The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

The American presence throughout the world is a positive for both the country and the world, and know-nothings who demand that we withdraw completely are ignorant of the realities of geopolitics.

There are substantive discussions to be had about the exact level of involvement in the many countries in which we have a military presence, and even more substantive discussions about the goals of that involvement.

But involved we must be. Because the Russians and the Chinese and the Iranians and the Cubans and the Pakistanis and the North Koreans and the many other bad or neutral actors will swiftly fill the void if we bury our heads in the sand and affect an air of isolationism.

This is not a binary decision, and anyone who reduces it to that is ignorant. There is a significant difference between the out-of-control nation building that the neo-cons and the Bushes just love, and a robust foreign policy that projects our power, keeps the bad guys' heads down, and does not risk the lives of our fighting men for some amorphous goals.

That is an achievable objective, and President Trump has made significant moves in that direction. Have we withdrawn from Syria? Of course not. Have we limited our daily exposure? Yes, but without ceding the battle-space to Iran and Russia and Sunni terrorists.

We have made significant mistakes in the last generation, and many thousands of our fighting men have paid a heavy price. But shrinking American power to within our borders will do nothing but embolden our enemies, and in the long run will cost us many more lives, and much more gold.

President Donald Trump has filled 20 percent of the nation's federal appeals seats in his swift bid to reshape the judiciary with strong conservatives, and the emphasis could soon shift to accelerating district court confirmations.

With apologies to Colonel Kilgore:

"Smell that? You smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a court bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' Dem judge. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole court. Smelled like… Victory. Someday this war's gonna end…"

&topic=world_news"> posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

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