By Robert Willmann
President Trump appointed Robert C. O'Brien to be the new National Security Advisor. He is presently the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the U.S. Department of State–
https://www.state.gov/biographies/robert-c-obrien/
Here is some initial material about him. He has been associated with Mitt Romney and John Bolton for quite a while, and is a Mormon. He is a lawyer operating primarily out of California in a firm called Larson O'Brien–
https://www.larsonobrienlaw.com/attorney-detail/robert-c-o-brien
Apparently he and Hugh Hewitt, who appears some on television and radio, moved from one law firm to the present one. Hewitt seems to no longer be in that firm. But their association has led to interviews of O'Brien by Hewitt.
O'Brien was a foreign policy advisor to Mitt Romney both times he ran for president. Other people such as Michael Hayden and Michael Chertoff were also unfortunately advising Romney in 2012. O'Brien was said to be a foreign policy advisor to Scott Walker and Senator Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential campaign. This transcript is from 23 August 2012–
https://www.hughhewitt.com/romney-senior-foreign-policy-advisor-robert-c-obrien/
In 2016 O'Brien wrote a book entitled "While America Slept, Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis", published by Encounter Books. He did around a 12-minute interview on 15 September 2016 with Hewitt about the book, making general comments about policy–
https://www.hughhewitt.com/wp-content/uploads/09-15hhs-obrien.mp3
A 28 March 2018 interview with O'Brien is about John Bolton being made National Security Advisor–
From the type of legal cases he has been involved in, he should have a smoother and more palatable demeanor than John Bolton, but his philosophies are what matter. We will see how they play out.
Doesn’t sound encouraging. Another establishment group thinker.
o’brien is just another cipher tossed into the pot by trump as a sop to the empire segment of the ruling elites.
war or no war is solely trumps decision… and… thus far he has kept his word by refraining from initiating any new wars.
this post of recent years has become a revolving door of clowns with no power to do much of anything beside look outdated as they threaten the rest of the world while trump goes about his real goal of avoiding more wars.
each day that passes that the empire segment of americas ruling elites are thwarted from destroying yet another small part of the world the american ruling elites who simply want a normal america first nation win along with the rest of us.
get some popcorn and enjoy this latest theatrical production. nothing will come of it but noise which in todays dangerous world is a big win for humanity.
Fascinating that Trump’s picks are always establishment. I suppose he needs people who know how to turn the knobs of government and can do whatever he wants done on any given day. all with a straight face.
Its been reported several times that his “closest” advisors are Jared & Ivanka. While his instincts are good on many issues, apparently he doesn’t do detail or nuance very well. And his management by tweet method surely must keep everyone on their toes and confused as his mercurial personality can change tact on a dime. Rocketman went from I’ve got a bigger button to best pal, so anything is possible.
With re-election front & center I’d be curious what he thinks are his big wins to sell the electorate for another term. I don’t think he’ll initiate another war prior to the elections and many of his tweets may just be trolling. The debates next year will be “epic” with whoever the Dems put up. I don’t think SNL will hold a candle to the debate with Crazy Bernie or Sleepy Joe or Pocahontas.
Trump decades ago declared he was a follower of Dr Norman Vincent Peale, Marble Collegiate Church in NYC. Peale’s “Power of Positive Thinking” teaches one to banish any negative thoughts early in the morning to get them out of the way.
Then the rest of the day can be spent thinking more positively. Hence the pattern of the early AM – push back” tweets. This conforms with Peale’s Method for any one who read the Power of Positive Thinking, which was a best seller back in the 1960’s or so.
The early AM tweets are part of Trump’s very disciplined thinking process and are not erratic at all when viewed from this context. Check out PBS Biography Trump interview by Peter Graves from his early Marla Maple’s days, and one sees the internal discipline and consistency of Donald Trump. Like him or not; but best to not misjudge him. He is who he is, hiding nothing, and that alone is a breath of fresh air.
So from hard core neocon to the good neocon. How wonderful. What people has Trump hired in the second tier so that they might learn something of the functioning of government when he leaves office and their would be a capable group able to serve in the next administration or has Bolton and company purged anyone of independent thought, leaving only junior neocons available?
