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Monday, May 2, 2016

BOB GATES, JUST ANOTHER LOSER NOT WORTH LISTENING TO…


So I’m curious, how is it that a guy who was little more than a ‘yes man’ for the entire time of the more than 30 years he spent in Washington, especially during the time he was part of Barry’s administration, gets to offer up any sort of a critique of Donald Trump, or any other presidential candidate.  This is the very same guy who when he saw that Barry was going to be doing all that he could to screw EVERYTHING up, could have resigned right then and there which would have then resulted in a very bright light being shown directly on what it was that Barry was up to, but instead he chose to retire quietly and go write a book.

So who it is that we have here is none other than our less than stellar ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates who seemed quite comfortable in saying, very recently, that Donald Trump's foreign policy speech last week showed the GOP front-runner doesn't understand the difference between finagling business deals and negotiating with "sovereign powers."  Gates made his comment during an interview on ABC's "This Week” with Clinton hack, George ‘Stephy’ Stephanopolous, just this past Sunday. Gates asserted "there's a give and take in international relations that is different than in the business community."

Gates said, "Based on the speech, you have somebody who doesn't understand the difference between a business negotiation and a negotiation with sovereign powers."  And he went on to say, "He, on the one hand says, we need to be a more reliable ally to our friends. And in the next breath, he says we're going to rip up all those burden-sharing agreements and make them go their own way if they don't pay for everything."  Gates concedes America's allies "ought to be doing more."  And added, "But how do you get them there when you're dealing with 28 sovereign countries?"  I’m thinking that’s pretty simple, you just say, “Pay up or defend yourself!”

Gates added "many foreign leaders" have voiced concerns about a Trump presidency as well, ticking off "his unpredictability, his lack of understanding of the complexity of international affairs, his threats, his claims that he's going to make other countries do things when, in fact, the president of the United States does not have the power to make them do things."  Personally, I’m thinking what really ticks off all of these supposed world leaders is the fact that if Trump is able to get himself elected, and does stay true to form, it’s going to become obvious to everyone, and fairly quickly, that there is now a new sheriff in town. 

But apparently it's not just Trump's foreign policy that Gates finds troubling.  He said, "One of the things that worries me is that he doesn't appear to listen to people."  Gates added, "He believes he has all the answers. That he's the smartest man in the room. I've worked with different presidents. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.”  He went on to say, "One thing they all had in common was to listen to people with experience and made their own independent decisions. They've gone in different directions — but never assumed they have all the answers."  Now I find that pretty hard to believe about a couple of these guys.

But look, let’s not forget that Gates is really nothing more than a career bureaucrat.  In other words a guy who did little more than to move from one government job to the next, never really becoming an expert at anything other than staying in government.  A guy who was in and around Military leadership of this nation for roughly 30 years.  And let’s also not forget that it was during that very same period that our nation started LOSING instead of WINNING.  So, on what grounds does former DOD chief have to criticize, quite possibly, the next President who wants only to Make America Great Again and to start WINNING again?

And it might be worth nothing here that in his effort to ridicule Mr. Trump, Mr. Gates rather badly misquoted what was actually said. Gates quoted Mr. Trump as saying, "we're going to rip up all those burden-sharing agreements and make them go their own way if they don't pay for everything."  However, that’s not exactly what was said.  Because what Mr. Trump actually said was that, "we're going to rip up all those burden-sharing agreements and make them go their own way if they don't pay what they agreed to pay: 2% of their GDP."  Which to my way of thinking sounds pretty reasonably, no one should get a freeride.

Just to teach briefly on something that Gates said. He implied that Barry is someone who will actually “listen to people with experience” and then make his own independent decision.  And he further implied that Barry “never assumed to have all the answers."  When has Barry never not KNOWN he has all the answers to all of the problems?  And if there is one thing we know about Barry, it’s that he ALWAYS considers himself as being the smartest guy in the room.  Any yet Gates was somehow unable to pick up on that?  I guess it goes to show you just how much of a useless waste of bureaucratic skin Gates was for all those 30 years.  

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