“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
That quote by USA TODAY bestselling author G. Michael Hopf is from his 2016 novel, “Those Who Remain,” and can be applied in a large sense to the decay of American society over the last few generations.
In microcosm, we can also say that it aptly applies to the last 14 years or so in American politics.
How, may you ask? Well, the eight years of the Obama administration can be accurately described as hard times for America, in that his promise to fundamentally transform America was nearly achieved through a weakening of American culture and strength.
Let’s face it, no one seeks to fundamentally transform something that they love.
As bad as those times were, they also created strong men, and fed up with the Obama disaster and the prospect of a “third term” through Hillary Clinton, the people rebelled and elected Donald J. Trump, who ushered in a quick rebirth of Americanism and a strong rebound in military strength and morale along with a booming economy and standard of living for all Americans.
Thus, a strong man created good times. It was short-lived, however, as the weak men created by those good times turned out to elect the most incompetent president in American history, Joe Biden, who set out with a purpose to undo all of those good times created by his predecessor.
I’ve gone over the long list of Biden disasters in several past columns, but nothing illustrates the consequences of electing a weak man more that what just happened in Israel.
Just as Vladimir Putin was emboldened by a weak and possibly compromised Joe Biden to invade Ukraine, Hamas terrorists launched a large-scale attack on Israel, killing and wounding hundreds and taking many more hostage. As I write this, the Wall Street Journal reports that the attacks were coordinated and approved by Iran, directly countering Biden’s equally weak Secretary of States Anthony Blinken’s statements that there was no evidence of Iranian participation.
It’s understandable that the Biden administration would want to downplay Iranian complicity in the attacks, since he just handed over $6 billion of formerly frozen assets to the murderous Iranian regime, following the same strategy of Obama, who shamefully sent pallet loads of cash to the Mullahs.
Of course, Biden apologists quickly point out that the $6billion in unfrozen assets was not used to fund the attacks, and that is technically correct.
You won’t likely find a bank transfer between Iran and Hamas for that purpose, but that $6 billion in the bank frees up other Iranian funds for all manner of nefarious purposes.
Look at it this way: If you really wanted to take the wife on a world cruise, but you couldn’t because you need your operating funds for the kid’s college fund, you wouldn’t take the cruise. However, if your rich uncle suddenly went belly-up and left you a cool million bucks on the condition that it be used solely for your son or daughter’s college expenses, you would be calling Holland America, Princess, or Cunard Cruise Lines in a heartbeat, and that’s what Iran did.
It wasn’t just the money, however. Biden’s incompetence, weakness and obvious mental impairment has emboldened bad actors all over the globe, from terrorists abroad to criminals here at home, just as it has the millions of undocumented migrants who have crossed our border in the past 2 ½ years.
The reaction of Biden and his allies to the murderous Hamas attacks has been predictable. Biden himself slept through the attacks but hours after he woke up, he issued a weak statement of support for Israel. Perhaps if Biden had not taken such a cool approach with Israel from the start, something that was praised by the left, these hundreds of innocent Israelis would still be alive today.
Biden allies, such as Reps. Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and “Fire Alarm” Jamaal Bowman have been more upfront with their true feelings toward Israel, by assigning a perverse type of moral equivalency or by cautioning everyone not to “overreact” and subtly making excuses for the crimes of Hamas.
One thing for sure, weakness kills, especially in foreign policy. The only question that remains is if the current hard times have created enough strong men to reinstate Trump and America’s good times in November 2024.
Dwight Weidman is a resident of Greene Township and is a graduate of Shepherd University. He is retired from the United States Department of Defense, where his career included assignments In Europe, Asia, and Central America. He has been in leadership roles for the Republican Party in two states, most recently serving two terms as Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. He has been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1988, getting his first license in Germany, and is a past volunteer with both Navy and Army MARS, Military Auxiliary Radio Service, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor. In his spare time, he dabbles in genealogy and learning new languages.
