Put not your trust in princes

“Donald Trump may disappoint but anybody else will. He deserves a chance.”

Me, March 15th, 2016

“…the worms slithering back will certainly try to lead him astray if he lets them in.”

Me, November 12th, 2016

The two quotes above are certainly not mutually exclusive but they do offer two possibilities for what is going on with the Trump administration. The latter quote is referring to Republicans and more specifically the neo-conservative element that has infected the right-wing for at least fifty years and probably longer. The former is just good sense for anyone who looks at political actors, movements and their results.

It might be a good idea to start with a brief note about Barack Obama. Now, I was honestly never a fan of the guy and I must now shamefully admit to have preferred McCain back in 2008. This luckily didn’t last long and I now think he would have been even worse. I was also never a fan of George W. Bush and am one of a few people I know who was consistently against the war in Iraq; for consistent reasons. One of the advantages Obama seemed to have at the time was that he did sincerely appear committed to ending the insane military involvement in the Middle East and elsewhere. I honestly thought that despite the harm he would do domestically, he would at least have done something positive on the international front.

Of course, it is not the slightest bit unreasonable to argue that Obama was immensely worse than Bush when it came to foreign affairs. While it is also true that Bush lit many of the fuses, Obama lit more and failed to stop the others from going off. He also made Hilary Clinton the Secretary of State and the only thing worse than giving her that position is making her president.

Now we come to Trump, who many like me supported not only because of his statements on immigration but because of his many statements about the insanity of United States foreign policy – especially in the Middle East. I honestly thought he would be more likely to cuck on immigration than on foreign policy and yet here I am writing shortly after he has launched cruise missiles into Syria.

There is absolutely nothing I can see to gain from involving the West in the conflict in Syria or anywhere else in the world. Every single intervention has been a disaster and many are ongoing disasters. I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on foreign policy but I can not imagine any reason why Trump should have done this. Even from a cynical political perspective, this can not be a vote winner.

Unlike Obama supporters, I am not hive-minded and I can not defend what Trump is doing in any way. The only possibility I can think of that would put Trump in a positive light is if he is doing this because he or his family is under direct threat, should he not. That’s a bit too conspiratorial but that would be the most reasonable explanation.

Unless someone has a much better explanation, it looks like Trump has disappointed only a few months into his presidency. And I’ve once again been reminded that we are fools to place our trust in political figures.

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