In my moral code, betrayal is worse than cowardice. In our President we have the worst of both! Trump-the Betrayer. If he thinks his base isn't going to be moved by this, he'd better think again. Even timid, corrupt McConnell has written an op-ed decrying both Trump's perfidy *and* stupidity--without, of course, actually naming the source of his complaint. I believe we are moving toward the end of the end of the most corrupt and loathsome Presidency in American history. Would that the rest of his cabinet--including pathetic Mike Pence could join him in public ignominy.
69
Trump's move in Syria and his subsequent rationalizations demonstrate the man's total lack of empathy for other people. He can imagine nothing except his own self interest. Other people exist only to be used by him. He is a moral idiot and a monster.
And he has an entire political party, partisan media, and hardcore supporters backing him up in everything he does.
It can happen here. It is happening here.
49
We had a chance in Mesopotamia to set up a Kurdish homeland but threw it away. (2003) when Prez shrub dorked that one up. Trump just discarded them like a used tissue. Yet I see a few thousand airheads in Texas showed up to cheer Donnie on. We live in dark times. Stick a fork in this one. This country is done.
42
There was once a Republican President who said “Speak softly and carry a big stick”. We now have a Republican President who could say “Speak loudly and carry a swizzle stick”. If he is allowed to (dis)serve for another four years, the shame will be upon us.
251
On the matter of the Kurds, do not insult my intelligence. The so-called alliance began when W criminally invaded Iraq. The first abandonment occurred when Obama pulled our troops out. And Obama’s indifference continued through Assad’s rape of Syria. And even with the rise of ISIS, Obama kept American boots off the ground. The first American soldier to embrace a Kurd in years was sent in by Trump. And now that Trump is going back to Obama’s policy, you tell me he’s the one who cares not about the Kurds. What Kool Aid are you drinking?
3
Sometimes a single sentence buried within betrays what the real geo-politic really is. "The Kurds are about the best Middle Eastern friends Israel has". Shafting minorities like the Yemenis, the Palestinians, the mess America made (both parties), Libya and Iraq doesn't get the bipartisan revulsion. It's because the Kurds work on Israels behalf. This is the root of the concern for them. If they didn't, their deaths and displacement would barely be a footnote in this paper or the mass media of the USA.
5
Everything you point out, Roger, is true. Because of Trump our allies and the world can no longer cash the American check drawn on funds of trust and integrity. They assume rightfully that it will bounce, pure rubber. Trump learned the art of the cruel betrayal at the knee of Roy Cohn. In this particular instance, the total abandonment of the Kurds, he displayed a sickening mastery of such perfidy which in its loss of lives and its geopolitical consequence will likely never be surpassed. To call Trump unprincipled is the same as calling Hitler a naughty boy. Equally culpable, however, shamefully so, are those within the Administration, Justice and Senate who continue to enable the Liar-In-Chief, refusing to condemn so many lines crossed and laws broken. Yes, Trump will be impeached but likely not removed from office due entirely to a feckless GOP whose hunger for the truth and the energy to act on it has been reprehensibly lacking.
21
Trump uses his gut because he has no brain. He couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. Put him at a map and he wouldn't find Syria. This man is a truly ignorant buffoon. The biggest embarrassment is that he is still supported by 40% of American voters! This narcissistic, amoral, incredibly corrupt, impulsive and chaotic con man is defended by almost all of the so-called "Republicans" in the US Congress.
50
It's too easy to call Trump a clown, he's certainly no Pagliacci. And indeed nobody is laughing, except those too stupid or insensitive or cruel, like Trump. Trump is a monster, and the sooner we call him that the sooner we will wake from this horror show he's ringmaster of.
28
You've been turned on your head America. Where is this going?
19
Trump is a weakling and a coward, always has been. His abandonment of the Kurds has led to civilians having their body parts recovered in a wheelbarrow for burial. The man is an incompetent lunatic.
32
Trump and Erdogan's "ultimate solution" for the Kurds sounds like something the Nazis would have said about the Jews.
26
More than the foreign policy, Trump would be remembered for his stupidity and rank ignorance. Close behind would be his grades on his ever-lasting hunger for money and insensitivity to human misery and suffering. Hell, he couldn't care for the life of millions if he saw a profit for himself in the ruination and blood.
Imagine one of the two of our major political parties stands squarely behind him. We are told the Hill Republicans support him out of fear of losing their jobs. A job that fetches them $174,000 a year. What kind of voters think we need leaders like that? Or that their kind are there to serve us and our country, forget the humanity at large?
21
Why do we have to be in the Middle East?
3
Roger stop taking Trump's bait, stop it! Trump is, in point of fact, an actual traitor. Trump is not stupid, he has a purpose and he consistently pursues it. What he does he does to benefit Russia which is his conspirator in his treason against the U.S.. They are undoing the post WWII western world order.
22
From the 3Ds to the 3Es.
The three legged stool of American foreign policy has often been described as the 3Ds: Defense, Diplomacy, and Development.
American interests have no relevance to Trump. There are only Trump interests. And this a new three legged stool for the narcissistic Grifter-in-Chief, the 3Es:
Extortion, Emoluments, and Enmity.
Extort countries to help you politically. Shakedowns to have them stay in your hotels or have their oligarchs buy your condos. Scorn, hatred, and betrayal for the rest.
Trump doesn't care a whit about American security and interests. No reason to expect his foreign policy to be any different.
15
How is it possible there is still any support in America for the Worst President and Most Chaotic Dysfunctional Administration in American History ? What's it going to take people ?? Public Opinion is changing at a...Snails Pace !! It can't be this easy to influence Americans with Alternative Facts...can it ?? Trump support is ...UNAMERICAN !!
21
The President will set our foreign policy according to his whims. Ukraine forced to investigate his rival? Yup. Syria forced to give up territory to advantage Russia and Turkey? Yup. G-7 forced to pay TrumpCo for off-record positioning favors in upcoming negotiations? Yup.
Get over it. This is what happens when you lose elections. And get ass8---r__ped by the 1% as a result...
4
Okay, Trump voters, are you proud of yourselves? Are you proud that your "president" takes his orders directly from Putin? Are you proud that your "president" disavows intelligence gained from the FBI and CIA, and publicly states that he believes Putin over them?
Are you proud that your "president" has destroyed alliances with our western and NATO partners, alliances that it took this country decades to create, and will take decades to restore?
And are you proud that your "president" has singlehandedly created this latest bloodbath in Syria, while walking away from an ally we had for decades? Are you proud to walk away from the Kurds, one of the few groups of people who have been consistent allies of ours, and who have fought alongside our soldiers?
Are you proud that your "president" has made our country an international laughing stock? Try traveling outside the U.S. for once. Everyone around the world is rightfully laughing at us.
Are you proud that your "president" has made our nation an international pariah, and that we will have no one to turn to for help when, at some point, we will surely need it?
None of this matters to you, does it? Because all you wanted was a president who parroted your racism, your bigotry, your xenophobia.
But understand this – the rest of us know what you have done to our country. You have sacrificed its international reputation and its valuable alliances, just to satisfy your bigotry. And our patience is wearing very thin.
30
Nancy Pelosi hit the nail on the head with this guy, “all roads lead to Putin.”
22
Trump's gut is good for nothing but cheeseburgers and chocolate cake. All he will be remembered for is the failed hateful fear mongering fraud he has proven to be. That and a very very small human being. A human being not worth an empty bag of air.
12
What Donald John Trump respects is money. Putin's mega-billions, Erdogan's huge private stash, the Saudi royals, the U.S. Treasury, his own ill-begotten dough -- DJT's north star. He never took an oath he hasn't broken. Take care that the laws are faithfully executed? -- it's just a joke for him.
14
“Sure, but this Middle East demeans the sacrifice of the thousands of Americans who died for something better, and makes a nonsense of the nearly trillion American dollars spent to that end.”
Sure, Trump is a fool and the Kurds deserved better. But, the quote above troubles me. The blood and treasure wasted in the Middle East was, you may recall, the handiwork of yet another Republican idiot.
Let’s review the record: in 2000 an election was stolen by the Republican Party and in the short span of three years they took a nation at peace with a balanced budget and booming economy into disaster. We all know the story about ignoring the 9/11 warnings, the birth of endless war and the 2008 crash.
The America is a country that acts like an alcoholic. When sober it is good and measured in the role of world leader, but when drunk on power and arrogance becomes self defeating and abusive.
14
How many dead Americans is our credibility worth? Like everyone, I feel sorry for the civilians being slaughtered, but not sorry enough to have my son die there, because I know even many American deaths would change nothing. Since time immemorial the Middle East has been a swamp of shifting alliances and old hatreds. Remember in the 1980s Saddam was our friend against Iran; in the 1990s and 2000s our mortal enemy. After WW1 the English deceived the Arabs to appease the French and so Syria was born and has been a bed of religious hatred ever since. Mr. Cohen, you worry the Europeans are laughing at us, I assume you mean including the English and French. They were a major cause of the problem but what have they done to solve it? Criticism of Trump is certainly a point of view, but should it come only from those educated in the Mr. Micawber school of planning? None of the critics have suggested a detailed plan, how many troops for how long. Waiting for something to turn up is not a solution in the Middle East. Russia and Iran are welcome to it. Good luck to them.
40
@Michael Feely trump could have stopped Erdogan during their phone conversation. He could have said that we were standing by our Kurdish allies. This administration has no foreign policy or plans for addressing any possible crises that might arise. trump’s Gut is all that runs our foreign policy. There have been plans for the Middle East, but also presidents like W who completely destabilized the region. Don’t blame Europe, look at what we have done with our meddling. Ask the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan what they think of our wars and the cost and horror of the destruction we have wreaked on them. Our world has become more and more chaotic thanks to trump. At this point, anyone, yes anyone would do a better job than he can. Sending letters written at a 5th grade level would probably be the first no no.
174
@michael Feely - your logic misses a crucial point; our Kurdish allies are literally dying after they helped contain ISIS. We cannot throw them to the Russian wolves, as Trump has done.
61
@Fran Duchêne
Trump went to Penn. Did anyone ever see him in class? My husband said Penn did a good job teaching writing in first year. Did he attend classes?
35
As the writer notes, this is an almost incomprehensible nightmare for the Middle East. I find myself trying to work out just what is going on here. I try to see any semblance of a plan, but there is none. All I can come up with is that Trump really is utterly vacuous, scary thought that it is.
I have known some dumb people in my life, but they had about as much power as their limited brain power deserved. Trump is that rare creature, a dumb person who has, almost inconceivably, attained the ultimate power his country can bestow.
That the indulged offspring of a moneyed family has turned out to be as shallow as he is should surprise nobody. It is our collective nightmare to have to suffer his accidental election to the presidency.
6
Trump's gut must be affected by a severe case of Crohn's disease given the awful decisions it has prompted him to make. Trump's gut may be the biggest threat to America there is. Certainly, Trump's gut is his own worst enemy.
4
To bring Obama disparagingly into the same article describing what trump is doing is false equivalence. The gop may gripe about what their electoral-college thief has done, but the crocodile tears they are shedding now for the Kurds, or America’s Integrity rings false. They have backed this worthless piece of junk food to our national security peril. Every single one of them has blood on their hands.
6
Malevolent delusion combined with poorly checked executive power and fawning sycophancy rarely, if ever, produces constructive results for anybody least of all, apparently, for the Kurds.
6
You have to wonder if trump ran that letter to Erdogan past anyone before he sent it. Or is everyone so completely intimidated by this 4-rate con-artist to speak up?
At what point do the pathetic trump faithful finally say "Enough!"
4
Trump is the worst of the worst of workaholics for whom too much is never enough.
2
If there were two Trump Towers in Syria instead of in Turkey, would our foreign policy be any different toward either one of them?
If the next G7 conference would be held any place other than the one that's occupancy rate is only 38% and owned by you-know-who would our foreign policy be any different?
Our foreign policy is nonexistent since its strategy is based solely on how our real estate mogul in chief can soak US taxpayers for enhancing his bankruptcy-laden empire. And that's clearly illegal. The Kurds aren't the only ones being shafted. We are, too. We will probably survive as our democracy crumbles. The Kurds probably won't.
4
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” - Thomas Jefferson
2
In Trumpworld, a promise is a sucker bet, and shame on anyone who believes it. Tyrants keep their word only when it's given to someone they fear. Donald Trump knows that as long as the Republican Party remains as venal as he is, he can continue to violate every trust and policy the nation has ever held. His primary skill is the ability to detect how many party invertebrates support him at any given time; it's almost always a super majority. So far, the only time he's had to worry is when Nancy Pelosi's in the same room.
4
Dream of a way to remove the con-man from the oval office within the next two weeks.
He has no sense of the sacred.
In every way, he is completely profane.
Delay no longer. Remove him.
6
“Elect a clown, expect a circus” (sign in Placerville, Colorado)
6
Putin knew what he was doing when he backed Trump in 2016. And Trump serves his master.
