Can Trump Stop the Endless Wars in Spite of His Advisers?

Donald Trump was elected on a platform of stopping the endless wars America is embroiled in, but surrounded himself with advisers and secretaries who want the opposite. Writing in The American Conservative, Pat Buchanan examines whether or not Trump will be able to overcome his advisers to make the decisions Americans elected him to make. He writes:

In short, forces are moving in this country and in Israel to bring about a U.S. confrontation with Iran—before our troops leave Syria.

But the real questions here are not about Bolton or Pompeo.

They are about Trump. Was he aware of Bolton’s request for a menu of targets in Iran for potential U.S. strikes? Did he authorize it? Has he authorized his national security adviser and secretary of state to engage in these hostile actions and bellicose rhetoric aimed at Iran? And if so, why?

While Trump has urged that the U.S. pull out of these Mideast wars, Pompeo has corrected him, “When America retreats, chaos often follows.”

Is Trump looking for a showdown with Iran, which could result in a war that might vault his approval rating, but be a disaster for the Middle East and world economy and do for him what Operation Iraqi Freedom did for George W. Bush?

One thing may confidently be said of the rhetoric and actions of Bolton and Pompeo: This is not what brought out the new populists who made Donald Trump president, the people who still share his desire to “stop the endless wars.”

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