In the midst of tension over Syria using chemical warfare against civilians in their civil war and Trump ordering the bombing of an airfield in Syria, and the growing North Korean threat, and with Donald Trump a novice at dealing with foreign policy, the idea that Trump might be a wartime President is becoming a more serious thought.
Trump had said he wanted to avoid involvement in other nations’ affairs when he ran for President, and to concentrate on America, but his rhetoric and tactics have stirred controversy which might lead to potential warfare with Russia, China, Iran, and ISIL (ISIS), without much planning as to how to conduct such military actions. Also, not much thought has been put to how to avoid such conflict.
Trump certainly is aware that he can gain some additional American support temporarily if the nation engages in war, but at the expense of alienating large percentages of the American people long term, who do not desire to see further loss of life and treasure if it can be avoided.
Trump’s lack of experience with diplomacy, and his tendency to “shoot from the hip” on Twitter and in public statements, may lead to unexpected and tragic results.
The military-industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against in his Farewell Address in January 1961 is still at full strength, and the fact that so many former generals are key advisers is a warning that in many ways, we are under the control of the military mindset, emboldened by Donald Trump’s egotism and maniacal behavior.
Trump dropped a big bomb in Afghanistan today.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/afghanistan-isis-moab-bomb/index.html
Looks like he’s going to have military action every time he has a bad week.
Ronald writes, “The military-industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against in his Farewell Address in January 1961 is still at full strength, and the fact that so many former generals are key advisers is a warning that in many ways, we are under the control of the military mindset, emboldened by Donald Trump’s egotism and maniacal behavior.â€
It is unfortunate Dwight Eisenhower did not also warns of corporations.
Ralph Nader pretty much did.
I share this video…
‘Corporate Sociopaths Are Clearly In Charge Of American Business’
http://youtu.be/LZUIQr4K-rY
Thanks for this, D.
I don’t view all rich people, all corporations as evil. Some rich people I admire are people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg, philanthropists helping to make the world a better place in which to live.
Word of warning folks. That video is RT, Russia’s propaganda station.
Yes, Princess Leia, that video comes from Russia Today (RT) America.
From RT America: “RT America broadcasts from its studios in Washington, DC. Tune in to watch news reports, features and talk shows with a totally different perspective from the mainstream American television. We delve deep into the most important issues on the US agenda, report the other side of the story, and explore unanswered – and unasked – questions.â€
http://www.rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_America
Basic fact is that we don’t trust Putin’s TV news, we don’t consider it a reputable source.
I have to say, Princess Leia, I agree with you, as we should not trust any Russian connected station, radio or tv.
If you want some alternative news source, we recommend Think Progress (https://thinkprogress.org/) or any of the other blogs the Professor has listed.
I wish to point out, Pragmatic Progressive, that Think Progress is already listed on my blog under “Politics” on the right side.
Of those blogs, Think Progress is more in line with our views than Common Dreams is.
Princess Leia and Pragmatic Progressive,
What did you think of the interview between Thom Hartmann and Mike Papantonio? What did you think of their discussion on the topic of corporate culture?
(I will note that Thom Hartmann hosts a radio daytime program which has a live simulcast on Free Speech TV. Attorney Mike Papantonio, who now has his own series on RT America, used to regularly host “The Ring of Fire,” which used to air on Free Speech TV and now is streaming only.)
We feel the same as Southern Liberal regarding the wealthy. We don’t paint all as evil.
Ronald writes, “I have to say, Princess Leia, I agree with you, as we should not trust any Russian connected station, radio or [TV].”
I look forward to the responses from Princess Leia and Pragmatic Progressive on the interview between Thom Hartmann and Mike Papantonio.
In the meantime, we have problems with major media in the United States.
I have three videos on this.
Here is Part I (published 04.11.2017):
http://youtu.be/MxQWIcopBiY
Here is Part II (published 04.11.2017):
http://youtu.be/P1XYJ34K6b4
Here is Part III (published 04.13.2017):
http://youtu.be/bEwIUuc_Y-g
I second what Leia said. Southern Liberal brought up two examples of good rich people who are helping to make our world a better place in which to live.
Trump and military action – As Lawrence O’Donnell’s show discusses, we are of the opinion that it’s just a distraction from domestic setbacks.
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/trump-considers-more-military-action-after-domestic-losses-921793091542?cid=sm_npd_ms_fb_lw
D, I am not justifying ALL media coverage on the news, but I do not wish to endorse any Russian connected station.
We can work to make more responsible media, but to pay attention to Russian propaganda is not the way to move in that direction.
How I long for the days of Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, with the latter two still involved in the media to a lesser extent, and promoting valid news coverage!
