Some speakers at the RNC tried to sell “peace through strength.” Others vowed war “for generations to come.”
Rep. Mike Waltz (R–Fla.) is a fan of forever wars if there ever was one.
“Under President [Donald] Trump we had a president who defeated ISIS, broke Iran, stood with Israel, always stood with our allies, made China pay”, Waltz bragged at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. “You didn’t see any spy balloons under President Trump, did you? He deterred Russia. You know what he told [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin? You try anything, and I’ll take the tops off the Kremlin.”
And to round it all out, Waltz called President Joe Biden’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan “a stain on our national conscience”, promising instead that Trump brings “peace through America’s strength.”
That was the message of the RNC’s third night. Although some speakers made nods to ending the “endless wars” or achieving “peace through strength”, the convention was a relentless attack on any kind of military drawdown or diplomacy—or as former speaker of the house Newt Gingrich put it, “appeasement in the world.”
Instead, speakers called for Americans to prepare for an endless struggle against a kaleidoscope of enemies, especially in the Middle East and Muslim world. The night began with a speech by Rep. Brian Mast (R–Fla.), a U.S. Army veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan and later volunteered for the Israeli military.
“Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris’s weakness invites aggression and our enemies are on the march”, he said.
