It’s easy to say that Jake Sullivan has a “punchable face”. We take that as obvious. He also looks like he has a perma-wedgie. That would explain why he had the hubris to publish a 7,000 page ode to his strategic world vision in Foreign Policy magazine, The Sources of American Power. This is the piece in which Sullivan claimed that the Middle East is “quieter” than in decades right before October 7 when Hamas pulled a sneak attack and massacred Israeli families. Our Deanna called Sullivan a “complete tool”. He is a complete tool with a punchable face and a perma-wedgie. I feel better now that I got that out of my system.

The original Foreign Policy essay was so arrogant and self-congratulatory that the magazine editors let Sullivan edit it and republished it. They did so with a note that the online version was different from the original:

EDITOR’S NOTE

Before this article was posted online, a passage in it about the Middle East was updated to address Hamas’s attack on Israel, which occurred after the print version of the article went to press.

(Updated on October 25) A PDF of the print version, which went to press on October 2, is available here.

The New York Post published a critique of the article by Eddie Scarry Jake Sullivan’s embarrassing essay shows how clueless Team Biden’s been on the Middle East that took Jake Sullivan apart:

National security adviser Jake Sullivan’s embarrassing, 7,000-word drivel in Foreign Policy magazine should leave no doubt.

“The Middle East is quieter than it has been in decades,” read his piece — which went to press just days before Hamas’ savage attack on innocent Israelis.

President Biden’s “disciplined approach frees up resources for other global priorities, reduces the risk of new Middle Eastern conflicts, and ensures that U.S. interests are protected on a far more sustainable basis.”

Yes, “challenges remain,” particularly in the West Bank, Sullivan conceded. But “we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.”

Uh, you fell for Hamas’ grand charade, is more like.

And so much for Biden’s “direct diplomacy” between Israelis and Palestinians being “restored.”

Fact is, while Team Biden was patting itself on the back, Hamas — likely in cahoots with Iran — was preparing for a major terrorist operation that now threatens to enflame the entire region.

Part of the problem with the Biden Cabinet, is there surety that they are smarter and more strategic than anyone else. They only talk to each other. They stay in their own bubble. I have found that being challenged and defending my positions leads to clarity and better thinking. Maybe the reason why the region was quiet was because they were planning something. That would never occur to Jake Sullivan and that crowd.

I found this paragraph in Sullivan’s Foreign Policy essay:

The overall effect was that although the United States remained the world’s preeminent power, some of its most vital muscles atrophied. On top of this, with the election of Donald Trump, the United States had a president who believed that its alliances were a form of geopolitical welfare. The steps he took that damaged those alliances were celebrated by Beijing and Moscow, which correctly saw U.S. alliances as a source of American strength rather than as a liability. Instead of acting to shape the international order, Trump pulled back from it.

Trump was right. Though, it’s not alliances that were a form of geopolitical welfare. It’s paying countries to like you, or pretend to like you. There are strategic reason to form alliances that don’t really on payment forms like cash on pallets. That’s so weak.

Then, Sullivan talked about our military and our industrial base:

When this administration took office, we found that although the U.S. military is the strongest in the world, its industrial base suffered from a series of unaddressed vulnerabilities. After years of underinvestment, an aging workforce, and supply chain disruptions, important defense sectors had become weaker and less dynamic. The Biden administration is rebuilding those sectors, doing everything from investing in the submarine industrial base to producing more critical munitions so that the United States can make what is necessary to sustain deterrence in competitive regions. We are investing in the U.S. nuclear deterrent to ensure its continued effectiveness as competitors build up their arsenals while signaling openness to future arms control negotiations if competitors are interested. We are also partnering with the most innovative labs and companies to ensure that the United States’ superior conventional capabilities take advantage of the latest technologies.

Our U.S. military is whole vats of awesome sauce. On a go forward basis, I worry. The branches are not meeting their recruiting goals and then there is this:

Biden hired this drag queen to HELP U.S. military recruitment.pic.twitter.com/wd0cvCiRd9

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 14, 2023

We saw the brutality of the attack on October 7. I am sure that some drag stars are battle ready, but we need a military that is ruthless. We also need innovation, yes, but we need solid skills in our industrial base. We need plumbers.

What we don’t need is perma-wedge Yale grads filled with arrogance and hubris who are self-congratulatory while the world is catching fire. Jake Sullivan should learn to code. His skills in national security are truly sad.

Featured Image: Brookings Institute/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons