Reading liberal or neocon journalists can either make you mad, or you can take solace in their dire prognostications. Because what is “dire” for them is often what we might consider a pleasant outcome. In this frame of mind, you can read MSM newspapers with cheerful optimism.
Case in point, when neoconservative NeverTrumper David Frum warns us that Trump’s Warsaw speech was glib and contradictory, we can be glad that Frum might be right. When Trump said that we would fulfill Article 5 of NATO, which commits the US to defend NATO members, Frum doesn’t believe him. Hopefully Frum is right! When Trump boasts that the NATO nations have stepped up their military spending, Frum sees this as caused not by Trump’s negotiating skills, but by the fact that NATO nations no longer feel that they can rely on the United States for defense. Good, why should they?
Here is Trump’s assurance of his commitment to NATO from the Warsaw Speech:
To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated not merely with words but with its actions that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual defense commitment.
Here’s Frum on his skepticism about Trump’s commitment to NATO:
But who now will be reassured by these glib words? The whole world has seen how long and how fiercely President Trump squirmed to avoid pronouncing them—and the world, friendly and hostile, will draw conclusions accordingly.
That’s a fair analysis; and again, I hope Frum is right. Frum demands that we not take Trump’s words at face value, but instead put them in the context of Trump’s prior stated positions, and his actions. Trump declared NATO “obsolete” during the campaign. Have the facts on the ground changed since then? Of course not; it is only a matter of political pressure being put on Trump to take a more conventional position. In that light, it is fair to deduce that Trump is indeed paying glib lip-service to this commitment to NATO, while his heart is not in it.
Frum claims that Trump admires “Putin-style authoritarianism.” So does that mean we might get something done finally? Frum feels that Trump was using Western Civilization as a dog whistle to “religious and ethnic exclusion.” Yes, I heard that too! When we hear Trump warn about a threat from the “East”, we think Muslim hordes. Frum, on the other hand, hears “the Russians.” Risible!
In part, Frum criticizes Trump for hypocrisy, extolling free speech while he supposedly does not really believe in it. Praising the empowerment of women while he made “lewd remarks about assaulting women” (he said “they let you do it”—by definition not assault!). Frum criticizes Trump for referencing “ancient heroes”, while he apparently is not familiar with the “hero” Frederick Douglass. Perhaps that is because Trump attended secondary school during a less Culturally Marxist moment in history.
Don’t get too caught up in an echo chamber—especially if you frequent boomer conservative news outlets. Sometimes you miss the whole story. Boomer conservatives often seek to show that Trump is indeed sticking to conventional neocon foreign policy. Ironically, I take more comfort in liberals’ and neocons’ dire take on what Trump has managed to achieve.
Follow Malcolm Jaggers @malcolmjaggers
Boo,another lost ball in the high weeds. This writer is full of hot air. Can’t the alt right writers write a straight sentence without manifesting a ton of idiotic terms and phrases that get readers wondering what the hell he is trying to say. This article could have/should have been reduced to two paragraphs at the most. Trump was Great in Poland ;and who cares what this guy Frum says. Fredric Douglas was no hero, just another broken down piece of outdated farm equipment.
David Frum once seemed liked a respectable, thoughtful small “c” conservative but he went over the deep end in 2003 when he accused nationalistic conservatives of being unpatriotic for opposing the Iraq War. Since then, he has veered leftward in both substance and style. He is so phony as a conservative that it is a mystery why he is labelled as such. He claims to support tax cuts but does not want to cut any programs to pay for them and loves Obamacare. He claims to be against activist judges but for extremely complex reasons actually voted for Hillary Clinton who wanted to bring in those types of judges. Most importantly, he claims to support less immigration but was COMPLETELY against the only republican candidate who just might deliver.
He is the true epitome of “controlled opposition” and the triple parenthesis surrounding his name means he rejoices about “For English, Press One. Para Español, Marque Número Dos.”
The “World” doesn’t particularly care for Trump who it sees as “dangerous”…and I believe they’re right. A Zionist stooge is what he is…also I think he’s mentally unstable.
Frum is a complete moron who doesn’t believe that anyone who posts anonymously should be allowed to express an opinion. This means he’s missed out on the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist papers as well as any author who ever used a nom de plume. His mother obviously couldn’t be bothered to read Mother Goose to him either.
I can’t remember who said it, but my favorite line about Frum is: “They take away your license for drunk driving but somehow David Frum is still legally allowed to have an opinion.”
Ah David Frum. If any Jew deserves the oven, it’s Frum. Big league.
The 21st century Reich will have microwave ovens with three heat presets:
Low – (slow torture) for people like Frum and Soros.
Medium – (cost efficiency) minimizes spending on eradication.
High – (rapid genocide) the quickest way to take care of the problem.
Of course they can be seasoned with Zyklon-B for that nostalgic Nazi recipe before putting them in the modern ovens.
Yep, generally speaking the more the leftist and cuck Jewish media are freaking out, the better Trump is actually doing for the American people. What they freak out about is what we want him to do.
Pres Trump is a lone guy stuck out in no mans land in a 3 way war… Fire from all sides, powers that are DUG IN 100+ years – beyond his control, A national dollar that is owned by the enemy, “allies” that are fully controlled by the enemy and a son in-law that is there to be his ‘watch dog”… When any of “us” get that far deep in the beast – call me.
Which means that he’s in a difficult position and things might not go too well for him.
If things start to go badly for Trump… don’t rely on sites like the Conservative treehouse to tell you the truth.
They gave up whatever intellectual honesty they had prior to the election in favor of a full pro-Trump spin approach, changing their story over night during the Syria strike, etc.
Gotta read a variety of sources and stay away from the pro-Trump bubble which might tell you stuff you want to hear.
the Syria strike” – was really a anti Deep State move … cuz they wanted FULL WAR and Trump gave them a air strike that meant zero … even calling Russia to tell Syria to ‘get out the way bitch’ !! Just for you LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEuU64Zt4B0
It’s possible.