President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Given the context of the conversation, I think it was implied that I was discussing foreign policy problems.

I get a kick out of the mention of the "Trump Doctrine". I was just going to bring this up.

We're less than 100 days into the administration, and folks want a fully developed and consistent foreign policy"doctrine".

Before we define the Trump Doctrine, would someone like to take a stab at defining the "Obama Doctrine"? He had 8 years to develop it, so surely it should be an easy challenge.

 

We're all victims of the 24-hour news cycle. Barring some escalation that would be Trump's ultimate act of screwing himself, by this time next week the odds are good Syria's forgotten and some other thing (beats me what) is dominating the discussion on this thread. Politics is like boxing in one respect, body punching is harder to see and counts for more. For body punching, you may read "economy" and "no wars longer than six weeks."

 

When Trump uses sixty cruise missiles to attack a country he said he wouldn't because he saw news accounts of babies being killed, followed by his advisors going on the Sunday shows and taking three or four different positions about what it meant and what the next step should be, even the simplest framework of a policy is lacking.

 

I will agree with YF on this point. There is no Trump Doctrine. There were no Obama or Bush Doctrines either. These tropes are used instead of describing policies (Bush: Middle East interventions to stabilize region, Obama: Attempt to end that policy) which are always ad hoc reactions to events because American political journalism since WW2 has been caught in one single story line, a soap opera entitled "The President Faces Life."

 

The report was correct. You were so desperate to avoid admitting as much that you tried claiming that it wasn't actually a report just a page or two after referring to it as one.

Now put aside that you lack the integrity to admit your blatant lie when I exposed it. Put aside your ranting about the process rather than deal with the actual story, which was true. Put aside your ignorance on the topic of reporting. Let's focus on your hypocrisy. You have posted and vehemently defended horribly-sourced reports and guesswork for years on this board. That is why you get zero slack on these issues.

 

Well, there you go again!

 

Please remind me what office Kerry holds right now? Or Obama?

Look what they other guys did isn't good enough. You think it is because it won your guy the election, but now he has to govern. You, and he, need to stop trying to push the blame for every fuck up on the Democrats and find a coherent plan for what to do now.

Trump's administration can't even come up with a coherent message regarding its own actions and plans in Syria. That isn't the Democrats fault. Just as the failure to replace Obamacare wasn't the Democrats fault, but that's exactly where Trump tried to put the blame. The election was in November. Trump has been president since January. You've got your Republican president with a Republican Congress. It's time to start owning things.

 

Yep. Here comes the emotional intangible bullshit.

Next comes the "unpatriotic!" screeches, followed by "support the troops!"

 

Funny how you don't whine about people hiding behind sock puppets when they are on your side. There's that lovely hypocrisy again.

 

I thought it was pretty clear that I was using the term "Trump Doctrine" sarcastically, since my view is that he generally doesn't have a coherent strategy even on individual issues, never mind some overarching philosophy of the proper role of government in American society, the U.S.'s role in the international community, etc.

Sounds like that didn't come across. My bad. If only I'd used the blue font.

 

Well, he did say he would unveil a plan to defeat ISIS on his first day in office, so yes, we do want a fully developed and consistent foreign policy. And we're still waiting on that plan 70-something days in.