These Republicans signed the ‘never Trump’ letters in 2016. Now some are having second thoughts.
Of the 149 experts who signed at least one of the two letters warning that Trump was unfit for office — the first published on the War on the Rocks website during the 2016 GOP primaries and the second on the New York Times’s site during the general election campaign — just one has been hired by the Trump administration. James Jeffrey, a Middle East expert who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was named the State Department’s special representative for Syria last summer and in January was given the additional role of special envoy to counter the Islamic State.Some of the letter organizers, including Eliot A. Cohen, a State Department counselor in the Bush administration, and Max Boot, a Washington Post columnist who advised the 2008 presidential campaign of the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have remained prominent critics of Trump’s policies and personal conduct.
But others have expressed admiration for his willingness to take a harder line on China’s trade practices, even if they remain uneasy about the tariff war between Washington and Beijing. And they asserted that Trump’s un*or*tho*dox personal diplomacy with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has opened an unexpected avenue to try at least to contain Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
Trump’s foreign policy “might not be as bad as feared and not as good as hoped,” said Peter Feaver, a Duke University political science professor who served on the National Security Council under George W. Bush and signed both letters.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
You know, I swear, unlike the trolls and the griefers who come here all the time to bait us about being right wing and then run off the moment someone bites the hook, I don't know what it is about you that is so... stubborn, and fastidious towards ignoring things that paint your beloved GOP in a negative light? Democrats don't favor "open borders". Open borders would be the antithesis towards national security and protecting this country. The issue, based from my somewhat ignorant perspective, stems more towards a frustration that, this year, Trump had the government shut down so he could get his wall funding, but had to reopen the government and didn't get the funding for the wall, and you presumably not liking that outcome since it set the party back as it meant the president failed in one of his major goals.
As for this particular bout of whataboutism, I'll play along. We don't need to make fancy resorts that Candace Owens claims we have given immigrants with Zumba classes and spa treatments, since that's ludicrous and airheaded, even for someone as obnoxious as her. That being said, an unfortunate reality is that, right now, we must consider that there is a rise of immigration coming in from the south and that we need to factor this in regarding processing and handling, which may require the construction of more facilities along the southern border to handle the influx, to start. This can help curb overcrowding. The government is always hiring for Border Patrol in its various departments, but considering that the people in charge change during presidential administrations, and the people in charge tend to follow along with ideologies of said president in charge, in a perfect world, you could have this be operated by a non-partisan, third party group, but that would most likely violate several laws. Therefore, you're always going to have issues of years with favorable and unfavorable policies towards asylum seekers and other illegal activities. That's an unfortunate reality.
It was the Reagan Era that one of Reagan's associates said that there are two kinds of Americans; Democrats and Americans. Obviously, if you're not a Republican voter, you're not "American", so all Republicans watch each other's backs to protect themselves from the socialist-loving liberal menace.
Last edited by aja_christopher; 07-14-2019 at 07:22 PM.
Last edited by Jack Dracula; 07-14-2019 at 07:40 PM.
The Cover Contest Weekly Winners ThreadSo much winning!!
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
“It’s your party and you can cry if you want to.” - Captain Europe
And even though, I doubt it'll be taken seriously.
Yesterday, my brother went to the emergency room for tooth pains that sparked up after a dental procedure earlier this past week and we wanted some additional advice and help on what to do until his dental office opened up. Unfortunately, we had to up and leave since, well, the emergency room is effectively still the only means of access for health care for people, even more so as how the state of Indiana is making it so you must work in order to qualify for Medicaid (it's currently at 20 hours a month to ween people into this program change, but it's going to be increased to 80 hours, with additional requirements) and I don't even wanna go into the "open market" aspect of buying insurance each year. Naturally, when you're a conservative state dominated by Republican lawmakers who are more concerned about saving money (and I'm all for fiscal conservatism, don't get me wrong; but there's things that you don't want to be picky about spending, particularly if you're thinking about your rural voters who, surprise, surprise, vote Republican and are dependent on these benefits), this sounds wonderful as it cuts down on "pork barrel spending", yet it means it will force people to forgo preventive care and instead only make hospital trips to the ER as they don't have other options, or the options they used to have are closing up and becoming more difficult to access.
From a counterargument, or "devil's advocate", you can argue that emergency rooms are often filled with GOMERs, crack heads looking for free meds or prescription refills, or ignorant people wasting time, but considering how difficult we make it that minor treatments can be seen, I can only imagine how hard it would've been for, say, someone who had heat stroke, to be seen that day, and how much better things can be if we can set it up so it can be easier for people to not have to rely on ER visits as their only option for everyday annoyances.
Rural health care is a travesty in this country and the Republicans aren't making it better. The ACA did try but the gutting of intended Medicaid expansion, which would've helped to prevent the closure of so many rural clinics and hospitals, has made it worse than ever.