Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Aspirant Donald Trump and an American War Hero: Troubled Coexistence in the Republican Party of 2015?

Keywords or Terms: GOP Chairman Reince Preiebus; Aspirant Donald Trump; Senator John McCain; War Hero; USA Today/University Poll; Far-Right Wing Republicans; Tea Party; Republican Field of Aspirants; Veterans; Families of POWs; Disparaging, Slanderous, and Out of place comment; Compromise, civility, courteousness and appreciations; Vietnam Era Military Pilot; Southeast Asian War; Afghanistan and Iraq wars; Second World War; P5+1+EU countries; Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Agreement; US Congress; Israeli and Bibi Netanyahu; and, American Blood.

What establishment Republicans have promised has not yet happened. What the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party predicted about seven years ago has actually come to pass. Donald Trump, the hero of the Republican Party’s rank and file has not only bested more than fourteen Republican hopefuls for the 2016 nomination, he topped the early polls conducted by USA Today/Suffolk University this past week; and has been growing in support since his derogation of Senator John McCain’s military service on Saturday. This exactly was what the Tea Party promised, the conservative far-right wing of the Republican Party will someday hold sway in the Republican Party, and a leader worthy of their course, rise up to take the mantle of leadership in the Party. Among the long list of Republican Party hopefuls, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, Mick Huckabee, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, George Pataki, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal, Donald Trump stands out as an incurable political straight talker, some say politically-incorrect, others say reckless and dubious, who hardly cares whose ox is being gored; and now, the most favorable of the Republican far right, the tea party constituent, for the 2016 Presidential contest.
To be sure that things do not turn aerie or go to the dogs, GOP Chairman Reince Preiebus has been scrambling and sometimes taking a deep breath regarding what to do with or about the hero of the new Republican far-right, Donald Trump; who has not only been growing in polls, but has used his campaign message to address the issue of immigration in rather negative or non-voter friendly way for the Republican Party. To compound the GOP Chairman’s fear, this weekend, Aspirant Donald Trump advanced an argument, which even staunch Democrats will never torch or imagine. The real estate mogul and NBC-reality show host turned Republican Presidential hopeful, who most recently relegated Mexicans to rapists and what not, cast aspersion on Senator John McCain’s American war hero’s status. What many sensible and knowledgeable veterans have acknowledged of Senator McCain’s heroism during the Vietnam War, including the current US Secretary of State, John Kerry, releasing a public statement affirming the heroism of his former compatriot, is now being questioned by the darling of the far right Republicans to  their applause. Aspirant Trump, embolden over the week from initial far-right applause of his derogation, doubles down on his statement, including further assertion that he is not a fan of one of America’s bests.

When Senator John McCain criticized the darling of the new Republican Party’s rank and file as “crazies” the other day, little did he know that Aspirant Donald Trump was going for the broke, he was about to hit the ball out of the park without anyone out there to catch the ball with all bases loaded. Some say Aspirant Trump’s comments crossed the line, others say, it is “douchebaggery”; however, well-meaning Americans, Democrats and Republicans, say there is no room for reckless use of language by any worthy candidate for the Office of the President of the United States. The personal grievance or recklessness which aspirant Trump’s offensive and slanderous comment could have generated was toned down by response from Senator John McCain: “Trump doesn’t owe me an apology; but, he owes one to the families of POWs.” Concurrently, other contesting Republican aspirants, including Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush have not only criticized Donald Trump’s comment as either slanderous or out of place, but rose up to defend the heroism of the Senior Senator from the state of Arizona; with Senator Lindsey Graham intoning that Mr. Trump is fired, in the manner of the latter’s reality show quips. With Governor Rick Perry admonishing aspirant Donald Trump’s remarks as reaching a new low in American Politics and calling for his immediate withdrawal from the race and Senator Lindsey Graham further Tweeting: “if there was ever any doubt that Donald Trump should not be our commander in chief, this stupid statement should end all doubt.”

Republican Aspirant Donald Trump’s exact comments on Saturday’s Ames, Iowa, Family Leadership Conference follows thus, among others: He [Senator John McCain] is a hero because he was captured…I like people who weren’t captured”, says a ton about what the Grand Old Party, Party of  Ike Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan, has turned out to be in 2015. Rather than the faith and family message of this weekend’s Family Leadership Conference, Donald Trump decided to spill the milk or throw a huge wrench into what has been puzzling establishment Republicans since the rise of the far right in their party. Whether Aspirant Donald Trump will lose a good portion of his supporters for the disparaging comment against Senator McCain is left for time to tell; however, from the look of things, aspirant Trump is relishing in his vocal abuse as he doubles down on his earlier comment, with another more disparaging comment as, I am not a fan of John McCain because he has done very little for our Veterans. Whoa, and you thought the first was bad enough, wonder what additional derogation or slander is coming your way with the rise of Donald Trump’s candidacy!

