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Despite the hysteria by the media, President Donald Trump did not announce World War III this morning. In his address to the American people after the missile attack show by Iran last night, the president showed that he is following President Theodore Roosevelt’s adage: “speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Or, in the words of President Ronald Reagan, the Trump administration is pursuing “peace through strength” instead of appeasement with large quantities of cash.
President Trump may have made people wait for the speech, but he lost no time getting directly to the heart of the matter once he was at the podium.
As long as I’m president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning. I’m pleased to inform you the American people should be extremely grateful and happy. No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.”
Trump then detailed the terror acts of Iran, which stretch back for over 40 years, and the crimes of Qasem Soleimani in particular.
Soleimani’s hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing Soleimani we have sent a powerful message to terrorists: if you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our people.”
Then Trump laid a full body slam on the Obama administration and the Iran Deal.
Iran’s hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given 150 billion dollars, not to mention 1.8 billion dollars in cash. Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted Death to America.”
In fact, they chanted Death to America the day the agreement was signed. Then Iran went on a terrorist spree funded by the money from the deal and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.”
The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal or JCPOA. And we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place.”
We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. Iran can be a great country. Peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment violence, unrest, hatred, and war. The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime: your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. It will not be allowed to go forward.”
That is going to leave a mark on the likes of Obama administration alumni and Iranian apologists like Ben Rhodes, who refuses to believe that his fan fic of an Iran Deal enabled the Iranian regime.
You paid the Iranians billions of dollars to spread regional terrorism, facilitating the murder of tens of thousands. Your precipitous Iraq pullout led to ISIS' rise. Iran was pursuing asymmetric attacks throughout your administration. So what was your big win? https://t.co/9Oz2KMGBY0
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 8, 2020
This Trump speech was blunt, direct, and summed up his general foreign policy feelings. He does not want war, but if someone comes after Americans, Trump will make it hurt. It was a speech designed to calm the hysteria being whipped up by the media, and with the official confirmation of zero casualties, it looks like the markets are responding.
Calibrated speech. New sanctions. No reciprocal military action. Credible threat of force. Offer of diplomatic off-ramp. No questions. At the risk of grading Trump on a curve, it doesn't get much better than that.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) January 8, 2020
Of course, now the media, who keep insisting that this is all a grand plan to “distract” the public from impeachment, is going to spend time picking apart every single thing Trump said. Let’s be honest, they wanted an escalation. It would have been great for ratings, and it would have given them an excuse to endlessly speculate about things for days and keep an anti-Trump frenzy going.
Sometimes my colleagues make me so sick.
Day One: OMG! HE'S GONNA START WW3, SOMEONE STOP HIM!
Day Two: WTF! WHY HASN'T HE HIT IRAN YET?! WHAT A COWARD!
Day Three: LOL! THE DUDE SAID A WORD FUNNY. https://t.co/eU8MWoXGJo
— Jake Turx (@JakeTurx) January 8, 2020
Iran has rattled its saber, put on a fireworks show, and blinked. President Trump responded this morning with a measured tone that showed the strength of the stick he’s carrying. That was not a speech given by someone who really wants to charge into a war. Anyone who says differently (*coughcough* Ben Rhodes *coughcough*) is projecting their own issues onto the truth. Iran will continue to talk a big game, but the lines of deterrence have been firmly established. Iran was the little kid, finger extended, totally not touching the thing they know they should not touch last night. President Trump was the adult, staring at them, waiting for them to either touch the forbidden object or pull back that finger. Iran, pouting, has pulled back the finger.
Featured image: President Donald Trump (official White House photo by Shealah Craighead on December 21, 2019, public domain)
GWB says: Iran can be a great country.
Only if it throws off the mullahs/ayatollahs. Only then can it be great once again.
(And I’m disappointed Trump didn’t say something similar to that – at least referencing it could be great “again”.)
Now, I disagree with Trump’s approach. I think he should have swung the stick (let’s say, hitting every single missile launcher and missile storage depot in the country). Iran has deserved it for a long time. And Soleimani was not the only evil man involved in their evil deeds. The current posture will only last as long as Trump (or a like-minded successor) stays in office, then it will be right back to “Destroy the Great Satan!” and more low-level a**holery from the ayatollahs.
But, I will say that I respect his approach. It is a much better way to go than anything the Dems would have pulled, or even the Bushes. Reagan might have done something like this. My only concern is whether he is naive in thinking they really will change at all.
So, props to our President for pulling another one out of the hat. If it works.
GWB says: And Twitchy has a twit from NBC basically saying that Trump caused the downing of the Ukrainian jet. (It was a consequence of the “escalation” of his killing the terrorist leaders.) (Oh, she also mentions a “crossfire” – obviously not knowing what that word means – literally or figuratively.)
Of course, we’ll have to see if someone captured the screenshot, because she’s deleted those tweets now.
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