"All hat, no cattle" Cowboy Trump
If the orangutan starts a war with Iran, he needs to be impeached. I say this as someone who held my nose and voted for the orangutan.
Janwaar Bibi, Comment
in the American Conservative,
April 9, 2019
|
In 2016 Trump promised to drain the swamp. He drained a small patch of neocon swamp and put all those bottomfeeders from this
patch in his cabinet.
It's increasingly hard to view Trump as an American president. I don't know exactly what the hell he is, but he obviously spends
more time working for Israel and Saudi Arabia than he does doing what the American people hired him to do. Israel's Netanyahu
and that Saudi Arabian prince who kills journalists seem to get everything they want from Trump, but America gets zilch.
No wall, no infrastructure, no America First foreign policy. The stuff he has delivered, we didn't want it: more immigrants,
the biggest national debt in history, more Mideast wars.
Voted Trump in 2016. Never again. And not just "never again". I hope Mueller or some other competent law enforcement type gets
him dead to rights and puts him and his corrupt associates in prison. A shame they can't put him in the same cell as Hillary Clinton.
Practical Matters,
March 21, 2019 at 1:35 pm
...my thesis is not that the current American political system is an inspired replica of Nazi Germany’s or
George W. Bush of Hitler. References to Hitler’s Germany are introduced to remind the reader of the benchmarks in a system of
power that was invasive abroad, justified preemptive war as a matter of official doctrine, and repressed all opposition at home
— a system that was cruel and racist in principle and practice, deeply ideological, and openly bent on world domination. Those
benchmarks are introduced to illuminate tendencies in our own system of power that are opposed to the fundamental principles of
constitutional democracy. Those tendencies are, I believe, “totalizing” in the sense that they are obsessed with control, expansion,
superiority, and supremacy.
Sheldon
Wolin
“Everything we Never Trump folks warned you
of, including massive, decades-long downstream election losses is coming. Alienating African Americans and Hispanics beyond redemption?
Check. Raising a generation of young voters who are fleeing the GOP in droves? Check. Age-old beefs, juvenile complaints, and
ego bruises taking center stage while the world burns? Check. Playing public footsie with white supremacists and neo-Nazis? Check.
Blistering pig-ignorance about the economy and the world? Check. Pushing a tax bill that jacks economic inequality into the stratosphere?
Check. Shredding the last iota of the GOP’s credibility as a party that cares about debt, deficits, and fiscal probity? Check.”
Rick Wilson, a republican strategist
Assassination of generals, one from an allied country, one from a country with which we have no declared war, and both assassinations
performed on the territory of an allied, sovereign country without permission? This is piracy. Why should anyone trust the word
of a country which does not honor the most basic of international law?
And am I alone to be disgusted to see the senior members of our government lie blatantly and constantly, when they're not ...
the nearest likudnik....
divadab,
03 January 2020 at 04:17 PM
|
Abstract
Trump voters hoped that Trump will be like FDR "betrayer of his class". But he proved to be like Obama -- the "betrayer-in-chief"
of his voters. On January 2020 Trump's rhetorical
efforts to sell himself as the “anti-war”
president have been exposed as a fraud.
Now he looks like a person with methods of operations of a typical member of the New York mob (with which all NYC real estate developers
need to interact), who excels only in bulling and extortion of weaker victims. Trump’s geopolitical ignorance, overuse of bulling
(and recently assassinations) as the foreign
policy tool, his MAGA (in reality MIGA) bravado, along with relying on advice from neocons surrounding him, created additional enemies
and alienated allies. Bullying China and Russia simultaneously was/is a very dangerous strategy, creating alliance of two powerful countries
(with possible addition of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan), risking troubles for the US global neoliberal empire. As many multinationals
depends on China for manufacturing they have an incentive to prevent Trump from being elected for a second term.
At the same time Obama won in 2012 against Mitt Romney despite his complete betrayal of his election promises. Probably most understand
that elections does not change much (and they definitely change nothing in foreign policy which no longer is controlled by
the President of the USA) and are reluctant to rock the boat, even if they still go and cast the vote. So theoretically Trump
has a good chances for re-election. It will be a very interesting 2020 campaign if the Democratic candidate has to run with the
ripe stinking dead albatross of Russiagate around her neck
We will see if the same trick as Obama did is possible for Trump in 2020 -- Romney was clearly the most hated opponent Obama could
wish for. The Trump administration seems to have the illusion that if you raise the stakes high enough, other countries will cave
to US demands. There might also be an element of "creating foreign adversary in order to unite the domestic front and patch cracks
in the USA neoliberal facade".
Betrayal of his voters means that Trump now looks like Republican Obama, like another master of "bait and switch" maneuver. With
his wet kiss with Netanyahu and allowing Adelson's protégé Bolton and Pompeo to define foreign policy, Trump instantly switched from
MAGA to MIGA ("Make Israel Great Again") after the elections: Trump is turning all of Israel’s “asks” into American foreign
policy moves, doing things that previous presidents of both parties rejected or refused to do, in some cases because they put the
security of the United States at risk. Large faction of independents might do not like that. Putting gambling mogul Sheldon
Adelson in charge of US foreign and trade policy is not such a good idea as it revealed the level of betrayal of his voters by Trump.
So he has Catch22 situation: he desperately needs Adelson money and he can't lose large part of independent votes which is a real
probability if he get those money. His slave subservience to Israel lobby is already visible negative factor for him, although it
is politically incorrect to discuss it. But his actions speak louder then his words.
The key question here if the timing was right and the next recession will come after the elections, not before. Whether Trump
administration underestimated Chinese ability to resist sanction remains to be seen. If Chinese hold their position in trade war
for a year and half despite the pain, Trump might lose the election in 2020 as he will be unable to protect the economy from
the slide for more then a year and the first signs of recession diminish his chances, which already were undermined by his betrayal
of his election promises. If China folds, Trump still can get in troubles as some damage to relations already irreversible.
In 2020 he also will not face universally hated private equity shark like Romney vs. Obama in 2012, or another establishment neoliberal
warmonger like his opponent Hillary like in 2016. He might face Warren or Sanders and against them Trump will look more like Hillary
-- yet another neocon warmonger who brought (or forced to bring) Bolton, Pompeo, Abramson and others into key positions of
his administration.
Also some voters now view his as "The puppet of Israel and MIC formerly known as Trump." If he faces Elisabeth Warren,
he will crushed in the debates and pained a financial shyster he is. Also like "anybody but Hillary" in 2016 election, in 2020 elections
we will have the broad category of "anybody but Trump" voters. Which includes swats of former Trump voters in
2016. For example, anti-war right, who were blatantly betrayed will no longer vote to Trump. A good way at least partially
compensate for this growing mess which might derail Trump is to fire warmonger and Israel marionette John Bolton, send Mike Pompeo
back to the bible school, where he belongs, and tell Iran and Saudi Arabia to bury the hatchet.
While most US Presidents since Nixon (with the exception of Carter and Bush Sr) were reelected those who were defeated often
were defeated in recession. Often presidents were reelected despite complete betrayal of voters (Clinton, Obama, Bush II).
Looks like US voters firmly prefer "devil that we know". So the decisive factor in 2020 election is whether the USA slips into recession
or not. In this sense having China as the opponent in 2019 instead of waiting for 2020 was a very risky move.
Again, Trump got to the WH not on his own merits but as the result of blue collar voters showing a middle finger to the neoliberal
establishment. Neoliberal Dems betrayed the working class as well as lower middle class in favor of Wall Street hoping that it will
vote for them forever (they have nowhere to go'" was Bill Clinton strategy. It worked for almost ten years but in 2016 it stopped
working (see Demexit). Declining standard of living (for 30 years !) finally provide
the level of resentment and hate that doomed Democratic in 2016 decided to speak out (Clinton correctly calculated that "they
have nowhere to go" and it works after he sold Dems to Wall Street for more then twenty years). So Trump was in essence a protest
candidate and his strong/weak points did not matter much ("anybody but Hillary mentality"). Now the situation changed, and
Trump will be viewed as a Republican establishment stooge he is. Tax cuts for rich was a king of betrayal that
might negatively affect Trump electability.
