The relatively recent effort by the Obama / Biden / Harris Left to “significantly transform America” has created quite a storm in the nether world making sages of the past forego resurrection to return to this world in hopes of righting America’s tilting Ship of State. Former president Ronald Reagan appeared unexpectedly at Trump’s Mar a Largo victory banquet to offer advice on how to deal with Iran – permanently; something an embargo will not do.
Donald: “Ron! What are you doing here?”
Ronald: “Well, Don, I thought you could use a little advice on Iran.”
Donald: “Thanks, Ron, but I’ve got this. After all, I did write The Art of the Deal and used my experience in business to do a great job my first term – if I do say so myself.”
Ronald: “Yes, I watched you from the other side. It was quite commendable considering how much opposition you faced from “Socialist Democrats” and the McConnell cartel in the Republican Party. But, as you’ve noticed, all that was negated when the Dems took office. I’m here to help you cut to the root of the conflict in the Middle East so it doesn’t raise its’ ugly head again after you leave.”
Donald: “Aw, don’t worry about that, Ron. I got ’em to come together under the Abraham Accord. Once I get back into office, I’ll get them to rededicate themselves to that and peace will break out in the Middle East again.”
Ronald: “Maybe, Don, but for how long? Why didn’t it last when you left office last time?”
Donald: “Well, that damn Biden, in addition to selling himself for decades to the highest foreign bidder (including taking bribes from our enemies like China), gave Iran tens of billions of dollars and quit enforcing the embargo I placed on them! Can you believe that?”
Ronald: “Yes, I know. But just denying money and resources to a rogue State won’t permanently solve a diplomatic problem when you’re dealing with radical ideologists. They’ll just wait you out again this term while being supported by Russia, China and North Korea.
Neither will your promise to keep America out of any further wars. That just entices our enemies to wait you out. I know you’re a successful businessman but being president of the United States requires a lot more than how to “make a deal”. It involves a knowledge of history, a knowledge of different cultures and ideologies – in other words, it requires statesmanship.”
Donald: “Gee, I never heard that term used at Wharton. What is it?”
Ronald: “Well, Don, it’s been said politicians think of the next election whereas statesmen think of the next generation. Too many elected officials are maniacal about raising funds for their next election. It’s actually the first briefing the newly elected get when they arrive in D.C. There hasn’t been a true statesman serving in Congress for several decades. With the Middle East and Russia heating up with each succeeding administration, America could use some statesmanship right about now.”
Donald: “But isn’t that what I give them when I use tariff’s and economic leveraging to make America great again?”
Ronald: “Don, there’s a difference between prosperity – financially well-off – and greatness. True “Greatness” is more than about money. It’s achieving a moral code on a national basis. It’s when the population as a whole abides by the principles of our Founding Fathers. The argument can be made that focusing on financial success facilitates moral decadence – like gambling on sports! Man! The Gipper is rolling over in his grave!”
Donald: “I don’t get it. I thought once everyone could afford all their luxuries they’d be happy. And once our enemies knew they were going to suffer economically they wouldn’t be in a position to threaten us.”
Ronald: “Wrong on both counts, Don. Wealth doesn’t guarantee happiness. True happiness is achieved by abiding by God’s laws. As for our enemies, their ideology supersedes money. They are driven by a moral code totally antithetical to ours. That’s why they’ll never quit trying to destroy us. They also know we’re destroying ourselves by not living our own moral code.”
Donald: “But with a wealthy nation we can destroy our enemies, right?”
Ronald: “The last time that was true was World War II – and it wasn’t just because we were a resource wealthy nation. Americans still attended church, prayed and read the Bible then. World War II was the last war fought for moral purposes. Korea was as well but it was the most avoidable war we ever fought thanks to the State Department and Congress. All our wars since have proven poverty stricken Third World countries can kick our ass by indoctrinating enough of the population with a moral code to persist in resistance.”
