Diplomatic priorities for the US can be quite complicated, and sometimes inscrutable. One constant high priority, however, is selling weapons made by America’s major arms-makers to other countries. Though private companies, they increasingly find the US diplomatic corps working as their sales team.
This represents official determination to see the US remain the world’s largest exporter of weapons. This is a foregone conclusion with or without diplomats hectoring every other country to buy American, and attending weapons shows to push US products.
Since April, there have been reports that the Trump Administration was advancing from the arms dealing being an unspoken side mission to an overt policy goal for all overseas diplomats. In practice, a lot of this means scaring nations away from buying cheaper Russian systems on the grounds that the US will be mad at them.
Yet Russia does continue to have some successful segments of the arms market, particularly the air defense systems. While military officials believe Russian sales are just going to happen sometimes, the Trump Administration has had fits when nations like Turkey, despite all the diplomatic pressure, choose to buy Russian.
Ah, the “peace” president. How long will it take for Trumpsters to realize that they’ve been conned? It can only happen if they pull their heads out of the Fox News orifice and actually smell the coffee instead of the BS.
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” – attributed to Mark Twain.
“How long will it take for Trumpsters to realize that they’ve been conned?”
Now really…you can tell them they’re being conned and give them incontrovertible proof but getting them to ADMIT they allowed themselves to be conned is a mission impossible. They pride themselves on being world-wise and aware of what’s going on…just ask them.
A perfect example might be the Obama birth certificate canard.
Fox news? What about damn near every Monday and Thursday right here at anti-war.com? If Trump can con Raimondo into believing he’s the peace president then what hope is there for the uninformed schmucks watching Fox news?
Raimondo’s argument is that we’re on a path away from empire, which was inevitable but is being sped up.
Being led by someone who believes that he is an Emperor…or should be anyway.
Nonsense. Trump acts like a nationalist who likes the military, loves the power.
Trump acts for Americans somewhat. He perhaps just can’t imagine a noninterventionist world and a society that respects the 4th. Plenty of conservatives are like that.
True nationalism for America means loving America as a mother loves her child, not loving America’s power. Many conservatives just can’t make that crossover currently.
Nonsense. “Acting” is the operative word in your first sentence. Before he decided to run for office, everything he said and did were in relation to himself and his relationship to money…oh, and his libidinous proclivities. He “loves America,” he says. Well, everyone who runs for national office must say this. But this man is ALL about himself and his image. That’s one of the reasons he’s never really laid out a plan for anything. It’s always been phrases and broad ideas but never anything concrete and thought out. Look back at all his wives – they ALL were eye-candy and easily discarded – for his public image.
I could go on…but spending time and effort to explain my opinion of him is painful. Suffice to say, IMO, the man is despicable and given the destructiveness of what he is currently doing, beneath contempt.
But, that’s just my opinion.
Whatever his faults, Trump’s a saint compared with 99.99% of the people in DC.
Trump is admittedly eccentric, so perhaps it’s difficult to appreciate his positives. Trump has a huge ego, but so too does Musk and also Zuckerberg. That’s just a common personality for big ikes. It doesn’t mean there are no positives, only that the positives are obscured.
Trump clearly cares about America on some level. If he were only interested in his reputation, then he’d have run as an open borders Democrat.
It’s not so much a con as Trump is just wrong in this area. The US shouldn’t use any sort of pressure to encourage sales. Private companies should be private, obviously.
If the US wants to get ahead, it should entice investment capital into the US, which then builds up the US economy.
Trump’s error is he’s both an internationalist and a nationalist, in his words. He ought become a nationalist, then all of this would end.
War is profitable
Peace is a loser.
Toddler Tested Tough
Would things have been much different under Clinton?
moot point…