5
Let's not forget that Turkey has a history of genocide with the Armenians. Of course, Trump wouldn't know that because he is so totally ignorant of history. But, even if he did, it wouldn't matter as he has no empathy for anyone but himself
4
We, the People, are Ruled by Trump’s Ego, which is Controlled by his Sociopathic Personality Disorder. To Him “Normalcy” is
unnecessary. “The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump (27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President)”.
By Bandy Lee, M.D, M. Div. St Marten’s Press 2017. Bandy Lee
Was the Organizer Of the “Duty to Warn Conference”.
4
Roger, you cannot fix stupid. What you are watching take place are major course corrections by a leader that understands what makes America great. Over the past four decades our Country has been led by people and groups of people that really had no idea what they were doing and, as a result, made a lot of foolish decisions for the Country that may have very likely personally enriched those individuals and groups. Relax, sit back and watch the show. You have five more years of course corrections.
"the plankton known as the Republican Party"
I'm gonna steal that one. A gem.
6
Burn of the day: “the plankton known as the Republican Party.” Indeed!
5
Welcome to Earth fair traveler, there was once a great nation over thata way, they called themselves the land of the free. They are now ruled by a King, and his family have a lot of golden ideas. The people knash and cringe when they see him in his golden tower, looking down on their huddled masses, he isn't the sort you want to first meet. He'll say you with your far off look from the stars are a bane and must be done away with. So lets take you first to Norway, they have a nice attitude for the far out folks from your sector of space.
...... science fiction story told to future kids, Not living in the Former USA.
Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds is outrageous and immoral. From Ukraine to Syria, everything Trump does redounds to Russia's benefit. Once again, there is a cancer in the White House.
1
with a little hindsight one must ask who represents or represented the greater threat to America, Donald Trump or Osama bin Laden?
4
Perfidy is right. Trump and Pence both have Kurdish blood on their hands, partly because they were too stupid to recognize the consequences of a Syrian withdrawal or see Erdogan for what he was. But Pompeo must get a big share the blame. He is the smartest of the three, first in his class at West Point, has the most influence on Trump and is Trump's most evil enabler. His silence as Trump stumbles from one foreign policy disaster to the next is deafening, his gutting of the State Department disgraceful and his failure to defend or stand up for its loyal diplomats and public servants unconscionable.
5
I cannot understand this sort of article.
The Kurds "shafted " ? What is that kind of vocabulary ?
It is very disrespectful .
And there is no analysis of the situation in Syria .
Just this American kind of surf with more or less vulgar words on the superficiality of the behaviorist positions here and there .
Very bad quality of journalism. It adds blurr to the murky idea of the Middle East situation, which, in a way saves Americans from the responsibility of their actions there . Or irresponsibility.
"Barack Obama abandoned Syria and his red line there."
That's an outright lie. President Obama didn't draw that red line, it was drawn over a century ago by the Geneva Protocol. Google it.
And Obama didn't abandon that line, Congress did. Google it!
I used to respect Roger Cohen...
4
Whatever Mr. Trump does the Democrats oppose. For years they've said we should cut foreign commitments and spend the money saved on domestic social programs. Mr. Trump is now doing exactly what they want, but they now say he's dishonoring our pledges and bringing us into disrepute by doing it. What do they want? Well, we know what they want, the White House--never mind about national honor; whatever it takes to get power.
24
@Ronald B. Duke There is a right way to withdraw and a wrong one. Preparations, such a having assurances for the Kurd's safety and autonomy via diplomacy with Turkey ("A deal", if you like) and securing ISIS prisoners, would have been desirable. Instead, US forces literally ran away and abandoned US outposts to the first comers. Completely reckless and without thought.
254
@Elizabeth Hillard : It has to happen somehow. When you start putting conditions on withdrawal it doesn't happen. the only way to get out is to leave. Mr. Trump may do these things ungracefully but he gets done what needs doing.
7
@Ronald B. Duke He's not spending any money on domestic social programs, so he's not doing what Democrats want even according to your own words. What do Democrats want? A rational HUMAN BEING in the WH who will be a thoughtful leader, who will put Americans ahead of his own interests, who will divest himself of any self-dealing instead of awarding no-bid contracts to his own failing resort, who will not doctor NOAA maps, who will obey the law and the constitution instead of hiding behind a two-year-old's scream of "No! No! No!", who will not lie about everything even when he doesn't need to lie, who will not dry hump the flag, who will not hit new lows of behavior every day, who will get advice and listen to it rather than go with his gut which has failed him so often in the past (six bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits, a credit rating that no bank in the USA would lend to - if you ran a business would you hire someone or work with a contractor like that?) (I could go on forever but space is limited).
244
Candidate trump decried virtually all presidents who came before him for their stupidity in broadcasting our country’s military moves before undertaking them. He promised to be strategically wily, keeping our enemies in the dark, and thus gaining commanding advantage and victory over them. What he didn’t tell us - or at least the rubes who took his perfidious ways for speaking the truth - was that he would also keep our allies ignorant and in the dark before springing existential threats on them. But how could it have been otherwise for a man who is impulsive, capricious, distracted, and simply does not give a damn?
5
No, Roger, whatever you say about DJT, you cannot, with veracity, call him the "clown in chief." He is, I believe, the most dangerous person to ever have a leadership position in American politics. There's not enough room in this space for me to be specific about his dangerous failings/traits. No, DJT is, without a doubt, the very worst thing ever to happen in Western Democracy.
341
Endless, wasteful, war. Dead people. Millions displaced. No goals or objectives.
No one in my family is available to die in Syria. Or Iraq. Or Saudi Arabia. Not for Kurds. Not for Saudis. Not for Israelis.
Trump will be impeached not because of any illegal acts he committed but because he pulled us out of war.
2
European leaders, then, should make a powerful gesture. They, with Canada and Japan - the G7 - should say to Trump that, upon taking legal advice, they are concerned, collectively, about the potential for ethical entanglements, should they agree to meet at Trump's hotel in Florida for the G7 summit. Therefore they respectfully decline, and will await a proposed option that does not expose them to corruption (use whatever euphemism for "corruption" is standard in high-level diplomacy).
The EU has power. Time to use it.
1104
@Lise I agree, and here's something else the Europeans should do: support the Kurds and stop leaving it up to the US to protect their oil in the Middle East.
51
@Lise
Excellent point. Camp David would be a great choice and any dollars that would have gone to Trump’s Doral property could instead go to upgrades of this historic Maryland site. Camp David would then be preserved for national use well beyond this Ill-fated, corrupt and hopefully short-lived Administration.
122
@Jim Linnane
The EU supporting the Kurds would have been a good idea a couple of weeks ago. Now, thanks to Trump, the Kurds have had to ally with Syria and are in the Russian orbit. They're done with the West.
The primary value of supporting the Kurds is that they were the only force effectively fighting ISIS, which is a global threat. Any effect that they had on oil for Europe was incidental.
49
Other than that how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?
3
Our slide began in earnest with Bush's attack on Iraq following 9/11, when he, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the entire republican party, knew Iraq bore no responsibility. As predicted, destabilization and chaos throughout the entire Middle East, hundreds of thousands died as a result.
Now, with these stunningly ruinous, deadly actions by another republican president - an ignorant, depraved oaf named trump - our ruin is nearly complete. The world looks at us with disbelief, horror, disgust and contempt.
The only way for the US to recover from this horrendous aberration, if at all possible, is to remove trump, send his republican lapdogs packing, throw ourselves on the 'mercy of the courts' and beg forgiveness.
However, real consequences, to trump in particular in the form of criminal prosecution and/or monetary loss, might go a long way toward that forgiveness. One can hope.
6
This, ie, Trump would be a disaster, was all predicted prior to 2016. The Republicans were (and remain so) fools and deserve this. After Trump is removed, hopefully, the Republicans should never be allowed to recover, but it will take decades for the rest of us to clean up this mess.
4
It seems that Trump has a quid pro quo for everything. The Kurds didn't help us out during WWII therefore it's fine for Trump to withhold our aid to them. Theresa May didn't follow Trump's advice on Brexit, therefore she's a fool. A perfectly acceptable and competent ambassador to the Ukraine is recalled because she, according to Trump, is bad news. Bad news for who?
Trump can't stop undermining the government he's supposed to be working with. And it takes withdrawing the soldiers in Syria to make the GOP notice that something's wrong? What's wrong with them? Oh, that's right, their unrelenting desire for power. It's dissolved any morals or ethics they might have. Worst of all, it's killing innocent people.
4
In my opinion, Trump is guilty of war crimes (the Kurds) and of crimes against
humanity (separating families and caging children at the border).
It is beyond belief, that the United States has such a cruel, ignorant, selfish individual
for a president.
Shame on every cheering, laughing fool who wears a MAGA hat and attends Trumps’
hate fueled rallies.
So this is the new America.
7
Oh, I would be grateful to hear Barack Obama’s judgment of Trump’s ignorant, impetuous, merciless decision to withdraw our troops from Northern Syria and hand over the Kurds of that region to Turkey’s sly dictator and his bombs.
DJT acts as if the Kurds were a band of carpenters hired to refurbish a Trump casino. It’s so easy to stiff them! He’s had lots of practice.
Please, give Obama a microphone. Or space for an op-ed. I want to hear him fight back. Please.
4
The most powerful, on point word in Mr. Cohen's outstanding piece is "plankton," which he used to describe the GOP leaders who, with their cowardice, have enabled this idiotic man now occupying the White House. Never heard that term come up in this context, and it is so eloquently apt.
The self-consumed child in residence on Pennsylvania Ave. is a one-man wrecking crew wreaking havoc everywhere he turns. And the GOP mostly fiddles with its fingernails.
DJT couldn't care less about the Kurds - or anyone besides the guy in the mirror. What a tragedy and embarrassment...his recent actions abandoning a people who helped protect so many.
Mr. Cohen deftly captures, as he usually does, the harsh price so many people are paying under this amoral administration.
3
Wall Street, and American defense contractors, and our war profiteers in Congress are wide-eyed with anticipation. World War III! We're almost there! Go, Donnie, go!
1
Trump’s behavior is not erratic. It’s perfectly consistent and just as Nancy Pelosi described, “all roads lead to Russia”. Why down play that at the Times?
3
Trump's "gut", has absolutely nothing to do with his betrayal of the Kurds.
Trump's WALLET was the determining factor, in his capitulation to Erdogan.
Trump has had substantial properties in Turkey for years, and he wants to have more.
Erdogan told Trump, "Let me murder all of the Kurds, and I'll let you put your name on another hotel."
It's bribery, plain and simple.
Trump could care less what happens to the Kurds, just so long as he can line his own pockets.
Erdogan's atrocities and Crimes Against Humanity, do not disturb Trump whatsoever.
2
Bush went with his gut a lot. Now Trump thinks with his...the devolution of a recessive Republican gene?
Trump is a perfect example of the foolishness of the American Exceptionalism myth. If anything Trumps reflect the baser underbelly of our culture. Ignorance presented as wisdom, a tendency to mistrust educated people, a unhealthy obsession with religion, mistrust of science and our rapacious winner take everything capitalism. Trump's America isn't Camelot or a city on a hill, it is a vulgar glammed up trailer park.
3
There was no gut. As Maher correctly stated, he simply wanted to get off the call. A lazy, selfish and evil man.
3
Foreign policy is what Trump will be impeached for.
1
Trump has been led to foreign waters because Trump has no understanding of foreign policies and international objectives. He is a simpleton who doesn’t understand geopolitics, so, who is pulling Trump’s strings? Puppeteer Putin is most likely. Trump has, on several occasions bowed to Putin and trampled over American interests. It’s appalling and pathetic that Trump has done the bidding of Putin for no clear reason other than to promote Trump’s business enterprises in Russia and/or good old fashion kompromat.
Good thing I never go to Times Square, because Trump is coming for one of you there.
Trump's enablers know Trump is impulsive, a compulsive liar, and an extreme narcissist. Depsite his unfitness and all the rest, they will keep backing him up.
So what's next? Will Trump say Japan has no enemies, and we could save so much money by bringing our troops home from there.
Stay tuned to be alarmed because nothing is impossible now, because we have a Cheeto head for our president.
1
Our allies don't trust us
Our tenemies don't fear us
Trump's word is worthless.
sheer genius
2
1st had the Caliphate became a reality a 2nd WW scale Pogrom would have taken place and so yes the Kurds didn't take the time machine(from the old Time Tunnel TV series) to participate in the battle of Normandy, but they have helped preempt A genocide.2nd Pres Erdogan's Turky was looking the other way until later when hard core ISIS operatives routinely made Istanbul a gate way to Raqua or Mosul from around the World and now Turkey's mis adventure have let loose many of them.Moreover,Pres E. by launching a campaign against the brave Kurds he seems interested in emulating an Emperor of The Ottoman Empire not Tuky's G.Washington.i.e.Gen Ata Turk.TMD.
