President Donald Trump clearly enjoys using his Twitter account to prime our already impish elites for a day of flailing, a week of wailing. This time, we were treated to career diplomats, professional babblers and esteemed fact-checkers, all in a hurry to show their man Barack Obama was, despite all objective evidence, a real tough guy.
Like a skinny-armed “Guernica,” the blob howled out its independent, completely individual rulings.
“President Trump Tweeted He’s Been Tougher on Russia Than Obama. That’s Not True,” Time magazine decreed. “Trump tweets that he’s been tougher on Russia than Obama — but he hasn’t been,” CNBC declared. “Mostly False,” Politifact chimed in. “No, Trump Hasn’t Been Harder on Russia Than Obama,” Mother Jones echoed a day later.
Nicholas Burns, a former Hillary Clinton adviser, tweeted that Trump hasn’t “defended us” from Russia, citing Obama’s expulsion of 35 diplomats, closing of two compounds and economic sanctions. The Hill, in its write-up, cited Mr. Burns as “a veteran U.S. diplomat and current Harvard professor,” notably leaving out his failed stint at electing Clinton. Pretty kooky.
But there’s more wrong here. More left out.
In addition to keeping the two Russian compounds closed over Kremlin protest, President Trump added three Russian compounds to the list.
In addition to keeping the Obama sanctions in place, President Trump’s Department of Treasury sanctioned 38 groups and individuals connected to Ukrainian separatists, froze assets on five of Vladimir Putin’s prominent allies, and began to roll out a new batch of congressionally mandated sanctions, providing a list of targets and a report on sanctions’ impact. Having provided these lists, the administration is currently well within its 120-day timeline to evaluate which targets have changed their ways or require the hammer.
But what else?
President Obama was afraid to enforce America’s chemical weapon treaty with Syria because he didn’t want a confrontation with the Russians. President Trump struck Syria without a single utterance about red lines, calmly informing the Chinese dictator of his unilateral action over “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you have ever seen.”
President Obama scrapped George W. Bush’s promise to deploy a missile-defense shield to Poland. President Trump sent American missiles back along with American natural gas — a direct slap to Russia, which uses its energy-exports to threaten Europe at will. (RELATED: 5 Times Trump Has Slapped Down Russia)
President Obama withheld lethal arms to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. President Trump OK’d lethal weapons to Ukraine.
President Obama let the military budget lapse under the weight of multiple wars and domestic caps. President Trump increased military spending.
President Obama asked Russia to stop breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and was soundly ignored. President Trump responded “with a missile of [our] own.”
President Obama held the U.S. back from tapping into the energy wells that crush Russia’s ability to pay for its military. President Trump unleashed American fracking and potential for oil exploration.
President Obama told the Kremlin he’d have “more flexibility” after he beat Gov. Mitt Romney.
President Obama later told mean old Romney, “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because…the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” MSNBC thought it was hysterical. The Washington Post called it a sweet “zinger.”
Today, the same media that thought that was so funny, you guys, is screeching that the new president says “meddle” more often.
Oh, and Obama was a real tough guy.
