Tea at Trianon: The New Pax Americana

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, January 23, 2025

The New Pax Americana

From Daniel McCarthy at The America Conservative:

With nothing to gain electorally, Trump has nonetheless always criticized the wars of the 21st century. Peace is his core conviction as much as it was Reagan’s. And in this inaugural address he has formulated a criterion not only for himself but for presidents ever after: “We will measure our success, not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

Trump is not, of course, a pacifist. With his frequent remarks about Greenland, the Panama Canal, and dangers from Mexican cartels and Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere, Trump makes quite clear that his outlook is in keeping with those of leaders throughout the nation’s history who sought to make America great, not small, and certainly not vulnerable. For idealists of the left or romantic right, Trump’s version of peace through strength is still too coercive. But the same sort of people would have said much the same about the foreign policy of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

Peace in the American tradition has never meant the absence of expansion or a complete aversion to using force. In the 20th century, Reagan exemplified the paradox that a man judged by his enemies and overzealous friends alike as a hawk and militarist can be the most successful peacemaker of all. Trump’s task in the 21st century will be no easier than Reagan’s was in the 1980s—indeed, it’s because the presidents after Reagan squandered his success in ending the Cold War that America has been entangled in an endless series of new wars since 1991, punctuated only by Trump’s first term. Trump has to repair the mistakes of Republicans and Democrats together that date back 35 years. (Read more.)

From Daniel McCarthy at The New York Post:

Other presidents have struck optimistic notes, but Trump laid out an agenda bolder than any since the New Deal — and the very words of this inaugural address could change Washington, drawing new battle-lines and scrambling old playbooks. John F. Kennedy pledged to take America to the moon; Trump says we will “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.” The president backed away from nothing he vowed on the campaign trail or in the weeks since his re-election.
He described the immigration crisis in the language supporters and opponents alike have come to expect, but probably no one guessed he’d invoke legislation from 1798 regarding “alien enemies” as his authority for a new push against the foreign gangs and criminal groups operating in our country.

And cartels ferrying drugs and human beings across our borders will now officially be designated as terrorist organizations.There’s even an order to redefine birthright citizenship so the children of illegal immigrants won’t automatically be considered American. (Read more.)