The other day President Trump withdrew America from an international treaty that seeks to control the arms trade. It was a rather small move, but every media article I saw about this condemned Trump's move. One has to wonder why, though. Here are a few facts:
1. The treaty was signed by president Obama in 2012. It was then submitted to the Senate for passage. Until the treaty is approved by the Senate, it is of no effect at all.
2. Since 2012, the Democrats controlled the Senate for just over half the time. The GOP controlled the Senate for just less than half the time. Neither the Dems nor the GOP put the treaty up for a vote in the Senate. Non-approval of this treaty is not based based upon partisan politics; there just seems to be no support for it in the Senate.
So given that after all these years, the senators hadn't even bothered to vote on the treaty, why is it such a terrible idea to withdraw from the treaty? According to the pundits, the withdrawal will upset our allies. Really? Withdrawal upsets the allies, but failing to act on the treaty is no big deal.
Can't the pundits try harder? Shouldn't what they say make some sort of sense?
1. The treaty was signed by president Obama in 2012. It was then submitted to the Senate for passage. Until the treaty is approved by the Senate, it is of no effect at all.
2. Since 2012, the Democrats controlled the Senate for just over half the time. The GOP controlled the Senate for just less than half the time. Neither the Dems nor the GOP put the treaty up for a vote in the Senate. Non-approval of this treaty is not based based upon partisan politics; there just seems to be no support for it in the Senate.
So given that after all these years, the senators hadn't even bothered to vote on the treaty, why is it such a terrible idea to withdraw from the treaty? According to the pundits, the withdrawal will upset our allies. Really? Withdrawal upsets the allies, but failing to act on the treaty is no big deal.
Can't the pundits try harder? Shouldn't what they say make some sort of sense?
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