Pop Goes the Weasel

Recent international events have put me in mind of the old ditty “Pop Goes the Weasel.”  I had thought the lyric was about political rivals, but after checking this out online, I discover that there are many versions—most of which are nonsense.  The tune seems, in fact, to go back to cockney British music halls.

In any event, the words I learned as a child were:  All around the mulberry bush; the monkey chased the weasel.  The monkey thought t’was all in fun—pop goes the weasel.”  Somehow this seemed appropriate for the relationship between president Trump and many of his detractors.

I’m sure some of his critics think of Trump as a weasel.  They are happy to portray him as a mean-spirited creature, with sharp teeth but little sense.  Many have also been toying with him on the assumption that he is too incompetent to be dangerous.

But then came the Syria missile attack.  After Bashir Assad used saran gas on a defenseless village, the world was aghast.  So was Trump.  Yet most of us—including me—thought nothing would come of this.  Asked what he would do, the president replied, “we’ll see,” which appeared to be a classic political delay.

Although Trump mentioned a red line, the general assumption was that this might be written in the sand the way Obama’s pronouncement was.  But then, pop went the weasel.  Within days of the gassing, American retribution rained down from the sky.

This was so unexpected that it startled the world.  Many observers regarded Trump as dim-witted neophyte who had isolationist tendencies.  He would not pull a military trigger for fear of striking a hornet’s nest.  At best, he would tweet a few critical words and that would be the end of it.

Instead, there was a measured, but significant, response.  This was not the rejoinder of a wild man or a weakling.  Rather, it was the act of a man who meant what he said, and was accustomed to acting.

Ronald Reagan had a similar moment of clarity early in his administration.  When the Air Traffic Controllers threatened to strike, Reagan promised there would be a reckoning.  The union leaders, however, blew this off.  They knew their services were too important for them to be fired.

Yet Reagan did fire them en masse.  He meant what he said.  Moreover, the Russians immediately took notice.  Maybe he also meant what he said about defeating the Soviet Union.  Since the commissars knew they could not keep up with an American military buildup, they were motivated to make concessions.

Will the same be true of Putin?  Or the Chinese?  Or the North Koreans?  Or the Iranians?  Will our friends now rally around us, while our enemies step back?  Will these folks find Trump a force to be reckoned with and therefore someone whose initiatives must be taken into account?

And how about the Democrats?  They seem to have regarded Trump as a toothless tiger.  In resisting the president at every turn, they apparently assumed there would never be a price to pay.  Not only would they stop his health care legislation; they might even force him to withdraw the Gorsuch nomination for the Supreme Court.

Although I may be engaged in wishful thinking, what if Trump responds in an equivalent way to the sanctuary cities as he did to Assad?  What if he takes away their federal money and arrests some of the municipal ringleaders?  What too if he identifies some of the intelligence leakers?  Might they spend a few years in prison?

The Trump administration has thus far been slow in counterattacking his adversaries.  Yet what if that is because his people are only now getting organized?  The military was probably able to respond so promptly in Syria because it had contingency plans available.  What happens when the Department of Justice develops its contingency plans?

I am hoping that Trump is this sort of weasel.  I am hoping that he is an aggressive creature that can spring instantly into action, when action is needed.  I would like his teeth are shape enough, and his reflexes quick enough, to tame the Washington bureaucracy.  It would also be nice if he could frighten a few liberals into reversing their neo-socialist course.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University