President Trump Fires Defense Secretary Mattis, Even Though He Already Resigned. And a Comment on Isolationism.

President Donald Trump has moved up Defense Secretary James Mattis’s termination date from February 28 to January 1.  In other words, he fired a man who has already quit.  And President Trump did it in his own, very classy and dignified, way.¹ 

President Trump concluded his tweet about Secretary Mattis with a response to the Secretary’s comment, in his resignation statement, on the importance of our allies: “Allies are very important – but not when they take advantage of U.S.”

While President Trump’s phrasing was more crass than the way most people would probably say it, the fact is isolationism is a legitimate approach to U.S. foreign policy.  I think it is wrong, and it is not an approach that has had as much support since World War II as it did before.  But staying out of the world’s problems is something America did for a long time.  It was, for example, why we stayed out of both World War I and World War II for over two years. 

In my opinion, the world has changed so much since World War II, that getting involved in the world’s problems, in cooperation with allies, is in the best interest of the United States.  Those of us who feel that way, however, need to understand that focusing on ourselves and letting the world get along on its own is a legitimate position, and we need to respond to it on that basis.  Just because President Trump says it so crudely does not mean we can ignore people who agree with his general position, if not the way he says it.
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¹ I assume the sarcasm was obvious.