Finally, a President with BALLS!

So, a few days ago we found out Syria’s President Assad killed a few thousand of his own people with nerve gas. Yep, he crossed President Obama’s “red line” for the umpteenth time and decided the expedient way to deal with his opposition was to short-circuit the central nervous systems of everyone in proximity of fighters resisting his dictatorship. With the Russian’s help, he dropped a couple of tons of sarin gas in the middle of the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun Tuesday.

Thursday, after much careful deliberation with his national security team and a phone call informing the Russians of our plans, President Trump instructs two US Navy destroyers to loose 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles toward the Syrian air base where the nerve gas attack originated. 58 missiles precisely find their targets, carefully avoiding areas suspected of housing any remaining chemical weapons. One errant Tomahawk falls harmlessly into the Mediterranean. From all reports, the air base was pretty devastated.

President Trump gave the go-ahead while attending a dinner with the Premier of China, Xi Jinping and his wife who the President and First Lady were hosting at their Mar-a-Lago estate. Talk about multi-tasking! I would have given anything to see the look on the Chinese Premier’s face when he learned of the attack. The poor man had to recalculate his entire strategy of dealing with President Trump between dinner courses. For the past eight years, Premiere Xi (and all world leaders) have dealt with an America lead by a President whose eloquent prose and calm demeanor often projected quiet resolve but was rarely backed by action. Consequently, almost everyone we struck deals with ignored terms and treated America like their doormat. Who could blame them? Why would a country go to the trouble and expense of adhering to treaties, trade or defense deals when there are no consequences for breaking agreements? Indeed, China is a prime example. Despite agreements to the contrary, they continue to make military advances in the South China Sea and monetarily support North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un. So now, going against long-held treaties, China claims sovereignty over islands they’ve built in international waters and North Korea continually tests nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. What does the United States do about it? Dick. Well, so far.

World leaders must be starting to realize there’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Donald. If they aren’t, they’re dopes. Speaking of dopes, what about the afore-mentioned Kim Jung-un? Sheriff Donald just directed over one hundred thousand tons of diplomacy in the form of a U.S. Navy carrier group toward North Korea. What do you imagine is going through the dictator’s crazy little brain right now? I think he’s having nightmares about a Tomahawk cruise missile finding its way through his bedroom window.

This is something Donald Trump brings to the table that the Presidency hasn’t seen since Reagan. Balls and unpredictability. President Trump understands the best way to get what you want from an adversary is to give them no clue about the consequences of their actions. That’s why this Syrian strike is so important. President Trump had to establish his willingness to bitch-slap a leader if that leader misbehaves. His predecessor did the exact opposite. His unwillingness to enforce his own “red line” turned him into a sniveling coward in the eyes of our adversaries. We’re all living with the results. ISIS is flourishing. North Korea is testing nukes and shooting off ballistic missiles like bottle rockets. China is laying claim to the South China Sea and funding Kim Jung-un’s antics. Russia is propping up Assad in Syria and assisting his genocidal attacks on his political enemies. Not to mention their aggressive military actions in the Ukraine. Iran is arguably the most blatant aggressor during Obama’s tenure. The “deal” Obama and Kerry struck was one-sided to begin with, giving Iran billions of dollars, some of it as pallets of cash. Since then, Iran’s nuclear program proceeds unchecked, they threaten our navy vessels in the Persian Gulf and even kidnap our sailors and humiliate them on camera. All the while the executive branch of our government shrugs. No more.

President Trump’s detractors point to his campaign criticism of previous administrations’ spending trillions of dollars on foreign adventures with nothing to show for it. They view this Tomahawk attack in Syria as some sort of about face. They seem to forget his promise to “bomb the hell out of ISIS”. Not that this was an attack on ISIS, but I just want to point out that candidate Trump never portrayed himself as an isolationist. I think this just happened to be the first event of his presidency that gave him the opportunity to send a message to the world that the feckless sniveling of the previous eight years was over…

…with an exclamation point!