Trump dependence on Adelson's money for his re-election campaign and avid Zionist (and a member of shady orthodox Jewish sect,
rumored to be connected with Mossad) Jared Kushner presence in WH (as well as two Aldelson's protégé: Bolton and Pompeo) adds insult
to injury. Some voters might understand that Trump actually converted MAGA to MIGA at their expense. Making Israel great again instead
of the USA. His rhetoric will no longer deceive anybody as he now has a track record of governance and foreign policy
actions and blunders.
First of all, it is obvious that Donald Trump will fully fulfill his current presidential term in the White House. The color
revolution against him launched by rogue elements within the US intelligence agencies and Democratic Party brass (dominant Clinton wing)
failed. Ukrainegate actually increased Trump chances. If House DemoRats censure him Trump wins, if they will send article of impeachment
to Senate Trump wins big; you can only imagine the effect of Schiff testifying under oath about his contact with Ciaramella, or Hunter
Biden testified about his role as mule for money paid for his father lobbing of Ukrainian interests. Moreover nether Republicans
not Democrats in this Kabuki theater will dare to touch real issues, such as how to restore middle class jobs in the USA, why Obama
crashed fragile constitutional order in Ukraine and installed far right junta. Or Trump role in fueling Yemen war and false flag
Douma operation (which brought the world close to the war between the USA and Russia). the ill talk about superficial crap, but never
about the real issues.
Many things in this fake drama defy an explanation: if we assume that Trump is the first Zionist president (or may be second after
LBJ) then why members of Zionist lobby such as Schiff, Schumer, Pelosi, etc are relentlessly attacking him? Is this issue
of skeletons in the closet that they are afraid can be revealed by Trump (so far he behaves as Washington neocon swamp expected and
classified JFK documents, 9/11 documents and other damaging to three letter agencies staff) , or something deeper. Why MIC which is
royally fed under Trump and Trump militarism at least verbally probably exceeds militarism of all previous three presidents combined;
there is only thing he so far avoided -- starting a war with Iran (the war which could became fatal for the USA centered
neoliberal empire, like WWI and WWII were for the British)
In view of increase of Military budget under Trump (which might be a part of military keyseanism strategy, who knows) it is
unexplanable why we have this Neo-McCarthyism campaign against his supported by both Parties and all major MSM: is the reason the danger
to neoliberal globalization that still Trump represents, or just his unpredictability ? Of the fact that due to the ciris of neoliberalism
inthe USA and loss on confidence of deplorables in neoliberal elite, the neoliberal elite now needs a permamnt scapegoat (Look
Jonny skwirrel) to distract people from real problems and preserve its power?
The other question is why Trump administration recycled the same compromised set of neocons as Bush II administration (including
several war criminals who were instrumental in unleashing the Iraq invasion) ? Now incompetent, reckless and greedy
warmongering careerists like Fiona Hill and Eric Ciaramella got to NSC? Is Trump completely detached from reality and he did not particulate
in selection of key positions in his administration allowing it to be run by neocon who was his Chief of Staff? If so why
he decided to run for Presidency at all? To became a joke ?
Questions, questions...
Most probably Trump will be the Presidential Candidate from the Republican Party in 2020 elections. Accordingly, the "tradition"
of re-election of the current US presidents, which has been consistently maintained since Bill Clinton he has a good chances to be reelected.
Several factors outlined below works in his favor. crimes that he did committed (Douma false flag, war crmes in Yemen, economic
blockade of Venezuela, abrogation of international treaties, etc) committed does no bother the US electorate much. With
Mueller final report he got considerable boost. which doubled with the Pelosi impeachment gambit which spectacularly low
up in her face.
Some observers think that Mueller final report and Schiff-Pelosi impeachment fiasco decided 2020 election for Trump essentially
painting Democratic leadership as traitors of the country for the electorate of critical for the victory Midwestern stated. Uncontrolled
and greedy elite, which are are ready to perform to any dirty trick to get back to power:
(MoA, May 28, 2019):
Even with impeachment and a nomination challenger Trump would likely still win the election.
There is no charismatic Democratic challenger in sight. Currently leading in the primary polls are Biden, Sanders and Warren.
Neither of them can compete with the Trump's popularity. Despite RussiaGate he still
has a 41% approval rating which is quite high for a midterm
presidency.
Trump is also a master at playing the media. He would surely find ways to turn an impeachment circus to his advantage.
Now it is clear that people who voted for Trump in a hope of positive changes declared him during his election campaign are
brutally deceived. Same faction fo former Trump voters will not vote again. They probably will not vote again: neither for Trump
or for anybody else as sequence of Obama betrayal of blue collar voters following by Trump betrayal delegitimized the idea of election
in the USA.
At the same time Trump tenure was not absolutely negative. He proved to be quite adept exposing the Deep State and the perverted
nature of the US neoliberal empire. Which tried to depose his launching RussiaGate and the Ukrainegate (which is Russiagate 2.0) of
false premises. He survived to vicious witch hunts, which is not easy and is a real achievement. For that we can be eternally
grateful for him and his Twits. It is role of Trump of exposing the Deep State that was the most positive aspect of his
Presidency.
The rise of the "alt-right" (and Trumps is a side effect of this rise) in the US and Europe is a response to neoliberal globalization's
and its social consequences for workers. In the US, the working class was so desperate for someone to speak to their economic anxieties,
that a large portion of them placed their hopes on Trump. Or at least they have shown middle finder to DemoRats (Neoliberal Democrats,
or Clinton, the dominant wing of the Democratic Party) -- the Party which completely betrayed their interests and was sold by Bill Clinton
to Wall Street.
Neoliberal and controlled by them intelligence agencies tried to make 2016 elections a formal procedure similar to one which were
held in the USSR. You just vote, but you decide absolutely nothing. You only legitimize the rule the oligarchy ( Party Nomenklatura
in case of the USSR, financial oligarchy in case of the USA). But this time they miscalculated. The level of anger against neoliberalism
was such that their candidate Hillary Clinton suffered the most devastating political fiasco in memory. And this situation
might repeat in 2020 as DemoRats "forgot nothing and learned nothing" -- the same situation Talleyrand spoke about in his famous
quite. Pelosi gang overplayed their hand in Ukrainegate and now need to face confusedness.
Moreover if Trump sails into recession he is finished. Meanwhile many economists predict the next the USA recession can be in the
cards in late 2020 anyway. And with his trade war with China Trump definitely can speed up onset of this next recession. While it is
difficult to predict the start of recession, 2019 feels a little bit like 2017 using, for example, in such metric as overinflated
housing prices. As well of the level of complacency in the stock market.
When DemoRats (Clinton wing of Democratic Party) dusted off and added
Joe Biden to the already overclouded
roster of candidates (and probably somewhat falsified polls to show that he is a leader and thus artificially created a strong
following for his candidacy), that was clearly a move favorable to the reelection of Trump. A very favorable for Trump event.
Biden has zero chances against Trump, because like Hillary he represents "kick the neoliberal can down the road" policies,
which electorate already rejected in 2016.
And it is true that DemoRats in DNC are afraid of Bernie Sanders more then of Trump, so DNC will try to derail his candidacy again
by what ever means possible including fraud (in this case it can take selection of candidate by the party brass in the second
vote, when Superdelegates will become the decisive voting block; that's probably why Biden was dusted off -- to get to the
second round of voting where Superdelegates decide the Party candidacy)
In case DNC manipulates the result in favor of Creepy Joe Biden, Trump probably will crush him. Biden is just a pale shadow of Bill
Clinton -- corrupt to the core neoliberal with a lot of skeletons in the closet. Among the major for Creepy Uncle Joe (as WaPo
nicknamed him) are
- His role in adoption of the draconian law that put a lot of black people under the bars during Bill Clinton presidency.