This expresses how we feel about the media reaction to Trump’s bombings:
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/04/10/the-medias-reaction-to-syrian-strikes-was-right-out-of-the-washington-playbook/#.WOuTxaRohoo.facebook
The Media’s Reaction to Syrian Strikes Was Right Out of the Washington Playbook
by Nancy LeTourneau
April 10, 2017 10:03 AM
When uber-hawk Lindsay Graham suggests that Syrian President Assad is saying a big “F you†by continuing to launch military attacks against his own people from the air base the U.S. just struck with Tomahawk missiles, we can be assured that Trump’s military intervention didn’t work out very well. But I suspect that, when it comes to the American media and his political fortunes, the president got exactly what he wanted out of them.
Margaret Sullivan summarized a few of the reactions.
The cruise missiles struck, and many in the mainstream media fawned.
“I think Donald Trump became president of the United States last night,†declared Fareed Zakaria on CNN, after firing of 59 missiles at a Syrian military airfield late Thursday night…
“On Syria attack, Trump’s heart came first,†read a New York Times headline.
“President Trump has done the right thing and I salute him for it,†wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens — a frequent Trump critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist. He added: “Now destroy the Assad regime for good.â€
Brian Williams, on MSNBC, seemed mesmerized by the images of the strikes provided by the Pentagon. He used the word “beautiful†three times and alluded to a Leonard Cohen lyric — “I am guided by the beauty of our weapons†— without apparent irony.
All it took was a load of Tomahawk missiles dropped on an air base and we were treated to a front row seat of what Obama called the “Washington playbook†in action.
There’s a playbook in Washington that presidents are supposed to follow. It’s a playbook that comes out of the foreign-policy establishment. And the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses. Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works. But the playbook can also be a trap that can lead to bad decisions. In the midst of an international challenge like Syria, you get judged harshly if you don’t follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons why it does not apply.
When Obama first said that to Jeffrey Goldberg, I immediately thought about the military and foreign policy bureaucrats in the federal government. But last week, we saw how the Washington playbook also provides the media with a tailor-made script. That is partially because we still live in a culture where force is embraced as the ultimate mechanism for control. But as Jack Shafer wrote, it is especially true of cable news.
The networks love war because it allows them to dust off archival footage of planes in the air, ships at sea, howitzers barking, Bashar Assad sitting with Vladimir Putin, and civilians suffering…war isn’t news for the networks, it’s programming.
Talking to Jonathan Mahler of the New York Times Magazine about political coverage, [CNN News President Jeff] Zucker offered the idea of the news as a drama and CNN’s on-air talent as “characters†in that production. It’s not a stretch to see his coverage of the war as another performance piece, designed to engage viewers the way a play or movie might.
Using the Washington playbook as a script for their own drama means that the media allows Republicans to suggest that Obama did nothing when it comes to Syria. Former Secretary of State John Kerry and his staff have every reason to object to that characterization given the miles and hours they devoted to negotiations among the players that are using Syria as a proxy war for their own interests. In the end, they were not able to broker an agreement (just as those Tomahawks didn’t accomplish much of anything), but the message is clear: diplomacy equals nothing, but bombs are “presidential.â€
There is something Obama said in that interview with Goldberg that is a powerful antidote to the Washington playbook. Think about this for a moment:
Real power means you can get what you want without having to exert violence.
When more of us begin to understand the kind of “real power†Obama was talking about, we’ll learn that the Washington playbook isn’t the only game in town and that you don’t have to drop bombs to be presidential.
Ronald writes, “D, I am not justifying ALL media coverage on the news, but I do not wish to endorse any Russian connected station.”
Ronald—Your first response was, “Thanks for this, D.”
After Princess Leia wrote, “Word of warning folks. That video is RT, Russia’s propaganda station” you responded with “I have to say, Princess Leia, I agree with you, as we should not trust any Russian connected station, radio or [TV].”
I am not interested in “[endorsing] any Russian connected station,” but I am also interested in content—no matter where it comes from—that addresses important issues that affect the lives of the people of the United States.
That video interview between Thom Hartmann and Mike Papantonio, addressing in parts the United Airlines fiasco and the mentality of its and other companies’ CEO, is not one that came from ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NBC, or PBS.
I disagree with you when you write, “We can work to make more responsible media,” because it is likely that I, as just one citizen born and living in the Detroit area of Michigan, have no realistic say in the “direction” of corporate media as they are now doing propaganda for getting this country into more wars.
If you want some American news that is better than cable news I suggest NPR/PBS.
I second what Leia said about PBS. They don’t deserve to be lumped in with Fox, et al.
As far as MSNBC is concerned, best time to watch that is at 8 pm, 9 pm and 10 pm – Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell. Also, Al Sharpton on Sunday at 8 am and Joy Reid on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10 am.
ABC/CBS/NBC – We just watch the nightly news at 6:30 pm.
Very rarely do we watch CNN anymore.
Fox = never watch
Thanks for that posting, Princess Leia, and I commend Obama for NOT bombing Syria, as Trump has done
D, I thanked you for the link, but that does not mean I endorse where it came from.
I hope that explains what seems contradictory, but I was simply thanking you!