Apparently, there are problems in the Republican Party. Problems concerning compromise, civility, courteousness, and respect for the military and public service. Aspirant Donald Trump’s partisans may be disappointed; however, his fervent supporters do not give a hue. These things have long been on the minds of many Americans, as the far-right dished out their very worst in behavior against President Barack Obama all the years of his administration. Republican establishment would have to deal with this now; the Ginny has been let out of the bottle! Sort of reminds me of that old adage, if you do not caution your dog from biting your neighbor, it would someday turn on you! It would be useful if Republican establishment realizes that anyone ready to throw a national war hero and prisoner of war under the bus, comes out short in the caliber of person to occupy the White House oval office. The last few years have seen enough incivility in American politics and discussions; and frankly, the current comment from the darling of the Tea Party, is just an extension of what others had considered unacceptable for very long time in American Politics. It appears right now that the chicken has come home to roast!

Intra-party feud or not, Aspirant Trump’s choice of words lacks the understanding of the job of a Vietnam Era Military Pilot, if you ask Senator McCain. Did we learn anything from the experience of the Vietnam War as a country; or, has Aspirant Trump’s reckless language opened up a cankerworm about why we went to war in Vietnam or other recent foreign wars? We easily dominated the Grenada War in 1983 and the Dominican Republic’s in 1965. In the case of Vietnam, it appears that we hardly should have involved ourselves in that war; and if we consider the public’s perception of the war in retrospect, it was a bad idea. It is probably on this basis that a draft-dodger, Donald Trump, has based part of his outrageous comments on Senator McCain. Protagonists of the Vietnam War maintain critics of the Southeast Asian War hardly understand the purpose of military engagement. For this group, the nation has the duty of looking beyond its national interest when engaging in foreign hostilities. Further, for protagonists the perceived failure of the Vietnam War, was the unwillingness of the nation to accept the responsibility of sacrifices, sufferings and causalities that mounted up over the years of the war. Compounded with this, was the nation’s apprehensiveness regarding going to a war where our vital national interest was not at stake.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars remain in hot contentions in current discuss and appear not to prove a case either way. What is now considered the war of choice by Prescient G.W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, has raised another question: whether our nation’s military might can actually do the job in addressing religious fanaticism? The concept of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on false intelligence from Israel and other European nations. The Vietnam War appears to have been based on the notion of collective security against aggression of one or more nations; however, the case of the second Iraq war suffers the tenant of misinformation from an ally who wanted us to dismantle any possible military might of a tyrant, Saddam Hussein. This last misjudgement or erroneous machination and determination is the real reason why Israelis Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has denounced the current P5+1+EU negotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of action. For Netanyahu, America’s might should be used to solve any problem his nation is not good enough to address, either militarily or diplomatically.

This brings us to another lesson: If the US Congress turns down the newly negotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Agreement, and the country selects to go to war with Iran unilaterally, if our capabilities are unable to succumb the religious fanaticism that is very much part of the Ayatollahs’ theocracy, we suffer a Vietnam era’s type of experience, with the potential of the likely adversary dictating the time and place of confrontation. This is a probability in offing; and this is the reality that Israelis Netanyahu knows and is incapable of addressing. Hence his denouncement of the agreement. Baring the use of another atomic bomb, we suffer the potential of the Vietnam’s era experience. America has a collective interest, with other P5+1+EU countries in ensuring that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon capability; this is why US Congress has to ratify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement. The ratification does not only solidify our position as the leader of the free world, it enhances the reasonable expectation of every member of the negotiating team and puts our nation on an untouchable pedestal of leadership. One very crucial lesson that the comment from aspirant Trump’s has inadvertently generated, in light of ongoing international relation’s issue before us today is this: We as a nation must never again go to war, where our vital national interest is not at stake; nor engage in hostilities for the sake of the wishes of an unappreciative ally. America’s blood must never be shed for cooked up lies and the blue print used for defending Europe in the Second World War and undermining Saddam Hussein in 1991, must remain a distinct strategy never to be wasted on an unappreciative partner.


No comments: