{"id":1420,"date":"2018-12-24T08:05:37","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T13:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2018-12-24T08:05:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T13:05:43","slug":"is-it-panic-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Panic Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is It Panic Time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wrote a carefully constructed letter of  resignation<\/a>last week.  In it, he elegantly put forward the reasons he couldn\u2019t continue to work for a President who seemed intent on \u201cdeconstructing\u201d (Bannon\u2019s word, not Mattis\u2019s) the alliance systems that have stabilized the globe since World War II.  In it Mattis said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFour decades of immersion\u201d for the General, to be contrasted with the President\u2019s transitory interest in American foreign policy.  A \u201cclear-eyed\u201d view of malign actors, contrasted with the President closeness to Putin, Kim, Erdogan, and Duterte.  \u201cTreating allies with respect\u201d versus following a whim on a phone call and abandoning the Kurds to the Turks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis was done.  He fulfilled his duty as Secretary of Defense until he could no longer see a way forward.  And in leaving the office, he shared with the nation his reasoning, and ultimately his fears.  It took the interpretation of the media for President Trump to realize what Mattis really said, and in true Trumpian fashion, the President responded by tweeting that Mattis would be replaced as of January 1st<\/sup>.   It is the old saw:  \u201cyou can\u2019t quit, you\u2019re fired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the departure of Mattis, the \u201cthree generals\u201d who were supposed to guide Trump are all gone:\u00a0Mattis, Kelly and McMasters.\u00a0\u00a0And with their departure a lot of the stability those men brought to the table is gone as well.\u00a0\u00a0What they all three found was that no matter how much \u201cimmersion\u201d in the events of the world they had with experience they literally earned in battle:\u00a0\u00a0if the President wouldn\u2019t listen to them, it made no difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So \u201cthe generals\u201d are leaving.\u00a0\u00a0The President struggled to find anyone to serve as his Chief of Staff; Mick Mulvaney of the Freedom Caucus, the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Protection Bureau was the last on the list and is now \u201ctemporarily\u201d on the job.\u00a0 And Mr. Trump has now been pushed into an ill advised government shutdown, not by the Republicans in Congress but by the shrill voices of the far-right as heard through Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Fox and Friends.\u00a0\u00a0Their advice is what seems to count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t currently know how much effect the pressure of the scandals of the administration is having on the President.  He surely realizes that the Democratic Congress will soon be digging into every aspect of his election and his Presidency.  And the long shadow of the Mueller investigation looms;  the next round of indictments will cut close to his friends and family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Trump can\u2019t go to Mar-A-Lago for Christmas.  It\u2019s not just the shutdown; how is he supposed to face his \u201cfriends at the club\u201d with the disarray that surrounds him. They\u2019ve lost millions in the market this month.  His \u201ckitchen cabinet\u201d there will tell him things he doesn\u2019t want to hear, it\u2019s better to surround himself with\u2026Stephen Miller and Trump\u2019s constantly used twitter account?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is clear is that the President has sold out to maintain his \u201cbase.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Politically, the one area where President Trump has shown brilliance, he knows he cannot survive, much less run for re-election, without their support.\u00a0\u00a0So whatever \u201cwall\u201d really is:\u00a0\u00a0concrete, or brick, or steel slats; he\u2019s got to fight for it, whether it actually happens or not.\u00a0 It’s about votes in the Senate in the impeachment trial, not defending the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States is much like a great ocean liner.  No matter what commands are given at the helm, the momentum of its direction is so great that it takes miles and miles to accelerate, or turn, or stop.  For the past two years of the Trump Presidency, America has continued on the momentum of the past decade; economically improving and serving as the world\u2019s ultimate authority.  But even this ship must be guided, and should a real crisis occur; should an iceberg appear on the horizon; who will guide it to safety?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It certainly doesn\u2019t feel like this President will, and the number of \u201csteady hands\u201d within earshot are fewer and fewer.  It might be \u201cpanic time,\u201d if only panic would provide some alternative to the present. But it doesn\u2019t \u2013 so we will have to live through whatever challenge the horizon brings.  Let\u2019s hope we can avoid sinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is It Panic Time? Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wrote a carefully constructed letter of  resignationlast week.  In it, he elegantly put forward the reasons he couldn\u2019t continue to work for a President who seemed intent on \u201cdeconstructing\u201d (Bannon\u2019s word, not Mattis\u2019s) the alliance systems that have stabilized the globe since World War II.  In it Mattis said,  My … Continue reading “Is It Panic Time?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs It Panic Time? : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Panic Time? : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is It Panic Time? Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wrote a carefully constructed letter of  resignationlast week.  In it, he elegantly put forward the reasons he couldn\u2019t continue to work for a President who seemed intent on \u201cdeconstructing\u201d (Bannon\u2019s word, not Mattis\u2019s) the alliance systems that have stabilized the globe since World War II.  In it Mattis said,  My … Continue reading "Is It Panic Time?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-24T13:05:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-24T13:05:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Is It Panic Time?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-24T13:05:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-24T13:05:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":820,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/24\\\/is-it-panic-time\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is It Panic Time? 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Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wrote a carefully constructed letter of  resignationlast week.  In it, he elegantly put forward the reasons he couldn\u2019t continue to work for a President who seemed intent on \u201cdeconstructing\u201d (Bannon\u2019s word, not Mattis\u2019s) the alliance systems that have stabilized the globe since World War II.  In it Mattis said,  My … Continue reading \"Is It Panic Time?\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2018-12-24T13:05:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-24T13:05:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Is It Panic Time?","datePublished":"2018-12-24T13:05:37+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-24T13:05:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/"},"wordCount":820,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/","name":"Is It Panic Time? : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-12-24T13:05:37+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-24T13:05:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/is-it-panic-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is It Panic Time?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. 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