Trump doesn't know system he's in charge of
I don't know if President Trump has a "right" to share highly classified information with enemies of democracy, but I do know he has a responsibility to protect the national security of this nation, as well as that of our allies. There is a big, big difference between "right" and "prudent." Just because a person has a right to do something doesn't make it prudent.
What if the Obama administration had spilled to the Russians? What would we be hearing from the Republican party? Every breath would be "impeach." Are we allowing a double standard for the Trump administration? I believe Russia is behind a lot of the leaks; anything to create animosity at home and drive a wedge between democratic countries.
The problem with President Trump is he doesn't seem to know what not to spill, if it doesn't apply to him. Doesn't he understand that Russia has a spy agency that is as good as ours, or perhaps better?
He has never bothered himself to learn how government works. He has spent his career circumventing the system, and now he's in charge of the system. Good grief!
Millie Foree
Bella Vista
Sun setting on U.S.
leadership in world
They used to say "the sun never sets on British Empire!" And boy, for some time it did feel real. Then the sun did set on British Empire and Britain today has become a ghost shadow of her past.
And what Donald Trump will do in next couple of days will doom America's position as a de facto leader of the world.
It is Donald Trump and American conservatives who are hell bent to bring down the curtain on America's legitimate position as the leader of the world. Donald Trump has announced the United States is pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, thereby joining Syria and Nicaragua in a cocoon of Trump's alternate reality.
About 200 nations of the world joined the non-binding Paris Climate Agreement that had ambitious goal of reducing the world's carbon footprint. It represented the greatest collaborative efforts to protect not just natural beauties such as Australia's coral reefs or saving a country such as Maldives from extinction, but possibly the biggest barrier to the extermination of the human species through irreversible and disastrous climate change.
What Trump is basically saying is the world can go on, but America will not be part of such an effort. This is the biggest and probably the first loss for America when humanity is at a threshold of extremely serious human crisis driven by climate change. Trump is saying the nation is leaving this monumental effort and is prepared to live in alternate facts where climate change is a hoax.
America legitimately became the leader of the world by spilling the blood, shedding the tears and sweat of American people for the noble causes of humanity by fighting against evil, by embracing the world and guiding it through tumultuous times by spending her precious resources and by establishing herself as the only hope for human life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The presidents of both the parties played a fundamental role in shaping America's position in the world and also defined the course of human endeavors. In the modern times it was FDR, it was Ronald Reagan, it was George H. W. Bush and it was Bill Clinton who shaped the human history by sticking to true American principles and the role the Almighty had bestowed upon this great nation as the shining city on a hill.
The beauty of the Paris accord was that countries such as China and India were no more hiding behind a "rich nations must do more" anthem.
The imminent withdrawal from the Paris accord and consensus and conviction of European countries that they are on their own and America can no longer be trusted is a clear indication the sun is setting on America's world leadership thanks to Trump and ignorant American conservative voters.
Ani Marathe
Bentonville
Commentary on 06/06/2017