Un-American speech in Saudi Arabia

[struggle4progress]

Right Turn
Opinion
By Jennifer Rubin
May 21 at 2:52 PM

... The most noteworthy aspect of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia was not his and his followers’ jaw-dropping hypocrisy. Sure, had President Obama received a gaudy medal, danced with the Saudis, diminished the important of human rights, called Saudi Arabia “sacred land” and lavished praised on an autocratic regime that trampled on human rights, Trump and his cultlike following would have gone bonkers ... No, what was most striking and troubling was how little Trump understands about America and its long-term interests ...

One tool, a critical one, the United States has against repressive regimes such as Russia, China, Iran and Cuba, is that we can undermine their legitimacy by appealing to universal values and exposing their cruelty, corruption and repression. We give hope to the oppressed and whittle away at despots’ grip on power by excoriating them for human rights abuses. When, however, we not only ignore but also give unqualified praise to autocratic allies, we leave ourselves open to charges of gross hypocrisy ...

Trump and Saudi royals hit it off. They no doubt share a love of ostentatious wealth, impatience with democracy and unfamiliarity with the rule of law ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/05/21/trumps-un-american-speech-in-saudi-arabia/?utm_term=.e59d6ff59a84

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. It boggles my mind whenever I agree with Jennifer Rubin.

But she makes excellent arguments in this piece.

[malaise]

2. Hehehehehe

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. She used to horrify me.

Amazing how Trump has changed so many people.

[malaise]

4. I don't trust most of them

but I welcome the fact that some have no choice but to wake up

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Too bad some didn't wake up earlier.

Such as, before they voted for the buffoon.

[tblue37]

6. Rubin has been a Never-Trumper all along, as has Republican columnist Michael Gerson,

also of The Washington Post.

She, Gerson, David Brooks, David Frum, and other reasonably intelligent and articulate conservative pundits who are doing a good job of excoriating Cheato nevertheless do not acknowledge--or even recognize--that Trump is the inevitable destination the radicalized RW train they have been riding on has been headed toward all along.

Frum, for example, was W's speech writer (the guy who coined the phrase "axis of evil" for Bushie).

Trump, as awful as he is, is clearly in a direct line that leads from W to Palin to Trump. He is not an outlier, but the perfect embodiment, the consummation, of the political tactics the Republicans and their pundits have been employing for decades as a means of propagandizing ordinary people into voting for the GOP despite the fact that GOP policies are the exact opposite of what most Americans really support when they are asked about positions without being told that this or that position is supported by the Democratic or Republican party.

All along the Republicans, even "respectable" ones, have pursued power and profit over any other consideration, and they have willingly played to the basest impulses and prejudices of their (appropriately designated) base.

For now I enjoy reading these Never-Trump columnists, but I never forget that they have all along been complicit in the degeneration of the Republican Party and its ideology.

[deurbano]

8. My position, too!

"For now I enjoy reading these Never-Trump columnists, but I never forget that they have all along been complicit in the degeneration of the Republican Party and its ideology."

[DefenseLawyer]

7. President Obama did receive the gaudy medal

And they went bonkers. I found this bit of lunacy, among many:

[dalton99a]

9. They milked it for months

And before that:

[Lithos]

10. It's always the values you believe and live vs the values you preach and give lip service

Rather obvious which side Trump goes for here. Jennifer Rubin has him nailed cold.

L-