Let Trump Be Trump, Israel vs. Islamic Jihad, Democrats Try Extortion

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Let Trump Be Trump
We are learning more about former Ambassador Nikki Haley's claim that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly tried to recruit her to join their resistance to President Trump's agenda.

Haley says she told the president what Tillerson and Kelly were up to. But what really jumped out at me were the things they wanted to stop Trump from doing: Getting out of Iran deal, moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and getting out of the Paris Climate Accord.

• Every 2016 Republican presidential candidate opposed Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, although I have serious doubts whether any of the other candidates would have actually scrapped it as Donald Trump did.
• Every presidential candidate of both parties for the past 25 years has promised to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. Christians United for Israel and I have been very involved in this fight for many years. But only Donald Trump kept his promise and got it done in spite of incredible opposition from the foreign policy establishment.
• Every Republican presidential candidate rejected Obama's environmental extremism, and the Paris Climate Accord is a prime example of why so many Americans believe we are governed by unelected elites. Why should global elites dictate our energy policies, our gas prices and our home heating bills? Trump said he would get us out of the Paris Climate Accord because it wouldn't change the climate but would cost us jobs. Again, Trump kept his promise.

Haley said Kelly and Tillerson told her that people would die if Trump succeeded. Well what do they think a nuclear-armed Iran would do? Iran has been killing people for decades.

No one died when we moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, but Israel's enemies have been killing Jews for decades. The only thing that would stop them from killing Israelis is if there were no Israel.

Haley noted that as a former governor, she sympathized with the president being undermined by unelected bureaucrats. She warned that it is dangerous to our constitutional republic.

I agree. And it reminds me of similar disputes during the Reagan years when conservatives battled the GOP establishment to "let Reagan be Reagan."

I don't know what is worse: The arrogance of Washington elites or their disregard for the judgment of millions of American voters.

Israel vs. Islamic Jihad
While we were all eating breakfast and running our kids off to school this morning, Israelis were running to bomb shelters. Israel took out Bahaa Abu el-Atta, one of the leaders of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and also carried out an airstrike against another Islamic Jihad leader in Damascus, Syria.

Islamic Jihad has fired at least 190 rockets at Israeli communities in retaliation, many of which were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system. Schools in Tel Aviv were closed for the first time since the 2014 Gaza War.

Here's what you need to understand: Islamic Jihad launches rockets and sets off bombs regardless of what Israel does. And, by the way, Islamic Jihad is heavily subsidized by Iran.

This may be the beginning of what many people in Israel believe is coming soon -- a very serious war between Israel and Iran and its terrorist proxies.

I would say to our Jewish friends that this is a good day to remind yourselves about America trying to make foreign countries do something as a price for our aid. No, I'm not talking about Ukraine.

I'm talking about the Democrat candidates who are demanding that Israel redefine its borders and withdraw from areas where Jews have lived long before these candidates were born or America will cut off military aid to Israel. Now that is extortion.

Speaking Of Extortion. . .
Have you noticed that the Latin phrase "quid pro quo" in reference to the Ukraine controversy has disappeared? Translated it means "this for that."

A couple of days ago, Democrats decided that Latin phrases don't resonate in Middle America so their new buzzword is "extortion." Within 24 hours virtually every lamestream media outlet had dropped quid pro quo and started talking about extortion. It must be wonderful to be a Democrat!

The Democrats' desperation to clarify their accusations against the president is evidence of just how absurd it all is. Extortion is a concept of domestic law that has no bearing on the conduct of foreign policy.

As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy put it, why not impeach Trump for attempting to extort Iran? We're clearly trying to extort the ayatollah to change his behavior by imposing serious sanctions against his regime.

When it comes to foreign policy, we're always trying to get countries to do something or not do something in exchange for the largesse of the American taxpayer. The left thinks you're an idiot and won't understand that.

Speaking Of Idiots. . .
For more than ten years, Veterans Day ceremonies at the University of Virginia have concluded with a 21-gun salute by members of the university's ROTC program. But not this year.

University President Jim Ryan explained the decision to cancel the salute by saying, "One is that it would be disruptive to classes and two unfortunately with gun violence in the U.S., there was some concern that we would cause a panic if someone heard gunshots on grounds."

Really? Has it been so disruptive for the past ten years? Are you incapable of explaining to the adults on your campus what this ceremony is about and why it matters?
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Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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