http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444766/yemen-raid-donald-trump-barack-obama-john-mccain-sean-spicer-media

Only thing that I heard different was that they did NOT get the leader they were targeting, as that leader was apparently taunting trump a short while later on FB or twitter. Don’t know if that is confirmed or not.

That’s what we’re all counting on. I’m not encouraged, though.

I definitely agree that this was rushed and not well thought out. And there was no pressing reason it had to be so rushed, because there was no particular heightened threat recently. A few more weeks would have been fine. Trump wanted something dramatic to happen quickly. In this case too much was sacrificed to that goal, and he’s paying for it (so far, anyway).

Maybe he will learn. I really don’t know if that will happen.

Maybe our job was successfully done in Afghanistan and maybe killing bin ladin effectively took care of Pakistan?

Wouldn’t know that from “conservative” media prior to the election, though.

I get the argument about why Saudi Arabia is problematic, but it seems to me that if security was the utmost concern and was an urgent priority, there ought to have been serious consideration of these two countries.

Perhaps people like bunion thought it brilliant to pick the same list as obama had, as it would provide some kind of “cover”.

Perhaps so, if one wants to rush things and not want to have to make the case.

The question of these two countries is a legitimate one, which hits at the internal inconsistency in the thinking behind this EO.
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The problem is there are all these broken pieces, with how this came / comes together, that it erodes the confidence in this admin’s ability and judgement, AND, more importantly, in the base issue we face.

I know Neo, through great diligence, brings to light some of the hard facts and considered opinions behind this all, but that in itself (that it takes such extraordinary effort to bring clarity) is a symptom of the larger issue we face.

It is hard to trust anyone as an authority, and even harder to get clarity. trump is as much a generator of that “fog” as anyone. So, we are seemingly left with choosing sides for the sake of choosing sides.

It is terrible that anyone who might be concerned about terrorism and our exposure to this (probably the vast majority of the country), to feel compelled to choose between:

a) a POTUS who rushs an EO (an approach we generally opposed when obama did so), effectively without much of a rollout or explanation, spins (lies?) to us about the what and hows, and who (unnecessarily) attacks the judiciary,

b) aliging with left, some (many?) of whom are opposing for opposing’s sake, or who’d support a far more generous open door (if not open borders), not wanting to validate any issue or threat out of political correctness.
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Can we stand athwart of the red vs blue politics and see things as they are, even in disagreement, and demand competency, explanation, and truth?

Or, must we be all-in on everything trump, for fear that if he loses on something once, all the rest of any good he may do is down the drain?

In the meantime, if the latter, our credibility diminishes with trump’s, no different than those on the left for whom obama could do no wrong.
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Frankly, something’s gotta give. The country cannot sustain this heightened uncertainty and tension without some impact – and we cannot now honestly claim it is all from the left.

If trump doesn’t deliver on explosive growth (and I’m skeptical he will, if he follows through on his threats wrt trade, which could overwhelm all the other good), all bets are off with all these other distractions from trump, and the fortunes of the GOP will follow suit.

We’ll see.

I sincerely hope we see more good than chaos, not only for the good of the country, but also as I’d hate to see dems dominating Congress after 2018.

First two weeks our of 100 days – not yet convinced.

No one cares anymore . . . It was all political theater.

But, but, civil war, tipping point, Hillary, Hillary, Flight 93 …..

We will see, if we keep our eyes open. Self deception and wishful thinking usually work out in the end, right? /s

Good points.

I get why people voted for Trump – no one wanted Hillary (I didn’t either). I don’t get the moral superiority. The platform for that stance us WAY shakier than it used to be.

I used to think that too. Until my party nominated and elected Donald Trump to the highest office in the land.

Until my party decided that ruling by EO is good, presidential power needs to be expanded, and that constitutional governance is for chumps

Until my party decided that their President doesn’t have to be subject to conflict of interest ethics, and that he and his family can profit off his office

Until my party decided that it’s OK for the President to pick winners and losers, calling out businesses he has either a private or public beef with and bullying them into doing his will.

Until my party decided that truth doesn’t matter, and personal morality doesn’t matter.

Until my party decided to fall for every authoritarian trick in the book. Let said authoritarian and his enablers define a common enemy (especially if enemy’s “sin” is their ethnicity). Check. Get away with big lie ethics, until the truth is so hard to find (at least for the “willfully blind”) that his followers will only believe and receive news from approved propaganda outlets in the conservative media – check

Will do, and gladly. BTW, parker is my midle name and the name family and friends know me by. I became parker at an early age in honor of the uncle Parker I never knew/rembemred Uncle Parker who died when I was 3 in Korea. We all paid or have kin who paid the cost of freedom. parker I am (lower case because I can never reached his level of sacrifice.) We remember, my children remember, and so shall my grandchildren. So say we all. I will always be parker here instead of Parker.