You know that old idiom about how a broken clock is still right twice a day? That’s about how I’ve been feeling regarding Trump’s retaliatory air strike on Assad forces in Syria.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I still very much feel the same about our Cheeto-in-Chief, a casual, hypocritical act of war is doing nothing to change that. I say casual because of his lack of congressional approval, and hypocritical because a quick search of Trump’s thoughts on the matter show how bad an idea he thought it was to bomb Syria when Obama dared even ask congress. The first is an unprecedented move by a president who’s already proven how thin-skinned and volatile he can be.
It was the reactions that poured out afterward from anyone not sitting behind a computer screen and safe in a country free from civil war that started coming out after the strikes that kind of made me, not so much change my tune, but solidify a feeling one way or the other.
Syrian refugees have been speaking out from their respective countries of residence, to basically say “Look, you’re super uncool and racist, but thanks. You still make me very uneasy, but really, thanks.”
I mean, we’re talking about something that most people have wanted us to intervene in for years now, right? I’m not diminishing our role in anything, honestly because the span of Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama in the creation of so many of these terrorist organizations is confusing at best and an actual nightmare lived by many the world over at worst. I know we have responsibility here. I’m also not trying to downplay the outright terrifying possibility of World War III, though even if something like that does happen, if you ask me we’ve gone too far down a road of passive resistance to have anything like the patriotic turnout for World War II. All I’m saying is maybe, just maybe, retaliating for a chemical attack that killed women and children after being begged by the people for years to do something, might not be the worst thing in the world?
There’s a lot to unpack here. Trump’s skipping over congressional approval was a very him move, but very, very unprecedented. However, it’s not as if there isn’t precedent for this president (heh). Washington’s decision on providing aid and troops to our French allies shortly after the revolution wasn’t subject to congressional approval. I’m positive there are other examples to be found in our almost 250 year history, but the internet is too hung up on Trump now to provide any clarity on the matter.
This is what’s been going on in my head since I woke up to people talking about going to war (in a panic-y, Trump-hating way). I couldn’t decide if this was actually a terrible thing. It’s not a good one, good doesn’t include killing people. But this is the real world, not a comic book, and I know that, morally speaking, things are a lot more grey here than black and white.
This also further confuses things with Putin and Russia, since his alliances here have been pretty clear beforehand and in the aftermath of Trump’s strike. It’s Russia everyone is so worried about starting World War III with, and it’s Russia who supposedly manipulated the election. I think it can easily be two things. If you’ve been paying attention to the investigation behind the Russian connections, a lot of the direct manipulation just came from internet trolling. There’s an entire division of…. something in the Russian government devoted to internet trolling, if reports are to be believed, and the American people aren’t exactly great at discerning truth from fiction on either side of the rope. The right seems easier to manipulate until you think about how many OccupyDemocrats or TruthOut stories have been found to be half lies.
I know this is a little more rambling than readers are used to, but this was a confusing thing for me. Finding myself agreeing with anything this administration does, even tentatively, freaks me out. There’s still miles to go before Trump has my actual approval, and there will never be a moment I won’t denounce his racist rhetoric or outright hypocrisy, his misogyny and general hate. But for now? For now, at least according to a lot of the people running away from it, Trump made a good move.
Making Sense Of Trump’s Syria Strike
Dane La Born
You know that old idiom about how a broken clock is still right twice a day? That’s about how I’ve been feeling regarding Trump’s retaliatory air strike on Assad forces in Syria.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I still very much feel the same about our Cheeto-in-Chief, a casual, hypocritical act of war is doing nothing to change that. I say casual because of his lack of congressional approval, and hypocritical because a quick search of Trump’s thoughts on the matter show how bad an idea he thought it was to bomb Syria when Obama dared even ask congress. The first is an unprecedented move by a president who’s already proven how thin-skinned and volatile he can be.
It was the reactions that poured out afterward from anyone not sitting behind a computer screen and safe in a country free from civil war that started coming out after the strikes that kind of made me, not so much change my tune, but solidify a feeling one way or the other.
Syrian refugees have been speaking out from their respective countries of residence, to basically say “Look, you’re super uncool and racist, but thanks. You still make me very uneasy, but really, thanks.”
I mean, we’re talking about something that most people have wanted us to intervene in for years now, right? I’m not diminishing our role in anything, honestly because the span of Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama in the creation of so many of these terrorist organizations is confusing at best and an actual nightmare lived by many the world over at worst. I know we have responsibility here. I’m also not trying to downplay the outright terrifying possibility of World War III, though even if something like that does happen, if you ask me we’ve gone too far down a road of passive resistance to have anything like the patriotic turnout for World War II. All I’m saying is maybe, just maybe, retaliating for a chemical attack that killed women and children after being begged by the people for years to do something, might not be the worst thing in the world?
There’s a lot to unpack here. Trump’s skipping over congressional approval was a very him move, but very, very unprecedented. However, it’s not as if there isn’t precedent for this president (heh). Washington’s decision on providing aid and troops to our French allies shortly after the revolution wasn’t subject to congressional approval. I’m positive there are other examples to be found in our almost 250 year history, but the internet is too hung up on Trump now to provide any clarity on the matter.
This is what’s been going on in my head since I woke up to people talking about going to war (in a panic-y, Trump-hating way). I couldn’t decide if this was actually a terrible thing. It’s not a good one, good doesn’t include killing people. But this is the real world, not a comic book, and I know that, morally speaking, things are a lot more grey here than black and white.
This also further confuses things with Putin and Russia, since his alliances here have been pretty clear beforehand and in the aftermath of Trump’s strike. It’s Russia everyone is so worried about starting World War III with, and it’s Russia who supposedly manipulated the election. I think it can easily be two things. If you’ve been paying attention to the investigation behind the Russian connections, a lot of the direct manipulation just came from internet trolling. There’s an entire division of…. something in the Russian government devoted to internet trolling, if reports are to be believed, and the American people aren’t exactly great at discerning truth from fiction on either side of the rope. The right seems easier to manipulate until you think about how many OccupyDemocrats or TruthOut stories have been found to be half lies.
I know this is a little more rambling than readers are used to, but this was a confusing thing for me. Finding myself agreeing with anything this administration does, even tentatively, freaks me out. There’s still miles to go before Trump has my actual approval, and there will never be a moment I won’t denounce his racist rhetoric or outright hypocrisy, his misogyny and general hate. But for now? For now, at least according to a lot of the people running away from it, Trump made a good move.