The Trump Doctrine

April 9, 2017

Mister flexibility

This morning I heard the “legitimate” press use the term for the first time. One of the various Sunday talking heads, while playing coy with a Republican guest, up and asked, “Is the Trump doctrine flexibility?” The right-wing publicist smiled, smirked with that “gee, wish I had thought of that” look and agreed. “The Trump presidency is young and flexibility is important,” she replied.

The conversation then moved on to how terribly expensive it can be to bomb one’s way to popularity and how campaign talk was just that – talk. Both agreed, we had a moral obligation to respond to the latest Syrian atrocity. Both ignored the notion that bombing Syrian people for the crime of gassing Syrian people is not helpful – unless you’re selling bombs.

Or changing the subject.

The news, the editorials, the analysis – all weekend long have been about Syria, military positioning (U.S. and Russian navies playing king-of-the-hill on the high seas), missile capabilities and how tough the Donald is. Yup, subject changed, the media aren’t leading with Trump-Russian collusion anymore. Blowing shit up is more fun (and gets more attention).

I admit, there’s a lot going on and Trump substituting Tomahawk missiles for Twitter as his distraction device is jarring, but are we really that gullible? While the press is, but suspect we’re not.

Plus, when did flip-flopping become flexibility? (Oh yeah, when a Republican does it.)

And come on, the Trump doctrine is obvious; it’s random.

We’ve had one-hundred-fifty-two days since the election to observe the Donald and see no reason to think he has a doctrine, but feel confident when he stumbles upon one it will be all about the Donald.

The republic stands on the brink of a popularity contest, cleverly disguised as a war.

In Peace and Justice,
osv