Fish Fear Me

Why Trump?...Because Middle East Peace

For decades, the so-called experts in the Washington DC foreign policy establishment have given the Palestinian leadership veto power over any peace talks with Israel. And time and again the Palestinians have exercised that power to reject any deal. The reason for that is obvious to any honest person; the Palestinian leadership does not want a peace deal with Israel, they seek its destruction. At last, the Trump administration has chosen to reject the Washington "experts" and sidestep the obstruction from the Palestinians. 

Working directly with the Sunni Arab states and Israel, the Trump administration has brokered important agreements between them that raise the real possibility of a long and lasting peace between historic enemies. Had the inept Obama administration accomplished this it would have been the lead story for months, but they didn't, because they couldn't, because they were fuckups who listened to the "experts." 

I guarantee that a Biden administration will attempt to blow up this progress as soon as it takes office. Partly due to anti-Semitism that is now rampant in the Democratic party and partly because too many "experts" make a really good living off of the continuation of conflict in the Middle East. The last thing they want is for it to be resolved and put them out of a job.  

Peace is possible in the Middle East, but the chance for that is far greater through a continued Trump administration that understands truth and reality on the ground there instead of a Biden administration that will pivot to the tired foreign policies of "experts" who have failed America, Israel, and Arab nations for the last 40 years.

Why Trump? Because...Identity Politics

I plan on voting for Donald Trump on November 3rd. Some of my friends and family are with me on that, others are as dismayed with me as they were 4 years ago. Regardless, for me it's really the only valid option for a number of reasons. Over the next few weeks I'll list those in no particular order, as much for my edification as anything else.

A vote for Joe Biden is a vote to continue advancing identity politics as a major factor, if not the major factor in our political discourse. I think the same applies to most Democrats these days. The increasing use of identity in the Democratic party has been a useful tactic, but it has also been incredibly divisive and it dehumanizes people by reducing them to a one or two dimensional caricature instead of the complicated and unique individuals we all are. That, in turn, makes it easy to demonize or praise people and make them virtuous or villainous, often based on characteristics people have little or no control over. And that makes it much easier to amplify or quiet voices depending on their political utility. To some extent it's effective, but it is also insidious and corrosive. Like all corrupt means, it taints the users and the ends they supposedly want to achieve.

I was only 10 when "All in the Family" debuted with Archie Bunker and his "those people," bigoted diatribes. Blacks, Jews, feminists, it didn't matter when it came to conservative Archie mercilessly pigeonholing people based on his own prejudices. Nearly 50 years later the tables have turned and now it is the left and former liberals who feel comfortable labeling people based on race, religion, or gender(among other things). It was Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, who blurted out "you ain't black" if a black person didn't know if they would vote for him. As though every black person in America has the same experience, the same perspective, the same opinion. It wasn't a gaffe, it was a slip of the mask and a look into what Joe Biden really believes.

Get in the group we have sorted you into, for now. Accept, and if necessary repent for, what we say your group believes. You are not an individual. Obey. 

I think that's what a vote for Joe Biden, or pretty much any Democrat, takes you one step closer to these days. I am much more than any one or two adjectives could describe and I'm sure you are too. We should all refuse to be pigeonholed.