- His role in adoption Draconian bankruptcy laws which favor insurance companies which he actually represent (instead of people
of his state)
- His narcoaddict son
magically escaped justice when a crack pipe was found in his rental car.
- Biden role in Ukrainian events is also pretty disgusting and in a way he is responsible for the Ukraine losing Crimea along
with Obama and Kerry (and Biden played similar role in the events which led to Georgian war) . Paradoxically he was kind
of official "mentor" of corrupt Yanukovich. Then he backstabbed him.
- Later after the EuroMaydan events he instrumental if firing Ukrainian Chief Persecutor to squash investigating of gas company
Burisma (where his some do some reason got a position in the board of the company) which paid around $50K a month to his son)
and his son financial dealings with China. So his son fleeced impoverished Ukraine where standard living dropped 2-3 times
after Euromaydan, which was converted into the debt slave of the West and where most population live of $2 a day or less.
Burisma is one of the main sponsors of the rabidly neocon Atlantic Council, so there is definite quid pro quo here.
So there are many "known unknowns" in the current race. But as for the results of Trump two years in power most key facts are know.
We can speak about the main five:
- Glaring incompetence and impulsivity, allowing dominance of neocon in his administration including several implicated in Iraq
war crimes. Which at the end was instrumental in the staring of the process of dismantling of the US-centered neoliberal
empire. So it is not altogether a negative factor. just controversial.
- Complete and blatant betrayal of voters on economic issues. No new jobs, especially in highly affected by outsourcing
and offshoring Rust Belt, just artificial support of stock market. Job creation that occurred are mostly "perma-temp" and contractors
jobs, which does not provide benefits reserved for full time jobs. A huge and unnecessary tax cut for the rich and corporation
in the vain attempt to stop use of tax shelters by transnationals and the neoliberal elite ( Delavarization of America ).
Bloated military budget. Pandering to worst and the most wasteful project in Pentagon in a wait attempt to maintain
absolute military superiority over the rest of the world. At the expense of well being of ordinary Americans (guns instead
of butter)
- Foreign policy issues does not matter much in the US elections but here Trump proved to "Hillary II" in foreign policy, continuing
most of Obama policies, and adding some neocon moves of its own. Save sex changing operation Bolton and Pompeo would fit Hillary
cabinet perfectly well (Pandering to Zionist lobby, arming far right in Ukraine, unlimited sale of weapons for Saudi gambit and pressure
to them to keep oil price low, complete deterioration of relations with Russia including additional sanctions,
attempt to stage Venezuela color revolution). In this sense Trump honchos Bolton and Pompeo are not alone. We see the gallery of
Congress and the State Department rogues constantly threatening Russia. Putin has steel nerves and that what probably
saves the world from possible annihilation caused by Washington rogues.
- Unleashing dangerous trade wars (especially with China and EU). This was done on the base of key and only Trump
foreign policy principle "Might makes right" with complete disregard of International treaties (WTO is one) and no attempt to understand
long term consequences.
- Significant, simultaneous and dangerous deterioration of relations with Russia, China, inciting war with Iran,
regime change in Venezuela as well as cooling relations with EU (Trump's foreign policy gangrene) . Fight on several
fronts were never a viable military strategy. Nor it is a viable economic and diplomatic strategy. Trump is too much of an uncontrolled
bully to have a reasonable foreign policy (although he completely lost the control of foreign policy to Bolton and Pompeo he
often aggravate already tense situation with his ridiculous statements and twits)
- Pandering to Likud Party in Israel to the extent that Trump can be viewed (and is really viewed now by many) as Netanyahu
marionette (MIGA instead of MAGA bait and switch).
Will Trump welcome the ejection of the US from Iraq - He should. - Sic Semper Tyrannis
Harlan Easley
President we will have war. The President is just a feckless puppet controlled by the Zionist. I'll never vote again.
It's a waste of time and a farce. Hillary or Donald no different just a matter of timing. Obama destroyed Libya and Syria.
Bush II the simpleton and his fairy tale WMD lie. I've lost all respect for whatever "the republic" is suppose to be. On top
of that the masses are too stupid for democracy to work.
- Creation of Douma chemical attack false flag, bombing Syria after it on false pretext and then attempt to cover it up.
- War crimes committed by US supported forces in Yemen.
- Completely gagster-style behaviour of his administration on international arena. Abrogation of international treaties. Attempt
to steal Syria oil.
Some of this items in Trump score card are covered below, but here is a pretty biting satire that summarizes Trump 'achievements"
much better that I ever could (from a comment at
zerohedge.com, Apr 15, 2019)
Dear President Trump:
Tears came to my eyes - happy tears - when you were elected! A seemingly impossible feat was accomplished that day in November.
I understood when you faced tremendous resistance in your first 200 days from Demorats. It seemed you were unphased and determined
- all was good.
- You called the stock market a bubble when you were campaigning, but just a few months after you won the election you called
the stock market a great accomplishment of your administration. What changed? I got confused. Worse, you cursed when the
Fed raised interest rates to 2.5% and the market started to crash. That doesn't sound like an awesome economy. It sounds like
a highly manipulated one by central actors.
- You lobbed some Tomahawks into Syrian sand - that worried me.
- Then you lobbed a hundred or so more after a couple of Wahhabists wearing white hats, funded by Britain and the CIA, staged
a fakenews chemical attack and put it on social media. Dear Donald, were these missiles close to their expiry date? Were
you playing 4D chess? Some of those failed missiles flew near a major Russian base, were you at all concerned that one or two
of them might malfunction and accidentally bomb the Russians? I guess not. The Russians however were concerned -- which
is why they prepared to attack your fleet, along with the French and Canadian boats - just in case. But I guess it was just another
day at the Oval Office.
- You said Hillary should be in jail. It is nearly three years since you said that. She's not in jail. Instead, several
patriots were dragged through the mud by Mueller and/or the Democrats - all you've had to say is that it was terrible! You
can't even seem to properly handle retarded people like Maxine and Nancy.
- You claimed you were winning, but you lost the lower House to the Dems in the midterms.
- You said America is leaving Syria for others to deal with -- which probably was a reference to Saudi Wahhabists and Israeli
Zionists. Why are you still there protecting Al Q'aida?
- You seem to be eager to wreak havoc against Iran - was that part of the deal to bring home our troops?
- You brought NK and the rest of the world to the brink of nuclear war. Luckily NK started packing-up their nuke program.
It wont be for long though. You've done nothing since, except appoint John Bolton. If I were the leader of NK I wouldn't really
trust you.
- You campaigned on bringing home troops from all the useless wars. Now you're thinking of attacking Venezuela. What gives?
I'm more confused.
- You said working with Russia would be a good thing - you've hit Russia fairly hard with sanctions and diplomatic retribution.
Maybe we can blame the fakenews MSM and the Dems and forgive you for playing into their whims.
- You offered tax credits for corporations, they fraudulently bought back their own stocks. You offered tax credits
to the people, they used most of it to pay down their overdue credit cards. Some apparently used the money as a down-payment on
a new pickup that they'll either have to sell soon or risk repo - nothing changed in the long-run.
- You promised a wall paid for by Mexico....
- Why does the American military require three-quarters of a trillion dollars per year? Yet you're willing to pay even
more.
- Most of all, you kept referring to Wikileaks, and its publication of the HRC emails, as proof of a corrupt DNC. Two years
later, you jailed its editor. It doesn't end there. It really does look like you want to drag this Australian/Ecuadorian
to America to imprison, torture, and possibly execute, someone who hasn't committed any crime (except skipping bail on a highly
questionable extradition to Sweden in response to a 'she said / he said' accusation that the complainants and the Swedish prosecutors
dropped, much like those lobbed at your SCOTUS pick that you vehemently and rightly criticized).
- Mr. President, if that's how you treat your allies and friends, I'd rather be your enemy. At least your enemies so
far seem to get away with everything and anything. your friends on the other hand get fired or jailed or both.
