If 2016 Was the “Presidential Election from He**,” What Will 2020 Be?

Actually, the question may be “Isn’t 2020 That Way Already?”  It seems pretty clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee – if he decides to run, but back to that in a moment.  First, the Democrats.

The Democratic contest seems to be a race to see who can get as close as possible to Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who would, based on publicity levels in the MSM, have the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination wrapped up by now if not for a group of old white men in Philadelphia in 1787 who set the minimum age for president at 35.¹  On the other hand, we wouldn’t have Ms. AOC to kick us around if those same old white men had set the same age, i.e., 30, for the House of Representatives as they did for the Senate.² 

In terms of what agreeing with Ms. AOC means, consider that, at the South by Southwest festival in Austin last weekend, Representative Ocasio-Cortez said: “We live in a society where if you don’t have a job, you are left to die.”³  Which, of course, is true, as can be seen by the hundreds of unemployed people who are starving to death every month across the country.

The foreign policy views of the Democrats candidates seem to pretty much end with supporting Ms. AOC’s Green New Deal and cutting defense spending.  Somebody looking for a Democrat to defend the liberal international order is going to find pickings pretty slim on the ground.

As for the Republicans, President Trump has the nomination, if he wants it, which he probably should because he is going to be investigated like crazy whether he runs or not, and it seems like it would be easier to defend yourself while in the White House than out of it.

From a foreign policy of view, there are a couple of ways to look at President Trump and his administration.  Over the weekend, former Vice President Dick Cheney ripped current Vice President Mike Pence a new one with respect to President Trump’s foreign policy, comparing it, not inappropriately, to Barack Obama’s.⁴ 

The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, notes “President Trump’s foreign policy has been better than it sounds ….”  The problem is, as the Journal also says, “[S]ometimes the sound does damage on its own.”  As an example, the Journal mentions President Trump’s latest idea to charge countries where our troops are based the full cost of our troops, plus 50% on top of that.⁵  This may be a negotiating ploy, as opposed to a serious proposal,⁶ but it is appalling in either case.  At some point, our allies are going to say, “To he** with you,” and decide to start looking out for themselves.  While some people may think that’s great, when trouble comes, having friends you can trust and who can trust you, is the best thing there is.

Plus, while President Trump’s advisers have, so far, been able to stop most of his silliest ideas in foreign policy, who knows how much longer they will be around to keep doing it.  Which means, all in all, its’s beginning to look like 2020 may be the first time I have ever taken a pass when it comes to President.
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¹ Actually, not all of them were old, but they were all white and men.
² James Madison, et al, have a lot to answer for.
³ If Joe Biden had said this, he would have thrown in “literally” a couple of times, even though he would have only meant “literally” figuratively.  I note that Joe Biden is so old, he entered the Senate during Richard Nixon’s first term.
⁴ For a comment to that effect from before the 2016 presidential election, see here.
⁵ Great, the U.S. Army as a profit center.  
⁶ Real estate negotiating tactics come to the White House.