The Brawl

I watched the Republican debate Tuesday night.  It was like entering a working class bar two or three hours after the other customers had arrived.  Ted Cruz was vowing to carpet bomb ISIS cities.  Donald Trump vowed to "take out" the families of terrorists.  Ben Carson vowed to send tens of thousands of U.S. troops into Syria.  John Kasich was going to punch Russia in the nose.  Chris Christie vowed to shoot down Russian planes.  Carley Fiorina wanted to bring back the warrior general who was let go "because Obama didn't want to hear what he had to say." (The General later said on Fox News that he had served under President Bush, not Obama, and had left the military in 2003, while Obama was still in the State legislature.)  Chris Christie said he would be different from that "feckless weakling" Barack Obama and would persuade King Hussein to send in his country's troops, apparently unaware that King Hussein has been dead for 16 years.  Donald trump was asked how to best buttress our nuclear triad. He bluffed, trying to obscure the fact that he doesn't have a clue what our nuclear triad is.

 

I didn't feel more secure after the event and turned off the TV rather than watch the candidates hit the spin rooms.  Later, I read that none of these armchair generals served a single day in the military.