If Donald Trump is determined to stay in power, why hasn’t he started a war?

My Facebook friends confidently say that Donald Trump is a dictator who will stop at nothing in order to hold onto power. In this, they are backed up by U.S. media. See “Will Trump Ever Leave the White House?” (NYT, October 2019), for example:

Since 2015, we have been worrying about how much danger Donald Trump posed to democracy. Now, with the impeachment inquiry moving forward, a new question is rapidly gaining relevance: How and when will President Trump leave the White House?

If Trump wants to quarantine through January 2025 at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, why hasn’t he started any wars during his four years as Emperor? He has actually had some encouragement from the media and Congress, e.g., to intensify U.S. military involvement in various Middle Eastern morasses. (see, for example, “Trump’s Decision to Withdraw From Syria Is Alarming. Just Ask His Advisers.” (Editorial Board of the NYT, December 19, 2018))

The most obvious and easiest way for an American president to boost his/her/zir/their popularity is to become a wartime Commander in Chief. Look at FDR, re-elected in 1944 despite being 99 percent dead.

Trump hasn’t taken “the easy way in”. Why not? Democrats love to talk about how stupid Trump is. Are he and his advisors too stupid to realize the power-preserving value of a war?

17 thoughts on “If Donald Trump is determined to stay in power, why hasn’t he started a war?

  1. I think he should have launched a preemptive strike against Rudy Giuliani in that hotel room, at the very least.

    Everything these two have done is so unbelievably dumb.

    As far as the war goes, our military commanders may be facing a moment where they have to decide whether to obey the President’s orders. And I think there’s a good chance we will have an international provocation incident that will put their judgment to the test, soon. We’re getting pretty close to the societal equivalent of Max Q, and if any of Trump’s former pals in the rest of the world want to shake everything up like a washing machine with a bowling ball in it, the time is drawing near.

    It really depends, I suppose, on how much plausible deniability they can maintain and the extent to which our hands are tied. But if they wanted to strike a devastating blow, I can think of (but won’t write) a couple of things they could do right about now.

    Trump doesn’t have much left. I think he’s cornered. And since his Presidency relies so completely on the psychological and even metaphysical fusion between America and Himself, he might decide: “If the country rejects me, they reject America, and America therefore deserves to be fired!”

  2. I would say don’t give him any ideas, but unless you say it on Fox he’ll never know. Leave him to wallowing in the cheers of 92% of 40% of the voters. It’s like catnip and he won’t even notice the ground giving away under him.

  3. You guys are going to be sad. They are already winding back the demoralization bogus poll predictions https://www.investors.com/news/trump-vs-biden-poll-race-tightens-like-2016-ibd-tipp-2020-presidential-poll/
    I guess 4 years of getting mocked for predicting 92% chance of a Clinton victory still stings. Real America really loves Trump and he is going to overwhelmingly win. States that haven’t been red in decades are going to be red and proud of it.
    More Trumpslide evidence https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1317665451858567168.html
    Game over.

    @realDonaldTrump will be reelected in a landslide.

    For the first time in American history, the Republicans have beaten the Democrats in new-voter registration.

    PS Early voting results, which you’d think would be slanted Biden, in battleground states are coming back Trump. Can’t wait to see the new election night crying montages.

    • I doubt it. Donald Trump and many members of his family are going to prison, including Carlos Osweda. It’s going to be interesting to see what his sister Maryanne has to say about his impending bankruptcy, tax obligations and the utter financial oblivion that awaits him. Maybe she’ll make an example out of him. She used to judge people about that kind of stuff.

      And Steve Bhannon is going to take a long walk into the sea in Sumatra with a hard drive in his pocket. The Wizard’s Curtain was pulled back a long time ago, and there’s really nothing in there.

    • Judge Trump Barry knows everything her brother has done, and she thinks he has no principles whatsoever. She’s right about that.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryanne_Trump_Barry

      “At the presentation ceremony, Barry said, “I say to the women out there, remember how difficult it was for women like Justice O’Connor starting out,” adding, “Even though she graduated with top grades, she had to take a job as a legal secretary. Remember how far we have come.”

    • “Barry’s reputation on the bench was that of a tough judge with strong command of her courtroom.[1] In 1989, while a district court judge in Newark, New Jersey, she disapproved a plea bargain that would have freed two county detectives accused of protecting a drug dealer, and forced the case to trial. The detectives were convicted and received jail terms. She also presided over the conviction of Louis Manna, the Genovese crime family mobster accused of plotting to assassinate rival John Gotti.”

  4. Start one? He had one given to him by the coronaplague, and so far, I am not sure our Supreme Leader has really used it much to his political advantage. And @Teejay nailed it, too damn lazy!

    • Exactly. He was handed a golden opportunity to guarantee reelection. But as usual, turned it into a mess.

  5. You guys are going to be crying, not man crying like your dog just died, little girl screechy crying. Go look at crowd pictures from Trump and Pence campaign stops, then look at same for Harris and Obama. I heard Joe would be campaigning but has to help his son with some computer problems.

  6. Trump is a pacifist, more so than any president in recent history. In 20 years, when historians talk about his administration, I think this will be the top bi-partisian accolade that he receives. He blew up that one guy in Iran, but that seems to have worked out (at least for the US), and I have no doubt that Hillary would have been much more of a military interventionist.

    The virus was his best chance to rally the citizenry around a common cause. I feel like this was a layup, but then I am not a professional politician…

  7. “If Donald Trump is determined to stay in power, why hasn’t he started a war?” The answer of course is very simple! He does not need to. Trump/Pence will easily defeat Biden/Harris! Toucan has been saying this for years and he can look into the future and knows it to be the truth.

  8. The American people should hang them all. This country is being run, and will be run again, no matter who wins the election, by swindlers and criminals.

    The Bidens:

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/10/22/hunter-biden-elena-baturina-devon-archer-russian-oligarch-money-launder/

    The Trumps:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20170525192544/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/19/the-drug-trafficker-donald-trump-risked-his-casino-empire-to-protect

    We should suspend the election, install a temporary President for one year, and go through the arduous process of executing an awful lot of scumbags.

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