Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

by A. Joseph Lynch

THE WEEKLY BRIEF

In a surprise 9/11 gift to the nation, President Trump asked for, and received, NSA John Bolton's resignation. The president cited tensions between Bolton and other members of the administration, saying that Bolton is "so tough he got us into Iraq." The one issue that came up again and again was Bolton's use of the "Libyan model" - a phrase that naturally upset the North Koreans and set back 

the diplomatic efforts between our two nations. 

While we had hoped Bolton would temper his views in service to the president, Dr. Pence warned us of this very issue almost a year and a half ago:

John Bolton, the new National Security Advisor for President Trump, gave an April 29 interview with Fox newscaster Chris Wallace suggesting that we had a plan for denuclearization with North Korea based on the "Libyan model of 2003-2004." Talk about tone deaf. Mr. Bolton and the "journalist "interviewing him apparently forgot that after Muammer Gaddafi gave up his whole nuclear program, he was killed by a mob on Oct 20, 2011. That mob was empowered by Gaddafi's ungrateful new "friends from the West." A US NATO air campaign turned the Libyan Civil War decisively for the rebels who now divide their fractured rule in the failed state of Libya. As Hillary Clinton laughingly said, "We came, we saw, he died." An attack by a cohort of those same rebels killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya one year later, Sept 11, 2012. Gaddafi betrayed, the Arab mob given an Air Force against an African leader, and American patriots killed in the aftermath. That too is the Libyan model.

Needless to say there was a strong reaction by North Korea after hearing Mr. Bolton's TV interview. They have a sense of history even if Mr. Bolton and Chris Wallace do not.

...President Trump was very quick to say the Korean negotiations are DEFINITELY NOT THE LIBYA MODEL. He criticized the Regime Change which destroyed that country. He made it very clear he was proposing a very different scenario. This was his position in Republican debates on Syria as well. He said, "Destroy ISIS, don't try to overthrow Assad." "Cooperate with Russia, don't make them your enemies." President Trump is not a neocon...

This is very reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's negotiations with Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan always had a vision of peace and cooperation as a new way for the two nations to live together. He loved Russian proverbs. His "hard liner advisors" were always worried that if Reagan was left alone too long with Gorbachev,  he would give away the store. The hardline conservatives shared his tough talk but they knew not his heart. Paul Kengor's book on God and Ronald Reagan is very good about this phenomenon.

I. PRESIDENT TRUMP AND AMERICA

SHARPIE-GATE AND BORDER WALLS: Did President Trump use a sharpie to manually extend Dorian's path of destruction to include Alabama? The controversy became known as "Sharpie-Gate" - the next great presidential scandal put forward by the hysteric anti-Trump media. Trump in turn fed the media frenzy by announcing Trump-branded magic markers - and the media went wild. Meanwhile little attention was given to the announcement that President Trump was diverting more money from 127 Pentagon projects in order to fund another 200 miles of border wall with Mexico - a story which could have been quite negative for the President. Once again, Trump has hoodwinked the media into chasing a crazy story while missing out on the real news that might affect voters.

ANOTHER TRUMP CHALLENGER: We recently covered scandal-ridden Joe Walsh and his challenge to Trump from within the GOP. Now ex-governor and ex-representative Mark Sanford has announced he too will challenge Trump. Sanford is perhaps best known for an affair that saw him disappear from his state while attempting to cover up his illicit relationship. He later lost his bid for re-election to Congress after Trump supported his opponent. Trump has already blasted Sanford, summarizing his collapsed political career in a single blistering tweet. Meanwhile Arizona, Kansas, South Carolina, and Nevada have all cancelled their primaries. We hope more will soon follow suit.

RECORD NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS: Control of the Senate - especially since many "never-Trump" senators left and were replaced by pro-Trump senators - has paid dividends to the president. President Trump has now successfully hit a record number of judge appointments confirmed by the Senate. He recently hit his 152nd confirmation. This number includes 100 district court judges, over 40 circuit court judges, and two Supreme Court justices. The "nutty 9th" Circuit of 29 judges went from 6 conservative appointments as of 2016, to 13 under Trump - only two judges shy of a conservative majority.

TRUMP SHAPING THE GOP: A recent article wondered if the GOP momentum to re-take the House has been slowed by 15 GOP congressmen announcing their retirement ahead of November 2020's elections. Most of the seats, however, are in solid GOP areas. What we might see is something similar to the 2018 re-shaping of the Senate, where "never Trumpers" left and were replaced by many new Trump allies. Retiring congressman Will Hurd called Trump's tweets against AOC and "the Squad" "racist and xenophobic" while Bill Flores has a history of criticizing the Trump family. Jim Sensenbrenner was one of seven Republicans who voted to condemn "the Trump administration's efforts to have the courts invalidate 'ObamaCare.'" It's not enough for the GOP to re-take the majority. They must replace the "never Trumpers" if they are to do anything with the majority.

II. THE NATIONS

SHOULD WE BE THRILLED? GOP Rep. Michael Waltz, says he is "thrilled" that talks were breaking down between the US and Taliban after a recent bombing in Kabul. While we need a good deal, we should never be excited when opportunities for peace slip between our fingers.

SCOTUS TO THE RESCUE: Last Monday a U.S. district judge in California, Jon Tigar, reinstated a nationwide halt on the Trump Administration's implementation of the safe third country agreement it has reached with Mexico and other countries. The problem of a single judge placing national injunctions on American foreign and domestic policies is a massive problem for our nation, making one man in Oakland seemingly more powerful than the President. It's a problem that has doubled from 20 national injunctions during eight years of Obama to 40 national injunctions in three years of Trump. It must end. Thankfully the Supreme Court stepped in to overturn Tigar. Even the "nutty 9th" Circuit limited the scope of the injunction before SCOTUS overturned it altogether.

BREXIT - EIGHT PATHS FORWARD: A anti-Brexit channel explains eight possible ways Prime Minister Boris Johnson can complete Brexit. The video is not down on any in particular, and we're not so pessimistic about their chances as the video is. Worth watching for the information if not for the commentary.

BOLSONARO'S PHILOSOPHER: Dr. Steve Turley posted a four-part interview of Olavo de Carvalh, known as Bolsonaro's philosopher and influential thinker within the nationalist political movements of Brazil. To watch the interview follow these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

III. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE WITH... CANNIBALISM: When "science," climate change hysteria, and a total lack of true sacral categories coincide, we start hearing from scientists like one from Sweden calling on us to fight climate change by eating other humans. The inversion of religion and sacral categories continues.

A GRIZZLY DISCOVERY: Over 2,200 aborted babies found in the home of a recently deceased abortionist's house. Ulrich Klopfer, whose medical license had been suspended in 2015, performed abortions in South Bend, Indiana - home of the University of Notre Dame and Democrat presidential contender, Pete Buttigieg.

"HELL, YES...": "...we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," said Beto O'Rourke at the latest Democrat presidential primary debate. Of course, speaking of the AR-15 and the AK-47 conflates the two when the former is a rifle and the latter is a fully automatic assault rifle banned for private use in the US, as are all machine guns without very special permits. Statements such as this will not win over the average gun owner.