NATO has been a key issue for President Trump. How much had the other NATO nations been paying before Trump 1.0? Not nearly their fair share. Trump has harangued the European nations do greatly increase their share of funding NATO.
I remember the political cartoon during Trump 1: all the NATO characters with names are at a fancy white tablecloth restaurant with the tab in the middle and the obvious Trump character having pushed the tab away and walking out. The other NATO characters uniting to exclaim, “But you’ve always gotten the tab before!” How true—for probably most of the agencies mentioned.
Let’s think outside the box. I’m glad President George H.W. Bush wanted to spread democracy and I see Trump doing the same again only more effectively. I’m glad Trump approved the Venezuela raid on Maduro and our military surgically captured him. I hope that turns over a big spade and gets the Cuban people to rise up against their false, oppressive leaders, of essentially drug cartels. Ditto for Iran.
China is doing everything it can to make inroads into our hemisphere and had just paid a call to Venezuela a week before our raid. No time to lose. Trump is moving us to wake up about Greenland. There’s work to be done. We can’t be asleep at the wheel or future generations will pay a price. Times have changed. New solutions are called far. Some of those agencies go back 75 years. Leave your 20th century “blanket” behind!
We need to publish everywhere that this is the US sphere of the world, putting the Big Boys on clear notice that we protect the Gulf of America: Stay Out! Mexico won’t be guarding the backyard. Amen to the Monroe doctrine. Let’s use it.
Our tanks and planes have a terminal purpose. Every leader in the world got a wakeup call from our action in Venezuela with Maduro: we can find you and we can terminate you if you move against our people. And only YOU! Sound too militaristic? Why be shy about it? If nations haven’t yet understood our benevolent intentions that’s their problem. Do we need to prove it every day?
What’s wrong with fair tariffs for nations who have been in effect stealing from our manufacturers and business? We haven’t had a serious businessman/leader to call attention to the inequity on that score in my lifetime. I like it. We’ve got the best markets in the world and had only ignorant or wimpy leaders to level the playing field. Why? For a while it may cost us. Get serious. What might this mean financially for all Americans? Give it time to work.
I can’t tell you the contrast between what I felt when we knew Trump was elected to hold the tiller of our nation’s might again and having Biden’s ignorant, drowsy hand on it. No more leaving the battlefield with our tail between our legs and tens of soldiers left behind as in Afghanistan. What an embarrassment and tragedy!
Yes, President Xi of China wants to “ensure stability.” Really? Yes, China’s and his stability, as he “eliminates” his native competitors.
Robert Penny lives in Old Agency Village in Ridgeland.