1
How can any sentient minimally educated human being support this man? They who do, do not seem to understand that there is no human being Trump will not betray. He calls his own youngest child, Melania's boy or her boy.
2
Mr Trump's slogan should be "I don't care."(No me importa)
He really doesn't.
1
"A rough compass indicates presidential derangement is pointing north."
How can you tell which way it is pointing? Isn't that a definition of derangement?
"the Saudi ambassador to Britain called Trump a “tweet monster”.
The Saudis are just monsters.
2
“The prominent Kurdish human rights lawyer I spoke to there in 2015, Tahir Elci, was killed a few weeks after I interviewed him..”
One can only guess at the depths of sorrow and anger Roger Cohen must feel as he watches men he has met, like Mr. Elci, fellow Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and no doubt many others over his years in journalism, paying the ultimate price for their work. That we must now live under a president who denigrates and demeans journalists and human rights activists alike on a daily basis is unbearable.
5
I would have awarded one or all of the Nobel Science Prizes this year to Donald Trump for discovering how a mentally-fractured man gets elected President of the United States while revolving around the Sun.
2
Did Woodrow Wilson promise the Kurds a homeland after WW I? Before or after his stroke? If not Wilson, then who?
“...the plankton known as the Republican Party...” is an absolutely priceless phrase. I intend to use it daily. Hope Roger Cohen won’t mind!
2
The Kurds don't deserve our help.
How do you take the word of a man who has lied 13,545 times since he took office? And he knows he's lying when he's lying.l
2
Unfortunately, so true. But let's not kid ourselves. Trump isn't the cause of our problems. He's the result! By far the worst, but really just one more in a long list of narcissistic clowns.
Good luck America.
2
Just what Putin wants. Trump is taking orders from Putin, he is a Russian puppet, no better than Assad in Syria. Astounding that we have become subservient to an inferior adversary.
3
Horrible reality that a 'bone-spur' draft dodger of a president is undermining American power and peace established after WWII.
Pelosi has it right, all roads from Trump lead to Putin.
5
please do not write about "a child president"again referring to this President. Trump has a long life of corruption behind him and probably in front of him.
May God Save the once Beautiful United States of America.
1
The USA is the Titanic with the front bulkheads flooded by sewer water, the lifeboats filled with cash, and the band on the sinking stern playing "Hail To The Thief"
3
The self-declared stable genius in the White House knows more than battled tested generals. He knows more about business than Wall Street wizards. And best of all he has great foreign policy instincts. Just ask the Kurds about that one. Fortunately the Republican leaders are beginning their revolt.The reign of the man/child in the White House will soon be over.And the big tent closed.
Trump's minions and single issue voters refuse to open their eyes and let the light in. They are clueless of the magnitude of his damage to this country and its place in the International scene.
3
Correct me if I am mistaken, but didn’t Obama put a resolution before Congress to intervene in Syria, and it was voted down. Why is this never mentioned? I recall that the British Parliament voted overwhelmingly against getting involved in another American “adventure.”
1
The only hope this country has
is that the GOP
has voters with sufficient class
and true morality
to tell their senators: “Enough!
This time put country first!
If not - and this is not a bluff -
you can expect the worst.
We are Americans. We know
the time has come to fight.
Mitch McConnell has to go,
unless he does things right.
We normally have Donald’s back.
The other guys we blame.
Trump lost it, though, he is a hack.
We cannot stand the shame.
What Trump’s done in the Middle East,
to the Kurds who fought with us,
is not American. Impeach.
There’s nothing to discuss.
1
Mr. Cohen's focus on Trump -- "how could he *do* this?" -- isn't very productive: Trump does this because he's a sociopath/morbid narcissist. His calumny is as predictable as the betrayals a sociopath delivers his spouse, or which Trump delivered to his contractors.
The chilling question is, "how could *we* do this?" How could a constituency of people who are mostly not sociopaths, subscribe to and support a sociopath's moral hedonism and nihilism? What is wrong with *them*? And where are the marches and civil disobedience of non-supporters? The national strike? The Great Generation's response to moral nihilism was to go to war. This generation's is to ...go to work, I guess. What is wrong with *us*?
1
1915 = 2019. Similar story.
In a region over-run by religion, Kurds are reviled as skeptics.
One finds it hard to put into words this latest of egregious, cruel, indeed, ruthless actions taken by a man who is daily losing any shred of sanity. We should have been prepared for this, however. We knew from the get-go that he was devoid of a moral compass. Ethics, service toward the good, care, and compassion are anathema to him. We witnessed his diseased soul reveal its malignancy with his treatment of Central American refugees fleeing violence and oppression. But like any disease gone unchecked - and unchecked it has been - it only exacerbates upon itself and intensifies, rendering it incurable. What he has done to the Kurds is nothing short of cooperating with ethnic cleansing. The Turks have aspired to devastate and destroy this Middle Eastern group for years. And they have found the perfect co-conspirator in an inhuman specimen who has been devoured by his egomania and profound narcissism. God help the Kurds, and God help America.
1
Don’t forget your closer allies, like Canada. We’ve lost a lot of respect for the USA too.
2
Didn't have anything to do with Argentinians or Mexicans, did it?
America is not a country. America is a continent comprised of North America, Central America and South America. The U.S does not own America.
1
Mr Trump deserves every bit of condemnation that Mr. Cohen directs at him, as do the more-than-disgusting Republican office-holders in the current USA Congress.
However, Mr. Cohen also repeats the endless nonsense that is beloved to the still dominant group of so-called "foreign policy experts" about the "evil" Mr. al-Asad, "evil" Iranian regime, "evil" Mr. Putin and so on. Neo-conservative nonsense is alive and well in other words.
This latest blunder is just one on a long list of Trump's foreign policy lunacies. Essentially the USA does not have a foreign policy. Its foreign "policy" is determined by a clown who does not have a clue about anything and who now ignores every sane advice that is handed to him.
For any foreign observer It is unbelievable that this total demolition of the USA's international standing and credibility can be achieved so easily.
A horrified European
3
The abandonment of the Kurds and the resulting carnage should be an article of impeachment.
2
When Trump was running for president, a significant fraction of this country knew he was unfit to serve. Nonetheless, he was elected and has been as unfit as advertised since taking office. Maybe even more, his utter cruelty is akin to the worse despots in modern history. He just has more constraints. Congress needs to send him on a one way trip to Mar-A-Lago. I don't care if he cheats at golf.
180
I am old enough to remember being ashamed of the U.S. betrayal of the Kurds in 1991. And here we are again. We debase ourselves and degrade our armed forces.
Pulling them out of Syria, but sending them as mercenaries to Saudi Arabia? What justification?
When I was young I used to have a button that said "Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms." For a while I looked back on my youthful pacifism as naive and perhaps misguided. Now, once again, I've come around to thinking the "honor" and all the other blathering about our military is complete bunk. Where is the honor in our falseness, our force, our betrayal, our military's prostration before despots and cowards?
The shame of it.
178
Its a little late in the day to pass off the Mid East fiasco onto a first time politician President who was brought into office through a no confidence vote by the electorate.
5
It is deeply offensive, to say the least, that we are saddled with a president who knew nothing, knows little, and cares even less about the fundamentals of American government, world affairs, and our nation’s guiding principles.
Donald Trump sees himself as being astride everyone, rather than being of them. He proclaims that he goes with his gut, and may boast of what he claims is his completely irrelevant, time-tested experience. He proclaims that he is all about America first and “making America great again.” He is not. He is, in fact, destroying it.
He is about his own self-perceived greatness, and of course, his own wealth. He may claim to be led by his gut, but as long as we are being led by body parts, it’s only fair to point out that he is sans spine in the face of ruthless dictators. That should scare all fair-minded Americans, and particularly those who swore through oath of public office to protect and defend our country, even as they loudly pretend to defend our Constitution, but who do so only when it serves their selfish interests.
Our festering abscess of a president, to be sure, has no credibility, and never did. That he is sacrificing America’s own credibility is unconscionable. That he is getting away with it is even worse. Americans who disagree with Trump, notwithstanding Trump’s protestations to the contrary, are not America’s enemy. They are patriots.
19
Dear Europe: There is somebody home, but you see in the next year those somebodies will squabble over who should challenge Trump. You see, in America the Democratic candidate should be pure, and any impurity, anything someone doesn't like about him or her means either stay home of vote for a third party candidate.
You may have remembered that a lot of Republicans said they wouldn't vote for Trump. Virtually all of them did.
Even now, Republic in tatters, some of the columnists still admit they could not possibly vote for a Democrat because s/he would have terrible policies. They seem to forget that under a Democratic president, the House and Senate, no matter who is in charge, never swings wildly to the left. Never. To the right? Just look at 2017 and 2018.
You see, Europe, what we call the left, you call the center.
I could be wrong, and occasionally I swear I do see pigs fly by my front window. But I'm old, and my eyes and brain often deceive me.
17
Britain was once known to the French as "perfidious Albion". That phrase is now more appropriately "perfidious America" thanks to Trump and his Republican enablers.
5
Exactly. As I just argued in another comment section, one article of impeachment; this president has brought shame and dishonor on the name of America. But I must believe there can be no impunity. The Senate must wake up.
5
You are mostly correct. That's what Tulsi Gabbard went to inspect for herself - for which certain self-interested Democrats are saying was Pro-Assad.
We need to remember that it was under Obama and Hillary Clinton that the Syria mess was initiated along with all of the other imbecilic wars in the Middle East that we have lost.
Except, of course, the two big ones that Bush and Cheney and that clutch of incompetents initiated.
In foreign policy no one is as short-sighted and short of intelligence as our Intelligence and the politicians who make our fatal errors.
1
To add more insult to great injury, under the Former Presidents Act, former presidents receive an annual pension between $220,000 and $280,000. That would be in addition to the TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars Trump has squandered, the tens of millions he has spent playing golf on OUR dime instead of working and the immeasurable loss to our economy due to his ignorant tariff hissy fit.
If The Dotard is Impeached, I would hope that ALL benefits (including SS protection) are denied. Hurting his miserly pocketbook is the ultimate revenge since he has no character, remorse or sense of social responsibility.
20
A president who doesn't know a moral principle from a Big Mac! Superbly phrased, sadly true and a surefire recipe for chaos.
11
Trump’s “gut” is about money. He has properties in Turkey. That country’s leader Erdogan knows it and likely used this as leverage — or worse, blackmail — so Trump would do his bidding with the Kurds. To Trump, it’s all about self interest, and Kurds don’t put money in his pocket.
7
If it’s been asked already, I haven’t seen it: what did Erdogan give Trump on that phone call in exchange for giving up the Kurds?
6
Yes, Trump is terrible, but Tulsi was partly right the other night. Most of our policy in Syria starting with Obama was a moral disgrace. We really did arm people who fought side by side with Al Qaeda and the Free Syrian Army that we supported is now fighting the Kurds. We literally armed sides that shoot each other. This was under Obama.
I note that Mr, Cohen has nothing to say about our support for the Saudi war on Yemeni civilians. That started under Obama and continues under Trump. Evidently our pundit class didn’t care under Obama, cared briefly after a Khashoggi’s murder and has stopped caring again.
Trump is a moral disgrace, but don’t kid yourselves. Most of our policy in the Middle East has been a moral disgrace for the past 17 years, beginning with the Iraq War. Which Mr. Cohen supported.
4
I really wonder if Erdogan reminded Trump of promises to Putin and Erdogan and his impending impeachment and Trump acted because he knows he is a guilty man and will soon be gone.
3
As much as the infamous Ukrainian 'quid pro quo', we need to know about any Turkish one. Was a bribe given to Trump or threat made to his holdings in Turkey? Congress must investigate (Bill Barr certainly won't).
6
We’re 7000 miles away. How astute!
How far away were we on 11 September 2001?
7
Anyone with a care left for our country, our democracy, common decency: we must, MUST, do two things. Now. First, let your legislators know in no uncertain terms that you support, no, that you demand impeachment and removal. Second, vote. Please.
4
I guess the Kurds just did not book enough rooms at Trump properties in the past couple of years, or agree to build Trump Towers in their capital city; that'll teach them!
6
...”the plankton known as the Republican Party”... no truer or better words have ever been used to describe them. It should be engraved somewhere they could relate to. Money, the bigger the bill, the better.
It hurts to read your column, it’s just so accurate, but thank you, Mr. Cohen.
5
If Americans are not willing to throw away the lives of our children and the treasure of our nation, for nothing, we will lose credibility.
If Americans are not willing to fight every war, no matter how far removed it is from the concerns of our people, we will lose credibility.
If Americans are not willing to fight endless, purposeless, wars forever and with no end goal or objective we will lose credibility.
The world trembles at our hesitance. Religious lunatics, the world over, wonder: will America fight in our wars?
Where is America? 19 years of fruitless war and they stop sacrificing their children to support religious lunatics and autocrats.
