The first two months of Trump 2.0 have been a whirlwind of activity by the president and his band of happy warriors. The activity has been comprehensive, vigorous and consequential. In some form or fashion, every department and agency of the executive branch has been affected.
Opinion
As a Trump supporter, I believe the efforts have been mostly positive, mostly beneficial and mostly delivering on promises made. This is not to say that every action taken by this young administration has been perfect. To expect perfection would be unrealistic. Our political system does not lend itself to “perfection.” Recognizing and calling out an administration’s mistake is not only right and proper, but beneficial.
Of President Donald Trump’s few mistakes, I want to focus on one, mostly forgotten, that could rear its ugly head at any time and if it does, adversely affect many lives and the nation as a whole. Fortunately, this mistake could easily be corrected.
Trump is a golfer, a good one according to reports. He knows a “mulligan” allows someone to replay a bad golf shot without penalty.
Trump needs to revisit his decision to pull personal protection for his first-term officials whose lives have been threatened by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reportedly, Iran’s assassination plans were in retaliation for the drone strike that killed General Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in January 2020.
Assuming intelligence and the situation have not materially changed, Trump should immediately order the protection to be resumed. Why? Not only would an attack aimed at these former officials be catastrophic to the Trump presidency, but potentially to the officials and their families.
Protection was ordered by the Biden administration because of Iranian threats and actions taken to carry out the threats. According to Al Jazeera, a news service funded in part by Qatar, “The US Department of Justice revealed the charges against Shahram Poursafi, of Tehran … accusing him of offering an unidentified US-based individual $300,000 to carry out the killing.”
The threats were not “idle,” and were viewed by our government as very serious.
After personal protection was ended, Al Jazeera published an article stating, “United States President Donald Trump has cancelled security protections for Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook and John Bolton, hawkish foreign policy advisers.”
The AP reported, “One official from the administration of former President Biden confirmed to The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity, that Trump’s team was well aware of the threats to the three men. That person called Trump’s decision to pull the protection, ‘highly irresponsible.’”
Trump called Bolton a “very dumb person” and added, “We’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?”
Trump’s question can be answered in four words: Common decency and self-interest. Protection not “for the rest of their lives,” but for as long as the threat is viable.
Since Trump ordered the personal protection details to stand down, it has mostly been forgotten as a news item, though I’m certain it’s on the minds of Pompeo, et al. But, if a round was fired at any one of the three, the news would be elevated to the top story of the news cycle, whether or not, God forbid, the round found its target. The story of Trump pulling the protective detail would be revived — big time.
The only thing we know about what Trump was thinking when he pulled the plug on security for his former officials, is what he said publicly, which suggests animus. His adversaries would remind us that he had difficulty with at least two of the three policy advisers and that while cutting their protection Trump continually asked for additional security for himself during the 2024 campaign. Not a good look.
The American people have an innate sense of right and wrong, of decency and honor. In the event of tragedy, I believe they might be reluctant to excuse what looked like an act of petulance.
Whatever the reason that motivated the president to remove protection from his former officials, it is clear that should an assassination attempt happen, there would be a risk to Trump’s popularity, and, as a result, his ability to get things done for the American people. Clearly, the risk is not worth whatever benefit the president thought justified his action.
Mr. President, take a mulligan! It’s the right thing to do.
“Of President Donald Trump’s few mistakes” Really Mr Hunkins……are you serious? How can you say that with a straight face? Certainly you’re entitled to your opinion, and are guaranteed by the 1st amendment the right to give it (of course this could all change under our current POTUS)………sir, you need to get a healthy dose of reality.
And the audience applauded him for this statement.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPt-zXn05ac
So, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and his Muskeviks, and the Project 2025 fanatics are doing all they can do to destroy the federal government from the inside and replace it with the first bona fide fascist regime in American history, one driven by dictatorial AI on top of that, and all Ray Hunkins is concerned about is Trump pulling security details from Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and Brian Hook, which he claims would subject them to assassination by Iran, thus creating a national security or political crisis? Come again?
As a professional military officer with considerable national security experience, I find Hunkin’s claim to be absurd on its face. First of all, Trump could care less about these individuals’ fates–he certainly has forgotten them. Consequently, MAGA has forgotten them. If they’re killed on Trump’s watch, well, it’s all for the greater good, as far as Trump and MAGA are concerned. Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Hasn’t that been obvious, even to the MAGA crowd? They love tough guy Trump. Who cares if he kills his enemies?
Secondly, Iran is still fuming over the Trump ordered assassination of Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020, as well as a number of American and Israeli assassinations of Iranian allies over the years. Maybe that’s war, and it is, but it’s still reality. In war, enemies kill each other. Having watched how Trump thinks, if one can call it thinking, I have no doubt that if Iran succeeds in assassinating the above name individuals, who don’t mean anything to him anyway, or any other Americans, Trump can justify vengeance, even going so far as acceding to Israel’s insane demand for a war against Iran. As a soldier serving in the CENTCOM area of command, I have studied Iran, and quite frankly, a war against Iran would be an act of profound stupidity. Well, that’s Trump as well.
In short, given the geo-strategic conditions in which the United States now finds itself in, one would think that Ray Hunkins might find something far more important to complain about.
John Bolton and Mike Pompeo should be in Prison for their crimes committed in the Middle East and elsewhere for over 3 decades now.
John Bolton has “lived by the sword” his entire career, with millions dying from actions he “advised”. If that living by the sword has endangered his life, he should know that actions have consequences.
I personally don’t know how any decent person could support Trump. The guy’s a serial liar, fraud, and a criminal. He has also been found liable for sexual abuse. He’s in the process of destroying America, and it’s all about him and the oligarchs. He’s the king of projection, and the people see a hero- kind of like Hitler.
I suggest that the President take a mulligan not only in the instance Ray suggests, but also that he take one by following the rule of law, fundamental to our system of government, which he is ignoring on a daily basis. If Congress and the courts don’t shut down this ignorant and incessant behavior, we are in a world of hurt.