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Also see: Federalism; Deep state; FBI; military; United
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Iran; North Korea;
Real types of War -- 2016 --
August 16: At Penn and other universities,
Vietnam dominated discussions. Mr. Trump said Wharton, with its business focus,
had been somewhat different. Although he “hated the concept of the war,” he
said, he did not speak out against it.
May 26: In shakeup, Trump to set up 'war
room' to repel attacks over Russia probe
Once U.S. President Donald Trump returns from his overseas trip, the White House
plans to launch its most aggressive effort yet to push back against allegations
involving Russia and his presidential campaign, tackling head-on a scandal that
has threatened to consume his young presidency.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-warroom-idUSKBN18M2FU
September 20: Trump pushes US closer to war
Almost as chilling as the speech was the reaction. US neo-conservatives who had
led the United States into the disastrous war with Iraq, such as former
Ambassador John Bolton, cheered. So too did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who recklessly and relentlessly itches for the United States to
destroy Iran.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/09/20/trump-pushes-closer-war/Q56ppW1CDDqr2D8isPfmNK/story.html
October 6: When you say "maybe it's the calm
before the storm" when surrounded by the top military leaders in the country, it
doesn't take much of a logical leap to conclude there is some sort of military
operation in the offing.
November: A military veteran glowingly
featured by Fox News earlier this month for his pro-Trump artwork and his record
as a “war hero”
admitted Thursday to lying about his military service. John Garofalo, 72,
was featured in a Bryan Llenas report as having served seven years as a Navy
SEAL, receiving 22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts, and having been
listed twice as missing in action during Vietnam. Garofalo, who personally
carved a presidential seal to gift President Trump, is a “tough, tough man,”
Llenas said, after calling him a “hero” during an interview.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-trump-war-hero-featured-on-fox-news-never-actually-served
November 18: The commander of U.S. nuclear
forces says he would resist any “illegal” order from a president to launch a
strike and would attempt to recommend an alternative move.
Air Force General John Hyten, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, told a
forum in Halifax, Canada, on November 18 that he had discussed the scenario with
President Donald Trump.
If it becomes apparent that the president is using military action to remake his
presidency, we should hope for sober but firm skepticism from the public, the
media and Congress.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goes-to-war
May 31:Did
Congress Just Shut Down Trump’s War Plans for Iran?
In the lead-up to Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw from
the Iran deal, the President operated with near-impunity from Congress and the
media. His nomination of Mike Pompeo, an avowed Iran hawk
who worked tirelessly in Congress to undercut Obama’s diplomatic efforts and
unravel the nuclear deal, met with some controversy but ultimately passed over
the toothless opposition of Senate Democrats. Trump’s appointment of John Bolton
to round out his “Iran
war cabinet” provoked a handful of headlines but received far less media
scrutiny than even Bolton’s 2006 recess appointment to a lower position in
the Bush Administration. And in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s decision, it
appeared he might also bully his way past Congress, the press, and Europe to
begin escalating toward military conflict. But the tide may be turning against
Trump and his “war cabinet.”
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/05/did-congress-just-shut-down-trumps-war-plans-iran/148613/
May 25:TRUMP NUKE FEARS ...
Does Donald Trump have the nuclear launch codes and what has the US
president said about North Korea?
May 31: The
United States and North Korea have spent the past week scrambling to
reschedule a June 12 summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un. If it takes place, it will be among the most memorable
moments in recent US diplomatic history.
But what might actually happen if the two leaders meet? According to experts,
there are four broad scenarios that could play out — each with vastly different
and potentially dangerous consequences.
November 11:
Trump and dozens of his global counterparts gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in
central Paris to mark
100 years since the nightmares of World War I ended, a conclusion brought
about partly by the entry of the United States into the bitter,
nationalism-fueled conflict.
November 11:Donald
Trump‘s visit to a First World War cemetery was called off by the White
House because of poor weather.
The US leader was set to visit the Aisne-Marne American cemetery in the French
village of Belleau – the site of a 1918 battle in which the Americans and French
repelled German forces. More than 1,800 Americans died there.
The battle looms large in the history of the US Marine Corps.
November 12: Trump Leaves World War
Commemorations Isolated Among Allies
For U.S. President Donald Trump, attending a French-run ceremony to commemorate
World War I, a bloodletting that highlighted the value of allies and dangers of
nationalism, was never going to be easy. By the time he flew home on Sunday he
appeared isolated and, by some, scorned.
Trump arrived fresh off midterm elections where his party lost control of the
House of Representatives even as he kept control of the Senate. A Twitter storm
over his failure on Saturday to attend a commemoration service of Marines who
died a century ago on the battlefields of France is unlikely to affect him
domestically, with his backers and opponents already well entrenched.
