Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is accused by federal prosecutors of acting as a secret agent for South Korea.
Terry, whose husband Max Boot regularly falsely accused former President Trump of being a Russian asset, reportedly used her position and access to U.S. officials to provide sensitive information to South Korea in exchange for luxury items and other lavish benefits, according to the indictment, New York Post reported. The allegations state that from Oct. 2013, Terry engaged in activities that compromised her role as an independent foreign policy expert.
I donāt know about that, but Iāve been thinking something similar. Iām sensing that recent events have humanized Trump, and the convention is providing clarity that the Republican party is solidly behind him. He looks more simply like a Republican now, and not (insert label of choice). If this second term transpires, it could be a lot different than the first one.
Who would have thought weād be here early 2021? Heās pulled it off through sheer determination. Whatever happens, itās impressive.
Trump if re-elected wont he hampered by a Russia Hoax special investigation. Hopefully Adam Schiff loses his senate election in November and is tossed aside. Trump will be better prepared from day one.
True but thereās always hope. At least he got censured for his lies about Trump Russia hoax. Itās doesnāt mean much but him being removed from committeeās was a good thing. Republicans followed the Democrat playbook on that.
Biden wonāt take kindly to Adam Schiff and will tell him to kick rocks.
Yeah. This is (mostly) the way I saw it in real time, too.
Anyway, if you find yourself searching for a rational explanation behind Mr. Trumpās support in 2024, you could find worse than this WSJ opinion piece.
Mr. Trumpās postelection behavior was mystifying and discreditable, even in a year of lunacy and bad judgment. Couldnāt he make a measured, coherent case that the election had been unfair but nonetheless accept the result and mount an opposition campaign for 2024? He couldnāt. Did he have to accept every easily falsified tale of election fraud told to him by toadies and trumpet it to his supporters? He did. And those supporters were as ready to hear stories of election chicanery as their left-wing correlatives had been ready, six months before, to accept any allegation they heard, however ludicrous, about police violence and systemic racism.
The consequence, on Jan. 6, 2021, was a haphazard rush on a poorly guarded Capitol building in which a few ideologues and miscreants mixed with a mass of decent if misled Americans who, at the end of a white-hot election turned berserk by arbitrarily changed pandemic regulations, made the mistake of taking Mr. Trumpās rants both seriously and literally. Believing the bonkers legal theory that the vice president could forestall the transfer of power by refusing to certify electors from states in which the loser alleged fraud, protesters aimed to stop Congress from certifying Mr. Bidenās victory.
Unlike the vast majority of the lawbreakers who looted stores, vandalized monuments and attacked government buildings the previous summer, the Jan. 6 protesters were, almost to a man, found and prosecuted. Of more than 1,250 charged, more than half pleaded guilty, many offering apologies. Nonetheless the media and the Democratic Party settled on a preposterously overwrought term for this misbegotten event: āinsurrection.ā
Definitely a strike against Mr. Trump. An unfortunate take all the way, count 3-1, even though the pitch was a grooved hardball right down Broadway.
But since Mr. Trump is wondering why the U.S. would bother with Taiwan, weāll explain, and the answer isnāt only semiconductors. The fall of Taiwan to the Communist Party would mark the end of Americaās Pacific alliance system, which has produced 80 years of mostly peace. Beijing is also provoking a fight in the South China Sea with the Philippines, which the U.S. is bound by treaty to defend.
Mr. Trump has been getting mileage from his claim that heās the President who prevents wars, but here his bravado is inviting a fight that could cost thousands of American lives. The Taiwan question isnāt about waging endless wars but preventing a catastrophic one.
I doubt this is as big an issue as it seems in the papers. Chinas economy is shaky at best. They will pull back and point their guns inward I think before firing them any foreign devils.
Of course we all hope Beijing does not embark on any adventures (perhaps as a blame-the-foreign-devils distraction from domestic woes). But having watched DJTās VP pick say he doesnāt care about Ukraine (inviting further aggression against it) who is to say that similar language will not lead to a potential risk across the Taiwan Strait?
No one really knows, but I know that foreign diplomats here donāt like it. Hereās what Japanās envoy to Taiwan had to say in the distant era of . . . July 2024:
Well thatās sort of the thing that drives Japanese diplomats nutsāthe possibility of just switching things up on a dime depending on his mood or the last thing some of his advisors told him.
Iāve long thought that DJTās strong point in foreign affairs is his unpredictable mad man persona. This approach is less appreciated in Tokyo and Seoul (and here recall the way Biden brought Kishida and Yoon together, actually getting South Korea and Japan on the same pageāsomething he should receive credit for).
I think that his mood plays far less a role than people think. He sets his policy based on his campaign promises. Then he runs around the issues trying to keep them.
Kushnerās book is full of examples. Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Canada, Israel. Etc
The US has fought four wars in Asia. It won one because it used nuclear weapons. Two were forfeits and one was a draw against much weaker opponents. All lasted years.
Thatās why Iām having troubling accepting the idea that war with a nuclear-armed opponent which thinks itās fighting for its own Hawaii or Alaska is going to be some sort of quick, lop-sided victory. Odds are itās going to be a long, hard, bloody slog thatās going to require real sacrifices from Americans that theyāre way past being willing to accept.
The wars that US has fought in Asia involved invading territory and occupying land, not defending territory that you already control. Occupation will always be a long slog.
The Chinese have little to no experience in warfare and intend to invade and occupy territory. Yeah my money is still on the most experienced military power in the world.
Almost like not functionally understanding why our geopolitics have been set up the way they are was a bad thing all along?
Like, if he canāt grasp the concept of strategic ambiguity and itās role in warding a Chinese invasion whilst also benefitting our power projection into the region and giving the us an image of being a reliable ally worldwide, why do we trust this guy to, say, manage NATO? I agree with him that our NATO allies should pay their share - another one of his good points - but I really donāt think he understands everything else it does for us.
And I think this applies to more than just geopoliticsā¦ Look, Iām not really trying to just take free shots here. Itās an issue. Heās not dumb, but he doesnāt really ever come off as intellectual, does he?And this is a problem when your platform is one of no wars, but the things you say might invite the chance for the biggest war since WW2.
This is not necessarily a comparison with Biden - I think that one is also not terribly well equipped to handle some of the things we deal with today, but I do think he understands a bit more about the institutions. Or at least, used to.
Biden is old school kick the can down the road and buy time until hopefully the problem fixes itself kind of guy imo.
His knee jerk decisions are almost always awful. I know kids who havenāt seen their parents in years because of his outrageous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
His decision to release intelligence that Russia was planning an invasion was clearly not knee jerk and a master play.
Establishing AUKUS is another example.
I suppose he shouldāve just not followed the withdrawal agreement that Trump put in place. And instead do a little knee jerk and stick it out there for a few more decades.
