Archive for the ‘Mike Pompeo’ Category
This morning, President Trump had the privilege of announcing the release of 3 North Korean hostages in this tweet. This is fantastic news for the hostages’ families and a victory for newly-installed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Trump.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Democrats and hard-left organizations like Indivisible were frantically predicting nuclear war with North Korea. Today, those Democrats and Indivisible are eating crow while people ask whether President Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize if he closes the deal that denuclearizes the Korean Peninsula.
Here’s Trump’s tweet announcing the release of the hostages:
I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health. Also, good meeting with Kim Jong Un. Date & Place set.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018
Later, Mike ‘Pampeo‘ (Twitter ID of SecOfState70) tweeted this:
I can confirm that no pallets of cash were given in exchange for these 3 gentleman. https://t.co/KnM6HRtO5r— Mike Pampeo (@SecOfState70) May 9, 2018
It’s still prudent to view the denuclearization deal with skepticism. Kim Jung-Un is still a shifty dictator. That being said, it’s possible that President Trump’s good cop-bad cop behavior might have Un worried that he’s dealing with a madman. History shows that dictators and autocrats make more concessions when they’re frightened by Republican presidents, especially if Democrats accuse that Republican president of wanting to start WWIII.
The truth is that everyone understands that the US is the world’s only superpower. In 1990, during the buildup to Operation Desert Storm, the media talked about the powerful Iraqi military, calling it a regional superpower. Within minutes of the start of the air war, the war was essentially over. The regional superpower was in shambles. The world superpower was proud of its first night accomplishments and hungry for more destruction to Iraq’s command-and-control capabilities.
The ‘conventional wisdom’ is that the US military has more to lose in a fight than Iran. That’s foolish thinking. I’m not saying the US should start a war with Iran. I’m saying that Iran would be decimated within moments if that confrontation started. Iran knows it, too.
That’s why I’m betting that, in the long run, Europe will side with the Trump administration in imposing new, tougher sanctions. When those sanctions hit Iran’s already-weak economy, Iran’s mullahs will pay a heavy political price.
North Korea already understands what it’s like to get pushed around by muscular US diplomats, aka President Trump and Mike Pompeo. Prior to the Trump administration, the North Koreans toyed with President Obama and John Kerry. Those days are over.
Technorati: Barack Obama, John Kerry, JCPOA, Strategic Patience, Democrats, Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Maximum Pressure, Nobel Peace Prize, National Security, Republicans, Kim Jung-Un, North Korea, Iran
This WSJ editorial offers a stinging substantive criticism of the Democrats’ unseriousness.
Early in their editorial, they write about Sen. Tim Kaine’s criticism of Mike Pompeo, saying “‘I don’t want a Secretary of State who is going to exacerbate the [sic] President Trump’s tendencies to oppose diplomacy,’ Democratic Senator Tim Kaine (D, VA) told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. He cited Mr. Pompeo’s opposition to Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Tehran and his support for ‘regime change,’ although moderator Margaret Brennan didn’t let him finish that thought. Mr. Kaine may recall that Donald Trump campaigned and won while opposing the Iran nuclear deal, and if Mr. Kaine is still sore about the outcome he should have told his running mate to campaign in Wisconsin.”
Later, they write “Democrats say they don’t trust Mr. Trump, but in denying him senior advisers they make it more likely he will govern by himself. Mark it down as one more example that hatred for Mr. Trump has caused many of his opponents to abandon rational judgment.”
The underlying truth is that Democrats don’t put the nation first. Their highest priority is to Resist! Senate Democrats are acting incredibly petty. This collage provides a wonderful comparison between Republicans and Democrats:
JFK, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey wouldn’t recognize today’s Democratic Party. They wouldn’t be Republicans but they’d privately admit that they have more in common with Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Cory Gardner than they have with Chris Murphy, Cory Booker and Ed Markey.
Today’s Democratic Party doesn’t have much in common with the American people. The American people want serious, substantive people providing oversight over national security. Right now, Democrats (and Rand Paul and Jeff Flake) aren’t providing that.
