So much has been happening lately. I am probably not alone in trying to keep up with all that has been going on. Let me try to connect just a few dots.
Obamacare: Some people have been gloating, thinking that President Trump failed to get a new plan in place. This was a test run because Obamacare will fall all by itself. I believe that President Trump now knows very well who his real friends are, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is NOT one of them. Ryan’s smugness and chicanery will have consequences that Ryan will not like.
President Trump, the businessman got rich by being a smart, competent, wise negotiator who dealt successfully with hundreds of people turning deals into win/win situations where each side benefited and made money.
Working with the House of Representatives is a different ball game that President Trump will ultimately grasp and win. He has been on a learning curve and now understands that the Congress is not about win/win, but about lose/win. How else does such an organization sustain a 10% approval rating? Some suspect that Paul Ryan engineered this defeat of the Obamacare overhaul in order to put President Trump in his place, a power play. Ryan assuredly will ultimately face consequences not to his liking. Ryan is a part of the so called ‘establishment’ aligned against the President. The “Freedom Caucus” of about twenty hard core conservative Republicans (100 percenters) are a part of what hurts the Republican movement.
My friend, Congressman Duncan Hunter once explained what 100 percenters are: Most hard-core conservatives are 100 percenters. A 100 percenter is a pouting, foot stomping tantrum throwing immature and irresponsible character who wants the whole shebang (100%) and if they don’t get it will go totally negative. They can’t deal with winning 90% on an issue. Win/win is not in their lexicon. That is what the ‘Freedom Caucus’ is, mean spirited knee jerkers unwilling to work the deal no matter what.
Of course, there are hard-core 100 percenters on the left as well. Nancy (Loopy) Pelosi is one who cannot countenance compromise with Republicans. Chuckie Schumer is another. With Democrats, the deal is “we do the talking and you just follow along like good little lap dogs.” That’s why Schumer led the Democrats in the Senate’s 100% opposition to now Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Thanks to former Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid's ‘nuclear’ option which was employed in securing Gorsuch’s confirmation. The months long dance by the Democrats demanding that Gorsuch be dropped and then their useless filibuster charade simply stunk.
I believe that President Trump has brought in an honest, decent Supreme Court Justice who will make his determinations based on the Constitution, not on ‘feelings’. Newly minted California Senator Kamala Harris was critical, that Gorsuch would follow the Constitution and not make decisions on wishy-washy whim, something that Harris preferred.
There is a chasm between the Republicans and Democrats/Socialists/Communists/Islamists in the Congress – indeed all over the country. This is bad, and wherever a vacuum, a void exists something will come in to fill it. A third party? A party focused on win/win for the benefit of the American people would really be great.
California is a sad, sorry example of what California politics has devolved to. Elections are basically rigged for one side to win. I’ve seen this in countries that had one-party rule where people were given a couple of names on a ballot determined up by the government in power, and the candidates campaigned in a popularity contest, not based on issues and concerns affecting the people. Somewhat sane and reasonable, I believe that Loretta Sanchez would have been a far better Senator than Kamala Harris. California is a Communist realm dependent on illegals who are allowed, even encouraged to vote. Where totalitarian rule prevails, revolution soon follows.
Will governor Moonbeam agree to establishing statewide sanctuary for criminals? Will a great wall be built along the Arizona/Nevada/Oregon borders to keep us out of the greater United States? Things in California will be going down, guaranteed. Will we become the Venezuela of the North, or will the legitimate citizens of California come to their senses?
President Trump has great, competent people appointed and confirmed to jobs in high places. Not all of them are what or who he truly needs.
Two are a mixed bag. Both are former generals. Secretary of Defense Mattis, and National Security Council Director McMaster earned their well-deserved stripes as military strategists, as leaders of warriors. [Nevertheless, neither holds a candle to General George Patton who was not just a war strategist, he studied his foes and came to know and understand them and their motivation better than they did themselves and then soundly defeated them.]
When General Mattis ran the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base prior to our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, a friend and colleague and I were asked to speak to senior Non-Commissioned Officers and regular combat officers about what they could expect to encounter regarding Islam in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mattis heard about what we taught and we were subsequently dis-invited from further programs. That was a cowardly PC determination which left our soldiers lacking in preparation for facing the enemy. Some may have suffered because of Mattis' decision to deny them information they needed for survival. Mattis was a puppet echoing President Bush who declared that Islam was peaceful, and anyone saying anything counter to their ignorance was not welcome. This is what I mean when I said (above) that Mattis was not in the same class as General Patton, and Mattis remains so today, limited to his accomplished warrior specialty, but otherwise ignorant about the foes that we face.
National Security Director, Former General McMaster is also an accomplished military strategist. As a grand strategist of the Patton class of warriors, he is lacking. He has also echoed Bush and Obama in claiming that Islam is a peaceful ideology. That’s a dangerous self-limiting “tilt”
The ouster of Steve Bannon from his position on the National Security Council was not good for President Trump or the American people. We desperately need someone with the knowledge, understanding, competence, and wisdom of Bannon on that Council to balance the limitations of McMaster. McMaster may not like this, but he is NOT the President.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is one of President Trump’s best moves. SecState Tillerson is being criticized because he is reportedly isolating himself from most of the members of the State Department. I laud his doing the right thing in this regard. He really cannot have confidence with his established State Department subordinates who are mostly liberals intolerant of President Trump and his team. Let’s be reminded of the day that Trump won the election when the floors of the State Department ran with the copious shedding of tears and the halls echoed with the shrieks and whines of dismay and horror? Those liberals have an agenda at sharp variance with President Trump and SecState Tillerson. Those libverals really need to use their feet, the door, and move on down the street. With over 500 Ambassadors on staff and about 175 diplomatic missions needing an ambassador, there is a 60%+ surplus of Ambassadors. SecState Tillerson needs to cut the surplus loose. The same holds true for thousands of the senior and mid-level echelons, most of whom can take their retirement and be moved out.
Traditionally, the State Department (and CIA) have recruited heavily at liberal ivy-league educational institutions which has caused this great imbalance between elitists and the needs of the real American people (such as President Trump and Tillerson).
It would be very good for the hiring/recruiting practices to start working to establish a balance. This can be achieved with a quota system. For example, if the State Department and CIA hire 1000 people in a given year, the recruits should come from the fifty states evenly, i.e. 20 new hires from university or college graduating classes of each of the fifty states (not someone from a given state graduating from some joint like Harvard). This would be fair, equitable, and serve the American public well with representation from each state.
The Foreign Service and their union have long been highly critical of Presidential appointments to Ambassadorial and equivalent high and mighty positions. They preach that only seasoned Foreign Service Officers are truly qualified to serve as Ambassadors. Balderdash!
I have served abroad for over a quarter of a century in nine embassies, and have been called on to perform duties at many more embassies. I’ve had dealings with dozens of Ambassadors during my career. Some were good and some were bad. It had no bearing on whether they were political appointees or career types. Some of the biggest failures as ambassadors were career FSO’s chosen for assignments for the wrong reasons, or who were simply incompetent. One led to a war which I discussed in my book, EXPERIENCING ISLAM. I served under a seriously egregious political appointee who ought to have spent some time in the slammer, but because of his political status got a free pass.
President Trump has a great team working for him and with a little augmentation here or there, things will only improve.
James E. Horn is a Retired American Diplomat
He is an activist, a writer, and a speaker who knows his subject
He can be reached at james@portervillepost.com