- Mr. President, sir if you are a populist, you sure don't act like one surrounding yourself with the Deep State...
- I withdraw my vote...
- ... ... ...
Good night, and good luck.
Trump surprise victory in 2016 has shown that back in November of 2016, the American people were so fed up with the neoliberal oligarchy
that they actually elected Donald Trump president, despite his obvious flaws, just to show middle finger to the neoliberal establishment.
But the part of Trump voters that sincerely believed in his election rhetoric and assumed that Trump like FDR before him is
the traitor of his class and will institute the necessary reforms to help blue-collar workers and lower middle class is up to a rude
awakening.
The part of Trump voters that sincerely believed in his election rhetoric and assumed that Trump like FDR before
him is the traitor of his class and will institute the necessary reforms to help blue-collar workers and lower middle class is
up to a rude awakening |
He betrayed them both in domestic and foreign policy. He did very little useful for the majority of his voters (blue color
voters) -- outscoring of US jobs continued unabated. Trying to hide his fiasco, Trump tries to prop up the stock market and brags about
low unemployment (U3 measure) but U3 measure is fake and U6 measure which is more realistic stands currently at around 8% (Current
U-6 Unemployment Rate ). Gallup U6 unemployment rate estimate is no longer available, but it used to be 1%-1.4%
higher then official figure, so it is reasonable to assume that in reality it is still hovering around 9-10%. Ten percent is a very
scary figure which means "one out of ten." Only during Great Depression the US unemployment was over ten percent for
several years (at this time they measured only U6, U3 was invented later to hide the real unemployment statistics):
Unemployment Statistics during the Great
Depression
|
Year
|
Population
|
Labor
Force
|
Unemployed
|
Percentage
of
Labor Force
|
1929
|
88,010,000
|
49,440,000
|
1,550,000
|
3.14
|
1930
|
89,550,000
|
50,080,000
|
4,340,000
|
8.67
|
1931
|
90,710,000
|
50,680,000
|
8,020,000
|
15.82
|
1932
|
91,810,000
|
51,250,000
|
12,060,000
|
23.53
|
1933
|
92,950,000
|
51,840,000
|
12,830,000
|
24.75
|
1934
|
94,190,000
|
52,490,000
|
11,340,000
|
21.60
|
1935
|
95,460,000
|
53,140,000
|
10,610,000
|
19.97
|
1936
|
96,700,000
|
53,740,000
|
9,030,000
|
16.80
|
1937
|
97,870,000
|
54,320,000
|
7,700,000
|
14.18
|
1938
|
99,120,000
|
54,950,000
|
10,390,000
|
18.91
|
1939
|
100,360,000
|
55,600,000
|
9,480,000
|
17.05
|
1940
|
101,560,000
|
56,180,000
|
8,120,000
|
14.45
|
1941
|
102,700,000
|
57,530,000
|
5,560,000
|
9.66
|
Official U-6 Unemployment was 10.1% in January 2017 when Trump term started, with a long term peak at 17.9% in February 2010. The
standard of living of lower 90% of the US population continued to drop (with large swats of US population living essentially in the
third world conditions), good, well paying job are even more scarce, outsourcing and offshoring continues, and medical costs and the
cost of education are higher then they were before. So two years of Trump was a kind of "Trump
university" training for Trump electorate. In case of Trump university he took the money and run, in this case he took
votes and run ;-).
So far, Donald Trump has passed only one significant piece of legislation: the 2017 tax cut. Corporations and rich were
principal beneficiaries. They already saved more than $150 billion, and over the course of a decade the Trump tax cut will probably
increase the budget deficit by around $2 trillion. It did little to nothing for key Trump voters. The tax cut was supposed to
do more than just give stockholders more money. It was supposed increase economic growth, 3 percent or more at an annual rate. In reality,
the expectation that the tax cut would work miracles were based on a specific story about what is holding the US economy back. And that
story was all wrong. So it was a brief sugar high after which GDP growth started to decelerate.
Economics probably will work against the Trump re-election: it is slowing and in late 2019 or early 2020 might start
slipping into recession. While GDP is a questionable metric of economic performance (especially in in economics with the
large financial sector like the USA), the trend shown on the picture below is not favorable for Trump.
Some early sign of mental degradation
During Russiagate neoliberal MSM tried to present Trump as crazy. Throughout the campaign and Trump's first year in office, news
articles, op-eds, and tweets critical of him have routinely used words such as "crazy," "insane," and "unstable" as epithets. But this
is a typical war propagandaa tactics that implied demonization of the enemy, just extended to using mental health language in political
battles?
Paradoxically like in case with Hillary we now are more concerted about
Trump mental health because of his narcissistic overt behaviour
and the fact that he is over 70 and at this age many people already display early signs of mental degradation. Donald Trump at the time
of his inauguration was older than half of the US deceased former presidents at the age when they died.
And persons over 70 usually have some mertal deseases at least at very eary stages Not necessary dementia or Alseyment (Trump father
dies of Alseimer), but often mild signs of Aphasia. Aphasia is best
thought of as a collection of different disorders, rather than a single problem. Each individual with aphasia will present with their
own particular combination of language strengths and weaknesses. In a common form of Aphasia called
Progressive Jargon Aphasia speech is fluent
and effortless with intact syntax and grammar, but the person has problems with the selection of some nouns. They just can't be retrieved
from the memory. For example, they know that Forrester is produced by the Japanese company but can't name the company (Subaru) despite
knowing it in the past, unless reminded. After that they use if effortlessly. They just can't retrieve the word from the memory.
People with jargon aphasia often invent substitutes for nouns that went "into the black hole"
Also at age over 70 the real physical and mental load of running the President Office might be neurologically destructive. At this
age this level of stress and mental load greatly speed up development of any pre-existing mental conditions. Most observer
note Trump's “psychological instability” and “unpredictable behavior.” You can see on YouTube video how strangely he handle Melania
Trump presence (he usually does pay any attention to her presence at all):
It is rumored that
Trump in the past took stimulants (Adderall, a combination of
amphetamine
and
dextroamphetamine which are used to treat ADHD)
Adderall is a stimulant related to amphetamines. It’s commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and
narcolepsy, according to medical references. It is also used to enhance athletic performance and as a cognitive enhancer,
aphrodisiac and euphoriant.
Stimulants have caused stroke, heart attack, and sudden death in people with heart conditions and/or high blood pressure. Of cause
NYT alarmist article with
the claim that high cholesterol necessarily entails additional risk should be discarded (it matter mostly for people with pre-existing
heart conditions and/or procedures like cardiac stents or cardiac bypass), but for a man over 70 with not very healthy diet (Trump rumored
to have unbalanced diet with way too much meat) and hectic lifestyle inherent for the President everything might matter.
While sign of mental degradation of Trump are less evident then in case of Hillary some on them are objectively present.
- On one documented occasion the President was unable to find his way into the car which was standing exactly opposite
the plane on which he arrived. That happens for patients with Sundowning
syndrome, a multitude of behavioral problems begin to occur in the evening or while the sun is setting. One of observable symptoms
is disorientation as natural light begins to fade and increased shadows appears. But it also happens with people who are tired, after
sleepless night, or distracted by their own thoughts. Still look at the following video:
Trump displays Sundowning - Dementia , tell tale signs #whitehouse
#omg #sundowning - YouTube
- Trump appears to be experiencing some signs of Aphasia (which is
typical for people over 70) including declining ability to construct structured sentences and express his thoughts coherently.
That does not mean that he did not think sharp. Other cognitive functions are mostly preserved, such as memory and personality This
disorder effects only expressive part of the process. Aphasia is best thought of as a collection of different disorders, rather than
a single problem. Each individual with aphasia will present with their own particular combination of language strengths and weaknesses.
