In case you’re not convinced that there are multiple Trumps, try to square the intention of this one to start a war with China with his previous anti-war positions.
President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban’s hands. Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state visit to the U.K. and tied it to the need for the U.S. to counter its top rival, China.
“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The president repeated his view that a U.S. presence at Bagram is of value because of its proximity to China, the most significant economic and military competitor to the United States. “But one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “So a lot of things are happening.”
A lot has changed since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. And in light of events near the Russian border, I very much doubt China is going to permit the US military to re-establish a base near one of its more strategic locations.
Clown World is almost certainly going to cause the US military lose a major war before the USA collapses. Indeed, that may be the proximate cause of the collapse, if Clown World does not collapse itself first.
