoring the Constitution has not been an administration hallmark. But when it comes to betraying secrets to mollify the Russians, it becomes a document the president hides behind.

It was bad enough that the 2012 defense authorization bill signed by President Obama set America on a downward spiral of military mediocrity.

He also issued a signing statement, something he once opposed, saying that language in the bill aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on the U.S. Standard Missile-3 - linchpin of our missile defense - might impinge on his constitutional foreign-policy authority.

Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they'd be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.

The president is required to certify that any technology shared will not be passed on to third parties such as China, North Korea or Iran, that the Russians will not use transferred secrets to develop countermeasures and that the Russians are reciprocating in sharing missile-defense technology. ..."

"In his signing statement, Obama said he would treat these legal restrictions as 'non-binding' and that 'my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 (sic) in a manner that does not interfere with the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications.'

Betraying our secrets is easy for a president who betrayed allies Poland and the Czech Republic to placate Moscow.

Poland was to host ground-based interceptors such as those we've deployed in California and Alaska, with missile-tracking radar deployed in the Czech Republic.

Obama pulled the plug when Moscow objected. Never mind, he said, we have a better approach: a four-phase plan that calls for using three versions of the Navy's Standard SM-3 interceptor missile that forms the backbone of its Aegis missile-defense system.

The fourth phase consists of a missile still on the drawing board scheduled for deployment by 2020, a version of the SM-3 called the Block IIB. It would intercept hostile missiles in the "early intercept" phase before an enemy missile could release its warheads and decoys. The Russians want the SM-3's secrets, and Obama appears to be willing to turn them over.

The president wants to save the New Start Treaty, which the Russians have threatened to abandon if we try to fully implement President Reagan's dream of defeating a nuclear missile attack.

Russia has unilaterally asserted that any qualitative or quantitative improvement in U.S. missile defenses would be grounds for withdrawal from the treaty.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010912-597158-obama-gives-russia-missile-defense-secrets.htm#ixzz3jXmMbVwY

[Hacksaw]

Why they are tolerated remains a mystery to me, as they are clearly influencing otherwise good people into trusting Putin.

It's because everyone else is crazy and not you.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Thank you for these articles and links. Very sobering.

[frnewsjunkie]

What is wrong with Donald Trump? Why are they so critical about a man who wants to change the damage done in the past 8 years, to an America that is great again.

They say it’s impossible to build a fence along the border... they laugh at such a thought. It’s only impossible to very small minds. Of course the fence will be built.. it has to be.. and the border closed... finally someone who will get it done... he isn’t politically minded like the previous Presidents who allowed illegals and terrorists to come on in and do their damage.... for years!

He will dismantle obamacare and give us healthcare with a choice. Trump is not dumb... he has built a fortune in business and knowing how to make good deals that work. He has 3 adult kids who all have worked with their father and are a great example of success through hard work and that is not an easy task.

To small minds, stuck in old political life, what Trump says is off the charts... to his followers, he’s a breath of fresh air. He repeatedly says we are a group of people who have not been heard and he is our spokesman... he cares for people.. . he is a man who can be reached.. a man who is not above the people and who knows what we are so angry about.

He doesn’t say things like the elite do... and so he’s ridiculed. He isn’t owned by anyone or any group... and privilege is given to his followers... not to special interest.

Trump is an original.. he’s not like the elite who have been running Washington... and the media who are no longer reporters.. they are political gossips.. Trump is being maligned by those very gossips.

And the last comment... people who don’t take the time to listen to Donald Trump but get their opinions from what they hear from the media... you are being lied to every day in every way possible. For those who are too lazy to stop and get the right information from Trump himself... for this is the most important election in years... You have a choice between a man who is a patriotic, unorthodox President ... a man who wants only to make America a land where you can get a job... where your children can go to good schools... where the government does not run your life... where illegals who come here for freebies and are dangerous, are sent back to where they come from... Trump is a man who loves this country.. he’s been fortunate and believes we can be that shiny country on a hill... one that offers a good life for everyone..

Listen to the man, Trump..hear what he says and not what they interpret his words to say .. they are lying to you!
The alternative is a sick corrupt old woman.

[ETL]

Seems that way. The Russians obviously are no friends of ours.

[ETL]

Thank you for these articles and links. Very sobering.

You're welcome. Appears some people are just hopelessly stupid.