'Don't' Won't Work for Trump, Either

Trump has yet to take office, but he has already replicated Joe Biden's attempt to conjure world peace through magic incantations.

Not so long ago, when Iran threatened to bomb Israel into oblivion, Biden famously said, "Don't." We all know how that turned out:

...President Joe Biden issued a warning to any state or hostile actor considering attacking Israel: "Don't, don't, don't." And yet, Israel has faced relentless bombardments from multiple Iranian proxies for the last six months. The ineffectiveness of Biden's strategy was on full display again this past weekend, when the president issued a similar warning to Iran against striking Israel, this time with a single "don't." Predictably, this did nothing to halt the rogue state, which launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel late Saturday night. Almost all were intercepted, thanks to the combined efforts of Israel, the U.S., the U.K., France, and several Arab states. [links omitted]

I had forgotten that Biden had tried this cantrip multiple times, all to similar effect.

Have no fear! Trump's followers will say Trump will soon straighten all of this out.

Indeed, just as he has lost no time in making dubious cabinet picks, Trump has been communicating with hostile international figures, including Putin and, if rumors are to be credited, Iran's mullahs.

Trump, who is aggressively dovish and imagines that anything can be smoothed over with a "deal" (i.e., diplomacy) appears to have a foreign policy much like his successor/predecessor, absent (we hope) the arms embargoes to Israel.

The embarrassing man-crush may have a bigger chance of surviving than American deterrence. (Image by the Kremlin, via Wikimedia Commons, license.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already waltzed right past a pointed warning from the MAGA leader, sending tens of thousands of soldiers to the Ukrainian war front after Trump told him not to escalate the situation.

...

Trump had spoken with Putin over the phone on Thursday, reportedly advising the foreign leader not to escalate the war, reminding Putin of America's military capabilities in Europe, according to The Washington Post.

Don't wasn't effective coming from Biden's lips and the same word won't become effective by the magic of being said by Donald Trump.

As with anything else, the Republicans are going to fool around with the theory that "our guys" doing essentially the same things (e.g., diplomacy, deficit spending, and central planning) the Democrats did will somehow make it work, and they are going to find out otherwise.

-- CAV