Trump Chooses Freedom; Obama Chose Fascism

 by Roger Simon

No starker comparison exists between two presidents than the radically different reactions to the freedom demonstrators in Iran than between Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

In 2009, Iranian democracy protestors of the “Green Movement” cried out from the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities, “Obama, Obama, are you with us or are you with them?” as many of them were being shuttled off to the notorious Evin Prison to have their faces bashed in.

The American president did not respond, preferring to negotiate with Iran’s then “president” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from which nothing came. It never did, as the Ayatollah had the real power, which everybody, and even, one hopes, Obama, already knew.

Islamofacism raised its ugly face, and that demonstration, more promising than most, was squelched. (Years later, Barack allowed that he might have made a mistake.)

Contrast this with Trump, who posted on Truth Social: “If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, The United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Does anyone doubt him? He’s done it before, as recently as June 24, 2025, the end of the 12-Day War. The mullahs are still picking up the pieces.

Does this mean the end of their reign of terror that began in 1979? We have heard this song before, obviously. But never say never.

Meanwhile, in New York, things are headed in the opposite direction. New Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office, vowing to bring forth the “warmth of collectivism.” He did so on the Quran, so perhaps the “collectivism” to which he was referring was the ability for men to have four wives, as decreed in that spiritual book. Women have to suffer with one husband, not to mention numerous other restrictions.

All of this calls into question what liberals and conservatives in our society actually are. Are conservatives more liberal and progressive, in the actual English-language definitions of those words, than the so-called liberals and progressives?

More likely, many American “liberals” and “progressives” are unsure what side they are on. Recent years have taken them to such extremes, all the gender absurdities that many swear by, and so forth, that they no longer know who they are.

On the Republican side, a battle is going on over what “America First” means. If Donald Trump has earned the right to define it, he has shown it to be more internationalist than some would like, though he seems not disposed to putting US troops on the ground.

Nevertheless, he demonstrates that America has a moral obligation to uphold its founding principles while exhibiting a certain pragmatism.

It’s certainly pragmatic to do your best to help prevent the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from becoming a nuclear power.

https://americanrefugees.substack.com/p/trump-chooses-freedom-obama-chose