Genuinely curious so I'm asking here: Has Trump ever made a single non-neocon/anti-neocon decision? In both his first term and now, he basically did everything neocons want, from starting a Cold War with China, to supporting Ukraine (despite the initial hiccups) to bombing Iran.

@blob_watcher Talking with Kim Jong-un was a gesture towards making a break with previous policy but he took his two photo ops and then did jack shit.

@blob_watcher He isn't really going with the program on India, but that's a minor issue. I think he is getting far less institutional pushback in his 2nd term because everyone figured out that he will go along, he's just less reliable than eg. Biden.

@blob_watcher He got the ball rolling on the Afghan withdrawal, which neocons would’ve never done. And no, he didn’t “start a Cold War” with China.

@blob_watcher The deal he did with the Taliban was not neocon approved. Him meeting with North Korea's Dear Leader was not neocon approved. Neocon's might not approved of him lifting sanctions on Syria.

@blob_watcher I'm not sure neocons would have stopped bombing Yemen, even if it was a stupid and unproductive policy within their own frameworks.

@blob_watcher Others have mentioned more significant things like India, but I’ll add some minor stuff that nevertheless drives the neocons crazy: not banning Tiktok, unbanning the sales of H20s

@blob_watcher You're wading into a definitions game. The meaning of neocon has shifted such that as long as you're not literally in the middle of another Iraq war, you're not a neocon. Sanctions don't count. Proxy wars don't count. Dropping a few bombs doesn't count. Language is treacherous

@blob_watcher He did not start a war in every single place and time it would have been hypothetically possible to start a war. Isolationism.

@blob_watcher He is even doing more than the neocons now with his planned invasion of Venezuela

@blob_watcher Trump is soft asf on Russia and he definitely isnt the one starting a cold war with China. He did bomb Iran I give you that, not like he started any actual wars though, Trump is too chicken to fight any regional power