2013
“President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your “powder” for another (and more important) day!”- Trump tweet 9-7-13
2018
“If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” – Trump tweet 4-8-18
I will never forget the image. President George W. Bush is reading the book “My Pet Goat” to a second grade class at the Booker Elementary School on September 11, 2001. Suddenly an aide comes to his side and tells him what has just happened in New York City. The United States was under attack and the look on Bush’s face above tells the story, it was time for him to grow-up and be a leader.
I was not a George W. Bush fan. I thought he was flippant, unprepared and left to much of the heavy lifting of running this country to his Vice-President Dick Cheney and the staff Cheney handpicked. But I will freely admit that I was impressed with Bush’s leadership, his calm, and the way he pulled all of American together after 9/11. His response to the “perceived” enemy unfortunately was an ill prepared overreaction which we are still paying for 17 years later.
Being President of the United States should be the toughest job in the world. It should be a job that ages you, turns you into an old man before our eyes. A job that should keep you up at night, make you worry, keep you serious and keep you honest.
The job of President changed George W. Bush from the rich country club kid who used his daddies money and influence to climb up the political ranks to the reflective, compassionate and empathetic elder statesman that he is today. The weight of the office changed George Bush just as it did Barack Obama, just as it should for any sane, rational human being. Then there is Donald Trump.
One of the key attributes of being a “grown-up” is accepting blame rather than pawning it off on others. Being wrong is not a sign of weakness. Never admitting that you can or are wrong is. There is a certain maturity we should expect from our leadership, a certain seriousness none of which we are currently receiving. Trumps “Tough” twitter talk is just that “Tough” twitter talk and has one audience, his Deplorable base.
It is widely acknowledge and Trump would or should know this, that Congress tied President Obama’s hands in response to Syria. Obama was forced to negotiate with words and sanctions rather than military might because of the actions or inaction of Congress. But Trump needs someone to blame and Obama, over the last 14 months, has been his favorite target because, once again, it appeals to his Deplorable base.
I wrote several months ago that Trump not only wants a war he needs a war. Trump believes a war will improve his ratings, yes he still thinks in terms of television ratings. He believes a war will put the Russian collusion and Robert Mueller investigation on the back burner. But he has a big problem with picking a fight with Syria, he will also be picking a fight with Vladimir Putin and despite his “Tough” twitter talk he has shown a real reluctance, for whatever reason, to bad mouth Putin.
Trumps tweet; “If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” is not factual, honestly it is not even close but that has never stopped Trump from fabricating facts that make him look stronger than he really is. There are several major crisis’ brewing most of which Trump created. He talks about how “strong” America is and how much “stronger” we will be after he is finished. The realty is this, we, as a nation, have never been in a weaker position than we are right now.
We have no friends and no allies because of the infant we have in the White House running this country in the ground. He has fired all the grown-ups, men and women who love this country more than they love their own lives. He is operating in a vacuum, a vacuum filled with his ego, pride and self and sadly we will all pay the price for it.
Ends and Beginnings 
Yep. He really believes he can conquer the world by his own big, badass self, where all his predecessors have failed miserably, and his sheep still blindly follow, and we all will suffer. I hope all you trumpies remember, this is what you voted for.
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Misprint? You wrote: his own big, badass self, Didn’t you really mean “his own bad, bigass self?” 😛
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Yeah, my bad. 😏
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I was just reading an article that listed all the “active” problems that currently exist in the WH. I was never into politics until this Jerk-Face got into office so I have no idea if this is actually fairly commonplace. However, something deep down tells me it isn’t!
Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that a MAJOR incident doesn’t strike the U.S. while all this is going on!
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Very well-said! There are no easy answers when discussing power struggles on an international level, especially with so many players vested in conflicts such as those in Syria. I left the US in protest just after GWB’s administration foisted their preemptive strikes on Iraq. I later had the opportunity to teach Kurdish and Arab students in northern Iraq and felt as if I was somehow trying to make amends for the country-wide (and now region-wide) disaster wrought by my government. As much as I wanted (and still want) the human suffering in Syria to end, I fear that simply taking out Assad still wouldn’t return peace and prosperity to that war-torn country. I sincerely think Obama had the desire to intervene in a positive way, but he was bright enough to see the Syrian conflict as a mirror image of what had happened in Iraq, something neither Congress or the American public wanted to see repeated. Trump, unfortunately doesn’t have the temperament or personal interest to make rational decisions, and at the same time has surrounded himself with a cabinet and staff which merely echos his flippant words. Diplomacy and compromise (as distasteful as it may feel to compromise with the likes of Assad and Putin) is really the only sane alternative to bringing an end to the HELL the Syrian people have been living with for years. Thanks for posting this!
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Thanks for reading and for adding valuable context.
The American people think we should just get out of the middle east and let them “fix it” themselves. The problem is we have, will and continue to support Israel and that is a big reason why we are in the mess we are in. We can’t and won’t “abandon” Israel so sadly my kids and their kids better learn to live with the unrest, the threats and the blood shed. That solution is above Trumps pay grade and brain cell capacity.
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E&B — why do you say “we can’t and won’t abandon Israel”?
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Because if we give up on Israel where is Jesus going to go when He returns? That’s why.
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So I have to ask … is this a serious answer?
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A very serious answer. Evangelicals are pushing that end.
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OK … yes. I agree with that. I just wasn’t sure if this was YOUR answer. Had it been, I would have been surprised based on what I think I know about you.
I wonder what would happen if another country sent some nuclear bombs that direction? Pool Jesus.
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It’s a big deal on the American Jewish front and evangelical front. We will NEVER give it up in my lifetime hence why we will be at war with splinter Muslim groups.
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POOR Jesus … not “pool”
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Agreed. Whenever a what-if scenario keeps you up nights, use your imagination and visualize what you wish would take place instead. It’s not only an effective way to self-comfort, it’s also an active defense against acquiring PTSD. Your thoughts are powerful over the health of your mind.
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Very good advice; I’ll try it.
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