Eliott Abrams Dropped from List of Deputy SecState Candidates

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Eliott Abrams Dropped from List of Deputy SecState Candidates
by JOHN HAYWARD | 10 Feb 2017 | 907
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/10/eliott-abrams-dropped-list-deputy-secstate-candidates/

  "Eliott Abrams, who was deputy national security adviser in the George
   W. Bush administration, has been removed from the list of candidates
   for Deputy Secretary of State.
   
   According to "three Republican sources" who spoke to CNN, Abrams was
   personally scratched off the list by President Donald Trump, due to
   "outspoken" criticism of Trump during the 2016 campaign. Abrams had
   been seen as the top contender for the job, supported by Secretary of
   State Rex Tillerson, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and
   even senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law.
   
   The CNN sources were bitingly critical of Trump for deciding not to
   nominate Abrams. "This is a loss for the State Department and the
   country and, for that matter, for the President," said one, while
   another maintained Abrams was bumped off the list because of "Donald
   Trump's thin skin and nothing else."
   
   However, even the CNN article concedes there is more than "thin skin"
   behind the decision. For one thing, Abrams was not merely critical of
   Trump in a few random comments last year. He penned a May 2016 op-ed
   for the Weekly Standard entitled, "When You Can't Stand Your
   Candidate," which declared Trump unfit for office, incorrectly
   predicted he couldn't possibly win, and compared him to George
   McGovern. (For those who lack 69-year-old Abrams' perspective on
   political history, that is not a flattering comparison.)
   
   Abrams called for a floor fight at the Republican convention in 2016,
   to remind Trump "how many in the party oppose and even fear his
   nomination," warned any Republican with future political aspirations to
   avoid becoming Trump's running mate, called for a purge of Trumpians
   from the GOP after Hillary Clinton's inevitable 2016 victory, and
   suggested running a third-party spoiler candidate to ensure a crushing
   defeat for Trump.
   
   Moreover, there is a substantial difference in foreign policy vision
   between Trump and Abrams, whom CNN has no difficulty identifying as a
   "neoconservative" and supporter of the Iraq War.
   
   Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) of the Foreign Relations Committee strongly
   opposed Abrams' nomination, as reported by Breitbart News earlier this
   week, because Abrams's worldview was utterly incompatible with Trump's
   foreign policy agenda.
   
   In Senator Paul's case, "strongly opposed" means he wrote an op-ed for
   Rare entitled, "Do Not Let Eliott Abrams Anywhere Near the State
   Department," which is roughly as unambiguous as Abrams writing a piece
   about Trump called "When You Can't Stand Your Candidate."
   
   "Crack the door to admit Elliott Abrams and the neocons will scurry in
   by the hundreds," warned Paul. "Neoconservative interventionists have
   had us at perpetual war for 25 years. While President Trump has
   repeatedly stated his belief that the Iraq War was a mistake, the
   neocons (all of them Never-Trumpers) continue to maintain that the Iraq
   and Libyan Wars were brilliant ideas. These are the same people who
   think we must blow up half the Middle East, then rebuild it and police
   it for decades."
   
   Paul was particularly critical of Abrams' devotion to
   "nation-building," slamming the practice as both expensive and
   ineffective. He was concerned that Abrams would be a poor fit not only
   for Trump but for Secretary of State Tillerson as well, praising
   Tillerson for "foreign policy realism" he found utterly lacking in
   Abrams.
   
   Paul viewed Abrams as an exemplar of the sneering, latte-sipping
   political class in Washington that Trump was elected to fight, and
   which shows every intention of fighting dirty in return, as the geysers
   of leaked information pouring from the new administration attest. (In
   fact, this very story is the subject of leaks intended to manipulate
   media coverage, as noted above.)
   
   Paul said Abrams was untrustworthy due to his role in the Iran-Contra
   scandal: "His conviction for deceiving Congress over secret arms deals,
   better known as the Iran-Contra scandal, show that his neocon agenda
   trumps his fidelity to the rule of law. The Constitution directs
   Congress to approve or disapprove of war. It would be a mistake to
   appoint anyone to the State Department who was previously convicted for
   defying Congressional authority."
   
   Senator Paul is hardly the only observer to see Abrams' possible
   appointment this way. The Washington Post found it surprising Abrams
   was ever under consideration, acknowledging his resumé and reputation
   as a tough negotiator, but finding little in common with Trump's
   foreign policy vision beyond being "fiercely pro-Israel." Fox News host
   Tucker Carlson said he was "baffled" while interviewing Senator Paul
   about his op-ed. Doug Bandow at Forbes said choosing Abrams "would be a
   particularly stunning reversal of candidate Trump's claim to reject his
   predecessors' failed policies of perpetual war."
   
   In short, there is ample reason to believe Trump's decision was about
   more than "thin skin," and his skin didn't have to be very thin to
   think Abrams wouldn't be a good fit for an administration he previously
   regarded as an improbable catastrophe. Six weeks of non-stop leaking
   and bureaucratic sabotage might understandably have reduced the
   president's tolerance for a Number Two official at the State Department
   who (according to Senator Paul) once declared Donald Trump unfit to
   occupy the chair where Washington and Lincoln once sat—but evidently
   had no such reservations about Hillary Clinton.
   
   READ MORE STORIES ABOUT:
   Big Government, 2016 campaign, Donald Trump, Rand Paul, Rex Tillerson,
   secretary of state, State Department "

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Rand Paul's 'Audit the Fed' bill may have friend in Trump
by Fox News , Published on Feb 7, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72VzlX1YMaY
  "Kentucky senator explains controversial proposed legislation that would
   subject Federal Reserve's monetary policy powers to outside scrutiny as
   it gets new life under a new administration - and may stand its best
   chance at becoming law #Tucker . [Rand also speaks about Abrams]"

[Idaho Kid]

Abrams got ass-wiped which is only fitting.  Jared is disappointed that his expertise was ignored.  Time to give up Chabad Jared.  Business gets sorted on Saturdays.  Hope Ivanka appreciates his efforts in trying to fob off this piece of shit on her father.

Larry (((Kudlow))) was saying on the radio Saturday that Trump will name 5 new regional FED heads.  Larry was a big jew in Reagan days but burned out his septum snorting coke. 

[Christopher Marlowe]

Abrams is out. That is something to be thankful for. One less swamp creature/neocon.  I thought yankeedoodle would be first in line to congratulate his hero Trump. /s

[yankeedoodle]

Credit where credit is due, CM.  And, who does the credit go to?  Rand Paul, as shown in this February 9, 2017, post. 

Rand Paul is trying to stop it.  Go Rand.
      
Rand Paul: Do not let Elliott Abrams anywhere near the State Department
  http://rare.us/rare-politics/rand-paul-do-not-let-elliott-abrams-anywhere-near-the-state-department/     

http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?topic=23109.0