Our Founders would be spinning in their graves. What Democratic-Republic, founded by free men and women, doesn't send their children out, by the thousands, to die in foreign wars and to protect mega-rich CEOs?
The Statue of Liberty is Weeping!
3
Trump "doesn't know a moral principle from a Big Mac". That is summing up the Current Occupant succinctly and eloquently.
Thank you Roger Cohen.
7
There is someone home at the White House. Trump's actions all make sense if the goal is to advance Russian interests. One can debate why he supports our adversaries over American interests, and if he is smart enough to do so wittingly, but it really doesn't matter. He's got to go.
17
I should like to formally register my protest of the author’s demeaning simile comparing Republicans to plankton. Plankton were the basis for and underpin most sentient life. Vast assemblages of them exist in harmony with the resources available.
24
Trumps entire persona is geared towards advancing his self image and indulgence. It's not about commitment. There are no other principals or rules. It's been true in his personal life and political life. Look at all the staff and fellow Republicans he has thrown under the bus. His commitment to anything is about the same caliber as a 10 year olds commitment to anything. If he finds Israel to be annoyingly in the way of making some other big legacy building move in the Middle East, then he will diss them too.
9
One of the over-riding factors in impeaching and removing Trump is to remove him completely from the business of foreign policy. I have lived through eleven Presidents. I cringe every time I hear he is going to a foreign country, or has spoken with a foreign leader on the phone. He is not just bad at this function of the job, he is horrendous. His gut that he claims has led him to untold wealth is a malignant cancer on our Country. The amount of work that will have to be done to undo his "efforts" in this arena after he's gone is "tremendous" to use one of his overused superlatives. Congress can best serve the nation by alloing this to begin soon rather than later via impeachment and removal.
13
There seems to be a lot of hand wringing about what President Trump’s wants.
Nobody really knows what Trump wants, nor does he himself. However you can see what Trump does. He makes messes.
Trump does not have a self regulating mechanism regarding his mess making. It will be up to someone else, an external force, to blocks his actions.
The House Democrats have figured this out. The Senate Republicans have not, to this point. The question now is what kind of a mess, how big of a mess, will it take to frighten even the Senate Republicans.
6
It appears that Donald Trump doesn't see any difference between mistreating the people who work for him and mistreating the Kurds of Syria. He's probably not capable of conceptualizing our Kurdish allies, whose lives and future are on the line, as anything other than temp workers to whom he doesn't even need to say directly "You're fired!"
5
It ain't necessarily so, Mr. Cohen. It ain't necessarily Trump. And you know it. Trump was the price the GOP was willing to pay for the domestic policy they wanted. And got. In spades. If, and it's a big 'if', there's a Dem in the oval office in '21 there'll be all kinds of policy changes and executive orders needed to undo the damages the Clown has done. It's the GOP. They have to go!
13
Why do we have any credibility at all in foreign affairs? We have started war after war after war. The Iraq war was a criminal act we have yet to pay for. The truth is that Trump, as terrible a president as he is, is the least war mongering leader we have had in generations. This seems to upset some people. War is what we do. We don't do it for good, we do it for profit and to exert power.
2
Donald Trump says he "trusts his gut " but unfortunately even as considerable as it is, there's still no room for history or facts. Because if there were, he certainly wouldn't have betrayed the Kurds the way that he did and then call it a success.
And he also wouldn't have had to chastise Turkey for making a "bad decision" to invade Syria under the pretense of creating a buffer zone, because he would've known Recep Tayip Erdogan had been waiting for a green light to go after the Kurds all along.
That the U.S. has proven itself once again to be an untrustworthy ally is no longer news.
Most of our neighbors and former allies have figured that much out already.
However the most alarming aspect of that is that this president doesn't seem to care, and has done everything in his power to turn this country into a carbon copy dictatorship of his own.
Trump clearly has no regard for the plight of the Kurds or any other group seeking freedom and autonomy from an authoritarian government, which may also be why Mr. Erdogan has managed to secure himself a visit to the White House next month.
Ever impressed with strongmen and dictators, he obviously wants to do the impressing.
5
Right on, Roger. But I was disappointed with the House -- instead of passing a resolution condemning Trump's actions, they should have passed an Act of War, directing him as the Commander-in-Chief to go to war with Turkey to protect our friends the Kurds. The Dems also should have reintroduced the draft lottery, so that your sons and daughters (or grandsons and granddaughters) would have a fair chance to get a low draft number and be drafted into the American Kurd-liberation forces. Then they could read your columns from their trenches in Syria.
The NYT article by Max Fisher explains the situation. The status quo is unsustainable. The Kurds are too weak to stand against the Turks and needs American protection. But Turkey is still a much more important ally to the US than the Kurds, who want to reach reconciliation with the Syrian govt. In fact, the US state department blocked talks between the Kurds and the Syrian govt due to opposition from Turkey. Would Cohen support a rapproachement between the Kurds and Assad? Trump's action cost American credibility. What the US could have done for the Kurds and for regional stability is to broker an agreement between the Syrian govt, Kurds, and Turkey. This is the best way to secure Kurdish long term interest if the US doesn't want to support Kurds indefinitely until they are ready to declare statehood, at which point war with Turkey will probably break out. Would Cohen and others support such efforts?
2
The United States was a co-founder and leading partner of the most significant block of countries working together, mostly for the good and stability of entire planet, in human history. For decades, the "western" countries cooperated on military, environmental, economic, and social problems affecting the globe. Today, in the period of several short years, that group of countries that could count on each other for their common good' and however slightly to improve the world, is in shambles.
We can focus our disappointment for that failure on one person. However, the major contributor to this situation is all of us in the US letting our government remove the "rails" that kept greedy fools from taking over our political leadership.
4
“Trust is not an easily recoverable commodity,” a sentence given here by Roger Cohen that is intriguing, but I think not exactly right. And that is because I do not believe in the least that trust is a commodity ... unless, of course, it’s viewed, as the likes of Trump would have it, on a quid-pro-quo basis. Forgiveness is another matter entirely that is not spoken about publicly, probably because it’s in the category of miracle. We cannot now buy back our betrayal of the Kurds with a “deal,” a favorite Trump word that gives me the creeps because of current usage. Trust is not earned, it is given in grace. The only thing we can do now or at some future time with the Kurds is beg their forgiveness of us. Restitution by us is not tied to this, and yet it will be critical to who we are as a people.
2
Reading this column has brought tears to my eyes. I have lived a long time and have seen my country go in the wrong direction many times, but what Trump is doing to this country in our name is beyond imagining. I am sad not angry any more, The day after he was elected I did a drawing titled 'Black Clouds Rolling Across this Land'. How right I was on 11/9/2016; the 8th was a day that will live in infamy.
10
It's been obvious for a long time that Trump has no regard for human life. Apparently, some Republicans are starting to figure that out. The question is whether they will do anything about it.
498
The Republican Party has no higher regard for human life than its titular head, Donald J. Trump has. Republicans will attend more to its sanctity when tbe threat against it threatens thir status and privilege.
45
@Kristine -Hopefully Trump's treasonous acts will get their attention. Trump's policies benefit Putin as clearly as if Putin himself was directly them. Surely the Kurds' betrayal and sellout to Turkey's Erdogan should be the last step.
24
@Kristine And yet the so-called "Christians" especially the Evangelicals consider him the chosen one. Christians also don't value human life other than their own.
27
It is true that the drawing of state boundaries of the Levant by the victors over the Ottoman Empire did not create a state for the Kurds but these boundaries have now existed long enough to have defined several nation states in that region.
I have therefore long held that the Syrian Kurds would be the safest in a stable Syria.
Yet, these treacherous Kurds decided, at Syria's greatest moment of need, instead of rallying around the country and defending Syria against the existential threat of ISIS, to align with Israel and the United States to use the occasion to dismember Syria.
And then they stole 30% of the land (when they have 10% of the population), with Syria's best resources.
That's immoral, illegal, and geopolitically untenable.
It is for that reason why it makes no sense to blame the current mess in Syria on Trump's mistakes only.
The Syrian Kurds must share that blame for their own mistakes.
But surely, most of the blame goes to Obama/Biden/Hillary, who went for yet another disastrous regime change, like they did in Libya, by arming radical jihadi terrorists like al-Qaeda and ISIS and kurdish mercenaries.
The fact that Democrats have joined a chorus of right wing Republicans in denouncing the withdrawal of a few token troops from an illegal occupation is disgraceful.
We are in Syria illegally. We have no Security Council mandate, were not invited by the government nor did Congress approve it.
So much for the peace loving "liberals".
5
@Chris Is there something wrong with my aging memory. I have this hallucination that Al Qaeda was originated to fight the USSR in Afghanistan and that it was both funded and armed by the Reagan admin. And I was under the obviously mistaken impression that the "token troops" in Syria were a tripwire" that , far from fomenting war, were restraining the Turks from doing what they are now doing.
And do I misremember that ISIS was born when the Bush Jr. cabal disbanded the Iraqi Army, leaving tens of thousands of Sunni discontents armed to the teeth and burning with resentment at the US free to found their death cult?
What planet am I on?
20
@jprfrog
Planet "partisan whataboutism propaganda victim".
Quote:
"But surely, most of the blame goes to Obama/Biden/Hillary, who went for yet another disastrous regime change, like they did in Libya, by arming radical jihadi terrorists like al-Qaeda and ISIS and kurdish mercenaries."
Nowhere am I disputing that "Al Qaeda was originated to fight the USSR in Afghanistan and that it was both funded and armed by the Reagan admin."
Fact remains Obama and Hillary ALSO funded and armed al-Qaeda and ISIS, and this info is more pertinent to this discussion since we're talking about SYRIA (an illegal regime-change coup instigated by Obama and HRC) not Afghanistan.
"And do I misremember that ISIS was born when the Bush Jr. cabal disbanded the Iraqi Army"
Again, not disputing the origins of the rise of ISIS.
However, Obama and HRC knowingly armed and funded al-Qaeda and ISIS in order to overthrow the legitimate, internationally recognized government of Syria (just like they did in Libya).
Finally, calling a few token troops, residing in Syria against both international (no UN mandate) and US law (no authorization of Congress), a "tripwire" against a NATO ally is just silly.
3
The criticism of President Obama’s handling of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis is wrong. As a result of Secretary Kerry’ negotiations, most chemical weapons were removed from Syria. No more lives were lost as a result of a punitive American air strike. A wise choice in my opinion.
273
"Europeans now shrug when they don’t laugh. The consensus is the United States has lost it. There’s nobody home."
The consensus is right. Many Americans also shrug when they don't laugh, but more and more are laughing less. Republicans are just shrugging.
If "we've lost it"--and I believe we have--the responsibility resides squarely on all those silent shruggers, if not outright defenders, in the president's party. The resistance has been screaming pretty loud since 2016, a point of great contention among the right.
One of these days I suspect everyone will accept the fact that the Trumpian right was wrong and everyone else, including the Democratic left, was right.
Of course that's faint consolation for the Kurds, and any other "collatoral" damage attributed directly to this man-child's abject foreign policy antics.
663
@ChristineMcM
Yes, one of these days.
9
Curious to know why Trump was so quick to abandon the Kurds.
I wonder what kind of a deal he made on that phone call to
Erdogan for his own benefit .
493
@Peggy Trump takes his cue from Putin. Look no further for Trump’s actions.
41
@Peggy
Don't forget 45's "little conflict of interest" which he admitted to Steve Bannon in the December 1, 2015 interview on Breitbart (https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-steve-bannon-breitbart-december-1-2015).
"Well I also have, I have a little conflict of interest because I have a major, major building in Istanbul and it's a tremendously successful job. It's called Trump Towers--two towers instead of one, not the usual one, it's two."
He doesn't own the buildings, but licenses his brand, so the name on the buildings is "Trump" (check them out online). News outlets reported that Candidate Trump's personal financial disclosures indicated that he had received royalties between $3.2 million and $17 million from the deal. Wonder how much more he's collected in the past three years.
Follow the money.
64
@Peggy Don't forget Vlad. All roads lead to Putin.
38
Mr. Trump’s talking points defending his irresponsible sudden abandonment of the Kurds sound like a mixture of talking points from Putin and Erdogan, with a little bit of Trump’s own inner 10 year old boy. (One can only imagine how much young Donald had to be bloodied by his older brother or friends before his father tore them apart.)
Why does Mr. Trump appear to be so easily swayed by Putin and Erdogan instead of his own advisors?
This is not the first time that Mr. Trump has trusted this country’s adversaries over his own advisors. He was assured by Mt, Putin that N. Korea’s missile testing were of no concern while our intelligence community disagreed. And, of course, he has taken Mr. Putin’s word that Russia didn’t interfere in the 2016 election despite all of the evidence to the contrary.
Shouldn’t we be wondering why?
2
"Trust is not an easily recoverable commodity" writes Mr. Cohen.
Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Commodity : a useful or valuable thing, such as water or time.
I have lost trust with the whole kit and caboodle of them and I can't imagine who that commodity (extremely valuable) is recoverable period. Certainly not with more of the same rhetoric.