Abroad, though, the equivalent of any modern U.S. president’s base -- the
network of alliances built up through two World Wars and beyond -- appears more
fragile. That’s a risk for a leader who may need their cooperation as he
confronts China in a trade war and Iran over its foreign and nuclear policies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-leaves-world-war-one-201318031.html
November 12: French army mocks Trump for
skipping visit to First World War cemetery in Paris due to rain
‘There’s rain but it’s not serious,’ army tweets alongside photo of soldier
crawling on ground
The US president’s decision sparked condemnation in both Europe and the US.
Nicholas Soames,
a grandson of Sir
Winston Churchill and Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, led the
criticism, branding the president a “pathetic inadequate”.
February 28: Trump's war on women ...
President
Donald Trump is waging a war against women. In his first week in office, Mr.
Trump reinstated the
Global Gag Rule (also known as the Mexico City policy), which threatens to
leave many women without access to sexual and reproductive health services in
low and middle-income countries. The new administration has also
proposed a plan to drastically cut funding to a number of federal agencies,
including
defunding the 25 grant programs under the Violence Against Women Act. These
programs offer essential services to survivors of gender-based violence in the
United States.
As a candidate, Donald Trump famously dismissed climate change as a
“hoax” invented by the Chinese to gain a competitive advantage in the global
marketplace. As President, Trump put Scott Pruitt, who disputes the scientific
consensus that carbon dioxide is the primary driver of climate change, in charge
of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In his first budget, Trump proposed to eliminate many climate change programs
outright, and cut others sharply. The EPA, which focuses on significant climate
science, would see its budget cut by 31%, reducing it to levels not seen since
the 1980s. Four NASA climate-related projects would be terminated entirely.
Grants supporting climate adaptation programs in coastal areas would be zeroed
out. When asked about these cuts, Trump’s budget director,
Mick Mulvaney, told Congress "we're not spending money on that anymore.
We consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that." Fortunately
the response from many of the key members of Congress, on both sides of the
aisle, has been to dismiss Trump’s budget as “dead on arrival.”
https://www.vermontlaw.edu/blog/climate-change/trump-war-on-science
January 29: Workers’ health, safety, and pay
are casualties in Trump’s war on regulations
In his first year, President Trump launched an
unprecedented attack on regulations, rolling back countless rules that protected
workers, consumers, public health, and the environment.
Opponents of regulations routinely highlight only the costs associated with a
particular rule, while ignoring its benefits—alleging that all regulations cost
jobs and are a burden for employers. However, the authors cite research showing
that federal regulations provide an overall net benefit to the economy, and
indeed have a modestly positive or neutral effect on employment. Moreover, time
after time, working families lose as these regulations are dismantled.
https://www.epi.org/press/workers-health-safety-and-pay-are-casualties-in-trumps-war-on-regulations/
March 19: Trump’s War on Maternal Health ...
Under President Donald Trump ... the US has reversed course. For starters, it
has
withdrawn funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN
agency that provides reproductive health-care and family-planning services for
refugees and other women affected by humanitarian crises.
Moreover, the Trump administration has expanded the “Mexico
City Policy,” also known as the “global gag rule,” which forbids
organizations that receive US funding from providing information or referrals
for abortion, even in countries where abortion is legal.
In President Trump’s era of aggressive immigration enforcement, a power struggle
between state, tribal, and federal authorities is unfolding before our eyes.
So-called
sanctuary-city policies have been employed by local jurisdictions to ensure
that immigrants are afforded constitutional protections. Federal authorities
have retaliated by increasing immigrant roundups and suing
immigrant-friendly states.
President Trump is seeking to radically remodel the State Department
in an unprecedented way, according to former officials from administrations of
both political parties.
Past GOP presidents have also sought to cut the State Department down to size,
and even current employeeshave acknowledged bureaucratic
problems at Foggy Bottom.
October 30: The dangerous consequences of
Trump's all-out assault on political correctness
When Donald Trump ran for president, one of the core pillars of his pitch to the
voting public was this: Political correctness is a cancer eating away at the
body politic.
"We have to straighten out our country, we have to make our country great again,
and we need energy and enthusiasm," Trump said during an appearance on "Meet the
Press" in August 2015. "And this political correctness is just absolutely
killing us as a country. You can't say anything. Anything you say today, they'll
find a reason why it's not good."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/politics/donald-trump-hate-speech-anti-semitism-steve-king-kevin-mccarthy/index.html
May 25:
Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the
Laws of War
President Donald Trump’s inclination to grant pardons to several military and
contractor personnel accused or convicted of war crimes may itself be a
violation of the laws of war, if not a war crime. In an extraordinary
public statement issued Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) – an international organization that usually acts through confidential
communications with parties to armed conflict – explains the distinction between
pardons and amnesties. The ICRC does not comment on specific cases, and in this
statement, does not opine on the legality, let alone the possible criminality,
of any particular grant of pardon/amnesty. But the fact that the organization
chose to weigh in on such a hot button issue suggests how serious a threat such
action by President Trump would be to the system of international law.
