Be Glad Donald Trump Isn’t Running the Show in Afghanistan – The New Republic

As ever, Trump oscillates back and forth between the fantasy world of his mind where the Taliban quaked in such fear of him that they never would have done such a thing and the real world where he acknowledges the premise of Hewitts softball question. But the point is this: Based on what he said in that interview, hed have escalated matters and, at that moment, blown up the whole deal.

Trumps instinct against imperialist adventure was one of the few decent and humane notions the man entertained. But that decent instinct was forever at war within his tortured soul with his insatiable macho instinct to dominate and destroy. On the one hand, he wanted to negotiate with people like the Talibans Abdul Baradar and North Koreas Kim Jong Un to prove to the world that he was a master negotiator. On the other, he thinks theyre all shithole people hed like to destroy, as he did ISISs Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Irans Gen. Qassem Soleimani. I have no objection to those two assassinations, but I also dont think they were the biggest thing to happen in the Middle East in 100 years, as he bragged to Hewitt.

Biden, after a rocky first week, has looked steadier on Afghanistan in recent days. His remarks after the 13 deaths of U.S. Marines were appropriate, and nobody doubts that Joe Biden, who has spent the past 20 years showing up without the media paying attention to the Dover, Delaware, air base to which military corpses are often returned, and who ends every speech with God bless our troops, cares about our soldiers.

Well see what the fateful next couple days bring. We cant know what will happen. But Ill say this much. Theres no doubt in my mind which president Id rather see in the White House. A megalomaniac whose first thought is his own personal glory, or a man who sees himself as an actual public servant whose first thought is the families of Americans in harms way. Its a pretty obvious choice.

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Be Glad Donald Trump Isn't Running the Show in Afghanistan - The New Republic