Quote (thundercock @ 25 Jul 2021 00:38)
When Democrats govern, they typically govern to the right. All the things the right fears about the Dems are from people with no power. I agree that AOC's agenda is horrific but do you really think Scott Peters' agenda is bad? It makes sense to classify your opponents as radical boogeymen b/c that turns out the vote. You're right that the PERCEPTION of Democrats scares a lot of people.
There's no guarantee that Democrats will continue to talk to the left but then govern to the right. Not once they get into a position where they think they can actually get away with implementing their agenda, electorally speaking.
It would be really interesting and insightful to take a sneak peak into the parallel universe where Trump lost the 2020 election by 8-10% like the polls predicted, so that Democrats have solid majorities and feel emboldened in their agenda.
Quote (IceMage @ 25 Jul 2021 00:26)
Well, maybe it's necessary to get even more specific. There's nothing "isolationist" about multilateral economic pressure on Iran, Russia, and North Korea.
The problem with foreign policy conversations today is that actions are always compared against Bush starting two wars and Obama intervening in multiple ongoing conflicts. Just because a president's actions fall short of that does not mean they are non-interventionists, or doves, or whatever. Trump's actions on Iran were extremely aggressive, and based on some recent reporting, the administration was looking to be even more aggressive in the final months he was in the White House.
I recall the media guffawing over Trump launching missiles into Syria. It was one of his "Trump just became president" moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acQo9zBsclMOn Syria, Trump made a brash, split-second decision while being pressured by a supposed ally, and he folded. That affected our ally in the country. He deserved serious criticism for it. If you're going to fuck over our friend, you shouldn't do it in such a manner.
I see your point. Maybe "isolationist" is too strong a word, but Trump definitely was "non-interventionist". On the other hand, I dont think it were only Bush and Obama who engaged in lots of wars. Remember when U.S. jets were bombing Belgrade during the 90s, or how Bush Sr. already had troops in Baghdad?
Iran is the big exception in Trump's foreign policy, the one case where he was really aggressive and hostile from the get go. But like I said, looking at how the nuclear deal turned out, how the Mullahs abused the trust the world put into their country, it was the correct decision to go hard at them.
On the withdrawal from the Kurdish regions in Syria: I still believe that the decision was right, but Trump definitely did deserve heavy criticism for the haphazard process by which he arrived at this decision, and for the rushed, not thought out way this decision was executed.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jul 24 2021 05:30pm
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