Donald Trump has dealt a significant blow to the resistance
to his administration with the missile attack on Syria. He has simultaneously driven
his domestic failures off the front pages and TV news, rallied much of the
Congress and the country around him as Commander-in-Chief, and defused the
investigations of his administration’s Russian connections. He has done it by
appearing to care about the suffering of the same children he wants to keep out
of the US and with little actual diplomatic cost in terms of relations with the
Russians. For good measure, he has shored up his base by demonstrating how he
intends to “make America great again”.
There is nothing new in his approach – it’s hardly a stroke
of genius. Past Republican and Democratic administrations have used foreign
policy crises (both real and manufactured) to deflect attention from their
problems at home. But this insignificant military action has already accomplished
much more than past diversions and, for that, he can thank the Democratic
establishment and the “liberal” media for their assistance.
Because of their obsessive focus on the Russian connection
and their history of support for military interventions, leading Democrats and
their supporters in the media are caught between a rock and a hard place. They
now feel compelled to support Trump as he leads the US further down the rabbit hole in
the Middle East and will find it infinitely harder to oppose shifting funds in
the budget from domestic needs to the military. National security trumps
domestic issues every time, particularly since both political parties often
differ only on minor points when it comes to projecting US power abroad.
Where should progressives go from here? While it is unclear
what Trump’s plan regarding US involvement in the civil war in Syria, or if he
even has one beyond squelching domestic dissent, the resistance needs to make
it clear that there is no military solution to the situation in Syria. If the quagmires
in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t proof enough, then the realization that using US
power to overthrow Assad, even under the guise of NATO or some other coalition,
will further isolate Iran – the most powerful military and economic country in
the region – and will inevitably lead the Iranians to ramp up their pursuit of
nuclear capability as their only defense. Where we might go from there is too
scary to even speculate.
Let’s be clear – humanitarian concerns are not going to be
served by further destabilization of the region. Progressives must push back against the
current and demand that the US pursue a political, rather than military,
solution as difficult as that might be, else the cloud of war will engulf us
all. And while the civil war continues to generate horrific human tragedies,
the US should do all it can to provide aid to war refugees, including admitting
them to the US, Donald.
In the addition, we need to expose this move by Trump for
what it is, and to demand a return to focus on the genuine issues confronting
the American people – economic inequality, affordable healthcare, racism &
mass incarceration, climate change, public education, voter suppression and other
attacks on democratic rights, money in politics and so on. Perhaps the slogan
should be “Let’s put our own house in order”, or even better "Regime change begins at home".
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