According to Time, Henry Kissinger and George Schultz are considering making a joint endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. This is not surprising – in an era of dopey anti-“Establishment” rhetoric, Kissinger and Schultz may be the last two men in politics happy to call themselves pillars of the establishment. Which, of course, they are, as is Mrs. Clinton.
The next part, which will be amusing, will be watching progressive leftovers from the 1960s, who have for decades denounced Kissinger as a war-monger, an enabler of genocide (as Senator Bernie Sanders charges), and a war criminal – who have called for his prosecution — rejoicing in his endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. “Even Henry Kissinger!” they’ll say. Schultz doesn’t stand very much higher in the Left’s estimate, to be sure, though he doesn’t inspire quite the passion that Kissinger does.
Kissinger is, among other things, a veteran of World War II. One of the great moments in American military pragmatism came when the Allied army advancing across Germany put young Henry Kissinger — Private Kissinger — in charge of administering the German city of Krefeld. He was the only American handy who spoke German. He turned out to be pretty good at the job. George Schultz spent those years serving in the Marine Corps as an artillery officer.
If indeed they do make a joint endorsement of Mrs. Clinton, the act will be a significant one. There is not much about Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state that inspires confidence in her talent for diplomacy. But Trump is a wild card — a man who rejoices in being the wild card, in fact. That is not something that one expects to suit Kissinger or Schultz.
Trump likes to present himself as a disrupter, as someone who is willing to overturn the chess board and start over. The foreign-policy world places a premium on continuity and predictability. Why? For reasons that Private (later Sergeant) Kissinger and Captain Schultz could describe at some length.