In case of Trump we can observe:
- "Word salad" moments, fragmented sentences. Moments when speech or words used became meaningless ("very stable genius",
"covfefe", etc). Listed for the following (apparently biased) presentation of The Young Turks
- Demonstrable loss of vocabulary in comparison with Trump in his 50th, which is similar to what accrued to Bush II (but
who was recovered alphogolic; Trump ever abused alcohol although his brother dies of the disease). Abuse of superlatives (see
Trump’s
Speech Deterioration Could Be An Early Sign Of Dementia, Experts Say ):
Experts observed that Trump’s disrupted speech pattern, riddled with syntax anomalies, persistent repetitions, and constant
shifts in train of thought, appears to be recent. According to the experts who have reviewed recordings of Trump’s speech in interviews
from the 1980s and 1990s, he has not always suffered an apparent linguistic disability.
Here the goal is not to define the problem, but just to warn that he probably is not the person to vote for.
As comment in
Economist's View stated during election cycle of 2015-2016 "Trump has a four point platform that was anti-neoliberal in its
essence":
- Non-interventionism. End the wars for the expansion of American neoliberal empire. Détente was Russia. Abolishing NATO
and saving money on this. Let European defend themselves.
- No to "neoliberal globalization." Abolishing of transnational treaties that favor large multinationals such as TPP, NAFTA,
etc. Tariffs and other means of punishing corporations who move production overseas. Repatriation of foreign profits to the USA and
closing of tax holes which allow to keep profits in tax heavens without paying a dime to the US government. Sanctions of China
for abusing WTO. Switch to bilateral treaties with countries instead, the move which allow more fully exploit the US
dominant position in world economy (American imperialism reborn)
- No to neoliberal "transnational job market" -- free movement of labor including immigration (especially illegal immigration,
rampant in the USA). Criminal prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants. Cutting intake of refugees. Curtailing legal
immigration, especially fake and abused programs like H1B. Making it more difficult for people from countries with substantial terrorist
risk to enter the USA including temporary prohibition of issuing visas from certain (pretty populous) Muslim countries. Building
the "Trump Wall" against illegal immigration across Southern border with Mexico.
- No to the multiculturalism. Stress on "Christian past" and "white heritage" of American society and the role of whites
in building the country. Rejection of advertising "special rights" of minorities such as black population, LGBT, woman, etc. Promotion
them as "identity wedges" in elections was the trick so dear to DemoRats and, especially Hillary (gender) and Obama (race card)
- Economics. So far economics hold and unless recession starts in 2020 that works in Trump favor. China is a
big unknown factor here, as Trump unleashed forces that he can't understand or control. Especially his (or more correctly CIA) games
with Hong Kong might prompt actions of China which will doom his bid. But at the same time China does not want to rock
the boat, so may be not.
- Democratic Party exposed itself as the party of Wall Street and people are demanding not just accountability from the financial
industry but also their prosecution. While Trump completely folded, he still at least rhetorically sound as a populist
(despite that its all fake -- his actions are complexly opposite to this rhetoric)
- Russiagate. Abuse of power by intelligence agencies was such that Trump will get some "middle finger to FBI, CIA, Obama,
Clinton and Democratic leadership" This also will slow down defection of blue collar voters from Trump despite the nature of
his tax cut.
- Transgender activism. Uncritical adoption of LGBT+ is an Achilles spot for Warren. People are sick and tires of
the idea of transgender bathrooms and Obama treatment of this anomaly.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/a-look-at-the-cultural-backlash-to-the-transgender-movement.html
"We were able to successfully communicate the onerous threat the ordinance presented to the privacy and safety of women and
children in public facilities such as restrooms, showers, locker rooms and changing rooms, as well as the threat to the freedom
of religion and speech in punishing individuals, business owners and employees who declined to provide service for same sex 'weddings'
or allow biological males into women's private facilities," said Welch.
- Impeachment. If Dems expected to repeat their success with Mueller investigation, which allowed them to capture House
in 2018, they might be greatly disappointed. Weasel Schiff became a public face of impeachment and that does not work well
for neoliberal Dems. Also they are afraidto touch really sensitive issues such as Douma false flag and Yemen war crimes as
they implicate them as well:
...Michael Tracey offered this apt summary of Washington's bizarre priorities: "This last week teaches us that temporarily
freezing and then unfreezing future military aid to one of our many far-flung client states is [a] huge national emergency but
the government systematically lying about every aspect of the longest war in U.S. history is a forgettable non-issue."
- DNC. As a completely sold to Wall street entity DNC is more afriad of Sanders, Warren and Tulsi then about
Trump reelection. They are natural allies of Trump.
How the Democratic Party Learned
to Wage Class Warfare The New Republic
Occupy Wall Street was widely ridiculed by liberals. Now, rage against the one percent is a major theme of the 2020 primary.
It may have begun with Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that failed weeks ahead of the presidential election in 2008. Treasury
Secretary Hank Paulson (formerly of Goldman Sachs) and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (future hedge-fund adviser) then
called Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, according to Rolling Stone, saying “We need $700 billion, and we need it in three days.”
The bank bailout of 2008 was sold as relief for both banks and homeowners, whose mortgages, without their knowledge, propped
up an opaque network of bets on their ability to repay them. Many assumed that regulation would follow, to prevent such a crisis
in the future. Upon his inauguration, however, President Barack Obama appointed the reliably bank-friendly Tim Geithner as Treasury
Secretary. Geithner had helped choose which banks would be propped up with public money, including Citi, which was bailed out
three times. In the end, financial institutions like Citi, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs walked
away with, by some accounts, trillions. Two years later, foreclosures hit a record high. The bailout program’s inspector general,
Neil Barofsky, resigned in March 2011, declaring the program had left homeowners “in a far worse place than they would have been
had this program not existed.”
... ... ...
They would also give a new wave of legislators an opening. The mounting demands to hold financial institutions accountable
helped propel Elizabeth Warren from the more remote, academic corners of policymaking into the national spotlight. “Who are we
trying to protect here?” Warren had asked
in a 2009 interview with Chris Hayes for The Nation. “Is it a banking system that is in service to American families and
the economy, or is it the American families and the economy in service to a banking system?” At the time, she headed a congressional
panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Her idea for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was realized when she
was still a Harvard law professor, and Obama made her a
special adviser to help form the bureau. But ultimately, she was blocked from running the agency precisely because she had
already been
so critical of the bailout and its architects, such as Geithner. In 2012, she ran and won a Senate seat, where she would continue
to confront the heads of America’s biggest banks.
- Electoral collages. Due to electional collage Trump can affor to lose 5 million voters to Democratic contender and still winthe
elections. As
Michael Moore noted:
Michael Moore: Trump level of support in Midwestern states did not went down one inchFilmmaker Michael
Moore says he believes "whoever the Democrat is" will win the popular vote in 2020 by 4 to 5 million votes. Moore added that if
the election were held today, he believes Pres. Trump would win the electoral college. Alex Witt and her panel discuss.Dec.
28, 2019
Also
Michael Moore Predicts 2020 Trump Victory: Trump’s Level Of Support “Has Not Gone Down One Inch”
Michael Moore Predicts 2020 Trump Victory: Trump’s Level Of Support “Has Not Gone Down One Inch” RealClearPolitics.
Resilc flags this part:
They voted for the Democrats all down ballot and left the top box blank. She only lost Michigan by
10,000, 11,000 votes. Ninety thousand wanted to send a message to the Democratic Party: “You forgot us a long time ago out here,
and we will not put up with this anymore. We’re not going to vote for Trump, but we’re not going to tolerate you sending us another
Republican-lite Democrat.”
As he almost completely betrayed his 2016 election platform by his actual policies and he probably will lose certain categories
of voters. So we can expect lesser voters enthusiasm and lower percentage of Republican voters participating in the 2020 elections.
