The world is full of pretenders, and then there is Ron Paul

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Beneficial-Two8129@reddit

Being responsible for national security means you don't have the luxury of being a pacifist. You make peace where possible, but when people kidnap Americans, the President has an obligation to terminate them with extreme prejudice.

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daveinmd13@reddit

I think Presidents are surprised when threats don’t work and when threats don’t work you either have to follow through on the threat or look weak.

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Silence_1999@reddit

I do believe that once you become president. A couple days of threat briefing brings a “holy shit” moment. Often changed attitude of the office holder towards bombing specific things and a lot of deterrence and leverage that makes no sense in a newspaper headline is all of a sudden looking rather sound strategy.

Of course many decades of intervention by US “establishment” makes the whole house of cards difficult to unravel. Sure just turtle up and let the world burn…. Well wait, maybe that’s not such a good idea lol.

Idk there isn’t a straightforward answer. Without every world power cooperating shit is complicated.

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lastwindows@reddit

Cleaning up a 20 years mess

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ijam70@reddit

... it's also his second and last term in office. He can't get reelected, so he doesn't care what kind of damage he leaves behind.

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RedactedEvil476@reddit

AIPAC has too much of a grip on both sides of the aisle. Tho I will say Trump is less of a war monger than the Dems and bush era republicans.

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CT_Throwaway24@reddit

AIPAC is given too much credit. I don't like them because they put Israel's interests above the United States's but they're not that powerful. They mostly just have the power to swing elections that most people aren't really paying attention to, but they tend to just fund the person most likely to win the election to curry favor. Trump protecting Israel out of personal affinity and Evangelical interests seems more explanatory to me.

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Lanky_Barnacle_1749@reddit

This is the reality most miss.

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chiphazard98@reddit

To be fair, you start asking questions you're a racist. If you get in the way, don't drive a convertible through Dallas.

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WhatRUsernamesUsed4@reddit

He wasn't elected to do any of that. For the millionth time, he was elected to be a Republican, and he was not elected to be a Libertarian. If you voted with any other premise, that's on you.

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tiddervul@reddit

Sure. But the new definition of Republican is whatever Trump thinks or feels at the moment. It is an unrecognizable ideology because it is capricious and based more on flattery and emotion than conviction and logic.

Conservatism and partisan Republicanism no longer are positively aligned. There are transactional intersections because of the nature of coalition formation and getting the needed votes, but nit because of any true belief or internal consistency.

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Midwest_Bias@reddit

I didn't see Russia on his tariff list.

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wasneverhere_96@reddit

To be fair, for the "talk softly and carry a big stick" approach to work, you have to use the stick every now and then. And the US has a long track record of failures to use it properly (remember Vietnam or Afghanistan?), so he's behind the eight ball.

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ConsumingFire1689@reddit

"No matter whom you vote for, you always wind up getting John McCain."- Tom Woods

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chewychee@reddit

J

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blueberrytartpie@reddit

Ok Paul 😒

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mex036@reddit

This reminds me, is Ron Paul actually involved in DOGE? I think I recall Elon saying he would be unless that was a bait and switch.

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Stone_tigris@reddit

World’s most obvious bait

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cambat2@reddit

Elon floated the idea, Ron said he was interested, then nothing came of it.

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Hyphalex@reddit

because they wanted boomer votes. everyone knows you just need to lie. you don’t actually have to follow through.

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NotACommie1@reddit

Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon will not end well for anyone or their children with this train of thought.

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OyenArdv@reddit

Ron has had a decade to stop Trump. Spare me the fake outrage.

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TheMachoMustache@reddit

I love how anyone is surprised by Donny’s actions.

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Jay_R_Kay@reddit

Turned? My guy, he was a monster from the start. Anyone who actually believes this would never happen wasn't paying attention.

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FlumpDump@reddit

Trump anti-war was the most laughable and obvious con of his campaign

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serpicowasright@reddit

Almost as bad as "Anti-war Obama"

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MxM111@reddit

No, I think it was that he will control inflation (with tariffs, ha ha) and he will end Ukraine war in 1 day. MAGA ate that nonsense with pleasure.

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swettm@reddit

So people should vote for what they don’t want?

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MxM111@reddit

No, they should apply at least minimal level of rationality and recognize bullshitter.

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2mice@reddit

Whys that ? Wasnt he not in any wars last time elected?

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Mountain-Papaya-492@reddit

Remember him launching missiles at Syria without even going to Congress during his first term? It's amazing that didn't escalate since Russia and Syria have some ties. He is reckless and all his saber rattling, warring conduct, will eventually lead to events where you won't be able to stop momentum and then we are fucked.

Guns of August, he may think he's in control of events but shit eventually becomes unstoppable after awhile. Choices narrow. But hey see you guys after another terrorist attack and more of our liberties are curtailed. Totally worth it to flex on the world stage and meddle in everything. Who doesn't want another Patriot Act, and him possibly enacting NSPD51 /s

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FlumpDump@reddit

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/01/20/trump-the-anti-war-president-was-always-a-myth/

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Brave-Banana-6399@reddit

You gotta push back on any actions that might harm Russia.

