President Trump is once again being pilloried in the press for what Yahoo News calls, "an 'astonishing' concession to Kim Jong-un and North Korea." What a surprise.
Trump's comments, they write, "sent shudders through the already shaky architecture of military alliances that undergird U.S. global power. Abandoning joint military exercises will immediately begin to degrade the readiness and deterrent posture of the 32,000 U.S. troops in South Korea, military experts say."
May I ask what military alliances undergird U.S. global power? Without the U.S., there is no global power. How many nations across the globe depend upon the mighty United States military to protect them? And how many do we rely on to protect us?
As far as readiness is concerned, we've been doing these biannual joint military exercises with South Korea for decades. If we're not ready by now, we'll never be. And ready for what? If North Korea ever decides to invade the South, they're not just going to match us force for force. Our 32,000 troops along the DMZ wouldn't stand a chance against the tidal wave of NK troops. It's common knowledge.
As for Trump canceling the joint exercise – he hasn't canceled it, but merely put it on ice, pending the outcome of joint talks. The exercise is not scheduled to begin until August – two months from now. Unlike Obama, and many others in the political class, President Trump won't have the patience with Kim to allow him to drag things out beyond August anyway. This just shows what a bunch of partisan liars these military "experts" are. It also shows that this isn't about the military. It's about politics and hatred for Trump, pure and simple.
TRENDING: To DEI for
Yet despite this, the president is undeterred. And frankly, thank heavens he has not listened to the so-called experts and gaggle of talking heads telling him he's doing it all wrong. None of us should defer to their judgment. If any of these "experts" can name a single diplomatic success, perhaps we and Trump might listen.
The president, with his masterful mix of good-cop, bad-cop, has already accomplished more in a relative blink of an eye than all the smart people of the last five or six decades.
So who the heck cares if Trump lent an air of legitimacy to Kim by meeting with him on the vaunted "world stage." In the grand scheme of accomplishing what Trump is attempting, is that a big deal? No – of course not, unless you are a deranged leftist whose only task is to try to debase and belittle the president.
And apparently it was wrong for Trump to call our joint military exercises, "war games," or say that they are "provocative." This, the left says, is adopting the rhetoric of Pyongyang.
Again – who cares! Although the exercises are not attempting to provoke Kim into going to war, they are, in fact, not just readiness exercises but an obvious display of military might. And what else would one call a massive military readiness exercise? What are we spending billions of dollars readying ourselves for, but a potential war? Trump just has a knack for cutting through the diplomatic bull-crap and calling it the way it is – in plain English, so everyone can understand, and it continues to drive the "smart set" nuts.
Now naturally we have a treaty with South Korea, promising to help defend it. And I'm quite certain that the president would never walk away from it. However, Trump's pronouncement that he would like nothing more than to pull our troops out of South Korea is somehow an end-of-the-world statement.
Unlike Obama, who had a habit of announcing the date of troop withdrawals, Trump is just stating the obvious. From that, retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey concluded, "I'm very concerned that Trump signaled that if Kim gives up his nuclear weapons, then the United States will withdraw our troops from South Korea."
Really? When did Trump say that? He didn't, of course, nor did he signal it. And even if he did – so what?
The bottom line is that Trump is the negotiator none of these "smart people" are familiar with, and they don't know how to deal with him. Trump has evidently mastered the art of smack-em down, then butter-em up, and see which one sticks. And it's working.
The "smart set's" problem is that they can't just sit down, shut up and let the guy work. They are compelled by hatred, jealousy, or just being paid to be contrarian. And because of this, they are the ones who look like fools.