Why do we unfortunately get all these suits like O’Brein spouting their know nothing advice in the POTUS’s ear?
This “breath of fresh air” is flirting with World War III in the Persian Gulf, has initiated the process of Hostile Co-existence with China, and has failed to rein in the needless confrontation with Russia.
I think you’re trying too hard to see something where there is nothing. Early morning tweets just his impulse to respond to perceived insults or he just want to win an imaginery argument. It is an inferiority complex that is showing in realtime for the world to see, from the President of the Unites States.
Nothing unexpected. As right as Bolton (that means the policy of STALOP – Safety Through A Lot Of Power), just with a sense that shutting up is a good thing sometimes, but then, unlike Bolton, he was a sort of diplomat.
Iirc he was also previously sent to Sweden as a hostage expert when a US musician ASAP Rocky arrested for assault (which makes him a suspected or sentenced criminal, not “a hostage” but when has such subtleties concerned the current US gvt).
He has also said that Trump was and is a wonderful president who has gotten free more hostages ever ever ever than anyone whoever. He himself is said to have, or not, negotiated the freedom of 20 or so Americans. That means he is good at applause too.
Surely he is on a track for a great career with the curent inhabitants of the whitehouse.
I sincerely hope you are right, since that is one of the main reasons I voted for Trump. (The other, of course, is that he wasn’t Hillary Clinton.)
The Russian government via their D.C. Embassy want’s explanations from the State Department regarding the new spying scandal concerning their diplomats. The Yahoo news article concerning members of the Russian December 2016 legation allegations that they intercepted FBI data. The Russians are saying that the Yahoo article lacks proof that the Russians were bugging from their diplomatic estates in NY and Maryland. These were the properties seized by the U.S. Government (Obama Administration), that the Russians says the seizures were under different pretexts (interference in U.S. elections). Denis Davydov reporting for Vesti News was told by guards at the sites that they couldn’t film there. Davydov says the guards are part of the State Department’s security detail (according to their patches on their uniforms). The guards refused to give the Russians any reason why they couldn’t film other than to say they couldn’t do it.
Vladimir Grachev (USSR Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs Officer 1975-1988) quote “As a man who’s worked long years in both NY and Washington. I can say it’s ridiculous. Because these estates, like any Russian property, any facilities abroad are under the most watchful eye of not one , but several American Intelligence Agencies.” end quote.
Maria Zakharova Russian MFA spokesperson: chimed in that quote “there is a year until the U.S. presidential elections. Unfortunately during this period we’ll hear a lot of fantastic stories, sudden revelations, amazing insights or visa versa, some diggings from the past.” end quote.
The Russian’s D.C. Embassy said that the article isn’t just a provocation, but a security threat to everyone in the diplomatic mission. Their Embassy has sent a demand for an explanation to the State Department.
J
Bolton is slamming Trump for not going to war, of course Bolton’s slams on Trump are behind closed doors at a closed door event hosted by the Gatestone Institute.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/18/bolton-trump-foreign-policy-1501932
The Catfood Democrats won’t willingly permit Sanders to get nominated. They would prefer that Warren not get nominated. So a debate between Trump and Sanders won’t happen. A debate between Trump and Warren is improbable.
Nominee-wannabe Biden reminded me of a word I once heard on a program about boxing long ago. That word is “tomato can”. It turns out the word still exists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_can_(sports_idiom)
If the Catfood DemParty successfully nominates Biden, then Trump would be the “opponent” and Biden would be the “tomato can”. Tomato Can Joe wouldn’t be able to offer up much of a debate. Trump would spread Tomato Joe all over the pizza. Which would be entertaining and saddening at the same time.
Tomato Joe would deserve every bit of it for all the harm he has done in his position of power down through time.
Now . . . a debate between Crazy Bernie and The Trumpster would be a real debate about real choices between real differences. It would be educational in the best sense. ( Including what it would reveal about the depths of Catfood Democrat treachery and deceit). It would be a choice, not an echo.