As Trumps was hypocritical on the illegal immigration issue because he has an opportunity to do something his first year in office
when Republican has the majority in the Congress but did absolutely nothing, mainly continuing his propaganda campaign and implementing
some superficial measure like directed against arrival in the USA Muslim extremists (with the exception of Saudis of cause). Even
more grave was his open and blatant betrayal of blue collar voters and lower middle class voters which can result in the defection of
significant chunk of his dormer voters. To add insult to injury he proved to be argent militarist and militarism is the most sure
way to further impoverishment of the middle class. Among them:
- Most of Alt-right. They are clearly betrayed. "Dump Trump" is the meme among this group. They probably go with Andrew
Yang. 7 Reasons Why #YangGang Is More Than Just A Meme, by Anatoly Karlin - The Unz Review
- All anti-war independents. This is undeniable because of duplicity and militarism of his administration, which is dominated
by Bush II style rabid neocons. Pompeo and Bolton would be perfect for Clinton administration after routine sex change operation.
Anti war voters if they have a chance, will vote for Tulsi Gabbard. Trump behaved like a mixture of a classic neocon chickenhawk,
and a school yard bully in the best style of Madeleine
Albright. He almost completely betrayed this section of his former electorate and his election-time promises (withdrawal from
Syria was too little too late, is incomplete and due to Trump tendency to reverse his decisions under pressure from neocons can easily
be rolled back after yet another false flag)
- A large part of blue collar votes. Trump tax cut was a fake as most of what Trump did in domestic policy.
It benefited manly rich and super rich such as Trump himself and his family. His revision of Obamacare essentially broke it (although
he promised to improve it) and hurts many and benefited only very few. It proved to be enother travesty and affected
voters will not forgive that Trump. There is not improvement in the standard of living of blue collar workers and lower middle class
under Trump administration. Outsourcing and offshoring are continued (albeit at slower pace). His tax cut was joke for
blue collar workers. It positively affects mostly the rich. But what is most important that he promises to bring back jobs proved
to yet another Obama-style fake simply because he is completely incompetent and does not understand that this involves drastic measured,
which he will never take. Now I think a large part of former pro-Trump blue collar voters will support
Andrew Yang:
Many of those who energetically created pro-Trump memes in 2016 have since turned on their man. He has not built the wall,
he is too attached to Israel, and it was more fun to support a rebel candidate than it has been to defend a sitting president.
Depressed by the thought that even their supposedly radical outsider has become, in most substantive terms, a generic Republican,
they have become more explicitly anti-political.
Yang’s campaign was built on his concern that increasing automation will eliminate jobs and drive Americans out of their economic
and social spheres of life. He fears that if unemployment and underemployment spread, people will degenerate into self-destructive
and antisocial behaviors. You can see that in the surge of suicides among middle-aged Americans around the country that have brought
down our country’s life expectancy over the last two years—and the fact that eight Americans are dying of opiates every hour.
The Biggest Losers of Trump's Presidency: His Voters
One of Yang’s proposals to avert these trends is a “Freedom Dividend”—or what is more commonly referred to as Universal Basic
Income—of a guaranteed $1,000 a month to every American. This policy proposal is what has truly excited the phenomenon known as
the “Yang Gang.” If America is destined to decline, they’ve concluded in a fit of cynical exuberance, they might as well at least
get some money out of it. Some of them are a little more calculated, seeing the potential to take their thousand a month and spend
more time on creative and social endeavors with less of a need to work. But most enjoy it as a funny, irreverent meme, raising
a middle finger to the political establishment.
Yang’s face soon began to blossom across Twitter: new, warm, innocent, and, yes, generous. In my first article on Yang, I wrote
that his campaign would suffer because he is uncharismatic. It is this lack of charisma that has made #yanggang memes so entertaining.
The idea of this mild-mannered software nerd dancing with stacks of hundred dollar bills on the “Yang Yacht” is so absurd that
it is genuinely funny. As other Democratic hopefuls play up their love of rap or youthful fondness for marijuana in a desperate
attempt to get some cool kid credibility, casting Yang as some sort of playboy works, consciously or otherwise, as a satire on
modern electoral campaigning.
- A large part of white nationalist votes. They understand that MAGA is not MIGA and so far Trump (and, especially
his family, especially Kushner) is more in MIGA camp than in MAGA camp. And while they are ambivalent toward Zionism
as an ideology none of them have warm feeling about Israel because of clear Israeli interference in the US politics via super-powerful
and very rich Israeli lobby. The theme of Israeli lobby undue influence on Trump family (and especially personality of
Jared Kushner) became promising on such cite frequently visited by this category of voters as unz.com where Phillip
Giraldi published several scalding article about Israeli lobby political influence. Such books as
Kushner, Inc. Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump does not help Trump, iether.
Here are telling quotes from Amazon reviews:
gregory p blass
graduate of Trumps School of ethics
Kushner has absolutely no right to step foot into the White House, or Air Force one. He has no credentials other than
a expert scammer......why the hell would he need security clearances. His background in NY real estate is suspect.
He is in no way following Stephen Ross footprints. He is abusing his connections to the Oval Office which. hopefully, will
surface in Mueller’s Report...
Chef Jo
March 19, 2019
Perfect Timing. Can We Survive This?
...As Ivanka's father does things more out in the open, the Javanka duo flies under the radar wreaking havoc with our systems
of checks and balances that have been in place for more than two centuries. The damages, the secret dealings, etc...
Javanka may have been able to unsettle the "norms" that we have built with blood sweat and tears all in the name of the
selfish almighty dollar.
If you thought Kushner Inc.'s 666 Park Avenue was a boondoggle, we may all hopefully (thank you Robert Mueller et alia.)
find out that we have all just been flimflammed like nothing before.
- Some ethnic voters. That include all Arab voters (Tramp Pro-Israel stance) and a large section of Muslim voters,
a part of Asian voters (Trump China policy). What is interesting is that Trump was never attractive to Jewish voters
as well, who tend to lean to Democratic Candidates (although Hillary was an abomination and as such an exception)
- A part of Latin American voters who resent his attempt to stage a Venezuela color revolution and grab oil resources of the
country.
- A part of military voters as his promise to end foreign wars proved to be a fake and while Trump proved to be a dream candidate
for military brass and Pentagon contractors, rank-and-file military disapprove Trump foreign policy (especially if Tulsi can
be his opponent, or VP of Sanders).
- Some highly educated professionals votes who previously voted for him as "Not-Hillary" often crossing party lines (the author
of this page belongs to this category)
- Some parts of senior citizens voters as Trump policies bad effected seniors.
He probably gained in two categories of voters
- He gained pro-Zionist voters (which intersect with Pro-Israel voters but is a wider category)
- He gained Cuban emigration voters.
- He gained Ukrainian nationalists and probably some smaller sections of Earn European nationalist voters.
He can no longer present himself as kind of political "Tabula
rasa" in newcomer, pristine candidate against corrupt Washington oligarchy into which one can project his/her own desires. Now he
has political baggage and it is not pretty. Looks like he is completely in pocket of neocons and Israel lobby. In
this sense appearance of the books like Kushner Inc will do some damage among highly educated independents, who previously voted
for Trump (not a major group, but still...)
You might be surprised, but this page is the page written by former Trump supporter as is evident from the coverage of 2016 election
campaign on this site.
In one short sentence the net result of "two years of Trump" is "buffoonery." Often very dangerous buffoonery which in foreign
policy was intermixed with bulling and bizarre moves done without any consultation with key administration members, only of request
of
Kushner Inc. I like how discredited by Iraq war fiasco neocons like
Max Boot or Robert
Kagan derisively talk about authoritarians in foreign countries they do not like ;-) Now we have the same problem at home,
but those despicable MIC stooges will never admit that.
In any case, this "very stable genius" proved to be impulsive and utterly incompetent, especially in foreign policy area. But usually
the foreign policy of American presidents (and Trump in this case is no exception) does not have much influence on domestic political
life. An old joke about the average American voters is that "half of his brain is occupied by a hamburger, and the other half
by American football" still applies. If this is true then for foreign policy there is simply no place. And for the majority of American
voters, therefore, it does not matter much what the us President does outside the country and what foreign policy course he follows
as long as it does not directly affect his well-being or standard of living.
