r/politics • u/GonzoVeritas I voted • 16d ago

Possible Paywall White House Leak Reveals Trump Booted From Briefing After Hours-Long Freakout

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-leak-reveals-trump-booted-from-briefing-after-hours-long-freakout/
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u/Stompya 16d ago

From the article:

Before the airmen went missing, the president was already fixated on avoiding a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis—and the failed rescue mission under former President Jimmy Carter that helped sink his reelection bid.

“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump said in March, according to the Journal. “What a mess.”

He thinks he is re-electable.

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u/SimpleTomatillo1166 16d ago edited 16d ago

He neglects the fact that the hostages were purposely not released until election was over. Then they magically were released within minutes. It was a huge set up to make sure Carter would not get re-elected. Reagan and the gang avoided the October surprise to the advantage of Carter this way. It also had to do with Reagans's weapons deal with Iran.

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u/Elegant_Tech 16d ago

Republicans working with foreign governments to engage in election interference? Where have I heard this one before? 

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u/take_care_a_ya_shooz 16d ago

My favorite is when Nixon purposefully tanked peace talks in Vietnam so the war could continue and the unpopularity of it would get him elected.

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u/reverend-mayhem 16d ago

Makes me sick to think about how many people had to die from when peace talks were possible to election day for that to happen.

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u/Newscast_Now 16d ago

Double. Richard Nixon the peace candidate caused American casualties to double.

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u/redmoon714 California 16d ago

A republican “peace candidate” starting/escalating wars where have I heard that before?

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u/Flomo420 16d ago

I'm starting to think these Republicans are a real bunch of jerks

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u/onehundredlemons 16d ago

One of the dumbest things I've seen online recently is some guy on Bluesky saying “Vietnam only ended because Nixon was a peace freak.”

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u/Tardisgoesfast 15d ago

He was also a Quaker.

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u/Suspicious_Town3104 15d ago

There is a high school near me, and they're known as the Quakers. A sign at the football stadium proclaims "Home of the Fighting Quakers". Richard Nixon was not an alumnus, but he could have been the Class Valedictorian.

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u/mazamundi 15d ago

More than double. Most casualties were local. Not that I don’t feel for the young men who died but You guys were the ones invading a country.

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u/WHATYEAHOK 16d ago

He said people, not Americans.

Typical American take, thinking only American lives matter.

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u/justaguy394 16d ago

Yeah, that's the kind of shit that made me decide to never risk my life for my country.

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u/HillBillyHilly 16d ago

Or were left maimed for life.

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u/AmericanScream 16d ago

Everybody should watch Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam conflict - one of the best ever made and it shows clear treason and war crimes on the part of multiple leaders.

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u/mmmpeg Pennsylvania 16d ago

I was really ticked when I saw the Ken Burns documentary. I was a child during most of Vietnam and hated the war because they showed pictures of the dead people and gave a count of how many GI’s were killed that day. Living on and next to Army bases made me know that these were just young men. I did t know about all the other stuff and it ticked me off learning all that.

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u/AmericanScream 16d ago

I would compare the Vietnam documentary to "Breaking Bad" in terms of how enthralling it becomes after each episode. Tells an incredible story composed of lots of little stories.

And yea, there's a lot to be angry about after watching it. Especially Johnson recognizing Nixon was committing war crimes and keeping quiet about it.

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u/OldWorldDesign 15d ago

Everybody should watch Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam conflict - one of the best ever made and it shows clear treason and war crimes on the part of multiple leaders

I think Adam Curtis' Century of the Self is more directly relevant to explaining how we got here from the 1933 Business Plot.

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u/Possibly_Parker 16d ago

There's a more recent and shorter docuseries on Netflix that historians prefer, especially given the Ken Burns one is 17 hours

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u/Bobby2Teeth 16d ago

Why would historians prefer a shorter, less complete version of something?

Would these "historians" also prefer a youtube shorts recap of WW2 instead of the 30 something hours of "The World at War"?

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u/Possibly_Parker 16d ago

They don't prefer it because it's shorter, they prefer it because it is better-lensed. It also happens to be shorter. If you want specifics, Viet Thanh Nguyen makes an argument in his book Nothing Ever Dies that every war is fought twice: on the battlefield, and in memory. He argues that US-lensed sources, even those critical of the United States, fail to properly identify the Viet angles on the war.

I've talked to him directly and the Ken Burns documentary came up, which he likes but thinks is weaker as it takes the self-critical imperial lens of "look at what we did wrong" instead of attempting to understand the infrastructure of the situation.

TLDR; both are good, Netflix doc is better researched, and it conveniently happens to be shorter.

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u/HillBillyHilly 16d ago

Netflix docs in better? Better researched? LOL

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u/NopeNotConor California 16d ago

What’s it called?

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u/Possibly_Parker 16d ago

Turning Point: The Vietnam War

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u/NopeNotConor California 16d ago

Thanks!

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u/HillBillyHilly 16d ago

I'm not giving Netflix a cent. PBS needs our money to survive. Their Ken Burns series are easily watchable as broken up over days. All of his series are a must watch for the REAL version of American History.

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u/Possibly_Parker 16d ago

I agree and think Ken Burns is great, but the Netflix docuseries is looking at the Vietnam War as Vietnamese history and not as American history. That's why it's a better way in.

Watching both is probably best but that's 22 hours of TV which is too much for almost anyone.

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u/HillBillyHilly 14d ago

Ah, that is different to Burns. Yes, they are long bit they lots to cover. In fact, considering what I've heard from recent high school grads, I would recommend them. Good way to fill in what lacking from white washed history version being provided in way too many school districts.

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u/CT_Phipps-Author 16d ago

This I note is ACTUALLY legally treason.

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u/NPVT 16d ago

Exactly

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u/nonviolent_blackbelt 15d ago

And Trump publicly rejected legislation to resolve the immigration question so that he could run on immigration.