Brian Mast official 115th Congress photo.
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In 2016, Donald Trump ran for president as a kinda-sorta, maybe-a-little-bit, "antiwar" candidate.
Once in office, however, he escalated every war he had inherited, ending none of them, "surging" US troops into Syria and Afghanistan, making a public head-fake at withdrawing from Syria before changing his mind, abrogating the Iran "nuclear deal," and negotiating a withdrawal agreement on Afghanistan that he could have completed, but chose not to, leaving the task to his successor so as to shift blame for what a lost war looks like.
This year, Trump once again ran -- and won -- as a kinda-sorta, maybe-a-little-bit, "antiwar" candidate, mainly on his claim that he could negotiate a "deal" with Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the US proxy war in Ukraine.
Should we have believed him this time? His prospective appointees to office are a mixed bag on the subject of foreign military entanglements, but a recent event in Congress provides strong evidence that the answer is "no."
On December 9, Republicans selected US Representative Brian Mast of Florida to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mast was considered a dark horse candidate for the position, entering the race late. How did he win?
"Insiders," the Jewish Telegraph Agency reports, "say that President-elect Donald Trump lobbied the Republican Steering Committee, which names committee chairs, to choose Mast."
If you're looking for a foreign military misadventure, Mast is your man in Congress to drum one up on demand and with enthusiasm.
He's most notable for being pretty much the most "pro-Israel" member of the House -- so much so that, after the Israel-Gaza war broke out last year, he wore his Israeli Defense Forces uniform to the Capitol.
No, I'm not kidding. In 2015, Mast volunteered with the IDF in a non-combat role (he's a double amputee, wounded in Afghanistan as an explosive ordnance disposal technician). To each their own, I guess, but a congressman wearing the uniform of a foreign power's army to the Capitol probably wouldn't fly if it was any foreign power other than Israel, Washington's favorite welfare client.
In 2016, Mast called for "an all-out military effort" in Syria.
Last year, supporting Israel's military campaign in Gaza, he opposed humanitarian aid, claiming it was "not a far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians."
While he did vote against additional US military aid to Ukraine earlier this year, his reasoning wasn't that US intervention is a bad idea as such, but rather "because Europe has all the money it needs to ensure Kyiv's survival if only it would open up its wallet to the extent it expects America to do."
Mast isn't just a "hawk." He's a warmonger of the first order. And while he's turned out to be a Trump toady on most issues, his bellicose foreign policy positions are what he's primarily known for.
Trump's backing of Mast for a key foreign policy position establishes, to a high degree of confidence, that Trump has no intention of a second term that's even kinda-sorta, maybe-a-little-bit, "antiwar."
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