In domestic policy Trump became a marionette of Goldman and Sachs propagating "National
neoliberalism" (which includes Neoliberal Deregulation and continuation
of outsourcing and offshoring with decimation of well-paying US jobs and replacement them with McJobs and perma-temps).
His tax cut was a travesty and did not affect positively his votes, outsourcing continues, financial firms continue to loot the country,
banks, monopolies like Amazon and Google and transnational companies have outsize political influence in Washington. In other words
swap consumed Trump and his claim that he will drain the swamp is not a bad joke. He became a part of the swaps.
In foreign policy he became a marionette of neocons and Israel lobby and despite lesser weight of foreign policy in the US elections
it definitely became Trump liability. As Mueller investigation raised the question about foreign influence on the US elections
and many understand that Russian influence is just a smoke screen hiding real Great Britain, Israeli and Saudi influence ( a well informed
part of US voters think about Russiagate as another instance of Iraq WDMs scare which brought the country into Iraq war ).
Israel lobby might become a wedge issue in the incoming elections, and here Trump connection to Zionist donors and shady figures
like Kushners might be liability. His appointment of Jared Kushner as Mid-East envoy is a classic example of both nepotism and incompetence.
his cozy relations with Israel right wing Prime Minister Netanyahu also might slightly backfire depriving Trump of anti-war votes. Here
is how
Daniel
Larison the leading political analyst in highly respected
The
American Conservative magazine recently (
March 21, 2019
) characterized Trump attempt to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu victory
in oncoming Israel elections by violating all existing international law norms and US resolutions and using the old principle "the might
makes right" (Trump Puts America Last )
As usual, Trump made the
announcement of recognizing Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights without any consultation with any of the relevant administration
officials:
President Donald Trump’s tweet on Thursday recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory surprised members of his own
Middle East peace team, the State Department, and Israeli officials.
U.S. diplomats and White House aides had believed the Golan Heights issue would be front and center at next week’s meetings
between Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. But they were unprepared for any presidential
announcement this week.
No formal U.S. process or executive committees were initiated to review the policy before Trump’s decision, and the diplomats
responsible for implementing the policy were left in the dark.
Even the Israelis, who have advocated for this move for years, were stunned at the timing of Trump’s message.
After more than two years of watching Trump’s impulsive and reckless “governing” style, it doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone
that he makes these decisions without advance warning.
There is no evidence that Trump ever thinks anything through, and so he probably sees no reason to tell anyone in advance what
he is going to do. Trump almost never bothers consulting with the people who will be responsible for carrying out his policies and
dealing with the international fallout, and that is probably why so many of his policy decisions end up being exceptionally poor
ones. The substance of most of Trump’s foreign policy decisions was never likely to be good, but the lack of an organized policy
process on major decisions makes those decisions even more haphazard and chaotic than they would otherwise be.
On domestic front Trump also failed measurably to fulfill his election promises. he did not built the wall. He did not stem the flow
of illegal immigrants (and how can he is he is a "national neoliberalism" adherent; national neoliberalism approves slave labor).
Moreover, Trump's key promise to voters was to raise the standard of living of the middle class and create meaningful jobs. That was
a blatant deception on his part, as he did nothing to alleviate the plight of common Americans who suffer under neoliberalism "without
jobs, without perspectives, being treated as disposable napkins"
Trump's key promise to voters was to raise the standard of living of the middle class and create meaningful jobs. That
was a blatant deception on his part, as he did nothing to alleviate the plight of common Americans who suffer under neoliberalism
"without jobs, without perspectives, being treated as disposable napkins." |
Trump did introduced changes in the US neoliberal system, converting it into a new flavor of neoliberalism which can be called
National neoliberalism. As
Sheldon Wolin observed about
previous administration (and this process of conversion started under Bush II, not under Trump, this is slide toward "inverted totalitarism"
form of governance, where population has no voice in determining either domestic or foreign policy:
..my thesis is not that the current American political system is an inspired replica of Nazi Germany’s or George
W. Bush of Hitler. References to Hitler’s Germany are introduced to remind the reader of the benchmarks in a system of power that
was invasive abroad, justified preemptive war as a matter of official doctrine, and repressed all opposition at home — a system that
was cruel and racist in principle and practice, deeply ideological, and openly bent on world domination. Those benchmarks are introduced
to illuminate tendencies in our own system of power that are opposed to the fundamental principles of constitutional democracy. Those
tendencies are, I believe, “totalizing” in the sense that they are obsessed with control, expansion, superiority, and supremacy.
In this sense Trump is a very dangerous development, despite his buffoonery. Like in Germany in 1920-1930th immiseration
of blue collar and lower middle class create a favorable conditions for rise of ultra right supported by military brass and financial
oligarchy, who are afraid of political measures eroding their political power and wealth. and instead of the USA oligarchy (Bush family
in particular) support of nazy party we have Great Britain support of intelligence agencies coup against Trump. And the remaining
most staunch supporters of Trump are from the ultra-right segment of population.
The damage that the re-imposition of US sanctions is doing a great damage to Iran’s economy, but inflicting pain for its own sake
is pointless cruelty. The US gains nothing from this, and it imposes high costs on the Iranian people who bear most of the burden. Actually
higher oil price damages the US economy too. This is a typical MIGA policy and Trump pandering to Zionist lobby is one of the
factor that will prevent many people voting for him in 2020. The last thing the people od the USA need is a foreign lobby stooge
in the White House. Actually Russiagate should properly be investigation about Israel and Great Britain interference in
the the US election. Russian interference is just a smoke screen designed to hide those obvious two as well as Hillary political fiasco.
National neoliberalism is neoliberalism without neoliberal globalization, or, more correctly, where globalization was replaced by
colonization (if necessary by military means) and the direct dictate and bullying. Which makes is similar to national socialism, but
without national socialist domestic social policy elements. If one looks at NSDAP program of 1920 paradoxically those social demands
position national socialist of 1920th to the left of the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party, which is in the pocket of financial oligarchy
and is ready to privatize Social Security and Medicare to please its Wall Street sponsors. To say nothing about Republican Party and
Trump:
The 25-point Program of the NSDAP
… … …
7. We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens.
If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled
from the Reich.
8. Any further immigration of non-citizens is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany
since 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich.
9.All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.
10.The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract
the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all. Consequently,
we demand:
11.Abolition of unearned (work and labor) incomes. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery.
12.In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of the people, personal enrichment through
a war must be designated as a crime against the people. Therefore, we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
13.We demand the nationalization of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
14.We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
15.We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
16.We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and
their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or
municipality.
17.We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public
utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.
18.We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national
criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
… … …
21.The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement
of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations
concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.
All that means that national socialism became now like in 1920 attractive again and in sole form is present in resurgent far-right
movement all over Europe, where in several countries they are already in power. The USA is late to the party but is
no exception.
In no way those changes favor the 'deplorables" -- bottom 90% of the US population, which brought Trump to victory. So it would be
only fair if Trump loses 2020 election. But the US political system is more complex that this simplistic reasoning and I would
not predict the result of 2020 elections ;-)
During 2016 elections Trump, with all his buffoonery and clownish acts, at least is able to offer some hope to many disenfranchised
US voters and has shredded the myth of invincibility of the establishment candidate, neocon warmonger Hillary. But after coming to power
Trump behaved like Bush II trying to bully its way toward world hegemony. In a way Trumpism emerged from the Pandora's box of Bush policies
that destabilized the Middle East and his "you are iether with us or against us dilemma." In the process he lost a large part
of his votes, including anti-war independents. Logically, his incompetence and incoherence almost guarantees that he'll be a one-term
president, but again the US political system is pretty unique and often behave illogically (there are some analists who try to promote
hypothesis that Trump is playing more complex game that it appears, some kind of 4 dimensional chess, but this hypothesis does not stand
Occam razor test)
President Donald Trump is completely captured by neocons. And one of prime cause of that isolation is his wet kiss with neocons,
especially the appointment of John Bolton. Since taking over as National Security Advisor to the President in April 2018, Bolton
has purged the old staff and replaced them with sycophants whose primary qualifications are decades of collaboration with Bolton.
