Do you ever hear people say something so reasonable you wish you had thought of it? That happened with me when I read a letter to the editor by someone named Pat (we'll guess Pat is a man).
Pat took issue with an editorial critical of President Trump (as if this doesn't happen daily). Anyway, he considers this particular criticism "premature" at the least.
He says Trump is dealing with long-time dictatorships like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and North Korea. Pat says, "Their true bottom lines amount to regime preservation."
Trump's unconventional style is fair criticism, Pat thinks. But, "criticism must be tempered by the reality that the president is trying to deal with the adverse consequences of decades of benign neglect by previous Democratic and Republican administrations."
"Let's wait to see," he writes, "if any of Trump's experiments with personal engagement and disruption leads somewhere." In Pat's opinion, there is little evidence of success, but there is no evidence of failure detrimental to the United States.
He points out that China is not stealing more of our intellectual property than before, and is responding (slowly) to the trade issue. Russia has not annexed more of the former Soviet Union, and Saudi Arabia is checking Iran.
"Iran seems to have shifted to a proxy mode," Pat writes, though "unfortunately funded by the (Obama administration) bribe in the 'maybe later' nuclear deal" (which Iran never signed, by the way). North Korea has not lit off more ballistic missiles and is talking with the South. NATO is pulling more of its own weight."
If these aren't victories, at least they are "deviations from the trend lines which existed," he concludes.
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Don't hold your breath that Democratic presidential candidates and the media which supports them will follow Pat's advice. But, we appreciate his analysis.
Jimmy
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