Donald: “Well, didn’t Bush, Jr. use “exporting democracy” to defeat anti-American terrorism? That was a moral code wasn’t it?”
Ronald: “Hell no. Bush, Jr. was an idiot. His fellow air national guardsmen called him a “seagull” because those birds don’t fly until they have to. Junior being president was like a two-year old playing with nitroglycerine. He being the second generation of Bushes who were members of the “Skull and Bones” fraternity, basically the elite who run the Political-Military-Industrial Complex. All Junior did was get a lot of good American youth killed in an area of the world that hates America even more than they hate their religious enemies.
Junior didn’t know how to defeat our enemies without bankrupting our nation. That brings me to the reason I’m here – how to permanently defeat our enemies without bankrupting America.”
Donald: “Wow, what a novel concept! How did you do that?”
Ronald: “Well, Don, it’s a concept called Low Intensity Conflict. It has some basic principles that can be applied to every country and every political situation. I used it in El Salvador and all of Latin America but also in Europe to affect regime change.”
Donald: “What’s ‘regime change’? That just means bombing the shit out of them doesn’t it?”
Ronald: “No, that was tried by McNamara and Cheney and it failed miserably in the long run. It requires a lot more finesse than that. Ever heard of the Solidarity movement?”
Donald: “Isn’t that some Lefty group like Black Lives Matter?”
Ronald: “No, Don. Solidarity was a movement initiated by dock workers in Poland demanding democratic reforms from their communist government. It was led by a dock worker named Lech Walesa. The dock workers’ union went on strike to protest the oppression of their president Jarulzelski. They faced arrest, imprisonment and execution but successfully resisted until Jarulzelski was forced into granting partially free elections – which Solidarity won.”
Donald: “Wow! How did they do that all by themselves?”
Ronald: “That’s the secret to Low Intensity Conflict, Don. They didn’t. I helped them. I tasked the CIA to vet the Solidarity leaders and found them to be true democratic-loving men. Once that was established, I authorized the Agency to support Solidarity with whatever they needed to build support among the Polish population (which they had mostly anyway), advised them on information campaigns, used Radio Free Europe to encourage the resistance, used SIGINT satellite intelligence to warn the leaders of impending government raids to arrest them, and bolstered international support for their cause. They did all the leg work, we just financed them when their paychecks were cut off and supported them behind the scenes to guarantee their success. They won a majority of seats in their legislature and their communist president Jarulzelski was forced out of office. Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland by the Polish people.”
Donald: “But how does that apply to Iran? Poland is not Iran.”
Ronald: “You know how Kamallah and the Dems assumed all Latino and Black Americans thought and voted the same? The State Department has been that ethnocentric for generations. The truth is Iran’s population is quite young and quite desirous of living a Westernize life-style – not the draconian, 7th century Islam the Ayatollah has been inflicting on them. Obama lost a chance for a permanent fix in Iran when he failed to support the mass demonstrations in Tehran during his administration.
Rule #1 in Low Intensity Conflict is identifying a group who has the perceived legitimacy of the population then supporting that group with funds, intelligence and logistics until they gain the strength to openly and successfully challenge the illegitimacy of the existing regime. It’s a lot cheaper than launching million dollar missiles and jeopardizing American troops’ lives. And this kind of regime change is permanent!
Donald: “How come those four-stars at the Pentagon didn’t tell me about this?”
Ronald: “What, and lose their lucrative, post-retirement Defense contractor executive board member jobs? If you really are going to “drain the swamp,” you could replace the brain-locked brass with some out-of-the-box thinkers who know at least a little about The Third Way or “The Indirect Approach by B.H. Liddel Hart.
Donald: “Hmmm. I like it. It makes sense! It’s out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways but if I can find someone smart on this to take the job – or at least advise my Secretary of State and SecDef on it – we’ll give it a shot. Thanks, Ron!”
Ronald: “Good Luck, Don. You’re going to need it.”
