Khashoggi, Kushner, Trump

[Dill]

(11-21-2018, 11:39 AM)jj22 Wrote: As more and more Americans look on in disgust at Trump attacking America and our Allies Intel (again) this time on behalf of the Saudi Arabia King in the face of recorded facts, I must ask; have they not been paying attention? Who still thinks this guy cares about America? How many dictators and enemy's of ours did he have to side with before you got to this point? How many Gold Star families, and Navy Seals did he have to attack, or Fallen Military memorials did he have to skip to get to this point? He cares about himself and only himself.

He is finally getting criticized by even his supporters, but too little too late. They've already put this Anti American in office and the damage (as he acts like America is dependent on countries like Russia, and Saudi Arabia) when in reality we are the Super Power with the best economy and they are our clients. He's got it all backwards and the damage he's done to America on the World Stage as he empowers our enemy's and attack our Allies will take generations to undo.

Great Job Trump Supporters. You did the country you supposedly "love" a great disservice.

He is criticized by some, not all. He has some supporters partially flummoxed though. I was listening to Tom Shillue today on Fox Radio. He had a moment where he thought the U.S. should take a public stand against Saudi Murder, as well as working behind the scenes.

But then he spent the next 20 minutes explaining why Trump's recent spat with the SCOTUS over his executive order on asylum is really no different from Obama calling out the Supreme court for Citizens United.  The only difference was that Trump's language was more "blunt" (e.g. calling the Supreme Court "Obama judges"). But the NYT framed it so that Trump's behavior was "authoritarian."  (Perhaps because it was, while Obama was defending the rule of law.) This will work as explanation for Trump's base, and further the narrative that Trump's tremendous negatives are a result of "bias," not Trump's behavior. That turns all these Trump missteps back into the mire of identity politics. Criticizing Trump is criticizing the judgment of his supporters. They respond by doubling down on their support.

On the positive side, Trump voters, not necessarily the base, are peeling away. My internist, who is Indian, surprised me when I went into my check up two years ago by proclaiming support for Trump. His complaint was rising insurance costs, which he though Trump would manage better than the Democrats . I went in for my check up today and he was ranting about Trump's accommodation to Saudi Arabia, and how that is not "America." He finally gets that Trump, in addition to not understanding rule of law and checks and balances, has no ethical core, and no conception of the kind of international blowback his actions will have, not to mention domestically. 

He is in a downward spiral, and hopefully won't last another year; but the problem of Fox and the Trump base will remain; they will continue to support authoritarian candidates and the undermining of the press, the intel services, and now the Supreme court.