Ann Coulter: Lassie, Come Home

[Frank Cannon]

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/04/12/ann-coulter-lassie-come-home/

War is like crack for presidents. It confers instant gravitas, catapulting them to respectability, bypassing all station stops. They get to make macho pronouncements on a topic where every utterance is seen as august.

On the other hand, Trump’s Syrian misadventure is immoral, violates every promise he ran on, and could sink his presidency.

Left to his own devices, uncontaminated by Washington group-think, Trump gets it right.

Back in 2013, when President Obama was being egged on to attack Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack far more sweeping than this latest one, Trump tweeted:

— Aug. 29, 2013:

“What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long term conflict? Obama needs Congressional approval.”

— Aug. 31, 2013:

“Be prepared, there is a small chance that our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into World War III.”

— Sept. 1, 2013:

“If the U.S. attacks Syria and hits the wrong targets, killing civilians, there will be worldwide hell to pay. Stay away and fix broken U.S.”

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly stated that he had no interest in starting “World War III over Syria,” saying, “We have bigger problems than Assad.” His policy position was: “Let Syria and ISIS fight. I look at Assad — and Assad looks better than the other side.”

Trump was right on every point.

Assad is one of the least bad leaders in the entire Middle East. He’s not a murderous thug like Saddam, has no rape rooms, isn’t into jihad, protects Christians, and is fighting ISIS. He provided us with intelligence on al-Qaida after 9/11. He does not have crazy Islamic police slapping women around or throwing gays off buildings. (That would be our beloved ally, Saudi Arabia.)

Trump was also correct about Assad’s opponents being far worse, containing large helpings of both ISIS and al-Qaida.

As awful as it was to see those dead children, Trump knew that America’s first duty is to our own children.

We have never succeeded at turning a Third World dictatorship into a paradise. The history of these things is that removing a Middle Eastern strongman always makes things worse — for example, in Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Egypt.

We leap in, thinking we’re helping the poor devils under the thumb of a dictator — and then the new tribe takes over and oppresses everyone else, usually much more brutally, while hating us even more than the old tribe did.

If voters wanted more Middle Eastern wars, there were plenty of other candidates offering that: Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, and Hillary Clinton, for example. And we must never forget Jeb! though it proved surprisingly easy to do so in 2016.

But we picked Trump.

While most of the left wailed about the return of Nazi Germany under Trump, savvier liberals saw his vulnerability: flattery. All we have to do is praise him! You’ll be shocked at how easy it is.

And, boy, did they lay it on thick with the Syrian misadventure. No sucker’s bait was left on the floor. Cable news hosts gushed, “Trump became president of the United States tonight!” On MSNBC, Brian Williams called the bombing “beautiful” three times in less than a minute. Sen. Lindsey Graham (one of the “women of the Senate,” according to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) compared Trump to Reagan. The New York Times headlined an article, “On Syria Attack, Trump’s Heart Came First.”

My nightmare scenario: Trump and Jared watching TV together and high-fiving: DID YOU SEE THE NEWS! THEY LOVE YOU! All Trump had to do was pointlessly bomb another country, and it was as if a genie had granted his every wish.

Looking for some upside to this fiasco, desperate Trump supporters bleated that bombing Assad had sent a message to North Korea. Yes, the message is: The Washington establishment is determined to manipulate the president into launching counterproductive military strikes. Our enemies — both foreign and domestic — would be delighted to see our broken country further weaken itself with pointless wars.

Was America strengthened by the Iraq War? The apparently never-ending Afghanistan War? Vietnam? This is how great powers die, which is exactly what the left wants.

Administration policy was heading in the wrong direction at 90 mph, but thank God, Trump seems to have grabbed the steering wheel and hit the brakes. Notwithstanding the hopes and dreams of Clausewitzian military strategist Nikki Haley, we will not be engaging in regime change in Syria or starting World War III with Russia today.

We want the “president of America” back — not “the president of the world.”

[Emjay]

I can't figure out whether she thinks the Good Trump or the Bad Trump is in charge, based on her last sentence.

[Hondo69]

I can't figure out whether she thinks the Good Trump or the Bad Trump is in charge, based on her last sentence.

 

I would comment on a dozen or so of her comments in the article but it seems such a waste of time.  It just seems to me a whole lot of people are jumping to conclusions and already have us nation building in Syria.