5
US loses credibility when it signs a weapons deal with Saudis in the aftermath of the Khasoggi murder, when US made planes flown by US trained pilots drop US made bombs on Yemeni towns, when US installs Gen. Sisi in Egypt and prisons fill up with students and journalists, when Rohingya is butchered and not a fraction of sanctions imposed on Iran is even discussed for Myanmar, when the US envoy negotiates directly with the Taliban bypassing the elected government that we presumably support, when we spent trillion dollars on proxy wars and weapons sales though a fraction of that might have funded a Marshall Plan for the region and built up a stable middle class, when US brought down Ghaddafi after he ended his nuclear program and made reparations for Lockerbie because he issued exploration licenses to the Chinese. Nothing new, why the refrain now?
13
@ZenBee
Perhaps it is the straw man that broke the camel's back.
(part of the def'n of straw man - a person regarded as having no substance or integrity)
1
There is a saying out there that the monumental and grave responsibilities of the Presidency of USA changes the person carrying such burdens. That’s a myth.
They will continue to be the same inner self and the fabric they are made off will not change. What changes somewhat is the way they convey what they usually do. The consequences of their decisions are very different indeed – they are enormous.
The Middle East situation is too complicated for Trump. He will have to read a lot and for a guy who hasn’t read a book in his life – that’s impossible, so he files for bankruptcy.
His decision of pulling out US troops from Syria was not based on understanding the problem on his part. It was just based on a “gut feeling”. Empathy – which he totally lacks, is no part of the equation. It’s all about himself. So – what’s new?
Trump is quite predictable contrary to the opinion of the public and many of the pundits.
18
@Efraín Ramírez -Torres It's been said that the presidency doesn't change people, it reveals them.
6
Most presidents made these kinds of mistakes early on in their term. Trump gets worse as time goes by. The last two GOP presidents have been disasters for the U.S. What should concern Dems is that they still aren't a whole lot more popular.
8
@Mhevey nope. George W Bush made his mistakes as soon as he started his presidency. It wasn’t his fault that 9-11 happened but he misled the country into a faulty direction by attacking Iraq knowing fully well that Osama bin laden did not live there but bin laden’s country men (Saudi’s) were the bulk of the plane hijackers. Not Iraqis
2
@Blue Moon We could have treated 9/11 as something that required a police action. Instead we broke the ME. I have little doubt that the country overreacted out of fear, not a good look.
19
@Thomas: The US pegged the meter of over-reaction to something done by 19 people who died in the act.
4
Republicans still seem intent on reelecting a US president that was never really the president of the US.
14
In trump’s case, it’s not just “foreign” policy he’ll be “remembered for” but ALL “policy” - because “foreign” as in “bizarre” and that covers it all.
As for the G7 at Doral, anyway you cut it, it’s a 100% “advertising event” for Trump. And that advertising is an “emolument” - something of value. That alone is a betrayal of Trump’s Oath of Office, his promise to preserve and protect the Constitution, which specifically makes it illegal for him to profit in any way from his time in office.
Trump now openly flouts the law, destroys alliances, speaks maliciously on a daily basis, and lacks every virtue necessary to fulfill the duties of the presidency. He tramples on our Republic. He must go.
34
@TheraP
And he still is president!! To the shame of all the republicans and to our once great nation.
2
The casual cruelty of Donald Trump toward the loyal Kurds, combined with his lies and astounding claims of personal brilliance, underscores why this inept man must be removed from office. Most Americans already had reached that conclusion after Trump withheld weaponry from Ukraine to coerce its government to interfere in American politics on Trump’s behalf.
Roger Cohen outlines the chaos which Donald Trump’s ignorance and his lack of a moral compass have produced in the Middle East. Mr. Cohen, unfortunately, adopts the right-wing mythology that the root of American problems in Syria is the so-called “red line” of Barack Obama six years ago regarding the Syrian use of chemical weapons. This is nonsense.
In fact, within 60 days of the attack Obama obtained the admission by Syria of using chemical weapons, the public promise not to use them again, the dismantling of the weaponry and destruction of the chemicals, and an international inspection and verification of the Syrian compliance. Obama also kept the Senate informed on a bipartisan basis throughout the process and respected the demands to avoid any American boots on the ground.
Donald Trump’s crew, desperately needing someone to blame for Trump’s disaster in Turkey and Syria, may quote Mr. Cohen about Barack Obama and hope no one reads the rest of a good column.
24
@sdw
“American credibility began to erode when Barack Obama abandoned Syria and his red line there.”
Roger,
Your otherwise well stated Op-Ed is compromised by this misstatement, and a published correction would be in order. As sdw points out, Obama extracted significant concessions from Assad that resulted in the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. The Republicans, of course, jumped on Obama, decrying his failure to not immediately follow through on his original red line threat.
The alternative would have been further U.S. military escalation. People certainly can debate the merits of alternative courses. Nevertheless, Obama’s policies led to a period of relative stability in that region, with minimal American casualties—a stability that has now been shattered by Trump’s recklessness.
2
@sdw casual cruelty? We should all read American history when black slaves were treated as inhuman, sold like animals cattle, sometimes lesser value. Not to mention how we treated native Americans and then forced them into “reservations”. Please we in America have casual cruelty in our DNA.
1
Bigreenie should consider, offering millions of free NYTimes digital subscriptions to residents of the Red States would increase the impact of Roger Cohen's messages. Getting more specific, Roger's international orientation could play well with our U.S. military at home and abroad.
1
Trump has never met an ally he couldn't/wouldn't betray.
17
@William Hamer: Trusting Trump is a symptom of highly deficient character judgment.
2
Let's add some clarity to where the blame goes for our multiple failures to protect our Kurdish allies - right at the feet of the GOP. GHW promised them protection and then let Saddam loose to deploy chemical weapons attacks that killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children. When Junior wanted to "fix" his father's mistake, he invented a fake narrative to start an illegal war there (and outed one of our spies at the same time. How "patriotic" was that?) and did he do anything to help the Kurds establish their own sovereign state after "mission accomplished?" Nope, just handed that mess over to Obama and the Dems to clean it up. Was Obama wrong for following through on the GW agreement with Iraq to pull out forces? It appeared so in hindsight but Obama was able to admit he made a mistake and worked to rectify it, unlike the man baby currently squatting in the WH.
15
The House should add betrayal of the Kurds to the Articles of Impeachment. If the Senate voted them down, they'd be affirming what Trump did to our ally. While the Republican can sweep the Ukrainian phone call under the rug, they are furious about what Trump did to the Kurds.
Impeachment is not limited to illegal acts. Nixon's Articles included "obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress" (sound familiar?). Betraying the Kurds is definitely an "abuse of power". Abandoning an important ally to their sworn enemy is an impeachable offense, particularly since America got nothing in return.
https://www.apnews.com/5ff1520d5e5e4159b85172bb635d46e9
7
Mueller blew it. With full subpoena powers and the best forensic investigators, he totally ignored Trump's dependence on Russian money (and God knows what sexual escapades were caught on tape). Yet Pelosi said it clearly the other day: "All roads lead to Putin." We can't discuss the Middle East, Ukraine or anywhere else without beginning with Trump's enthrallment to Russian interests. Why does Putin always win?
21
@Ron: Mueller adhered strictly to a legal opinion that states that a sitting president cannot be indicted for any crime while in office.
America doesn't have the stomach to be in the Middle East.
Israel, UAE & Saudi Arabia and that is about all we can possibly handle. Getting out of Syria (never get involved in someone else's civil war) and patching up are partnership with Turkey is the right thing to do. Is it pretty. No. It's the Middle East, it's not pretty.
We don't belong. Baby Bush taught us well. Now, re-read the lesson.
3
"Sure, but this Middle East demeans the sacrifice of the thousands of Americans who died for something better, and makes a nonsense of the nearly trillion American dollars spent to that end."
Is this preposterous sentence about the Iraq fiasco, based on blatant lies, which created even more chaos than already visited on the region? Or the outrageous intervention in Syria along with those two other bastions of democracy, Saudi Arabia and Turkey?
This dedication to what is clearly a decrepit imperial impulse mocks the dead and wounded American soldiers, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of killed, maimed and displaced people of the area.
1
Trump will never resign, the only way out for the awful GOP is vote impeachment, let Trump swing in NY courts and abandon him completely. Then claim "we didn't know he was this bad"
Pence acts, Romney is the 2020 nominee with Nicky Halley as Veep then she goes for 8 more years. By the time we get to 2036 full oligarchy in a dying planet. This is what the GOP puppet masters are up too.
They are playing this game hard and to win, we need to fight back harder. I am backing Sanders and Klobuchar. Vote straight Dem in 2020, local/state/federal.
8
@Bill Wilson As fantasies go, this isn't a bad one. As a lifetime Democat, after watching Trump and his friends in action I could live with Romney an Halley for a while. We tend to forget that before Trump was voted into office he was regarded as beneath contempt by any number of Republican leaders including Romney, and I'm still grateful to Halley as her work as governor. An interim like this would allow the Republican party to disinfect itself or, if you prefer, ease itself back onto the tracks.
When a greedy, corrupt, indecent, amoral, bigoted, incompetent business man is handed control of the largest economy and most powerful military in the world, one should not expect anything positive to result——and it has not. The really tragic aspect of this presidency is that American voters actually chose Trump and his unfitness for office, albeit with a little help from one of the most corrupt and brutal of the world’s despots. The disaster that is this Presidency is 100% owned by the American people, and almost half of them, including the entire Republicans Party, think Trump is doing just fine. If these are the people who populate the world’s greatest democracy, then the world is in big trouble.
15
@Stu: The Electoral College nullified a plurality of the votes cast in the Comey-corrupted travesty of the 2016 election.
3
"Foreign policy is what I'll be remembered for." Yet another pipe dream for the president. Let's hope instead he is known as the bankrupt president.
1. Morally bankrupt.
2. Ethically bankrupt.
3. Intellectually bankrupt.
4. Financially bankrupt.
5. Legally bankrupt.
6. Spiritually bankrupt.
Without question, if the majority of Americans were asked to identify one redeeming feature of this man, they would be stuck for an answer.
7
I misread a line in this opinion piece. I saw,"All hat and no cattle," as "All hate and no cattle." Perhaps I did not misread.
6
When I was growing up, all the men I knew had fought in WWII. They all went overseas to defeat the most horrible evil so that all of back home could be safe. I fully understood the intensity of the destruction. Europe was razed to the ground. An entire continent was demolished. I thought to myself: Mankind has finally learned its lesson. Europe is through with war. By uniting under the banner of freedom, supported by democratic principles, fostered by treaties, agreements and the trust they create, there will no more world wars.
And now there is Trump. He has done everything possible to ruin that jewel of peace that grew out of the carnage of WWII. He tears up treaties. He backstabs allies. He levies economic war against our closest and most trusted friends. His word means nothing. He replaces merit with incompetent loyalists. He lies constantly.
Trump is exactly the opposite of the character, guts and integrity that every foot soldier, every airman, every sailor that ever went overseas to fight for the freedom we all enjoy and take for granted.
Oh, but it's even worse than that. Trump bows down to and idolizes some of the worst and most brutal dictators on the planet. Trump has gone beyond destroying American credibility. He has joined up with the very same kinds of people that, in the past, we went overseas to defeat.
Trump is the political equivalent of the antiChrist. He looks like the real thing to some. But he is an imposter.
31
It is a good thing that people like Mr. Cohen and other columnists on these pages have the energy and persistence to keep shining light on just how bad-rotten-incompetent-greedy-mendacious-dangerous for national health this president is and will be as long as he is in office.
It is a chore for me and many others to keep reading and watching, particularly given the endless barrage of Trump's repugnant behaviors on cable news (I just turn it off).
Vote for anyone but Trump, but hope we Democrats do not shoot ourselves in a variety of body parts by pushing too far to the left. Sure, the Republicans have plenty of their own problems but there are some signs of a few cracks in their wall.
5
SO ROGER COHEN Characterizes the GOPpers as "plankton." I can't even go that far. Plankton serve a purpose. Many species depend on plankton for food. With the GOPpers what you get is a Trick-or-Treat poison apple. Or perhaps one with a razor blade in it.
26
Although, with frighteningly few exceptions Republicans have, themselves, demonstrated total moral and strategic collapse, I would have expected them to finally wake up to their own impending fate when Trump 1) Disgraces and shames our military (see Captain Kennedy today) and 2) directly interferes in military discipline (cases of Navy Seals). It is unimaginable to me that these actions, finally, will infiltrate into and poison his support in even the most belligerent of his "committed" base, many of whom either are, or have immediate relatives in the military. Republican perfidy now will earn its just reward, but also, for the first time will be exquisitely documented by multiple tomes and electronic records of history!
7
Well, I kind of liked Roger's column. Maybe it'll convince some of the neo-con plankton out there among "the 43%" to turn Trump out of office, by impeachment or at the polls.
