The Great Dealmaker just sold out the Kurds who now have to leave the land they have lived on for decades and Turkey gets a buffer zone.
So much for the Art of the Deal. Putin, Erdogan, Assad, the Ayatollah in Iran, and the I.S.I.S. read a different book on how to conclude a deal than the one Trump had ghostwritten. They are all laughing at the United States right now.
The Stable Genius, after having his Vice President and Secretary of State do the “dealmaking” for him, has tried to justify these developments by saying comments on October 17, 2019, like:
- “In fairness” to Turkey, they had to have Kurds living along their border “cleaned out.”
- “It was unconventional, what I did. I said, ‘They’re going to have to fight a little while’. Sometimes you have to let them fight a little while. Then people find out how tough the fighting is … Sometimes you have to let them fight. It’s like two kids in a lot, you’ve got to let them fight and then you pull them apart.”
These remarks are in addition to earlier ones where he said the Kurds were not angels, they were just as bad, in some circumstances as I.S.I.S., they were not with us at Normandy in World War Two (some were), and we had no business being involved in the Northern Syrian border (but Russians can at the bases we left for them.)
All of this was going on while, in a rare press briefing at the White House, the Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney verified that the President intends to violate the Emoluments Clause and has violated his oath of office with a quid pro quo in dealings with Ukraine.
No wonder they do not do briefings anymore.
Where do Arizona’s Republican Representatives stand on this betrayal of America’s allies and loss of American credibility?
Well, it is with the Liar in Chief that betrayed the allies and caused the loss in credibility.
Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs, and Paul Gosar voted their support for the 2016 Popular Vote Loser by not supporting a House Resolution condemning the President’s decision to withdraw American troops from the North Syrian border.
Only David Schweikert (with three challengers on the Democratic side and ethical and fundraising issues in a more purple district), to his credit, voted to condemn the President.
Democratic candidates looking to defeat Biggs and Lesko voiced their views on the incumbent’s blind support for Trump.
Congressional District Five Democratic Candidate Joan Greene wrote that:
“If I was your Congresswoman I would have joined my bipartisan colleagues in a vote of YEA.
Regrettably, the current Congressman voted against our trusted Allies, the Kurds. As Andy Biggs continues his campaign to curry favor with the most corrupt President in history, his complicity has brought genocide to our allies.
Andy Biggs has told us with deed he is a danger to our Nation’s security and with utmost importance, he must be removed.”
Michael Muscato and Robert Musselwhite who are running for the Democratic Congressional District Eight Nomination to contest Debbie Lesko also offered their views.
Mr. Muscato said that:
“I prefer my military decisions to be made by someone who didn’t claim bone spurs as their excuse when called upon by our country. Someone who’s “military strategy” doesn’t happen to coincidentally align with the geographic location of their own business locations. Who sided with the President’s horrible decision, Erdogan, Assad, and Putin? The same CD8 representative who wants you to think she supports our allies and military.”
“Lesko voted to support the withdrawal of the small number of US soldiers whose presence prevented the war atrocities now being perpetrated by Erdogan’s army, and the atrocity of undermining US influence in the region for generations, handing it over to Russia. Lesko supports our military bombing our own tax-payer-funded military base so Erdogan can’t use it.”
“Mind you their excuse of “pulling out of the Middle East” fails to pass the smell test when you consider Trump just sent a couple thousand US military to Saudi Arabia (Trump business location) and let us also not forget to ask the question of why we are still in Afghanistan18 years later…”
“Should we be in Syria? No. But since when does America turn its back on our allies? Well apparently the Kurds just aren’t as popular to us as the Italians we’ve been allies with for a thousand years…oh, wait the US is only 243 years old and there was that thing about Italy being part of the AXIS in WW2… Lesko, are you listening or is the butt kissing drowning out the sounds of reality?”
“We were in Syria working with the Kurds to try and knock out the Russians from their naval access to the Mediterranean via Tartus. Had we accomplished that mission, the USA would have established a major strategic victory in our safety and that of the world. Was giving it a shot worth a try, yes. It didn’t work out. Now seemingly in what by all accounts was an executive decision from POTUS, we have not only allowed the Kurdish civilians to be massacred, but we have handed control to the Russian and Iranian forces. Think for a minute how much our small US force prevented simply from being there. Think for a minute how a well thought out plan would have not only saved lives but also highly valued ISIS assets and our own military assets (how are our 50 U.S. nukes doing in Turkey’s hands?).”
“The Republican Party for decades has laid claim to being the “patriotic” of the two major political parties. As a native to Arizona and CD8, I am not only embarrassed by who represents me, but I am ashamed at how the Arizona Republican Party leadership can’t even stand up and call out the obvious humanitarian and moral issues of bad policy and lack of strategy. Are we or are we not the great America?”
“This is a prime example of Do Nothing Debbie Lesko. She gets her talking points and she regurgitates them, whether they be from ALEC, the GOP, her campaign financiers, or the president himself. She doesn’t think for herself, and after 12 years as my Representative, I’m convinced she flat out isn’t capable of doing so.”
Musselwhite relayed that:
“The resolution was passed with strong bipartisan support on an issue that is a matter of putting country and what is right over party about a mistake that threatens the integrity of the United States. A logical conclusion is that those who voted against the resolution are extremists with little capacity for independent thinking, a trait that should be possessed by every member of Congress.”
Should the United States stay forever in the Middle East? Probably not although there are not many people wanting American troops out of Europe (where they have been since World War Two.)
Does that mean what Mr. Trump did was the best in strategy and tactics and right for the United States? No way.
As Julian Castro said at the last Democratic Debate:
“This president is caging kids on the border and effectively letting ISIS prisoners run free.”
Journalist David Rohde commented on the 7:00 a.m. hour CNN Newsroom on October 18, 2019, that thanks to Mr. Trump:
“Our friends don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us.”
Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs, and Paul Gosar have enabled this President far too long, resulting in part in his belief that he can abandon American Allies and sacrifice the nation’s credibility with no repercussions.
It is time for these three servants of the people to put country over demagogue, honor (along with credibility and trust) over expediency, and fact over fiction.
It is time they did what was right for the United States and the people that believe in all it entails.
Featured Image from Adam Zyglis