Personally, the last place I'd ever want to be sitting is in the Oval Office faced with five options in Syria, all of them bad. 

[edpc]

Assad is one of the least bad leaders in the entire Middle East. He’s not a murderous thug like Saddam, has no rape rooms, isn’t into jihad, protects Christians, and is fighting ISIS. He provided us with intelligence on al-Qaida after 9/11. He does not have crazy Islamic police slapping women around or throwing gays off buildings.

Let's not get carried away.  He works hand in glove with Hezbollah and Iran, who are most definitely guilty of many things listed above.  There's no question he was involved with the killing of Rafiq Hariri.  He was building a nuclear facility in cooperation with North Korea until Israel destroyed it.  In historical terms, he's comparable to Mussolini - not as powerful as Hitler or Hirohito, but part of the Axis, nevertheless.

[don-o]

I won't fault Ann for channeling her inner Ron Paul; I have a bit of that myself. And past is unfailingly prologue, then Trump messed up, big league. However, there is another way to look at the thing.

Trump responded to the use of a WMD. And his response was swift. He (and Mattis) claim the evidence is conclusive and Turkey said the victims they received had been exposed to sarin. (And it does not matter if Assad dropped a chem bomb or blew up chemicals stored on the ground. He is the responsible agent for their being in country)

Consider what we would be discussing had if we had sent a stern letter. I guarantee we would be hearing: "Is Trump really Obama 2.0?"

I do continue to be disappointed in Trump's comm shop - I thought Spicer was going bad even before his Hitler brain fart. His mouth outruns his brain when he tries to get into tit for tat with the media. He needs to go. What is needed, in this matter of response to WMD, is a clear message that paints the picture of a future with them in the hands of ISIS. Consider Madison Square Garden or the Tokyo subway.

Accusing Trump of a flip-flop is shooting fish in a barrel easy. A competent comm operation would be all over that with the message that the President has become THE responsible agent and fulfilled his responsibility in making it clear that a red line is really and truly red.

[Frank Cannon]

Let's not get carried away.  He works hand in glove with Hezbollah and Iran, who are most definitely guilty of many things listed above.  There's no question he was involved with the killing of Rafiq Hariri.  He was building a nuclear facility in cooperation with North Korea until Israel destroyed it.  In historical terms, he's comparable to Mussolini - not as powerful as Hitler or Hirohito, but part of the Axis, nevertheless.

I know some off the boat Syrians because the area I live in has quite a few. Close friends who are the most devout Christians you will ever meet. Every single one of them LOVE the Assads. They are fully convinced they and their families would be dead without them. I generally side with the people on the ground on coin toss decisions.

[kevindavis007]

If Ann Coulter is upset then Trump must be doing something right.

[don-o]

i'll just leave this here

1:05 p.m.

A British delegation at a behind-closed-doors meeting of the international chemical weapons watchdog says in a tweet that the organization's director general has said that its investigators already are testing samples from a suspected deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria's Idlib province.

The British delegation tweet says that Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu told Thursday's hastily convened meeting of its executive council that the "Fact Finding Mission is working to gather evidence" about the April 4 attack in Khan Sheikhoun that killed nearly 90 people.

It says that samples already are being tested and the mission is expected to report its findings in three weeks.

https://apnews.com/ec2bbbeb8b424cf0a701a95ec7aca8ee?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

[Jazzhead]

If Ann Coulter is upset then Trump must be doing something right.

Sounds like an excellent standard to apply.   

[edpc]

I generally side with the people on the ground on coin toss decisions.

Generally, I go with the factual over the anecdotal.  This Frank Burns lookalike could be the best of friends with Christians and attend services with them, but it doesn't negate what I previously mentioned.  That doesn't mean I support his removal by use of force on our part.  I'm just not naive as to who and what he is.

[Emjay]

I know some off the boat Syrians because the area I live in has quite a few. Close friends who are the most devout Christians you will ever meet. Every single one of them LOVE the Assads. They are fully convinced they and their families would be dead without them. I generally side with the people on the ground on coin toss decisions.

Talk about a polarizing figure.  I have read so many conflicting opinions about Assad.  He is either the devil incarnate or the finest person one could expect to lead in a country like Syria.

I guess time will tell.