***. “The statement that war is a continuation of policy by other means has become a catch-phrase and is therefore dangerous. We can say with equal truth: War is bankruptcy of policy.” [ German General Hans Von Seeckt ]
This post is the second in a series examining the conduct of one Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. As has been said many times: he is a deeply flawed person; seems to operate on whims, grudges, delusions, LIES. It has been said he is UNFIT to be president – by serious observers citing examples, not wild assertions. He IS the anti-George Washington. the anti-Abraham Lincoln.
***. “I now know that wars do not end wars.” [ Henry Ford ]
This post presents excerpts from: “President Donald Trump is an incompetent commander in chief” [ Stephen Young; New York Times; 3/27/26 ]:
10] “As far as I can tell, given Clausewitz’s criteria for winning a war, Donald Trump doesn’t, and can’t, pass muster as a commander in chief.”
2] ‘Clausewitz’s famous [because it’s true] law of war is that “war is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” To ignore politics in waging war is to lose. Does Trump know that?”
8] “Most important..is the human element brought to the fight by the commander. A commander must have determination, but if that determination hardens into blind self-confidence, it becomes a liability rather than a strength. The commander who is too self-assured or conceited becomes dangerous because he stops questioning his own assumptions. in war, where uncertainty dominates, this leads to performative decisions that don’t adapt to reality.”
5] “It seems Trump never read Clausewitz. He was, after all, a draft dodger refusing to serve his country in Vietnam.”
9] “Most importantly, Clausewitz advised, the mind of the commander must be free to think while not being captured by prejudice. For Clausewitz such freedom of the mind is indispensable if the commander is to dominate events, not to be overpowered by them.”
*** “Perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others.” [ David Cooper ]
1]. “After four weeks as a wartime commander in chief, Donald Trump now wants to pull his burning chestnuts out of the fire. Why. – the war not going as he has foreseen? The Iranian theocrats not willing to give in?”
3]. “What does Trump know of the hearts and minds of his Iranian enemy, or of the Iranian people in general? After four weeks of intensive bombing, the killing of dozens of religiously driven leaders and the straits of Hormuz being closed against his wishes, how close is our president to victory?”
4] “For Clausewitz the heart and soul of politics is will and morale. You wein when your enemy loses the will to continue, falls into an irresistible collapse of morale, just throws in the towel. So, Clausewitz says, the art of war is how to bring about such a collapse of will. In short, politics.”
6]. “Clausewitz defined war as an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will. Thus, we must proportion our efforts to the enemy’s powers of resistance. So our efforts must be proportional to the enemy’s will. – weapons and tactics which do not degrade the enemy’s will cannot win a war.”
7] “Thus, the Chinese master of the art of war, Sun Tzu, taught: first of all, study your enemy. He wrote simply: “[W]hat is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.” Bombs can’t do that. They only target enemy combatants and weapons systems. A conviction that bombing could ever be a war-winning strategy is an illusion.”
*** “One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.” [ Napoleon ]
With Justice For All 