Earlier this week the media had its usual panic attacks over President Trump’s comments on the Ukraine-Russia war.
“I listened to [Putin] constantly using the N-word, that’s the N-word, and he’s constantly using it: the nuclear word,” Trump said. “We say, ’Oh, he’s a nuclear power.’ But we’re a greater nuclear power. We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built…. You should say, ‘Look, if you mention that word one more time, we’re going to send them over and we’ll be coasting back and forth, up and down your coast. You can’t let this tragedy continue. You can’t let these, these thousands of people die.”
The media went into hysterical panic mode.
Most people, even those who did not spend four years receiving top-secret briefings, understand that threatening an unpredictable madman—one who doesn’t care how many civilians he needs to kill in order to further his imperial ambitions—with nuclear war, is a horrible idea.
“Nuclear brinksmanship with a possibly irrational Putin at a moment when the west is desperate to prevent the war in Ukraine from turning regional is certainly a take,” Allahpundit moaned.
“Possibly irrational.”
Never Trumpers claim they love Reagan. Do they remember “We begin bombing in five minutes.”
Reagan understood that the USSR was not tough, that its leaders were not irrational, that they kept playing the n-word card because they knew it would frighten the West. Reagan refused to be frightened and called their bluff. At a time when lefties and some on the right are panicking over the ridiculous idea that Putin will start firing off nukes at us, Trump called Putin’s bluff.
Does he mean it? Does he not mean it? Doesn’t really matter. This is why Putin invaded under Obama and Biden, not under Trump. While Trump is more predictable than he used to be, he has been in office for four years, the loose cannon reputation is still effective. Putin pretends to be a loose cannon, but Trump can actually pull it off.
Trump, like Reagan, understands that Putin is bluffing and therefore he can be bluffed, which is why we wouldn’t be dealing with this whole mess if 2020 had turned out differently.
One of Reagan’s big contributions to the end of the Cold War was to lift the miasma of panic over a nuclear war that the leftist cultural establishment had inflicted on Americans. Where previous presidents had cowered, Reagan laughed and shrugged it off. There wasn’t going to be a war. And there wasn’t.
I’ve been saying since Day 1 of this conflict that there isn’t going to be a war between America and Russia, let alone a world war. But nobody really wants to hear it. A lot of people are invested in doom. There’s a lot to be worried about, WWIII isn’t one of those things.
Trump understands that there’s nothing to panic about. It’s a pity that too many don’t.
{Reposted from FrontPageMAg}
