ISRAEL’S PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are two of a kind.
They surround themselves with, take your choice, sycophants, toadies, lackeys, flunkies, minions, stooges, kowtowers, grovellers and other synonyms for “yes men” (and women).
IT A CABINET MEMBER disagrees with Trump, that Cabinet member is either allowed to resign or, as was the case of National Security Advisor John Bolton, is fired. (How Bolton left is open to debate.).
If a minister disagrees with Netanyahu, the prime minister removes the person from the post and assumes the ministry for himself.
Netanyahu would be king, but he may be deposed by a woman, Ayelet Shaked (right), who was given short shrift by the PM. Shaked left the ruling Likud party and, with others, formed a new party that might end Netanyahu’s reign as PM. (It is unlikely it would keep him out of the Knesset.)
I do not expect John Bolton to form a new political party and a jump to the liberal Democrats is not going to happen — I suspect neither wants the other — but he could throw his support to one of the few brave Republicans willing to run against the incumbent, normally as foolish a thing to do as spitting into the wind. Still, with Trump’s knee-jerk tweets and what appears to be an “I’m ALWAYS right” attitude, there may be hope for challengers.
Netanyahu whines that anyone who is not with him must be against him, suggesting that Shaked and other right-wing politicians are liberals who want to surrender Israel to the PLO.
Trump is proving something similar.
By the way, Bolton is — was — Trump’s third national security advisor.
My Way or the Highway
More and more we are seeing leaders around the world who operate with the “My way or the highway” mentality.
President Harry S Truman (right) fired Gem. Geo Patton for insubordination.1 He had strong disagreements with his first Secretary of State, James Francis Byrnes, but kept him on. Byrnes resigned2 and Truman appointed Gen. Geo. C. Marshall whom he later named Secretary of Defense, replacing Marshall with Dean Acheson.
Both Marshall and Acheson were against U.S. recognition of Israel but Truman prevailed. Neither man was dismissed by Truman.3
Before Bolton’s resignation/dismissal, Trump had replaced4
- * Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
* FBI Director James Comey
* Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
* Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin
* White House counsel Don McGahn
Apropos of nothing
An amusing side note to the Bolton exit is a headline from Fox News.5
Tucker hails firing of John Bolton: He was 'fundamentally a man of the left'
Left? LEFT?
The Fox News report opened with:
- Tucker Carlson hailed the firing Tuesday of White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, calling him a "man of the left" whose exit should be celebrated by young service members.
“It is great news for America. Especially for the large number of young people who would have been killed in pointless wars if Bolton had stayed on the job. They may not be celebrating tonight, but they should be," said Carlson, noting that oil prices dropped on the news of Bolton's firing, since global investors "knew for certain that Bolton planned on launching another Middle Eastern conflict that would inevitably spike energy prices."
Will Fox soon declare that Trump is a “man of the left” joining the likes to Pelosi, Tlaib, Omar, et al?
The Fox piece is worth a read, regardless of left, right, or in between.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/y4tm6z9d
2. http://tinyurl.com/y4p7w7yp
3. http://tinyurl.com/yyecshef
4. http://tinyurl.com/y6n8hked
5. http://tinyurl.com/y4efjhbl
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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