Thread: I didn’t vote for Jared and Ivanka: Trump voter upset over family influence

‘I certainly didn’t vote for the policies of Jared and Ivanka’: Trump voter upset over family’s influence

TOM BOGGIONI
14 APR 2017 AT 11:13 ET

Ivanka Trump was made an unpaid adviser to the US President despite having no experience in elected office or public policy (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

In an essay at Vox, the founder of the American Conservative said he is having second thoughts about his vote for Donald Trump, believing his “America First” campaign promises are being waylaid due to the influence of his newly installed advisers, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

According to Scott McConnell, he voted for Trump because of his non-interventionist rhetoric during the campaign, writing, “America was not imbued with a unique moral innocence in foreign policy.”

“Many of our interventions have had terrible results. We don’t win wars any more; we have increasingly pressing problems at home—evident in such measures as shocking decline in the life spans of working class Americans,” McConnell continued. “I voted for Trump for anti-war reasons. But President Trump’s precipitous military strike on a Syrian airbase makes me and others doubt whether the prudent non-interventionist thoughts he expressed in the campaign mean what we hoped they did.”

McConnell explains that his skepticism extends to the war in Iraq following the 9/11 attacks, which he called the result of the “dismal intellectual and institutional failure” of the Republican Party.

“The whole idea that it could be a plausible American strategy to impose ‘democracy’ on the Middle East was never rooted in reality. Nor was the belief that the Middle East’s leaders and peoples would accept indefinitely an Israeli regional nuclear monopoly or that Palestinians deserved to be stateless,” McConnell wrote before turning on the Republican establishment he felt Trump had run against, including GOP rivals Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

“When Donald Trump announced his candidacy to run for President in 2016, I found myself surprised by how bold and, often, how cogent his foreign policy perspectives seemed,” McConnell wrote at Vox. ” Who would have thought that the political figure who could shift the Republican Party United States towards a more realist foreign policy, recognizing that the most serious threats to American greatness didn’t come primarily from foreign states, would be a New York real estate loudmouth?”

But that all changed with the U.S. bombing of the Shayrat airfield in response to Syrian President Assad using chemical weapons on his citizens.

“The missile strike may not mean that much; it may turn out, in a way, fine. It’s not a terrible thing for a realist power to growl and show its fangs from time to time, and America is party to an agreement under which the Assad regime removed its chemical weapons,” he wrote. “But it could also signal that Trump’s skepticism about intervention, which rested on the most shallow intellectual foundation to begin with, could evaporate very quickly in the face of rising poll numbers (the American people like their military!) and the pleasures of a strange new respect garnered from the likes of Elliot Abrams and [CNN host] Fareed Zakaria.”

“If our actions somehow bring about the Assad regime collapse, and Russia allows this, rather than counter-escalating, the result will look something like today’s Libya—a failed state, or worse, with newly empowered Islamists running wild and Christians fleeing or subject to genocide. What will be our policy then?” he continued. “One looks at the Trump White House, and wonders who might be asking these questions? Probably no one. There are certainly no non-interventionists of genuine foreign policy stature who have Trump’s ear. Into the vacuum have moved Jared and Ivanka, bright, conventionally wisdomed, yuppie New Yorkers, who have never had to formulate or defend a complicated foreign policy position in their lives.”

Adding, “I now fear that this presidency could go as badly as George W. Bush’s,” McConnell said he doesn’t regret his vote for Trump yet, but said he now has strong doubts how Trump will govern because he seems like he can be easily swayed.

“I certainly didn’t vote for the foreign policy preferences of Jared and Ivanka, or a policy driven by whatever images on TV happened to move the president. The Syrian strike and the administration’s words to justify it significantly weaken the case for believing Trump will actually improve things, he concluded.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/i-c...lys-influence/

Trump’s base turns on him

Ditto that! Putting Ivanka and her family in charge of diddly squat is a very bad move on Trump's part.

W

“I certainly didn’t vote for the foreign policy preferences of Jared and Ivanka, or a policy driven by whatever images on TV happened to move the president. The Syrian strike and the administration’s words to justify it significantly weaken the case for believing Trump will actually improve things, he concluded.

Trump's words to explain the Syria strike were probably the worst set of strings I've heard from him to date, but to the man's credit, it worked with the global stage, it worked on the American stage, it worked at the UN stage, it worked on the Arab and Muslim stage, so it worked on all stages that matter at this point. It didn't have anything to do with Ivanka or Jared, it was an opportunity and he decided to exploit it for a greater cause. So vent, that's okay, it seems like a lot of people want to do that, but stay tuned and keep your eyes open is my best advice to deal with the emotional issues of not always understanding how a leader is working something one place to solve other problems of much greater significance for our country in other places.

Judy wrote (excerpt):

It didn't have anything to do with Ivanka or Jared, it was an opportunity and he decided to exploit it for a greater cause.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a missile strike against Syria on April 6 in response to a chemical attack that killed more than 80 people was influenced by his daughter Ivanka, according to her brother.

