http://twitchy.com/grateful-calvin/2025/01/27/cynical-publius-the-traditional-way-vs-the-trump-way-n2407380
This weekend, socialist Colombian president Gustavo Petro decided he was feeling froggy and thought he'd have a leap at President Donald Trump by refusing to accept flights from America loaded with Colombian illegals.
As we all know, that showdown didn't even last as long as an NFL playoff game. Trump quickly put Petro on blast using his Truth Social account -- while playing a round of golf -- and threatening Colombia with crippling tariffs, travel bans, and other consequences if they didn't accept the return of the criminals they had exported to the United States under Joe Biden's administration. Soon afterward, Petro backed down so meekly, he even put up his own presidential plane to fly the illegals back to his country ... at his expense.
Talk about bringing a plastic spork to a gunfight. As Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday might say, 'He's no daisy. He's no daisy AT ALL.'
The left in America, deliciously, embarrassed themselves over the confrontation, as they usually do. More importantly, however, the Trump-Petro showdown (if we can even call it that) demonstrated to everyone around the world -- adversaries in particular -- that there is a new sheriff in town and we're playing by HIS rules, not by the rules that have always governed Washington.
Yesterday, Cynical Publius wrote an outstanding breakdown of how traditional Washington has worked in the past versus Trump's rules of engagement. The contrast is amazing.
Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) ~ To fully understand just how remarkable today’s exchange with Colombia was, you need to understand how Washington DC has traditionally worked through these sorts of issues, and the different way it works now under Trump.
I’ll illustrate.
Traditional Approach:
1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. On Monday, the State Department convenes an interagency task force with DoD, NSC, DEA, INS, ICE, Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security.
3. The task force meets for four days and develops a position paper.
4. The position paper is rejected by the Secretary of State, who is unhappy that insufficient equity considerations are built into the process.
5. The task force reconvenes a week later to redevelop three new, equity-centric courses of action and create a new position paper.
6. The process is delayed a week because Washington DC gets three inches of snow.
7. SecState approves the new position paper for interagency circulation, and considerable input is received from the heads of other departments so the task force must reconvene.
8. The original three proposed responsive courses of action are scrapped in favor of a new, fourth course of action that achieves the worst aspects of the three prior courses of action but satisfies the interagency.
9. Someone in State who disagrees leaks to the Washington Post, who writes a story about how ineffective the Presidential administration is.
10. The White House Chief of Staff sets up a session three days later to brief the President, who approves the new fourth course of action.
11. Over a month after the issue is first raised, the State Department Public Affairs Officer holds a press conference announcing that Colombia has agreed to try to send fewer criminals into the US and everyone declares victory.
Trump Approach:
1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. After a par-5 third hole where he goes one under par, Trump uses his iPhone to post on social media as to how the USA will destroy Colombia’s economy if they do not do what the USA demands.
3. By the time Trump gets to the par-4 sixth hole, Colombia’s President has agreed to repatriate all the illegal Colombians in his own plane, which he will pay for.
4. Trump finishes three under par and goes to the clubhouse for a Diet Coke where he posts a gangsta AI image of himself and the new FAFO Doctrine.
5. Winning.
See the difference? It’s called LEADERSHIP.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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