We gotta repress Ukraine and NATO more, otherwise Putin gonna be pissed

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Hungry_Soviet_Kid@reddit

I guess it is preferable to have Houthis attack the ships on the international shipping routes out of fear of escalation right?

Also wtf? Threats are just that…threats. Unless he sends soldiers to fight in Iran he hasn’t started any war 🥲 And Russia? Decide what you want already lol. Biden was a pussy who couldnt and didnt do anything with both Hamas or Russia and now when Trump is doing something he is suddenly escalating. Laughable. The fact that he hasn’t started any war still stands true 🥲🤪🙂

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IJustTellTheTruthBro@reddit

Bot detected opinion rejected

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Hungry_Soviet_Kid@reddit

uhm yeah.

So tell me, should we let terrorism win? Is rhetorical threat the same as starting a war?

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Beginning-Shoe-9133@reddit

I was saying the same thing today smh. His base has to let trump know how unpopular this war is.

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theprov0cateur@reddit

Meh. Speak softly and carry a big stick?

Paul 2012 for life though

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kindofamediumdeal@reddit

Over Johnson?

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gatornatortater@reddit

I believe it was Teddy that said the "big stick" quote.

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everyoneisnuts@reddit

Can we also add destroying the economy? This is going to be the most damaging presidency in US history when it’s all said and done.

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AbolishtheDraft@reddit (OP)

This is going to be the most damaging presidency in US history when it’s all said and done.

That would be Woodrow Wilson. Or FDR

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everyoneisnuts@reddit

Stick around. We’re not even 3 months in.

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AbolishtheDraft@reddit (OP)

We've seen 4 years of Trump already. He's not a good president, but he's not going to surpass the damage and evil of the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax, or the New Deal.

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everyoneisnuts@reddit

This is Trump 2.0. Hope you’re right, but we’re headed for war with pretty much everybody at this rate and our economy and the market are being single handedly tanked.

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gatornatortater@reddit

Well.. we were already heading into a hard core WW3 with Biden playing along with the EU. It is a small gain that that has been postponed until the EU can rape whatever money their citizenry still has and build their own military to go after Russia with.

But yea... Trump definitely seems to want war as well.

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Brave-Banana-6399@reddit

Of course

But the payoff is the amount we hurt our main enemies, minorities

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gatornatortater@reddit

I believe the answer to that question is "CIA"

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rockrunner62@reddit

Very good question, I have defended my vote for Trump as a vote for peace and non intervention but,.........here we go again

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Baustin1345@reddit

The executive branch has too much power.

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Practical_Advice2376@reddit

*The Government has too much power!

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GangstaVillian420@reddit

And the obvious is more government power /s

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Upstairs-Brain4042@reddit

How else would corrupt politicians investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing. All hail the supreme state, ingsoc needs to become reality to stop corruption.

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IJustTellTheTruthBro@reddit

The takes here are hilarious lmao. Makes me feel like half of the comments here are AI…. Wait a second

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gr8harm@reddit

This administration appears to have fallen into the same trap as the Obama and Bush 43 administrations. That American might is right, and conflict is easy for the US military to win.

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Sithlordandsavior@reddit

Ron knows the answer but if he says it he'll get dishonorably discharged in a locked room.

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roycastle@reddit

Tim Dillon’s answer: there’s nothing left but that to do.

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Wonder_Boy90@reddit

As much as I like Ron Paul,

The houthis were constantly attacking our boats.

The houthis are backed by Iran

Iran is supported by russia

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AncientMoth11@reddit

Ron Paul 2008, bringing my Ron Paul 2008 full circle

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LocalSlob@reddit

This country only works when it's at war

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petertompolicy@reddit

So much better than his son.

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CrazyBigHog@reddit

One word. Israel. That’s what turns American Politicians into war criminals. They either bribe or blackmail 98% of them.

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cqb-luigi@reddit

It's almost as if the President doesn't have a say in it because the MIC is in charge of those decisions.

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Hench999@reddit

I really hope the war talks are just him bluffing and talking big as he often does. We don't need war just so Netanyahu can have a reason to stay in power and be relevant. I still believe we can get some wins with this administration, but that will all go out the window if we go to war with Iran.

I support Israel's right to exist, but I don't want to pay for it or see Americans die in a war for it. They can take care of themselves.

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fpssledge@reddit

Trump was also never a principled individual. He was occasionally right and many libertarians chose to throw support over the "occasionally right" stuff, under some mindset of supporting positivity in the universe and feeling like they had a victory by aligning themselves with Trump. In the end, were losers for supporting these sort of unprincipled fools. Sure, puritanism might not gain victory in the political sphere but there are better impure margins than Trump.

Ross better be having the time of his life

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