Photo by The U.S. Army | CC BY 2.0
“So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle.” -Trump, Aug. 21
Somehow I find it hard to imagine Trump studying anything other than the real estate market in great detail. But now the president has been briefed by his generals on the need to sustain the war in Afghanistan (that’s been so good to them all these years). They have turned him around, so easily; he loves his generals and would like to leave details to them.
He has helpfully explained that while his natural instinct was to withdraw from the Afghan battlefield, things look different when you’re president. Gosh.
Specifically, he said (Monday at Ft. Myer, Virginia): “My original instinct was to pull out. And historically, I like following my instincts. [This probably means: All my life I’ve liked following my instincts, acting spontaneously rather than reading books and studying things.] But all my life I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office, in other words, when you’re president of the United States. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle.”
Oh. He’s heard all his life—but presumably, recently more than ever—that people who become president are supposed to change once in office. So it’s okay to drop a key campaign promise (to pull back from unwinnable wars) due to a sudden maturation process and the wisdom that comes from detailed study…