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Saturday, April 8, 2017

The Doctrine Doctrine

One of the things that drives me crazy is when pundits insist on suggesting that a President or other leader has a doctrine where none exists.  What is a doctrine?  According to google, which got it from somewhere: stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs.  The classic is the Monroe Doctrine: stay out of our hemisphere, you pesky Europeans! The Truman Doctrine, US would support anti-communist forces, is about as clear as it gets.  Obama didn't have one since "Don't do stupid shit" is not really much of a clear principle, although it is better than what Trump has got.  What is the Trump Doctrine?  I hesitate to link to the classic Raiders clip because Indiana Jones was far smarter, diligent, creative and attentive than Trump.  Making it up as he goes along would seem like an improvement over reacting to whatever I see on TV or what the last person told me is NOT A DOCTRINE.  Anyhow, Dan Nexon says it better than I so I storified his epic rant.


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