President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Anybody imagine on the day we invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 that it would still be the story of the day in August 2017? We've learned the same painful lesson as the Russians and Brits before us: there is no way to leave that place on happy terms.

I also like the "no more nation building, only winning" bullshit, as if the two can be separated. Without nation building then you can't ever leave without then losing. Anything we accomplish with this newest killing binge will immediately be undone when (if?) we leave with the bad guys filling the void and taking over again, same sort of miserable formula that gave us ISIS after leaving Iraq.

 

Four thousand extra troops aren't enough to have any discernible effect on the ground in Afghanistan, seeing as having 100,000 there didn't really do that either. But making a big speech about what is basically military housekeeping is a dandy means of solidifying opposition to your presence and of identifying the government you wish to prop up as your puppet. The ideal time to have left Afghanistan was the day after we killed bin Laden. That's on Obama it didn't happen, not Trump. BTW. It seems as if the only President with the guts to admit a war was lost and there was nothing to do about it but move on was Ford.

 

And by announcing "no more nation building", we effectively communicate to terrorists that we won't be propping up that puppet much longer. So now the bad guys know they only need to hunker down and the govt will collapse like a house of cards the day after we leave (IF that day ever comes...).

 

Party leaders sound like they're sick of winning.

GOP on eggshells as Trump storms into Phoenix

 

What does the government of Afghanistan currently control? Most of Kabul? Anything else?

 

Honestly, I don't know. But whatever it is, it ain't likely to keep it after US troops leave. Including Kabul.

A miserable mess. We know whatever we do will quickly be undone when we leave. Which, of course, is why we're still there 16 friggin years later.

 

It's fluid outside Kabul, as sometimes local power brokers ally with the government (graft!) and sometimes against (war with the guy getting the graft instead of them).

 

This whole story is going to end up biting democrats in the ass.

 

I am not being snarky here. I honestly don't know what story you're referring to.

 

Campaign officials from the guy you voted for for President:

1. Met with purported representatives of the Russian government looking for help digging up dirt on Hillary Clinton.

2. They then lied about that meeting repeatedly.

3. Trump then fired the FBI director who wouldn't end the investigation into that matter, in the hopes it would squash the probe.


Those three statements are not in dispute.

 

Soon as Mueller gets close to going public, Trump starts the war. It's all planned out.

 

Never use the word "plan" as either a noun or a verb in a sentence that contains Trump's name as the subject.