dsc: also great points here also.
I am not sure that isolationism was the answer especially in light of the bigger picture of the Cold War. McMaster was correct to point out the failures in political leadership, but it was American society at large that was weakened by our own inner turmoil and our own confusion about what we stood for as a nation.
LBJ’s “Great Society” program echoed Soviet principles! How can we defeat the menace of communism when we were adopting Marxism-Leninism for ourselves?
Had we been resolute about our values and united as a country about the nature of the global battle we were facing, then even the political leadership would have reflected that clarity. We would have had better qualified leaders with a clear sense of purpose and vision about our mission in Southeast Asia.
Despite all the human error and tactical mishaps though, strategically speaking: the war effort in Vietnam did ultimately contribute to the greater strategic victory over the Soviet Union and communism.
And today we are served by an administration with our best interests in mind and advisors to the president who have learned the lessons of the past. Grateful to have Trump as our commander in chief.
Lyndon Johnson was a welfare state President and the first president that I really despised, but he was certainly no Marxist-Leninist.
In fact his bitterest enemies were the American Left, some of whom became the braintrust of the Obama Democrats. LBJ was an FDR liberal and a lousy president, but he was not a communist of any sort.
“it was American society at large that was weakened by our own inner turmoil and our own confusion about what we stood for as a nation.”
The turmoil and confusion were created whole cloth by the lying media, both “news” and entertainment.