President Trump is now experiencing the blowback from showering his political adversaries (real or perceived), national and international, with invective.
When you lead your nation in war, you need support from the widest possible majority. Allies are crucial as war’s path is unpredictable. A war that is divisive at home is less likely to succeed. To be sure, this is the President’s war; he did not go to Congress. And, this is a new war in which small intelligent armaments guided by unfolding circumstances compromise more traditional strength. Ask Russia about conventional warfare.
The President faces similar difficulty at our airports. We are on the edge of the 5th week of much longer lines at airport checkpoints due to an appropriation impasse over the funding of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The impasse results from hard-edged political disputes over U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) tactics that have, in extreme cases, led to deaths.
Difference of opinion is in Washington’s drinking water. But eventually the government must run on power-sharing—collaboration—as unilateral power in a democracy is inherently fragile. Inevitably, there are difficult times when the White House needs support that the raw statistics of popularity will not provide. Those times are not all that infrequent.
In the case of war, information gleaned from intelligence agencies is available to executive leadership well before it leaks out to the public or is shared with the Congress. Presidents need public confidence when they choose war and its inevitable insistence on timely action driven by intelligence that cannot be quickly shared.
President Trump is experiencing blowback from his intemperance. Interestingly, this blowback is partially concentrated on The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act which would require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration and a photo ID at the time of voting. Trump wants to federalize elections; the Constitution says elections are a State responsibility.
A deeply divided America inevitably leads to a dissipation of power. Trump’s modus operandi is suicidal. He should remember, as should his opponents, that America’s strength internationally has resulted, at least in part, from adherence to Michigan Senator Arthur Vandenberg’s famous line: “Politics stops at the water’s edge.” Vandenberg, a Michigan Republican, was calling for support of President Harry Truman, a Democrat.
And, Trump’s critics need to understand the Nation faces the present, not the preferred. At the end of the day, who wants the war with Iran to end unsuccessfully? Following the end of the Iran war and the mid-term elections Trump’s critics should seek to re-balance necessary steps to start a war.
Strength overseas requires unity at home. Maybe the President has learned a lesson about the contours of power. Regardless we need the war with Iran to end successfully.