Doug Smith: Trump haters don’t need any help from the right

It’s time to shorten the learning curve of this presidency

Doug Smith:  Free State Patriot history and social editor

July, 7, 2017

So what to make of Trump Jr s meeting with a shady Russian, associated with the Obama administration, and banned from entry, but granted a waiver to enter, in time for the meeting, by an Obama buddy in NY District Court.

Well, the knee jerk reaction is to defend his move because

1. Hillary , Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Obama himself all did far worse with Russians, in a way that truly did damage the interests of the United States. ( all true)
2. The Democrats never cared about any of it, or even acts of true treason when it was one of theirs, and cared not a whit that the Russians were trying to toss stink bombs into our political process, as long as they thought the Hillary would win. ( again, true)
3. The whole Russia narrative has been nothing more than an attempt by the Democrats to roadblock Trump’s agenda, and if possible, remove him from office. ( also true)
4. Character assassination is all they have, because they have been losing elections so badly for so long, and this is their only chance to maybe, maybe, pick up control of one House of Congress in 2018 and keep Obama s damage going, and blame it on the GOP. ( reasonable conclusion)
5. The longer they keep this nonsense up, the less the chances that the GOP will repeal Obamacare, cut taxes, or pass any meaningful legislation. ( again, true)
6. After 8 years of Obama, we have a break coming, and for better or worse, our break is Trump.

All these things are true, and make conservatives, myself included, tend to jump to defense of Trump, perceiving the attacks on him to be attacks on us, and on our desires for positive change in the country. The perception is correct.

The conclusion is not.

Sean Hannity has spent months, incorrectly, defending former Submariner Christian Saucier, who is serving a year in prison for taking pictures of classified areas of his Nuclear Submarine. Hannity’s defense is that Hillary did far worse and got away with it, thus Saucier should get away with it as well.

That is a very slippery slope. And Hannity, who I agree with on many things, is dead wrong on this.

As a Submariner, I do not want to send the message to any sailor that security no longer matters because of Hillary. Nor do I want to send a message that fooling around with the help is OK now because Slick Willy. If we choose the Clintons as the arbiters of our future morality, we are doomed. And damned.

If I had been on ET1 Saucier’s Court Martial, I would have voted to convict him, strip him of all rank, and send him to prison. He was old enough to know better, and he violated a major rule of security. Our standards on Submarines are not dictated by the Clintons. We are better than that. That is why we come home alive.

Donald Trump Jr showed an appalling lack of common sense. A seasoned politico would have sensed a set up ( which it seems that it was. ) The people he dealt with were unsavory, the information offered was not necessary ( everyone knew what Hillary is) , and appearances matter.

Now. Was it illegal? Clearly, not. Was it unethical? Again, no. He did not ask anyone to steal or reveal Hillary s dirty laundry. He was intrigued to hear what it was.

Was it a stupid, boneheaded move?

To quote Sarah Palin, You betcha.

He took a risk for no gain, and in a stupid 15 minute sit down, gave ammunition to the enemies of his Dad to keep stirring the commode a while longer. He contributed to another day or 3 of delay in important legislation.  He showed himself to be a neophyte, which we knew. POTUS is also a neophyte, who needs to surround himself with seasoned people who can help him avoid such minefields.

Then, of course, like father like son, they have a tendency to dance around the truth and make things sound better for themselves. Even an innocent exchange can be suspect when people wonder how many more shoes must drop.

There are 3 ways to handle such information.

1. No comment. Mr. President, will you PLEASE for God s sake learn that phrase.
2. The truth, but only as much as necessary.
3. Lies and evasions.

The Trumps often choose 3, even when it is not necessary. And they tend to dribble out the truth.  That is a bad habit which they must break. When your positions and assertions and message are constantly shifting, one never knows when the Real Donald Trump answer is out there. Just as Democrats found themselves passionately defending Bill Clinton right up to the point that he admitted a lie, Republicans have found themselves defending a Trump position, only to find that he has changed course on a dime and left them to fall on their faces.

Somebody needs to oversee messaging from the White House. Someone with a big stick, and freedom to beat anyone over the head with it. Is a lot of the invective thrown at Trump undeserved and frustrating? You betcha.  Could he reduce unforced errors with better message discipline? Dang right.

So, what about Trump Jr and his meeting with Boris and Natasha?

It was not illegal. In terms of ethics, it was certainly far cleaner than Hillary s work with the Ukrainians to find or manufacture damaging stories about Trump. In the former, he was coming to see what was offered, in bad faith as it turns out, that could help. In the latter, Hillary was actively seeking and paying for help to get or manufacture, as they did, a story.  Stay away from the sausage factory, it will spoil your appetite.

What is was, and remains, is a stupid, rookie mistake. He should have run that by a senior political operative before answering. But there were none. The allure of the outsider campaign meant that everyone was a rookie, and they were likely to fall into some traps. Well, he did. Now we know the formula to move on past it, as demonstrated by Hillary. “I made a mistake. In retrospect, it was a dumb move and I would not do it again. “

Will it be enough for the Left? Well of course not. The only thing that would be enough for the Left is for the entire administration to resign, and for Congress to appoint Hillary as POTUS. (Be careful what you wish for.) Of course, that is not going to happen.

For the Trumps, perhaps a few lessons might be learned.

1. Be careful about hiring family. Just because you love and trust them does not mean they are right for the job, and firing them is tougher than with a stranger.
2. Fighting back is all well and good. Better yet, is avoiding traps. There are plenty of people with experience in the political arena in which you are swimming willing to advise you. The ones you have are not serving you well. Find one who will, and stop doing stupid stuff, and get your people confirmed, and get your agenda passed.
3. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Don’t be gullible.
4. And from an old Cold Warrior, a cursory reading of history would tell you this: Don’t trust the Russians.

The establishment in DC, the press, and the Dems are not going to ever love the Trumps, or conservatives. And they will damage or destroy President Trump if they can.

President Trump and his son, and other advisers, should stop helping them.

Tags: DONALD TRUMP, DOUG SMITH, free state patriot, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, President Trump