One thing to keep in mind about Trump is that his critics tend to instinctively oppose anything he is for, regardless of what they may have thought in the past.
Trump is pushing us toward the brink of war with Iran — and it all sounds alarmingly familiar. pic.twitter.com/iLv7Rd8bXL
— MoveOn (@MoveOn) May 7, 2019
The twist? It was produced by MoveOn.org, a Democrat activist group set up in 1998 to oppose the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and bankrolled by George Soros. These are the same Democrats, mind, who did nothing to oppose Clinton’s 1999 war on Yugoslavia, Obama’s 2011 intervention in Libya, or the actual Iraq War for that matter. But now they warn against war with Iran – because Orange Man Bad!
Oh, the establishment in Washington wailed and gnashed their teeth, but took comfort in the knowledge that Trump could never, ever possibly be elected. Every single media outlet told them so, after all. And then it happened anyway.
When the unthinkable happened later that year, the establishment launched every possible effort to “resist” and sabotage Trump’s agenda, primarily by the means of the ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy theory.
The very “Swamp” in Washington that Trump vowed to drain went to war against anyone who might actually do it – from General Michael Flynn onward – while steering clear of neocon cadres like Pompeo, Bolton, Kurt Volker or Elliott Abramsthat ended up working for Trump. Have you seen any of them accosted at a restaurant, or accused of a scandal in the Washington Post? Of course not.
This is one possible explanation for why Trump ended up embracing the neocons: they are the only ones actually willing to work in his administration. Another possibility, however, is that Trump is aware the very best way to make the establishment hate a position is for him to embrace it.
Recall how the very same media outlets that hounded Trump with the now-debunked ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy sang praisesto the “beauty of our weapons” when the president fired off some missiles into Syria, to ensure he stays the “Assad must go” course.
While the State Department rhetoric on that has not changed, Trump did order US troops out of Syria – and that actually happened, more or less, suggesting that Washington has tacitly given up on regime change in Damascus.
Of course, this could all be Q-level speculation about “4-D chess.” It is entirely possible that Trump has simply been seduced by the neocon siren call of perpetual war and the American Empire, despite consistently expressed beliefs to the contrary over a long period of time. If there is one thing that’s been absolutely certain about the Trump presidency so far, it’s that the only way to know for sure is to see what happens.