Time for another short thread. I frequently rail about a couple of things: a) Galaxy Brains don't actually know the nuts and bolts of what they are talking about b) knowing the nuts and bolts matter much more than political cliches regurgitated by idiot journos because 1/n

it is the (warning 50 cent word) epistemology (how we know what we know) about the problem that we solve. Put another way, if you solve the wrong problem even if you solve it you still haven't solved the actual problem you are trying to solve. Let's circle back to the problem 2/n

As an example for many years, Galaxy Brains argued that it was Trump's fault we didn't have alliances with Europe. Once somebody else was there we would all live in harmony sing in kumbaya and light would shine on human rights. Anyone with a non-Acela Corridor brain knew 3/n

This was complete bunk but it helped idiot journos and DC tankies sleep at night. The reality we find ourselves in now is that all the same problems that existed before exist now and nobody has any idea how to solve them because they weren't the problems being thought about 4/n

Let's take the Europe example. I have argued in lengthy writings and on Twitter that the US should reduce its commitment to Europe for multiple reasons. Not only are their views and actions not in broad alliance with the US, they are not key to challenging China. 5/n

This is akin to sending troops to Latin America to fight World War II. You want to fight WWII, you go to Europe & Japan. You need to challenge China, you prioritize Asia above all else. That means new thinking about partnerships, alliances, and institution in Asia not Europe 6/n

Another reason to prioritize Asia over Europe? Finances. Simple example. Assume US wants to maintain or increase European security and other commitments AND increase Asian commitments, that results in a pretty significant total increase for the US. Last example 7/n

Probably my biggest critique of the Trump foreign policy is not that they went too big but that they didn't go big ENOUGH. Incentivize manufacturers to leave China going anywhere: Vietnam, Mexico, Uganda but leave China. Get control of the supply chains outside of China 8/n

Instead of thinking much more broadly, idiot journos and tankies hoping for administration jobs wrote pieces criticizing reshoring of jobs to America who then got their jobs and promote the same bad policies. Because they thought about reactionary pieces rather than 9/n

Bigger thinking about how to address these problems they are falling into the same trap Trump fell into. The reality, to take the trade example, is probably close to zero of that manufacturing is coming back but what we can do is work to move that output to more allied 10/n

Countries and get a better grasp on the spider web of supply chains that define global trade. Diagnosing the wrong problems results in the flawed solutions. There is a reason I rant about this stuff.