"Her “heartbroken and outraged” reaction to the attack on Khan Sheikhoun, which Trump’s administration blamed on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, prompted the U.S. president to take military action, Eric Trump told the Telegraph.

“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like that,” President Trump’s second son said."

http://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump...p-syria-582446

Oh puleeze.

What is the Middle Eastern world doing to resolve the Syrian crises? Trump did meet with Jordan's king. I think in the long run he will pressure other regional powers to act. And why would Jared Kushner and Ivanka be significantly different than the pro-Israel Northeast based lobbying groups we already have? They could be a counterbalance to the far right GOP forces. Just giving the entrenched Conservatism, Inc. forces more rope will only hang the GOP in 2018.

Rex Tillerson says US will set up safe zones for refugees from Isis

Unclear where ‘interim zones of stability’ would be located
US secretary of state gives few details of plan at 68-country coalition meeting

Reuters in Washington
Wednesday 22 March 2017 17.26 EDT
Last modified on Friday 7 April 2017 18.45 EDT

Rex Tillerson has said the United States would set up “interim zones of stability” to help refugees return home in the next phase of the fight against Islamic State and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq.

The US secretary of state did not make clear where these zones were to be set up. He was addressing a meeting of 68 countries and organizations gathered in Washington to discuss accelerating the battle against Isis.

“The United States will increase our pressure on Isis and al-Qaida and will work to establish interim zones of stability, through ceasefires, to allow refugees to return home,” Tillerson told the gathering at the state department, where the former oil executive was hosting his first major diplomatic event.

Although it was unclear how the zones would work, creating any safe havens could ratchet up US military involvement in Syria and mark a major departure from President Barack Obama’s more cautious approach.

Asked about Tillerson’s remarks, coalition spokesman Col Joseph Scrocca said the US military had not yet received direction to establish any kind of “zones”.

Increased US or allied air power would be required if President Donald Trump chooses to enforce “no fly” restrictions, and ground forces might also be needed to protect civilians in those areas.

A final statement at the end of the meeting did not mention the possibility of safe zones.

Isis has been losing ground in Iraq and Syria, with three separate forces, backed by the United States, Turkey and Russia, advancing on the group’s Syrian stronghold city of Raqqa.

US defense officials said on Wednesday the US-led coalition had airlifted Syrian rebel forces in an operation near the Syrian town of Tabqa in Raqqa province.

“I recognize there are many pressing challenges in the Middle East, but defeating Isis is the United States’ number one goal in the region,” Tillerson said.

“As a coalition we are not in the business of nation building or reconstruction,” he said, adding that resources should be focused on preventing the resurgence of Isis and equipping war-torn communities to rebuild.

Wednesday’s event was the first meeting of the coalition since the election of Trump, who has pledged to make the fight against Isis a priority.

Tillerson called on coalition partners to make good on financial pledges to secure and rebuild areas where Isis has been pushed out. The coalition has pledged more than $2bn in assistance for Iraq and Syria in 2017.

Iraqi government forces, backed by the US-led international coalition, retook several Iraqi cities from Isis last year and have liberated eastern Mosul.

While the jihadist group is overwhelmingly outnumbered by Iraqi forces, it has been using suicide car bombs and snipers to defend its remaining strongholds.

Speaking to the same meeting, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, called for unity in the region to combat Isis and outlined Iraq’s progress in the fight.

He said Iraq was now at the stage of “destroying” Islamic State, not just “containing” it. Recounting a Tuesday conversation with the Iraqi leader, Senator Lindsey Graham said Abadi believed reconstruction of Anbar province as well as Mosul in Nineveh province would cost about $50bn.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-refugees-isis

To set up the safe zones, they need a cease-fire in Syria and no fly-zones. The country is divided into ISIS territory, Kurd territory, the Anti-Assad territory that's comprised of 2 or 3 different groups, and then Syrian Government territory. The majority of the population is peaceful in the Syrian Government territory. I don't think you would want to set up safe zones for rebels in that area. So they would need to be set up somehow in the rebel territory but how can you do that if that is the group still warring with the government and cooperating with ISIS? Very difficult situation.

The rebels have to agree to a cease-fire and honor it. Nothing can really happen on the ground for safe zones until that occurs.

Alex Jones Turns on Ivanka Trump and Her ‘Democrat’ Husband Jared Kushner Over Syrian


“We did not elect Ivanka Trump to be the 45th President of the United States,” Jones says dressed in a white-collared shirt while driving a car. “I think she’s talented, she’s beautiful, I think the dresses she wears, the clothing line are cool. I have nothing against her personally. Or Jared Kushner, but we didn’t elect him to be president either. He’s a Democrat, his dad went to prison for fraud, his 666 building’s going sideways.”