Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)

@igotnopicks
 
It shouldn’t surprise anyone.
 
This now leaves one major world actor with key influence in Syria to move unchecked.
 
Russia.
 
Only a short time ago, US led forces destroyed an Assad strike team that was headed by apparent Russian mercs. Russia has stated time and time again that they have a keen interest in Syria.
 
With the US out of the picture, their plans can run unabated.
 
Also his statement that “ISIS in Syria is defeated” confused the hell out of the military community. Especially considering they launched a successful terror strike in Raqqa literally 10 min before Trump’s announcement.
 
Trump does not have America’s interest in mind.
 
How does one say “Make America Great Again” in Russian?

@Zincy  
I know. He doesn’t care about America. He only cares about himself.

@Zincy  
America’s interest is no longer necessarily in the Middle East, and it really shouldn’t have been in the first place. For the most part, I consider withdrawal a good thing, assuming it actually happens. “If we don’t keep colonies in Africa, the Germans will keep colonies in Africa, so therefore we must have colonies in Africa” didn’t work out so well for the British. That’s not a one-to-one comparison with the situation in the Middle East, but I think the logic is worth questioning.
 
Also, the recent pension reforms in Russia have damaged Putin’s popularity. It’s not some unstoppable juggernaut that needs the full might of the U.S. military machine to counteract it. Same thing with ISIS. If it somehow manages to rise again, it’ll be due in large part to the sheer ineffectiveness and incompetence of the region’s “legitimate” governments.

@HeadlessHorselessHorseman
 
We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, yes.
 
But now that we are, we need to finish the job and not pull another Iraq.
 
To leave before the mission is finished is to open up a power vacuum in the region.
 
A gap that Russia, Iran, and ISIS will exploit.
 
Whether you like it or not, America does have a strategic reason to maintain a presence in the region. Limiting Russian influence, weakening and destroying ISIS, preventing the resurgence of other terror groups, reinforcing the Kurds and keeping them from butting heads with Turkey, cutting the flow of arms from Iran into the hands of Hezboala, and maintaining strength in an area of western trade.
 
None of those goals have been accomplished yet.
 
You’d think we’d of learned from the clusterfuck that was Iraq that cutting and running before the job is done is far, far worse than completing it.
 
If we just up and bolt in a month, the situation there will deteriorate, and it will hurt US and local conditions.
 
The world is more nuanced than you believe, and sometimes you need to look at things mechanistically. Fact of the matter is, America has a vested interest in maintaining strength in the region until such a time as it is no longer needed.
 
And yea, I’m a little biased toward American interests. We need to be keen to our own, and our allies. And Russia ain’t one.
 
Get the job done first. Don’t go in, blow shit up, and run. Rebuild, stabilize, and finish.

Apparently, they’re pulling the diplomatic Corp as well as civilian aid workers.
 
Effectively removing all US influence in the region.
 
We are bending over for Russia.

@Zincy  
Calling it now this is what Putin asked for.

@Zincy  
The U.S. has possibly the most sophisticated counter-terror security apparatuses in the world. We have a lot more to fear from internal enemies (right-wing domestic terrorism) than external. And frankly, a pivot towards Iran and away from, at long last, the Saudis and maybe even Israel could be overdue.

For the resident conservatives that have questioned my insistence that I do have some conservative aspects of my being, let this stand as the record.
 
I am livid at this. The utter disregard for the opinions and advice of our military leadership, the willful bending over to our enemies, the white flag waving to a terrorist group that wants to see our nation burn.
 
It is the most anti-American thing he has done in his long history of complete and utter fuckups.
 
I am completely convinced that he is on Russia’s payroll.

@Zincy  
Trump is far from conservative anyway.

@HeadlessHorselessHorseman
 
Except Iran won’t be the main player here. Russia will.
 
You know, the country led by the leader that high-fived Saudi Arabia’s murder-in-chief, and joined them in weakening the climate accord to save our planet?
 
Russia is, was, and for the foreseeable future, shall be antithetical to American, and world interests.
 
Patton should have marched his way to Moscow.

@Zincy  
Putin is getting old, and so far it doesn’t seem like he has an able successor to take his place in the event of retirement or death. Once he’s left the stage, Russia could relatively easily descend into a war between oligarchs.
 
And Trump bears at least as much responsibility for tearing up the climate accords and cozying up to MBS.

[deleted]

@Background Pony #F147  
Most likely to its own detriment.

@Zincy  
The Soviet Army would have taken all of Western Europe if that happened

[deleted]

Trump’s first re-election campaign ad has come out. It’s about as ego stroking as you’d think.
 
It also includes a phone number where you can call and say Thank You to Trump…and cuts you off to beg for money. This clip with Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire spells it out.

@Dustcan  
Why would it need to beg for money? Everyone knows that those who worked for any political campaigns are rich as fuck. How else would they afford all that pizazz? Donations? We all know that’s just lobbying.

@Scrabbleman
 
That’s been Trump’s MO after his umpteenth bankruptcy/business failure: don’t risk your own money and spend everyone elses.
 
The recently disolved Trump Foundation was exactly that.

@Dustcan  

I wish there was even a slight chance Trump will ever actually hear any of those messages (aside from possibly whichever ones hit the highest levels of cloying sycophanty). I’d gladly spend an entire day enumerating my loathing for him in 20 second phone messages.
 
Also, I’m not surprised he’s already on the begging for money stage. He’s got to get to it before his supporters lose all their cash because of his tariffs and utter economic incompetence.

Well the saga that is the legitimation of rape to the Supreme Court can probably be closed now that Brett ‘I LIKE BEER’ Kavanaugh has been officially declared above the law.

@Dustcan  

 
I guess rape is okay if you’re rich and white in America, then.

@Violet Rose in The Rain  
that was confirmed years ago when that one guy got off cuz the judge didn’t want to ruin his future,

One quote I know from George Carlin: “It’s called an American Dream. You have to be ASLEEP to believe it.”
 
His words still stuck to me to this day.

Trump is good at one thing, hamstringing the GOP.
 
“Mr. President, we’ve passed a popular criminal justice reform!”
 
“Sorry, can’t hear you, pulling out of Syria while my lawyer lies on national television.”

Someone seriously made a GoFundMe page for Donald Trump’s retarded wall….and it’s already hit nearly 2 million