9
We have no foreign policy---we have no domestic policy. A policy assumes a thought process of defining a problem, gathering data, talking to experts, deciding upon options, developing a plan of action (you know..what is the end game). But we have no policy infrastructure, no staff familiar with such a process, and a leader totally bored with such a process. Thus...we decide upon what side of the bed you wake up on.
27
@Amanda Jones — Yes, there is no policy. What there is instead is government by caprice and whim. Whims that can change multiple times in a single day. Because it is impossible to trust whims, America's relationships with foreign powers are wholly undermined.
4
Cohen and his neo-con brethren write as if the Western World is this vulnerable entity, ready to be victimized by scary, outside, others. I would say his views represent collective projection. I will calmly await the day when these “others” climb over the backyard fence. Until then, I will give little credence to pundits who bemoan the lack of “democracy” around the world when our own country has ceased to be “for the people.”
68
@Thomas
"I will calmly await the day when these 'others' climb over the backyard fence."
It happens from time to time. Pearl Harbor? 9/11? Russian election interference?
America cannot isolate. As Americans, we need to be involved in global affairs, promoting democracy and peaceful resolutions to international problems. We need a lasting presence.
The Kurds are our allies. We abandoned them. Now they are forced to turn to Syria (i.e., Russia) for help. They are collectively at severe risk of injury and death. ISIS members the US has spent copious blood and treasure to capture have gone free. We have bases and nuclear weapons in Turkey, and this NATO ally has now been pitted against us.
The US is weaker. Russia and Syria are stronger. All in the name of a president beholden to a Russian dictator.
What a travesty.
102
But Roger, we've always betrayed our treaties with other nations, ever since the beginning with Native Americans. What ever gave you the idea that we are a nation of honor and principle? That kind of talk is mere window dressing to get what we want, then sell out our promises. Nothing has changed.
19
"Kurds always get shafted. Still, this was American perfidy."
No, Americans are not perfidious. That is not a national characteristics because there is no real need to be. Big, powerful nations like ours that are naturally protected by two oceans and faced with much weaker neighbors have no need to be cunning or treacherous. That charge has been much more commonly used against the Brits over the centuries which arose from the simple fact that being the small island they are they didn't have the luxury of always showing allegiance, not if they were going to survive. America never had that problem.
What the abandonment of the Kurds in Syria and before in Iraq simply shows is cruelty, as it was shown to the Vietnamese when we defaulted on our agreements and left them in the hands of the communists to do with as they wished, without interference as we are now allowing, nay facilitating, the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds from their lands by the Turks.
Trump's cruelty is not original here. GFW Bush and Obama showed similar indifference to the those we encouraged in Iraq and Syria. What differentiates Trump, in this instance, is that he doesn't care to hide his disdain and wears his cruelty proudly encouraged by the steadfast 43% of the electorate.
5
The Middle East is a quagmire, almost by definition. A GOP president (W Bush) along with his vice-president (Cheney) and secretary of defense (Rumsfeld); blindly, arrogantly and foolishly instigated a further destabilizing war based on a trumped up intelligence case. Untold deaths, massive financial waste, and massive, disrupting immigration can be directly linked to this decision. And national security has been improved not a whit. Along comes the Trump GOP. Allies are abandoned, dictators supported. An awful decision is made exponentially worse. Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and the GOP foreign policy hawks need to seriously examine their loyalties. However I fear it is not to the country, but to the military industrial complex and the cash that they funnel to their campaigns and states.
20
@HPower senator Pelosi Senator Schumer Senator Clinton were all present when they voted to attack Iraq. Obama was against as was Bernie, men with conscience foresight and the ability to think through long term.
2
I am so sorry to say this, but it is now impossible for me to look Americans in the face and not burst out laughing. You are not a nation that can be taken seriously anymore.
3
@FilmMD
Sadness is a more appropriate response. Nothing funny here.
I've stopped laughing at Trump. The stakes and mistakes are too great.
15
@FilmMD Trump wasn't elected by a majority of voters, rather by a flawed electoral system and with significant help from foreign powers. Just piling on criticism, though warranted, doesn't help those here in America who also used to believe that American stood for freedom.
5
International agreements and relations are fragile and require constant attention. Now we have an American President who has happily taken an axe to relations with all countries barring Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel. He has created a parallel foreign policy shop run directly from the White House (led by his son-in-law and personal lawyer). The Secretary of State (and West Point hero) seems impotent to stop the demolition of his own department.
One can only imagine the mayhem if, God forbid, this President wins a second term.
10
@AM
Trump, requiring constant attention himself, cannot give it to anything or anyone not focused entirely on him.
His only allegiance is to himself.
12
The Kurds were the only ones who stopped ISIS, without them America and Europe are in danger. Hopefully Europe will jump in to help the Kurds but probably won't. The Kurds deserve their own country, they have fought for it and helped us all.
17
@getGar
You are mistaken. Trump, personally, stopped ISIS in one month. I know. He said so.
Of course, he lies every time he opens his mouth.
1
The whole Kurd argument is somewhat disingenuous. Most Kurds live in Iraq or Turkey, not Syria. They control an area out of proportion to their population. Did Mr. Cohen, or anyone else, see this as a priority before it was an opportunity to attack President Trump.
1
@Michael Livingston’s
Sad parsing of the reality Trump has wrought.
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, Michael.
2
"American credibility began to erode when Barack Obama abandoned Syria and his red line there."
There was a response to the red line crossing, and it was well measured. Obama hammered out a plan with russia to get rid of most chemical weapons in Syria and most were removed, forestalling more and worse such attacks for a period. How is hurling a few light weapons at inconsequential Syrian targets as trump did, allowing Syria to continue its chemical weapons development a better plan?
8
I don't understand any of this. We are connected to the world and we know there are many people just like us everywhere. Donald J Trump isn't one of us. He is the caricature on the Monopoly game, he is a character in a Mario Puzo Novel, he is a winning lottery ticket, he's the free lunch, he is whatever we want him to be. He is Tinkerbell and some of us can't believe in fairies.
11
@Montreal Moe
Everything you've written is true. But you, fortunately, are living in Montreal!
Even after the malignant narcissist Donald Trump is gone, his avid right wing, white nationalist supporters will still be with us. How do we solve that problem?
2
Well done, Roger Cohen. This article encapsulates the Trump and Pence Mega-Blunder in Turkey and Syria this past week. It is appalling how quickly the slide this country has taken from respect to ridicule in the eyes of the world. I am sure Adam Schiff and the House Judiciary Committee have a very long list of documents to subpoena and people-of-interest to interview. However, I am also hoping that other actors in this huge drama will be impeached or disbarred (if lawyers) as well. On the periphery of these investigations, I am interested in learning more about Trump’s private conversations with Putin, Erdogan and MBS. It just doesn’t make sense how quickly he is fulfilling the “wish list” of autocrats. What quid-pro-quo is he expected to fulfill? Or, what do these Bad Actors have on Trump? Why is he putting America up for sale to the highest bidder?And, beyond finances and taxes, I am also interested in private conversations Senior Advisor to the President, Jarad Kushner, holder of the Portfolio for Peace in the Middle East has had with ambassadors or leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan, etc. on behalf of his mandate for peace .... beyond his real estate investments or other deals his company may be negotiating behind the scenes in these and other countries. Just curious. If there is so much smoke visible now, the wildfire must be raging! I hope all this is cleaned up before our democracy lies in the embers of greed and incompetence.
11
@JAY What motivates Trump? Money and power. Americans thought it was fun to shake up Washington and vote for a belligerent bully. We wanted entertainment, and we now have the Trump Show. Putin is pulling the puppet's strings and smiling. After Trump leaves office, he'll have Trump hotels in Moscow, Ankara and various Middle Eastern cities. Putin will control Ukraine. ISIS will continue to blow up the ME, and the US will be left with huge debt, and a populace that doesn't trust its government. The blame lies with our Security departments who failed to protect our elections, a Republican Senate who allows Trump to run roughshod over normal diplomacy, and a refusal to remove a mental case from office.
4
The US and the Kurds are NOT allies:
2011: Obama addresses the Kurds and the Turks:
"U.S. President Barack Obama condemned what he called the "outrageous terrorist attack," and said the United States will continue its strong cooperation with Turkey as it works to defeat the Kurds. A U.S. State Department spokesman said Turkey has the right to defend itself against terrorism. He said the United States will support Turkey when it pursues terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere."
1
To those who fear that Trump is gut-led to pull troops from Syria to distract us from impeachment work, his sending of thousands more to Saudi Arabia fits the more conventional trope of using military action to distract voters from political crises. As impeachment snowballs into an avalanche and support in red areas disappears, Trump will bounce all over the map looking for military actions for distraction for his red country MAGAts. The Kurd debasement failed? Hold on, there's a bumpy road ahead.
7
Trump is and always has been a joke. He will be gone as soon as the Republican senators send him a note advising him to resign and promising a soft landing. This needs to happen soon, so that the Republicans can rally behind Pence as their 2020 standard-bearer.
@C.L.S.
Pence?
2
It was revolting when Trump, at a rally this week, described Kurds and Turks as two fighting kids who needed to duke it out. As if this were a schoolyard fistfight, or if the parties were equals.
That was on top of Trump’s bizarre remarks that the Kurds weren’t angels (um, unlike the Saudis?) and that they knew how to fight (um, unlike Israelis?).
And even that followed Trump’s inexplicable comment that Kurds didn’t help us during Normandy, never mind that neither did Germany, Italy or Japan.
There just is no logic here, and Trump’s vast ignorance is both dangerous and deeply offensive.
25
When Trump was elected, moderate Republicans thought that "certain people" like Paul Ryan and Mike Pence would keep Tump in check. Lindsey and Mitch both thought they could somehow manage Trump.
They also believed that our Constitution and our system of checks and balances are SO resilient that they could withstand any threat. How much damage could one person do to our system of government, they asked rhetorically. And once Trump was inaugurated, surely the weight and inherent dignity of his office would bring out at least SOME of the better part of his nature.
Well, nearly three years later we know all too well that none of those things are necessarily true. If no one stands up for checks and balances, those inherent guardrails of our government do not work. If one party silently and/or publicly enables a man of Trump's low and ruthless inclinations, the government will begin to rot from the inside. Even the moral foundations of government will begin to weaken when the President of the United States mocks morality and truth, and encourages his supporters to do the same. In less than three years, we have 40% of America saying that facts do not exist. We have the GOP refusing to do anything when Trump's lies, insults, and curses. They make every excuse in the book for him - and eventually horrible events like the murder of Khashoggi and the abandonment of the Kurds in a war zone become "nothing burgers" that we need to "get over." We are covered in shame.
16
Roger, "perfidy" is indeed the correct word to describe Trump's betrayal of the Kurds.
6
Horrifying. Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
Even Judas Iscariot had those last dreadful moments of moral clarity--before he did away with himself.
Are we him? Really? The United States of America--the "last best hope of mankind." The country that sponsored the Marshall Plan. The country that. . . .that. . .. that. . .
It goes on and on.
And now? Under Mr. Donald J. Trump?
Oh the horror! The horror! This is us. This really is us.
Will the Kurds ever forgive us?
Or the Europeans?
Or anyone?
4
Trump is doing what he said he'd do.
"America First" doesn't just mean anti-global economic views, anti-free-trade, etc. It means every man for himself when it comes to defense as well.
It's interesting that progressive democrats and democratic socialists are often anti-interventionalist too.
To be FOR strong military to be used for defending human rights rather than just our own national security might be a minority position. Holding it can open you to criticism that you forget most American interventions have undermined human rights...e.g. the murder of Pinochet, the attempt to overthrow Ho Chi Minh, the democratically elected head of Viet-Nam, etc.
When did an American President first use our forces for good, other than FDR in WWII? Was Bill Clinton in Bosnia the first and only one to do so? Did he ever enunciate a Clinton Doctrine?
Perhaps that is part of why Republicans hated him so much. He threatened to turn the military into a force for good, when they wanted the US to be the bully of the world, like Nixon and Kissinger's so-called "realpolitic" and Reagan's support for murderous Central American dictators.
Yup. Republicans hate anything that helps people, not just that helps Americans, but that helps anyone anywhere.
6
Why don't we start by making it illegal to fire or command by tweeting? We've become victims of the use of technology. It makes many people insensitive to others, increases anti social behavior and has alienated our citizenry. Remember the old saying. "count to ten before you act"? Where are the baby boomers now that young people need them?
9
The YPG, the democratic, multi-ethnic, secular organization with a women’s militia managing the Kurd autonomous zone, is by far the most progressive group in the Middle East and Muslim world. The Free Syrian Army accompanying the Turkish invasion that was videoed executing Kurdish captives and civilians was armed by the CIA. The betrayal of the Kurds and democratic forces began with U.S. intervention in the first place. The Syrian civil war began when Assad attacked the non-violent Arab Spring demonstrators. But the Free Syrian Army, a collection of warlords and jihadists, also tortured and murdered democracy protestors in the areas they controlled. The American government and media covered this up, making Assad the only bad actor. The YPG is the last of the Syrian democratic movement, surviving by organizing, fighting, and allying with the U.S. Their current alliance with Assad and Russia is morally no worse than their past alliance with the U.S., and hopefully they will survive and the civil war will end.
