Trump’s Afghanistan Speech: Hustling Used Carnage

Trump’s speech on Afghanistan this evening reminded me of this book cover from the early 1970s.  This was probably some of the first political humor which I relished.  National Lampoon was much more reliable on Nixon’s foreign policy than was the Washington Post.

Here is my running commentary via Facebook:

So Trump will speak in a few minutes on his solution for Afghanistan. I am on the edge of my chair, waiting to see if he forever banishes my cynicism about politicians. It’s always a bad sign when a speech is given to a military audience – nobody can hoot or jeer without ruining their career.

• *Bummed that Trump is not wearing his solar eclipse glasses.
• *   “a wound inflicted on one part of our community is wound to all” – oh Lordie
• *   Third time for 9/11. What is the betting odds for the final # of mentions?
• *    “big and intricate problems” – damn, if only we had known
• * “We will learn from history” – WHOOP WHOOP
• * “a successful outcome” – which means WTH in Afghanistan?
• *  Personally, I have never been inspired by laundry lists.
• *   Lifting restrictions on U.S. military attacks – what could go wrong?
• *  promising “economic development” in Afghanistan – is he plagiarizing GWBush?
• * Talking about the need for Afghan political reforms – what a crock. Heard this so many times…
• * “restore the bonds of loyalty among our citizens at home” – …bad news for any NFL player who does not stand for the national anthem?
• * Trump may have gotten rolled by the Pentagon on his Afghan surge the same way Obama got rolled in 2009
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