A Few Thoughts About the Incoming Administration

Unlike the left, who actively rooted for President Trump to fail, I really want Joe Biden to succeed, after all he is the incoming president.  At the same time, I believe he’s going to be tested almost immediately by Iran.  The Mullahs are going to do something to retaliate for killing Qasem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (the recently assassinated nuke scientist) and that could become very messy quickly.

Recall, when Biden was last in office during the Obama administration, the Iranians captured and humiliated 10 American sailors and filmed them on their knees in front of the whole world, only to have our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry, thank the Iranians for releasing them—talk about humiliating!

We do not know when nor what an Iranian retaliation may lead to, but for now Iran will do nothing because Trump has made it clear to them not to even try, so they will wait for Joe to take office.  But there is no way they will not retaliate for the two assassinations and Biden’s response will be watched carefully by Putin, Kim and Xi because that will be the template for American foreign policy for the next four years – it’s my hope that Joe exhibits more cojones than did his mentor Barack Obama.  And here’s a quick foreign policy prediction regarding China—under Biden, in an attempt to mollify and appease President Xi, our ally Taiwan will receive no more U.S. arms.

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I recently finished The Generals by Tom Ricks, a history of American military leaders from WWII to the present.  And perhaps what I found most interesting about the book was the philosophy of George C. Marshall, President Roosevelt’s Army Chief of Staff during the Second World War.

When asked what he looked for in a leader, George C. Marshall, “We want men who have measured up to the highest standards of military skill, who have demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of modern standards of warfare and who possess the physical stamina, moral courage, strength of character and flexibility of mind necessary to carry the burdens of which modern combat conditions impose.” 

So it was that a general such as George Patton who was strange, moody and brilliant and behaved in ways that would have gotten other officers relieved, was kept on by Marshall and Eisenhower because he was seen, quite accurately, as a man of unusual flaws and exceptional strength.  George Marshall concluded that Patton was both a buffoon and a natural and skillful fighter, which was best expressed by a captured German general who opined, “He (Patton) is the most modern general and the best commander of armored and infantry combined.”

I use this military situation to illustrate one of the reasons I supported Donald Trump.  Like Patton, Trump is strange, moody & brilliant, and has behaved in ways that can be considered ‘unbecoming.’  But also like Patton, Trump is decisive, creative, unafraid to make hard decisions, a risk taker, someone always willing to listen.   And with a management style similar to that of George Marshall & Dwight Eisenhower, which can be described as being clear with their division commanders that they must “Adapt and succeed or be replaced, but you will not be micromanaged,” after eight years of what many consider a rudderless administration, Trump was exactly what America needed—someone to put America first and get the job done.

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With that in mind, I’ve asked a number of my liberal friends why they voted for Joe Biden other than the fact that he wasn’t Trump.  I asked them to assess Biden predicated on his 47 years in Washington, i.e., how resilient is he, what’s his mental acuity, and what’s his vision for America?  I asked how they felt about his ability to execute a plan and make conviction-based decisions?  I asked if they felt he was a risk taker, a good communicator and someone with firm convictions about both domestic and international matters?  Not surprisingly to date, not a single person I’ve asked has answered any of those questions, and you know what?  I doubt that I ever will because they can’t do with a straight face without embarrassing themselves.

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And lastly, whatever it was that happened to Joe last week, whether he slipped getting out of the shower or playing with his dog, it’s no secret the President-Elect’s best days are far, far behind him, so I suspect that the “slip incident” will be but the first of many mishaps the new president will experience as he continues to age rather ungracefully.  Kamela is smiling!