No Time To
Think
By Hank
Silverberg
When I began
writing this blog 20 months ago, my idea was to look at some events of a particular
week, take some time to do some research and then provide some well
thought out commentary on the week's news.
It hasn’t
happened that way. Events are moving so fast, and there is
little time to think about them before the next shell shock changes
everything.
This past
week was a perfect example. Last weekend we got word that President Trump had
made a cruel and poorly thought out
decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria and abandon our long time
allies, the Kurds.
It was an invitation for the erratic leader of Turkey, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, to send troops into that area
and chase out the Kurds, whose desire to create an independent Kurdistan has
been a thorn in the side of the leaders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran for decades (see map).
The Kurds have been U.S. allies since the 1990’s when Americans forced their
biggest nemesis, Saddam Hussein, out of his palaces and off the face of the
planet. They have spent the last five years or so fighting
ISIS alongside U.S. troops, first in Iraq and then in Syria.
Trump’s decision, which also led to the escape of dozens of ISIS
fighters the Kurds had been guarding, is disgraceful. It once again proves Mr.
Trump has no moral center, but also no concept of America’s role in the world.
He says he wants out of “endless wars,” but then he sends a thousand U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia to protect a
regime that murdered journalist Jamal Kashoggi and killed civilians in its war with rebels in Yemen.
At mid- week, Vice President Pence, who seems to disappear from public view for weeks at a time, turned up in Turkey. He claimed they had worked out a "cease-fire" which turned out to be nothing of the kind. What it did was give tacit American approval of the 20 mile buffer along the Syrian/Turkish border that Erdogan has been demanding, basically kicking the Kurds out of the area where they started their own country. We heard words like "clean out" and "move" that sounded more like ethnic cleansing than a ceasefire.
At mid- week, Vice President Pence, who seems to disappear from public view for weeks at a time, turned up in Turkey. He claimed they had worked out a "cease-fire" which turned out to be nothing of the kind. What it did was give tacit American approval of the 20 mile buffer along the Syrian/Turkish border that Erdogan has been demanding, basically kicking the Kurds out of the area where they started their own country. We heard words like "clean out" and "move" that sounded more like ethnic cleansing than a ceasefire.
The Syrian pull-back decision was criticized by many military
leaders who had served with the Kurds. Many of Trump’s Republican supporters in Congress and all but
one of the 12 Democrats on the stage for Tuesday night’s presidential debate criticized the move. The policy has long-term impact on America's moral leadership and success with diplomacy.
.
The debate was dull, no new ground was broken, and the broadcast had about as much substance as those political brochures that show up in your mailbox right before local elections. (One unique moment: candidate Tom Steyer, another old billionaire white guy, in his first debate, did say he would put higher taxes on people like himself to help pay for health care.)
The only positive we can take away from the whole event was more air time for the “Not
Joe Biden” moderates on the stage. Minnesota’s
Amy Klobuchar and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg made a good showing, even though their poll
numbers remain low.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-democrats-poll-idUSKBN1WX2O4
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-democrats-poll-idUSKBN1WX2O4
The pundits had barely run out of debate fodder to pontificate over
when Acting White House Chief of staff
Mick Mulvaney stepped
before the microphone in the White House Press Room and basically admitted that the
Administration did put strings on badly needed military aid to Ukraine, including the insistence that that country begin an investigation of the 2016 interference in U.S.
elections.
It appeared to be confirmation
that Mr. Trump wanted to include an investigation of Joe Biden and his son in that probe as well. That came at the same time some former State Department officials were telling congressional committees pretty much the same thing. Mulvaney tried several times to take back his comments later. That never works. He said it. We all saw it. You can't put the genie back in the bottle.
Confused yet? It gets more complicated. At that same briefing Mulvaney
announced that next year’s G-7 Summit, a meeting with our major foreign trading
partners, would be held at Trump’s
Doral Golf Resort in Miami, bringing in millions of dollars, euros and yen in revenue to the financially strapped facility owned by Trump, Inc. That announcement took heavy criticism, too.
Doral Golf Resort in Miami, bringing in millions of dollars, euros and yen in revenue to the financially strapped facility owned by Trump, Inc. That announcement took heavy criticism, too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Kristol (@BillKristol)
Here's a new ad from Republicans for the Rule of Law, responding to Trump's putting the G7 at the (sadly bedbug-infested) #Doral in order to enrich himself. The ad will run digitally this weekend and air on Fox and Friends Monday. pic.twitter.com/c0kdivEDQ3
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It also sent lawyers and journalists scrambling again to take a look at the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution that prohibits presidents from personally profiting
from their official duties.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------" No title of
Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any
Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the
Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most hadn’t found Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 before word came that Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who has been linked
to the Ukraine shenanigans, is resigning.
By Saturday night, Mr. Trump, for perhaps the first time ever, surrendered on an issue.
By Saturday night, Mr. Trump, for perhaps the first time ever, surrendered on an issue.
 | Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) |
|
....Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!
| |
It also seemed to be a week of bizarre comments. First came this one from Trump:
“We’ve taken control of the
oil in the Middle East, the oil that we’re talking about, the oil that
everybody was worried about. We have the U.S. control of that,”
"I’m not making any predictions but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary, and they’re grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She's a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”
Gabbard was the only candidate on the stage Tuesday night who did not criticize Trump for pulling out of Syria, so the comments seemed aimed at her.
For the record, Gabbard denied Clinton's comments and said some nasty things back. Gabbard is polling less than two percent in the post debate surveys, so you've got to wonder what Clinton was thinking.
News Notes:
 |
| (Photo Courtesy of his office) |
We also got word this week that Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings died. He had been ill for a while but that had not stopped him from chairing the Congressional Oversight Committee, one of those looking into the President's actions. He had been playing a key role in the efforts to impeach the President. Cummings, whose district included half of Baltimore, had been in Congress since 1996. There have been lots of accolades from colleagues and friends. I can just tell you about my few contacts with Cummings when I covered Capital Hill and Maryland. He was a good interview. He knew the role of the press in American democracy. He always had something relevant to say and you never got any bull from him. We need that kind of public servant more and more these days. Cummings was just 68 years old.
 |
| (My picture of the Ice Cream maker at the Festival) |
(Your Comments and Suggestions are welcome in the comment section below)
(Copies of my book are available retail at BN.com or Amazon.com. Or you can email me at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for details on how to get a signed copy at half price.)
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