Monday, August 7, 2017

Is President Trump Horribly 'Witless About The World'?

“Lebanon is on the front lines in the fight against isis, Al Qaeda, and Hezbollah,” President Trump pronounced, during an appearance with Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, in July.Photograph by Carlos Barria / Reuters

Robin Wright, New Yorker: Why Is Donald Trump Still So Horribly Witless About the World?

Max Boot, a lifelong conservative who advised three Republican Presidential candidates on foreign policy, keeps a folder labelled “Trump Stupidity File” on his computer. It’s next to his “Trump Lies” file. “Not sure which is larger at this point,” he told me this week. “It’s neck-and-neck.”

Six months into the Trump era, foreign-policy officials from eight past Administrations told me they are aghast that the President is still so witless about the world. “He seems as clueless today as he was on January 20th,” Boot, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said. Trump’s painful public gaffes, they warn, indicate that he’s not reading, retaining, or listening to his Presidential briefings. And the newbie excuse no longer flies.

“Trump has an appalling ignorance of the current world, of history, of previous American engagement, of what former Presidents thought and did,” Geoffrey Kemp, who worked at the Pentagon during the Ford Administration and at the National Security Council during the Reagan Administration, reflected. “He has an almost studious rejection of the type of in-depth knowledge that virtually all of his predecessors eventually gained or had views on.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: There is a lot to criticise about President Trump .... but Robin Wright should not quote people like Max Boot and Michael Hayden to make her case. Both men supported the invasion of Iraq and nation building in Afghanistan .... probably two of the worst foreign policy decisions made in modern times. And they are calling President Trump"witless"?!?!?!

9 comments:


  1. “Trump has an appalling ignorance of the current world, of history, of previous American engagement, of what former Presidents thought and did,”
    Perhaps Mr. Kemp should consider this:
    "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." attributed to Churchill

    ReplyDelete
  2. and the results thus far?

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  3. He doesn't need to know about all the intricate details of foreign nations. This will just clog up his shedule and consume all of his time. America First!

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  4. There was only one vote, (D) against the 2001 AUMF,

    The Afghan War was wildly popular at the time in the US, you pretty much had to read either what passes in the US for "far left"* media to find any doubts that things would not end well.

    *( in the ROW, what passes for "far left" in the US is center/left)

    While millions took to the streets to protest the coming Iraq War, only 7 Republican's voted against the 2002 AUMF,

    The pro-war/anti-war divide mirrored the US's left/right divide, and again, prognostications that things would end badly, were found only on the left.

    Now of course, that the Right is in Civil War against the Right, past positions on the US Failed Wars of Choice, are used by the current crop of pro-Trump hacks to attact the anti-Trump hacks.

    Given the US's win/loss/tie record since WWII, despite it's massive military power, you would think 'Murkin's would be a bit more hesitant about expanding military actions and starting new wars of choice,

    But nope.

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  5. Trump is a moron, and not intellectually curious. He lacks ability to retain information provided him and even if he did, he he lacks the mental abilities to process anything complex. His sole interest is what people think about him. He is and always has been here itch of promoter. You can't cure stupid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "You can't cure stupid",

      Nope, but it can be used:

      http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2017/08/handing-government-to-corporate-sector.html?m=1

      Delete
  6. The mound of Sound blog.

    Sounds like some liberal who did some drugs in his youth.

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    Replies
    1. LMFAO,

      See, special kind of stupid,

      Perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect,

      LMFAO

      Delete
  7. Dunning-Kruger Effect

    It explains the Left very well.

    it explains the Leftist Merkel who is head of the CDU.

    She stands in front of a picture of cooling towers giving of H2O, while complaining about CO2. The Left is stilling falling for it for 4 decades.

    ReplyDelete