Sheldon Richman talks about his latest in the TGIF series, “America’s War Culture.” He brings up the disturbing phenomenon that presidents are praised the most when they bomb another country, and that in lists of America’s supposed greatest presidents, those who presided over major wars usually adorn the top. This is obviously a bad incentive from a humanitarian perspective, because anytime the president gets into hot water he knows he can start or escalate a war and immediately receive praise from the media and a jump in popularity. This has been true so far of President Trump as well, although he seems surprisingly eager to pull the U.S. out of Syria and Afghanistan. In general, Richman says this blind opposition to Trump among democrats has come to totally dominate their party, and may haunt them when one of their own eventually takes power, with republicans then empowered to use the same tactics they deployed against Trump.

Discussed on the show:

• “TGIF: America’s War Culture” (The Libertarian Institute)
• “Paul on Syria: ‘I’m very proud of the president’” (CNN Video)
• “Agonizing over Afghanistan” (Project Syndicate)
• “Democratic Party Voters Are Becoming More Pro-war Than Republicans” (The Intercept)
• “Russia-gate Evidence, Please” (Consortiumnews)
• “The Manafort Revelation Is Not a Smoking Gun” (The Nation)

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of the Libertarian Institute and the author of America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited. Follow him on Twitter @SheldonRichman.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

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