"Peace Through Strength" Scares The Crap Out Of Me

[ProudLib72]

I know it predates Reagan but was a popular slogan during his administration, yet tRump's usage is just about the most insane reversal I have ever seen! Reagan was talking about the Cold War, and now tRump wants to align with Russia?!

What does it even mean in this context?

Link to tweet

....They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!

[edbermac]

1. George Orwell 1984

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Donald Trump 2018
Peace though Strength.

[braddy]

2. It just means that the bad are less likely to pounce on the strong, weakness invites war. What kept

the Soviet Empire from attacking the rest of Europe was the strength of NATO.

As far as Russia, we should show strength and try to use them in whatever capacity that we can to help us maintain peace in these terrible trouble areas in which Russia is also involved, or even working against us in.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. I agree with the strategy but Trump is playing this just like a fascist...

read up on Umberto Eco's essay on Ur-Fascism. Just one of the characteristics he wrote about.

14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. Newspeak was invented by Orwell, in 1984, as the official language of Ingsoc, English Socialism. But elements of Ur-Fascism are common to different forms of dictatorship. All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning. But we must be ready to identify other kinds of Newspeak, even if they take the apparently innocent form of a popular talk show.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/

or this one...

13. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say. In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view—one follows the decisions of the majority. For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. To have a good instance of qualitative populism we no longer need the Piazza Venezia in Rome or the Nuremberg Stadium. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.

Because of its qualitative populism Ur-Fascism must be against “rotten” parliamentary governments. One of the first sentences uttered by Mussolini in the Italian parliament was “I could have transformed this deaf and gloomy place into a bivouac for my maniples”—“maniples” being a subdivision of the traditional Roman legion. As a matter of fact, he immediately found better housing for his maniples, but a little later he liquidated the parliament. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.

[blake2012]

4. the number one issue here is Russia's anti-peace measures. killing ex-spies

taking over Crimea, attacking the elections of not only the US but other western democracies.

One cannot discuss "PEACE through STRENGTH" in one sentence and in the next sentence discuss making nice with Putin.

It's BULLSHIT.

[braddy]

10. I am glad that we just killed 200 or 300 Russians in Syria and have gotten NATO to increase

spending by billions and are increasing our own military capabilities in Europe while strengthening Ukraine, etc, are destroying his grip on oil with our increased production while still not appearing to corner and harass Putin to his face and are still trying to squeeze from him as much as we can get.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Bush didn't have the smarts?

This idiot is in NO position to be judging ANYBODY else on their intelligence.

Bush is a fucking genius compared to Trump.

[ProudLib72]

6. I might even go so far as to say Quayle is smarter than tRump

Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things -- Dan Quayle

Well, maybe not...

[smirkymonkey]

7. Well, it's a toss up.

But at least Quayle isn't a complete psychopath.

[gratuitous]

8. "Strength" Donald?

How is your toadying phone call to Daddy Vladdy showing strength? Does it enhance or diminish America's strength when the Commander in Chief publicly tears down the country's courts and law enforcement? Does America appear stronger or weaker by reneging on its commitments to its allies? Is the wholesale destruction of our school system, environment, and treasury likely to make America stronger or weaker?

Why don't you just fucking resign?

[ProudLib72]

9. Peace through relinquishing complete control to Putin

That is what I am afraid he means. "Bush, Clinton, and Obama couldn't handle NK, Syria, ISIS; but papa Vlad can do it all with one hand tied behind his muscular back!"