Start Dealing, by Robert Gore
All that money has bought multiple failures. The US has turned the Middle East and Northern Africa into a chaotic quagmire that has led to increased terrorism and refugee flows in the millions. Trump’s campaign adroitly played on popular fears of refugees and terrorism, but he’s maintaining the policies that produce them. More US forces are being sent to Iraq and Syria, and one special forces’ operation in Yemen has resulted in the first US military death (and the deaths of at least 10 Yemeni civilians) on Trump’s watch. He has shown no inclination to stop or curtail drone strikes, covert operations, or proxy warfare.
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This is an excerpt. For the full article please click the above link.
It seems like you're saying people who voted for President Trump wanted someone radical enough to [insert observer's desired policy here.] If you look hard enough into the Rorschach blot, you can see a colossal struggle between President Trump's plan to [observer's desired policy] and the forces of the status quo.
When you look at the data, though, you don't see your desired policies being implemented. You wonder if maybe the forces of the status quo are winning.
My explanation is that President Trump runs his mouth like a drunk, saying things he hasn't thought through and may not remember saying tomorrow. If you listen to him long enough, you can find him saying what you want. He said, for example, that he's a strong supporter of asset forfeiture, but you can probably find quotes where he says the opposite. It's whatever sounded good at the moment. You can take the times he said what you want and convince yourself that's what he really thinks. The times he said other crazy things just shows he's willing to be radical. The times he said things contrary to what you want, you have to say that was just to fire up his followers are a decoy to distract his critics' attention. Then you can further imagine an epic struggle between President Trump and the status quo It's all a just-so story. It's looking into the clouds and see undeniable patterns.
So it's no surprise to me the empire grows with more spending used in a way that actually worsens the problems, when borrowing increases, when the gov't has intrusive powers that are sometimes used corruptly.