{"id":991,"date":"2026-06-08T19:09:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=991"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:09:48","slug":"war-and-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=991","title":{"rendered":"War and elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Paraphrasing New York Times editorial writer Thomas Friedman during a CNN appearance on Smerconish, no matter how dangerous and awful the Iranian regime is, he can\u2019t hope for American victory because DJT would get some credit and he is such a terrible person\u2014Friedman doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to see Bibi\u2026or\u2026Trump politically strengthened\u2026.\u201d \u00a0We can\u2019t do anything about the crowd Friedman represents, which is unfortunately a large group.<\/p>

Read more The trojan horse that is the distributed energy resource<\/a><\/p>\n

On the side of those that are for the United States, even if Trump gains some credit, there is a nervous unease. Trump seems to be more concerned with long-term results than the approaching midterms. If we don\u2019t end the war soon and lower gas prices, the midterms could be very bad for the good guys.<\/p>\n

I am old and have an experience that colors my view, despite my own concern about the midterms. I am a Vietnam veteran. While my experience affected me deeply, my experience only makes me an expert on my experience. I wanted to know more. So I did a lot of research and wrote a book. The experience of writing that book affects my view of presidential decisions and elections.<\/p>\n

It turns out that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara did have a plan for Vietnam, and its original goal was victory. If you want to know the plan, read my book. To make a long, long, story very short, on November 5, 1966, Robert McNamara recommended and Lyndon Johnson approved changing the strategic goal in the war from victory to stalemate. The fundamental justification in McNamara\u2019s memorandum recommending changing the goal from win to tie was that this would improve Johnson\u2019s prospects in the 1968 election. They did not share this decision with the American people. My father was in Vietnam when this decision was made (my time came later), and clearly no one told him we had stopped trying to win.<\/p>

Read more Is Talarico right? Did Mary consent to conceive and give birth to Jesus?<\/a><\/p>\n

My research reveals a strategic decision based on crass domestic politics. This affected my personal view of presidential decision-making. One could argue it lowered the bar. For me, as long as the president believes his strategic decision is what is best for the country, I am with him. If the decision is not popular and he tries to spin it in the most positive light, that\u2019s okay as long as the base of the decision was the belief that it was best for the country.<\/p>\n

If the strategic decision were based on what is best for the next election and I find out about it, no amount of spin is enough. As it turned out for Johnson, his slimy decision based on domestic politics turned out to be a fatal domestic political blunder.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t happen to a nicer guy.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that Trump doesn\u2019t fall victim to the same blunder.<\/p>\n

(My book is Vietnam: Strategy for a Stalemate<\/em>, Paragon House, 1989.\u00a0 My footnotes are at the bottom of each page.)<\/p>

Read more The WHO\u2019s climate narrative doesn\u2019t match the evidence<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"ChatGPT\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image generated by ChatGPT.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paraphrasing New York Times editorial writer Thomas Friedman during a CNN appearance on Smerconish, no matter how dangerous and awful the Iranian regime is, he can\u2019t hope for American victory because DJT would get some credit and he is such a terrible person\u2014Friedman doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to see Bibi\u2026or\u2026Trump politically strengthened\u2026.\u201d \u00a0We can\u2019t do anything about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21],"tags":[455],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-policy","category-iran-war","tag-related-topics-iran-war-vietnam-war-history-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nWar and elections - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"War and elections - 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