Trump Is Not An Isolationist

Before I get to Trump and his cabinet nominees, let me share the good news: the olive harvest is in!  Just over 100 kilograms, four days work, the olives good quality, mostly black, but one crate of “caillons” that look like cherries.

Took them to the press today, will know the quality of the oil next week. You can read more about the process in my book, Raising Olives in Provence.

Ok, so now onto “serious” issues (although my neighbors and I take our olives very seriously!)

First, note who Donald Trump did not appoint: Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo. He was sending a clear message: no neo-cons need apply.

Second: Trump’s nomination of Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state clearly demonstrates that he is not an isolationist, as many of his critics claim.

The Europeans – like liberals everywhere — can’t believe that Trump was actually re-elected by the American people. Didn’t they do everything in their power to prevent that? What’s the problem with these American rubes? Don’t they recognize our superiority?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pow-wowed with French president Emmanuel Macron this week, hoping to warn Trump that the Ukraine war could become a national security threat to the US, just as it is to Europe.

Their reasoning? Because of the war, Russia was now aligning itself with Communist China and Iran. When I heard that, I burst out laughing.

The French and other NATO allies have been bending over backwards to sell the Chinese their very best dual-use technologies, enabling the Chinese to build better weapons systems and better AI platforms.

And now they want to lecture us about the dangers of the Russia-China-Iran axis – something I have been warning about for the past three years? Please.

I loved Rubio’s response to a question about Iran from NBC News, who were hoping to drive a wedge between him and Trump.

During the campaign, Trump said off-hand that he was inclined to see if he could make a deal with the Iranian regime. The media Karens took that to mean that Trump was walking back his rejection of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump previously called “the worst deal ever made” by an American president, and was now ready to talk to the mullahs.

Rubio cut them dead.

“If the Iranian regime tomorrow said, ‘We’re going to stop trying to become the regional power, we’re going to stop our nuclear weapons, we’re going to stop sponsoring terrorism, we’re going to stop trying to kill you — which is what they’re trying to do with Donald Trump — we’re going to stop all of these things — theoretically, yes. Of course, you could work on something like that.”

But Rubio added that making a real deal with the Iranian regime — and not just a make-believe deal like Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement — was “unlikely,” because the policies the United States is asking Iran to abandon are “the very driving mission and purpose of the regime.”

If the next Trump administration really wants to gain leverage over the Islamic regime in Tehran, they should begin by reinstating the Maximum Pressure sanctions against Iranian oil exports.

Those US sanctions are already on the books, but Biden stopped enforcing them on day one of his administration, allowing Iranian oil sales to skyrocket form 400,000 b/d in January 2021, to over 2.5 million b/d today.

But the US can and must do more. As I argue in a paper for the America First Policy Institute, we should couple Maximum Pressure on the regime with Maximum Support for the Iranian people.

It is in America’s national security interest to help the people of Iran to replace the Islamic regime — not through a replay of old neo-con fantasies of imposing regime change from the outside — but by enabling the Iranian people to take those steps themselves.

Stay tuned as I talk more about this in the coming weeks.

I discuss the Trump cabinet, the European response, and the latest from China, Turkey and the CIA traitor who leaked US secrets about Israel’s attack plans against Iran on this week’s edition of Prophecy Today Weekend.

As always, you can listen live at 1:05 PM on Saturday in the Jacksonville, Florida, area on 104.9 FM or 550 AM, and elsewhere in the world by downloading the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

Yours in freedom

©2024 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

PS: If you have been enjoying my latest book, The Iran House, please leave a five-star review at Amazon. Your opinions make a difference to prospective readers!