4
Mr. Cohen writes that Trump’s "Middle East demeans the sacrifice of the thousands of Americans who died for something better, and makes a nonsense of the nearly trillion American dollars spent to that end.” While correct, it is insufficient in describing the wrongs committed by Trump and those before him.
Who were those “thousands of Americans who died”? Not bankers. Not the children of tycoons. They mostly came from our farms and small towns and inner cities. They were not members of the peers. They were the help.
What about the “trillion American dollars spent”? Who paid that and will pay it for generations? Not bankers. Not the children of tycoons. That will be the rest of us. Only the help.
While Trump does demean these sacrifices, we should remember that he did not start the disaster.
We should also remember who gets to deal with the mess. The help.
19
trump uses the "gut feeling" as a cover for the fact he does not have the capability to make a logical decision. In the case of Syria, his decision was also a political calculation to make good on a "promise" so that he had something to point to, other than Supreme Court Justices.
No need to try to figure out the decision-making process because it does not exist.
36
@Allen82 ...I've had a Gut feeling that The Trump Administration has been giving me indigestion since 2016 !!
2
Our electorate and system for electing presidents put Trump in office. We cant blame the vehicle for operator error, but should fix whatever design flaws allowed the error to occur. The problem was caused by us as will be its solution.
9
This is true, but unlike the vehicle, Trump bears moral and legal responsibility. Yes, the electorate must bear much of the blame for this terrible moral failure, but Trump should live forever in ignominy.
3
"Solemn accords entered into by the United States, like the Iran nuclear deal, are ripped up — and replaced by empty threats."
One of the most dangerous things with Trump is that for him, no deal is a good deal unless it's a Trump deal.
I find that really frightening.
As it is now, Trump ignores the Constitution. I'm not sure he really comprehends it. And besides, it doesn't have Trump's signature on it. Why bother with it.
Pretty soon, if he hasn't already, Trump will tear up the Constitution and "negotiate" a better one for us.
America's going to be another one of Trump's "successes".
Think Trump University, Trump Casinos, Trump Shuttle and the rest.
The word of the United States will be as worthless as a Trump University diploma.
And McConnell continues to do nothing, allowing Trump to do as he pleases. He is worse than Trump.
I think if we correct course in the next election, some of the damaged relationships with our allies may be repaired.
If it remains the same, America's standing will continue to erode.
Vote Democratic in 2020.
Every office, every seat.
105
@D. DeMarco McConnell truly is worse than trump because he knows what trump is doing is disastrous. He knows right from wrong, but ignores the right and goes with the expedient. trump is an ignorant, money grubbing idiot, but he's somehow manages to manipulate, bully and scare the GOP in Congress. I hope the 2020 voters manage to manipulate trump and the GOP out of office. We'll see.
1
As usual a fine, thoughtful piece from Mr. Cohen. That said however I fear “the dim tide of reprisal” will not come for Mr. Trump. He will depart from the scene and it will come for his successor and all of us.
15
I understand the view of those in the U.S. who would like to see the country retreat from its various and expensive global military adventures. The leaders of most countries in the world either keep their focus on their own, domestic needs or participate in reigning in egregious abuses of human rights by joining with others through peace keeping missions. These leaders accept that any proclamation about being "the greatest nation on earth" or the "most powerful leader in the free world" would be met with derision and some concern about their mental health. If you do not aspire to global leadership, then you can't carry the mantle. America can withdraw from its global entanglements, abandon whatever geopolitical ambitions it may have and pursue a smaller, less interventionist, more collaborative place in the world, but it is going to have to accept that others will step in and take from them that whole "greatest nation on earth" title. Somehow, I just don't see Americans accepting to see themselves diminished. Trump's arrogance, however feckless, is just an obscene expression of an arrogance that permeates the American world view. The battle for American exceptionalism is one fight America will never retreat from...whatever the cost.
17
@Meusbellum - I cringe every time I hear those expressions, and especially when trump is referred to as the most powerful person on the planet.
George W. Bush's response to 9/11- declaring war on a sovereign nation that was proven to have zero to do with that attack - was the beginning of the end IMO.
Now, with the election of this depraved ignoramus named trump and a power mad republican party (it's always republicans who start this stuff), this American hangs her head in profound shame and disgust.
1
Spot on, Mr. Cohen! America can no longer claim the moral high ground (not that Trump would even recognize it) when it comes to foreign policy. As a matter of fact, Trump seems to think we no longer need the State Department nor its career employees who share vast knowledge the president sees no need for. I am numbed by this president's craven behaviour and agree that he'll be remembered, though not in the glowing terms he reserves for himself. God help us!
46
Great line: "Even the plankton known as the Republican Party".
But even plankton have more of a backbone than the servile Republicans who care solely for their political power salvation and could care not one bit about the salvation of the United States and all it has stood for.
We can only hope that 2020 voters will exhibit the backbone needed to rid us of the docile and decrepit Republican Party.
90
Thanks Roger, you did indeed capture an important moment in American History. The greatest challenge facing our democracy today is rational awareness.
19
I don't think defeating Trump is going to fix this. Things will not go back to normal in foreign policy. Even if we elect a sane president, why should other countries trust us not to elect someone like Trump in the future?
36
@Oh please They shouldn't, and they won't. Everything we do, from who we elect to what agreements we make to the nature of the people we support in the world, will be under a microscope of mistrust. Mistrust we have earned. I don't see us getting it back in my lifetime.
34
Wide-ranging. What happens when too many promises are made to too many parties that are conflicting? Imperial UK and France faced this 100 years ago.
Turkey is a NATO ally, has since the start. Considered a lynchpin to our Cold War policy and Russia confrontation. Turkey has always viewed the Kurds as a danger, even as terrorists.
The Kurds were not our 1st adventure in trying to interfere in Syria. The CIA as well as the DOD armed and trained other groups. Some even tried to remake al Qaeda into an acceptable partner in our efforts to topple Asad. These Syrian groups turned their US guns over to terrorists, melted away, or joined terrorist bands. The Kurds were a group that were not Arab and did not want to be Syrian, and we used them.
To protect the Kurds, we would have to fight Turkey. 50 or 1000 soldiers won’t do it.
A war with Turkey would end our bases there. It would weaken our Syrian regime change. It might even sour Israeli-Turk relations that permits Israel’s air force air access to bomb Syria and Iraq.
Warhawks of both parties always fail to declare just what it requires to be the hegemon of the Mideast. Want to topple Asad? How many troops and planes will it take? Want war with Iran? How many troops, planes and ships? Want war with Russia? Better add nuclear weapons.
Our warmongers should read Elizabeth Monroe’s Britain’s Moment in the Middle East. Hegemony and permanence are both fleeting.
We need better policies, not more costly and endless wars.
15
Mr Cohen has well captured the moment at what looks like the historic turning point in American postwar foreign policy when the retreat from responsibility began in earnestness. This trail of tears is marked with bodies of the betrayed left behind among the smoking camps and charred equipment amidst the indifference of the war-weary American public that has had enough.
Donald Trump's erratic irresponsibility illuminates the dissolution of the American internal consensus behind its role as international leader. The combination of cravenness and indifference of the vast American public to the world outside its borders is stunning.
In America the center didn't hold.
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Brilliant column, Mr Cohen.
Thank you for your insights.
It will be interesting to reread your observations as the walls surrounding American integrity, world status, moral high ground collapses under the weight of Trump.
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Wow, we disappointed the Kurds after fighting shoulder to shoulder with them. Fifty years ago I was fighting shoulder to shoulder with the South Vietnamese Rangers in their struggle against North Vietnam. They fought hard and we fought hard. Both of us suffered tremendous casualties.
We betrayed them by pulling out of the region. South Vietnam is now doing pretty well. Sometimes when the US withdraws good things can happen.
Good things might happen to the Kurds. Don’t dwell on Trump’s actions,he is a small player in a big game between simmering hostile states that has been going on for a long time.
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@Danny Seaman Danny. Don't confuse you're experience in Vietnam with what's happening now. They are not comparable in the way you describe. It might make you feel better but get ready for a lot more bloodshed before anything good might ever even begin. Had the US tried to broker a deal things would've been a lot better.
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The Impeachment investigation MUST obtain the tapes of Trump’s phone calls that have been hidden on the secret server and MUST release unredacted audio copies for all the world to hear. Then the New York Times should list the Representatives who say they will not vote to impeach, and the Senators who say they will not vote to convict him. And we’ll go from there.
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@RMF
I, too, want those tapes. All of them, not only the ones pertaining to the July 25 call. And, in my wildest dream,
I am in the room watching the faces of Republican senators as they hear them for the first time.
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Yes, some Europeans are laughing, many more are crying for Trump has made this world a far more dangerous place, irregardless of who / which party wins the next election round.
What few of us realize or accept is that US power and diplomacy, soft and hard were force multipliers to our economic and technological dominance - that era will fade as Asia led by China fills the gaps and defines new standards.
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Our influence in Asia will fade as a result also of Trump unilaterally axing the TPP, which would have been a curb against Chinese expansionism,
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@seanseamour I'm an American living in England. Even the British, with their clown Prime Minister, have lost faith in us I find myself in deep sorrow.
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It seems likely, knowing what kind of person Trump is, that this had less to do with Trump's gut than it had to do with his personal interest.
We need to see the transcript of the phone call Trump made with Erdogan and Trump's calls to Putin. That would answer the question of what made Trump pull troops out of Syria and then parrot Turkey's talking points the Kurds.
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This latest betrayal of the Kurds by the U.S. is heartbreaking and infuriating. It is a separate consideration, however, from the matter of how fit Trump is to be President of the United States of America.
As Nancy Pelosi pointed out, all roads with Trump lead to Putin.
Trump did not act in response to strategic or foreign policy concerns. Trump acted on his own in response to a phone call from Erdogan. It was an impulsive, fact-free act that he explained with lies about wanting to get us out of endless wars. Our troops were taken out of Syria and sent to defend ... Saudi Arabia? ... like mercenaries fighting for the highest bidder.
Trump created this disaster after weeks of dealing with his Ukraine fiasco, which itself had come literally on the heels of the Mueller investigation.
Now Trump has decided to fuel more outrage as he sets up his bedbug resort in Florida to host the G-7 summit. If he survives this Impeachment thing, Trump will probably invite Putin as his "plus one".
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@Reliance Here is an idea, Why not use the second amendment to form a militia, bear arms and take back your country from this excuse for a president?
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Everything that Mr. Cohen allude to will get worse unless the GOP pulls the plug on Trump. but it seems unlikely that Republican leadership in Congress is ready to do what needs to be done. Mike Pence´s recent failed attempts to look and sound presidential further complicate the matter. Trump will be impeached but, in all likelyhood, he will not be convicted. He might lose the 2020 presidential election, but he might win. The fate of the Republic hangs in the balance.
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As usual this is only half the story. The US trillions of dollar mess in the middle east could have been avoided in 2002, where was our media then, where were the law makers who could have stopped the Iraqi war conducted under false flag operations and bogus information. Trump stated he pulled this small contingent out to get them out of harms way. What is the immediate future for the region, I don't think anyone is ready for what is coming. We are certainly not being told all of the story. Our credibility problem is with our information.
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@Joe Gilkey Your comment strikes of deflection. Trump, with no shortage of evidence, is a clear and present danger to the United States, the world, and to the vision that we ascribe to ourselves as Americans.
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@Joe Bigsley
Well put, Mr.Bigsley.
And everyone shuddered when this individual was made president because we all knew what he was : a clear and present danger to the United States, the world and could cause huge trouble in the Middle East where thoughtful diplomacy and infinite delicate care are required.
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Instead of legislators offering righteous indignation and thoughts and prayers, I suggest they pass legislation offering any Syrian Kurd who wishes a green card and transportation to the US. I read that nothing now can be done to recover their homeland lost by our betrayal. At least offer what can be done to mitigate the damage we have done them.
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@JT - John Tucker
Somehow, I suspect that the Kurds may decline the offer.
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@JT - John Tucker
I hear what you're saying, but would you really want to accept an invitation to go live with the people who abandoned you to get blown apart by the enemy?
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Enough with the Obama bashing over his “red line.” He went to Congress for authorization to use force, as the constituion requires, and was hamstrung by Republicans who refused to authorize force because they wanted to make him look weak.
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Roger Cohen, What did you think of the original Iraq invasion in 2003? That was the real disaster from which all other disasters have flowed. Let's not forget that. GWB is to blame for this mess.
