Trump regrets

[Mr. Smith]

I must confess my growing sense of regret.

I voted for Trump because I supported his America First approach to foreign involvement.  What I'm seeing is Trump, the Neocon, and this bugs me.

If it turns out that he has a different endgame planned out, I'll be relieved.  I'll hold my judgement.  But I'm not happy with the Neocon Trump of April, and that's something I really didn't see coming.

Not to be rude, but what exactly did you expect to happen?Trump always talked up how he was going to defeat ISIS so easily, and even if you believed that he had a specific strategy for dealing with them, shouldn't it have been clear that it would require heavy involvement in the Middle East? I didn't predict that he'd be as aggressive toward North Korea, so I can't blame you in that regard, but it seemed pretty clear that he was going to go after the Middle East.

I highlighted the first sentence because it is a fair question.  In a way, I'm in the reverse situation of conservative Southern White Democrats who voted for Carter in 1976.  They had hoped that Carter would have governed as a conservative, and he was a more conservative Democrat than any other since Grover Cleveland, but he was elected by liberals, and his Presidency was a moderately liberal Presidency, given who voted for him.  In that regard, I would expect Trump to be moderately conservative, with deviations in the area of being anti-neocon and in being in favor of some domestic spending aimed at building infrastructure.  (Needed Infrastructure, to say the least.) 

I did not expect the level of involvement in foreign crises Trump has ratcheted up.  I'm OK with the Syrian strike to the degree that it was a gesture needed to make a statement against the use of chemical weapons, but I question whether or not it's going to stop there.  I hope it does, because Trump would NOT have been elected without the support of certain Democrats and Independents who viewed Hillary as a Neocon who would further embroil us in foreign involvements. 

I'm willing to give this a chance.  Trump is, after all, a "negotiator", and poor negotiating is, indeed, the cause of many of our problems with trade and foreign treaties.  The solution to this, however, is not NEW war guarantees to "our allies".  Our nation cannot afford to promise every nation on Earth a war guarantee when our vital interests are not at stake, and we cannot enjoy prosperity and continue to pay for the defenses of NATO members and our Far East allies (Japan and South Korea).  It is the "America First" principles that Trump campaigned on.  He needs not become bewitched by his enemies in the War Party, but he's at risk for just that happening.

No offense, but  just how did you interpret all the times he wanted to "bomb the oil, take the oil" in the Middle East exactly?

I dunno about you, but to me, that made the dichotomy a pretty obvious one between a Realpolitik and Chickenhawk.