Posted on 04/01/2016 6:44:08 AM PDT by McGruff
Its the totally unthinkable question that Americans find themselves confronting this week: What would President Donald Trump do in a genuine national crisis?
After a series of overseas terror attacks and some startling statements about nuclear weapons and torture, the worlds attention has turned to Trumps foreign policyan area where he has few advisers, no experience and a tendency to fire off answers and deal with the fallout later. The reality of a Trump candidacy has begun to set in: If Trump is elected and a major national crisis hits, hell be the one with his hands on the button. Hell be at the head of the table in the Situation Room. His decisions would steer Americas immediate response and could set the course of American policy for years.
Whats hard to project with a normal politician is nearly impossible to guess with Trump. He has no foreign policy or public service experience, which means theres no official record to consult, and his public statements, while extreme, have been vague. The saber-rattling statements that excite his supporters also suggest he has disregard for linchpins of the global order like NATO, the Geneva Conventions and the hard-won global nuclear-weapons limits
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I would favor taking out the Iranian nuclear program with low yield nukes. An eye for an eye, and a nuke for a nuke.
No doubt about that.
But as a war president (1941-1944), FDR was, IMO, superb. In less than four years he beat both Hitler and Tojo. Of course, the Red Army played a big part as well.
Where FDR faltered was in 1945. As you said, he didn't properly see the threat of Stalin. But I wonder, what could he have done anyway?
Patton could have been allowed to take Berlin, and that would have pushed the Iron Curtain eastward a bit. But no way could Patton have taken, say, Warsaw, unless the Western Allies started the strategic bombing of the USSR. The American public would not have gone for that.
Now consider LBJ. His anti-red stance aside, he was a total, miserable failure as a war president.
(Sorry if this appears like a rant. I so dislike LBJ that everyone else looks good in comparison.)
Yes. He learned from Beirut and didn’t repeat it.
Part of that problem was a military that at that time had lost its lessons learned on force security from the Vietnam war.
IMO, military STILL hasn’t learned. Tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan were reminiscent of “strategic hamlets” campaigns.
Petraeus ran the ‘cordone, clear, control” campaign in the surge correctly. However, I don’t want to be staying and controlling terrain for any length of time in any occupied country.
We should meet objectives and depart.
The ONLY exception to that would be a conflict in which Congress had the actual guts to declare war, and the nation had the guts to have everyone involved to defeat the enemy until they were destroyed and unconditionally surrendered.
See my #19
Do you think those leaders heard Trump say that nothing was off the table?
Same exact principle here. No country and no terror group will attack our country or our citizens again ---for fear of what the new President might do! Period! Case Closed! No Rebutal!
So would terrorists really pay much attention to what a President says? Would that really be an effective ad in this country?
It is just another scare tactic being employed and should just be dismissed as the nonsense that it is.
What would Obama do?
Very true. And to which I'd add: The president must also have the guts to first ask for a declaration of war. Ever since 1945 presidents have been asking for resolutions and authorizations instead. That has led too an almost casual approach to the use of force. That's never good.
Yes, but I doubt they believe it considering past U.S. performance....proportionality, ya know.
The U.S. has not been sufficiently brutal in war since August 1945.
We’re together on this.
What message do you think Reagan sent to Tehran that had them release those captives immediately upon Reagan’s taking office?
I’ve always thought it had to be so overwhelming that feared him and believed him.
My guess would be a declaration of war or a threatened nuke attack.
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Read it. You can buy several on Amazon and send to others to read and forward.
I wish I could remember who said it, but some wise person once said that democracies should go to war reluctantly, but fiercely.
The U.S. hasn’t been following that piece of advice for quite some time.
Personally, I believe holding the hostages had become an untennable situation for the imams. The vitriolic rhetoric against Carter had run its course and saying that the release was due to Carter leaving office gave them a face saving solution. I do not believe they specifically feared Reagan.
jmho
We did the shock and awe part of IRaq correctly and the hunt down of the leaders.
We should have left at that point with mission accomplished.
Let the next sorry SOB in charge decide whether he wants to play games with the US.
That would have sent such a powerful message that it could easily have calmed the mid-east for years.
He’d try to make a deal with the jihadists to NOT hit any of HIS buildings.
Hmmm. Maybe that deal has already been made?
How about nuking that rock in Mecca? Thereby proving Islam to be a false religion.
Please correct me if Im wrong. I just cant find proof of it, but I swear I remember that it was Donald Trump on Bill OReilly. Yes, I have to admit I was watching BOR at some time in my life. Ive learned my lesson. This was some time ago. Long before he announced that he would run for President.
Donald was rambling on about George Bush being incompetent and that he was at fault for Afghanistan and Iraq II. BOR asked Donald what he would have done if he was in the Oval Office. If he was looking at the same reports from the CIA, MI5, MOSSAD, Russia, France, etc. and they indicated that Saddam had WMDs, what would he do?
His response was, Id get more information.
I may be completely wrong, so please correct me. Or if someone can find the video, I would appreciate it.
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