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@Sirlar It may have started earlier than that, but instead of attempting to rebuild a fire damaged structure, Trump has taken to pouring gasoline on the smoldering embers, probably because he profits from more gasoline use… or maybe he plans to build another Trump tower in the ashes.
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@Sirlar
And Tony Blair.
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@Sirlar RICHARD BRUCE CHENEY!
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I will never get an invitation to the White House, at least that's my reading of the odds. But I have wondered if I would accept an invite from a President I wouldn't vote for, or even one I greatly disliked, like a Nixon or even George W. Bush. And I think I would, just to take the ride and see how it all works inside the gates. I'd shake the hand and be curious to see what's in the eyes of the most powerful person in the world.
But Trump? Never. He's the only President in my lifetime, or even in the history I am familiar with, that I don't consider to be a President. He's not a President, he's a cancer in the nation. Some cancers can be cured, some not. I guess we'll have to endure the treatment.
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@paulyyams It’ll take a radical trumpectomy.
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During the darkest days of the Bush military fiasco in Iraq, the one section of the country we didn’t have to worry about attacking us was the Kurdish part.
During the darkest days for the West in the rise of ISIS, the nightly news carried stories of “yet another” beheading. During those darkest days, the husband and wife ISIS team gunned down people in California at the start of the 2016 campaign. During the darkest days, people feared letting their teenagers watch Internet videos out of fear they’d be seduced by ISIS.
That was when people around the world truly lived in dread of the next terrorist attack by some zombie ISIS supporter.
And just who were the people with an armed force in the region that brought ISIS to heel? The Kurds. The West provided weapons, money, and Special Forces assistance. Kurds took the lead and took the hits from the ISIS bullets and artillery. Later, others followed.
When Trump says we have no interest there, we only need think back to the fear we felt right here in this country when ISIS seemed to be everywhere. We very much had an interest there! And it was the Kurds who championed our, and the rest of the West’s, basic interest in preserving Western civilization values.
Now Trump has run out on them because he’s scared and wanted to distract his base from his political crimes.
Who’s going to protect us, protect Western civilization, from foreign terrorists, next time? People in red MAGA hats?
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@Liam Jumper "...we only need think back to the fear we felt right here in this country when ISIS seemed to be everywhere." Did Donald Trump feel that fear for his own life or those of his children, perhaps of his wife? Under the protection of the Secret Service and US military, does he feel any fear of ISIS or terrorists of any sort now? On the other hand, does he fear for the financial health of his real estate holdings, like the one with the golf course in Florida? If we realize that the president equates in total his interests with those he describes as America's, then we will understand that the real goal is to MTGA. Keeping that in mind, and the chaotic situation he finds both his political and financial fortunes in, both his long-term plans and moment-to-moment choices make sense in his thinking.
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Just as remarkable is the fact that 41% of the electorate still thinks the Orange One is doing a heckuva job. These people so fear and loathe their own countrymen, they'll follow him anywhere, so long as he promises to protect them. But it's hard telling why they think this loud, vacillating marshmallow will be there when they really need him.
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We watched The Caine Mutiny tonight. We need that brave sailor who risked his life and his honor to save his ship. Where are heroes in the Senate?
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One of the under-appreciated aspects of the oozing gangrene that is the trump reign is the extent to which our individual thought processes have been degraded.
Those thoughts that were previously kind or neutral have now curdled, leading us down unclean and sorrowful psychic pathways.
For many of us, the healing, the stepping back into the uncontaminated light, is going to be a long process.
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What's the key to undercutting Trump's support from all the semi-rural and rural folks or all those folks living in small and medium cities in red states? Pointing out and re-pointing out Trump's various evils isn't cutting much at all into his popular support which remains steady. That question occurs to me from Roger Cohen's excellent but painful-to-read column today as he makes arguments made by many other writers for 3 years. These essays do not bring us any closer to a solution, a strategy, a vision.
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@blgreenie
Trump was elected to be an interrupter. It wasn't Russia who created discontent, they just took advantage. The wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth could only succumb to internal problems.
Many have offered solutions but America seems averse to compromise. You can't have your country and not have your country at the same time.
Our last Provincial election we elected a center right government they are our conservatives and they are well left of center in the USA.
You are the least equal of all Western Democracies but that's the way you want it. What's the problem?
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@blgreenie We can't and should not rely on, or try to change the minds of, the "rural folk" you cite. They are lost in their fox news fog, and have no idea what this republic stands for, nor are they familiar with our constitution and laws. Forget trying to educate the uneducated, the people trump loves. We have to rally the educated and the deeply concerned who are watching this monster destroy everything we once cherished.
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@blgreenie
"Gut issues": fear, racial hatred, desperation, hopelessness.
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Why do Republicans go along. Because Trump is popular among his base and that's all the Republicans have? That's not a good reason. There are no leaders in the Republican party, just politicians.
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@tanstaafl : Maybe a better name for those in the republican party would be opportunists. Or politician-opportunists. There should be only politician-public servants.
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Maybe America was never great. We were just lucky: Possessing a rich chunk of the New World away from war-torn Europe, we were able to achieve unparalleled material success. As we've seen though, wherewithal alone does not deliver moral competence, governmental astuteness, or inherent wisdom.
Our success was completely superficial. We were a slave nation that genocided its natives, making us fabulously rich. We could thereafter afford the best military machine the world had ever seen.
Peace we never mastered. Restless and anxious, we were constantly looking for another war to win; we were the World's Policeman, riding in on a white horse, we thought.
Now we are in a tangle that no one can undo. The lights have all gone dark in the city on the hill.
Time to make a fresh start. This time we'll get it right; Dr. Pangloss is with us.
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@Jim Muncy You're on to something there. Americans could afford to be selfish because our only two neighbors were weaker. The US could afford to indulge in isolationism and imperialism by turn as our whims and financial influences dictated. The world is a smaller place now. Cooperation is necessary (don't tell Trump that - in his abject insecurity, he thinks it's unmanly).
And true patriotism is thought to be for naive rookies and amateurs by the oligarchists and plutocrats who run the show - truly stateless, they use citizenship for convenience. I've observed that firsthand in US nouveau riche. They'll come running for the flag for protection and when it's to their advantage, but otherwise, "Offshore, baby!"
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@Jim Muncy
I concur completely.
Don't forget to add the "rugged individualism" at the heart of the American ethos, at the expense of concensus and the common good.
Tocqueville observed in the 19th century that as long as American could continue to push West, it would flourish. He surmised that a confined America would implode on itself.
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@cynthia
Yes, we are colonists in the worst sense of the word: naive, vain, isolated, self-righteous, overexcited, and uncivilized. Most of us were failures in our home country, and, one step ahead of the law, we bailed, seeking a place to make a fortune. Our Christianity was morally worthless and dangerous to others, but we thought ourselves to the chosen ones. Vanity of vanities.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "I tremble for my country when I realize that God is just."
The chickens have come home to roost. It's no surprise that most countries consider us to be the most dangerous country in the world.
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The Donald wanted to be president so that he could be the center of attention 24/7 and feed his narcistic impulses. He got his wish and he is the center of attention even when he is talking nonsense and making incoherent "speeches."
He will be remember alright but not for anything good.
But sadly many normal people are wondering if The Donald can be defeated in 2020. Can the democrats take the Senate in 2020? We could have four more years of his willful destruction/sabotage.
In 2016, there were some democrats who said that they could see no difference between Ms. Clinton and The Donald.
But at least Ms. Clinton could make a coherent speech and could develop rational policies. I might not agree with them but they were plausible, rational, and understandable.
The United States is becoming like Italy. A friend who lived in Italy about 30 years ago told me that anything run by the Italian government was completely dysfunctional -- post office, telephone service, etc. But you could go to a restaurant and get a wonderful meal and people were making and selling wonderful art objects, clothes, etc. Private person to person activity was wonderful; government activity was dysfunctional. Our congress and White House are dysfunctional in terms of any constructive activity.
The Donald is just highlighting our national decline and advertising it to the world.
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@Aubrey
Democrats in the House have passed hundreds of constructive bills signed to help ordinary Americans in their daily lives. McConnell has refused to even let them be discussed in the Senate, much less come up for a vote. Our national decline is largely a result of Republican refusal to allow government to work, because they hate governing, reject the idea of a common good and are just in it for their personal self-interest. Our democracy is not dying a natural death, it is being strangled.
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@willow Good comments and I agree.
Sadly, I don't feel that this situation is likely to change soon. They say that about 35% of the electorate supports The Donald. But where are the other 65%. Why don't they would go to the polls and vote for the non trump?
The only answer is for the non-republicans to support democratic candidates in 2020 and for every democrat to turn out and vote.
Best wishes and always look for the positive.
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@Aubrey There is a very active amount of voter suppression going on: closing polling places, moving them beyond the public transportation routes, Many poor people can't afford to take a day off work. We could have a national holiday for voting so that everybody has a fair chance. Why hasn't it happened?
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It is amazing how valuable the will to persist is, and having the image of one who perists may be even more valuable. As poker writer Mason Malmuth wrote, one does not want to become known as a "folder". Having such an image will tend to make otherwise controllable and predictable opponents very tricky to play against and create a lot of difficult situations that would otherwise be straightforward.
This seems to describe the strategic landscape created by the current folder-in-chief. If future presidents follow Trump's mix of isolationism and photo-op interventions, the world will become a much more lawless and deadly place.
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"America’s word is worth less today than at any time since 1945."
i don't know how one measures such things, but i'd guess that 1945 was not a second low point in american integrity. we'd given lives and treasure, saved europe, freed japan, and went on to rebuild the globe by tethering it to our economic ability to absorb and redeem debt.
we may have to go back to the 1920's isolationist reaction to WW I, or the 19th century repudiation of many indian treaties, for a valid benchmark of cynicism.
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@drollere I think we only need to go back to 2003 when the US started a bloody war under false pretenses. Many liberals supported that one, including Biden and Clinton, along with Mr. Cohen.
Then there was the decision by President Obama to support the Saudi war on Yemen, which Trump has continued. Hundreds of thousands have died, many of them children. But it only rarely attracts the attention of our professional newspaper moralists.
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@drollere
I am sorry but the US only got involved at the last minute in both wars after they themselves were attacked. Canada, and others were already there. America did NOT win either war, just participated along with the rest of us.
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@drollere,
I think Roger Cohen meant that 1945 was a high point of international respect for America, not a low point.
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"America’s word is worth less today than at any time since 1945. "
This sentence should be yellow-highlighted and teachers of history should begin their lectures on what was born from the ashes of World War II and where we are now.
America's employment of the atomic bomb in 1945 brought with it a fraught sense of duty to the human community that its existence would tempt madmen and fools. America, a victor on two continents and slayer of two evil menaces to humankind, nevertheless sought to forge alliances on both continents in an attempt to secure the peace because the nightmare from which we emerged was not conquered.
NATO, and later SEATO, were the vision of Americans of stature who understood that a world, ruled by one nation, however benevolent (all things considered) would soon be sabotaged by the nascent movements of anti-colonialism springing up in Asia and the Western Hemisphere and Africa. America took on the responsibility of exporting the best of its promises while, unfortunately, looking the other way (Mossadegh in Persia, 1953, e.g. and its destabilization of the Congo and Patrice Lumumba's assassination in 1961).
America, under Donald Trump, has betrayed its trust in not only that region but it has released, like a noxious gas, the elements necessary for a reincarnation of ISIS and has shown Turkey the way into Russia's arms.
"I have a hunch some dim tide of reprisal will return to haunt Trump for his recklessness."
Mr. Cohen, I hope you're right.
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@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Thanks for the references to Lumumba and Mossaddegh. I wasn't "woke" when all that happened, so I Googled them. Wow. Really, America? We are indeed international troublemakers and assassins. We have much blood on our hands, about which many of us have forgotten or never knew.
Thus, our current troubles may be divine retribution.
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@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
What is this “ looking the other way” silliness? The US has actively participated in and committed massive human rights violations. As bad as Trump is, he differs from his predecessors mainly in the fact that he has no sense of shame.
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@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Along with NATO and SEATO, let's not forget the United Nations, a dream of Wilson and FDR, brought to fruition under Truman, and for which Trump, his adminstration and his followers have no use.. Recall John Bolton's "There is no UN," denying its reality.
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Minority leader of the House Kevin McCarthy and Senate majority leader McConnell could have stopped out of control President quite some time ago, and they still can. Impeachment is just around the corner and those two men could rally most of their members to convince Trump to resign.
But they likely won't, for reasons only each individual Republican in Congress can know. They can do it and save this country and world from further degradation from this wrecking ball of a President.
Please Republicans, get this man out of office.
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@cherrylog754
Resignation is far too good for Trump.
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"America's word is worth less today than at any time since 1945". That's true. But America's word was worth a tremendous amount during the 1939-1945 World War. And certainly it was also more valuable during the earlier FDR years than at any point under Trump. I will admit that during the administrations immediately prior to FDR there was reason for America's word to be mistrusted, including here at home. But it's hard to compare those years with years under Trump.
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