Editor’s note: This commentary is by David Russell, of Perkinsville, who is retired renewable energy and securities consultant and whose writing appears in venues including the The Hill and Huffington Post.
[T]his latest move by President Donald Trump to bomb the Syrian military airbase is absolutely brilliant politics and probably insures his re-election. Think about it.
• It comes right at the time he is negotiating with Xi Jinping and sends a clear message that public statements notwithstanding, this guy can be tough and assertive on the international stage. Read that to mean “I get help with North Korea or I go it alone” and let’s talk about the South China Sea and your abrogation of the Law of the Seas litigation.
• It pokes a hole in the surging perceptions of Vladimir Putin a week before Trump’s secretary of state goes one on one with mister tough guy, challenging him both on controlling his client state Syria, placing an exclamation point on the thought that Russia wouldn’t dare challenging the U.S. militarily. Likewise, it doesn’t hurt that it also distracts Americans from the collusion his subordinates had with the Russians in the run up to the last election.
• It sends a scary message to the North Koreans that the threat to act alone has dimensions that might make them think twice about continuing to challenge the international order.
It requires very little adjustment for his base since they don’t really care that much about foreign policy, love the idea that he would act with resolve against inhumane and brutal dictators and once again proves that he is the unpredictable disruptor.
• It throws another wrench in the spokes of the gutless Republicans who loved the non-interventionist talk before the election leaving them once again to deal with the egg on their collective faces. Since Trump has already proved that their base trusts him more than them this is simply another circumstance they will have to rationalize as they have rationalized just about every adjustment to other elements of classic Republic orthodoxy.
• It requires very little adjustment for his base since they don’t really care that much about foreign policy, love the idea that he would act with resolve against inhumane and brutal dictators and once again proves that he is the unpredictable disruptor.
• It leaves the Democrats speechless given that their last president temporized on most every issue involving the Middle East (other than Iran).
As the pundits start wringing their hands worrying about the follow on absence of policy, the facts on the ground is that there need be no policy that follows on. Now the military starts looking for that building the ISIS head of state al-Baghdadi lives in and targets it for a drone attack.
This act doesn’t require any changes. It may be just a “one off” shot that wakes the world up to the fact that the strongest military power in the history of the world can strike even if it can’t provide solutions. It couldn’t come at a better time.