Since the December departures of John Kelly and James Mattis, Bolton has had near total control over the flow of policy recommendations
into the President. Better said: The lack of flow
("Effect of Adelson/Kushner")
|
Jim Lobe and Eli Clifton,
writing in Lobelog, yesterday,
argue that Sheldon Adelson was responsible for Trump's turnaround from populist anti-war candidate to pro-Israel hawk. In 2016,
they write, Trump was mocking those, like Marco Rubio, who were seeking Adelson's support, meaning they were seeking his money.
By the time of his inauguration, however, Trump had adopted Adelson's militant pro-Israel stance, including Adelson's demands
to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and pursue a confrontationist approach to Iran, and Adelson occupied a prominent
seat at the inauguration ceremony. "Trump met Adelson in Las Vegas in early October 2017. One week later, Trump announced that he would no longer certify
that Iran was complying with the Iran nuclear deal, even though the U.S. intelligence community and all of Washington's European
allies, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had found no evidence that Tehran was cheating," Lobe and Clifton
write.
"One month later, Adelson used his own newspaper, The Las Vegas Review Journal, to express his frustration with Trump's failure
to quickly redeem his promise to move the embassy. Two months after that, Trump reversed a half century of U.S. policy by formally
recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. According to Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury, Steve Bannon credited Adelson for
Trump's decision."
Adelson's big protégé, as I've reported previously, is John Bolton. According to Lobe and Clifton, it was Adelson who made
the arrangements to get Bolton back into the White House, overcoming efforts by White House chief of staff John Kelly keep to
keep him out. Adelson also reportedly orchestrating the firing of McMaster and of Tilleson and their replacements by Bolton and
Pompeo. Ands Bolton, like Adelson, has long favored a "military solution" to the Iran nuclear problem. In 2013, Adelson posted
an op-ed in his newspaper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, calling for the nuclear bombing of Iran, first in some uninhabited area
of the country to send Iran's leaders "a message" and if that didn't work, a second bombing of Tehran itself (this of course,
would be a war crime in the first degree). Bolton, himself, in an op-ed two years later, held up the Israeli bombing of Iraq's
Osirak reactor as the model for what the US should (as was later documented by a Norwegian researcher who's name I don't recall,
the bombing of Osirak did not end Saddam's Hussein's nuclear bomb program. Rather, it forced it underground and out of sight,
as UN weapons inspectors discovered in the 1990's after Gulf War I).
Who Does John Bolton Actually Work For by Willy B. Apr 4, 2019
|
Trump is probably most pro-Israel president since Lyndon B Johnson. And several of his foreign policy moves looks like dictated
by Israel interests not the USA interests. He also interfered in Israel election trying to influence Isreqli electorate in favor of
Netanyahu.
When he was running, Trump was sharp about Adelson's money’s influence. He said that
he
would make Marco Rubio into “his perfect little puppet.” But later Trump badly needed Abelson's money both for his election
(his claim that his election campaign was financed only by his own money was a blatant lie) and to stem Democrats advanced
during Midterm, where they have chance to win both Senate and the house. So who’s the puppet now?
Long with connection to Adelson. Trump connection of Kushner is another liability. Jared is avoid Zionist, member of suspicious
mystical religious cult (one of very few Orthodox cults that accept Israel and often accused of links to Mossad):
After April 2017 Trump became a typical neocon and promoted " the "will of the strong" approach to foreign policy essentially positioning
the USA as a rogue state that does not care one bit about international treaties and obligations. And about UN which still for
some strange reason resides in NYC. His policies were transactional in nature but coercion election built-in "give me something
and I will give you a little bit in return" approach. But give me now, or..." He was captured by neocons soon after election mainly
because he did not really rely on his own money during the elections -- he took around $100 million from Casino billionaire
Adelson:
The fact is, the neo conservative "Never Trumpers" began moving in on Trump almost as soon as he won the election in order
to ensure that their policy perspective prevailed. Greased by Adelson's money, it appears that they have succeeded to a considerable
degree, particularly on Iran, but also on other aspects of national security policy as well, including, it appears, on Venezuela.
And if US relations with Russia don't improve now that Russia-gate is dead, it'll be because of this crowd as well.
Bolton's history goes back to the Reagan Administration in the 1980's, and his perfidy during the runup to the Iraq invasion is
well known to this readership. What I focus on here is the period from January of 2017 through mid-2018, around the time of his appointment
to be Trump's national security advisor, plus a couple of months, during which period a number of interesting reports were posted
on Trump's lobbying of the White House to get an administration position and his sponsorship by Adelson.
Adelson's only concern, by his own quoted words, is protecting Israel and, according to the reports below, has even advocated
the nuclear bombing of Iran if it doesn't give up a nuclear weapons program that every reasonable intelligence assessment and the
IAEA say it doesn't have. Adelson is also credited with facilitating the firing of both H.R. McMaster and Rex Tillerson and replacing
them with Bolton and Mike Pompeo, another one of Adelson's boys.
That's why Trump appointed Haley who is close to Israel lobby and later arrived to his current version of foreign policy with Pompeo
and Bolton.
In addition to Adelson, Jared Kushner moved Trump in the same direction ("Kushner effect"). That's why contrary to his election promises
Trump continued all beneficial to Israel colonial wars (in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine) and is trying to launch a couple of
others (Iran, Korea, Venezuela).
He several times bombed Syrian air fields on false pretences of chemical attack (which in reality were false flag operation by the
ISIS, performed with the exact goal to get the US to act as ISIS air force bombing Syria government targets). His administration
also tried to stage a coupe d'état in Turkey, which failed and strained relations between two countries.
Netanyahu is well aware that for his policies and plans to destroy all geopolitical and regional competitors, another such chance
as Donald Trump may never exist. And he wants to milk it to the fullest extent possible. Trump, in turn, also proved that conventions,
treaties, agreements, and just some established customs and traditions in international relations mean little to him.
The total score of Trump administration in both foreign and domestic polices is negative - the standard of living for the majority
of the USA population did not increased (but it did not decreased either, remaining probably around the same as under Obama), jobs continued
to evaporate, outsourcing continues With the exception of outsourcing with China -- he did launched tariff war with China as he promised.
His policies toward Iran looks like pandering to Israel lobby, not so much defending interests in of the USA in this region.
while existence of any theocratic regime is objectionable, the double standard of treating KSA and Iran differently is too obvious to
get Trump administration any points in his desire to confront Iran.
The total US debt rose (due to increased military budget and tax cuts). Trump increased military spending to a vain attempt to appease
MIC ( and by the way he increased American aid to Israel as if it is necessary). To add insult to injury, while campaigning on
the basis of interests of blue collar workers and middle class Americans, squeezed by neoliberal globalization and greed of the US corporations,
he pushed tax cuts for the rich.
The fact that he cooperated in the Lubavitch (Chabad) sect (rumored to be connected to/used by Mossad) is generally
a disgrace. Why it was necessary for Trump to bring Kushner and Ivanka (members of this strange sect) to the White House
I do not understand. Especially in view of the criminal past of Kushner father (from whom Jared inherited his real estate empire; Jared
own move in this area was disastrous purchase of Fifth Avenue 666 skyscraper just before the Great Recession; later he offloaded it
his political connection to Gulf monarchies)
Elections 2016 period and three month after inauguration can be be called "MAGA stage" of his presidency. Here are several
links from his 2018 campaign
Like Obama before him, Trump proved to be a sad joke of a anti-neoliberal, anti-war crusader. The same is true about his anti-globalization
stance, it looks like he prefers the direct economic racket, open bullying of weaker trade partners to treaties (bullying does suggest
a power imbalance). He still wants to sustain and expand the US neoliberal empire, no matter what are the costs for the US people.
Venezuela is a good example here. Of course US oil companies want to return to this country. On the tips on the bayonets
, if necessary. And Trump preaching "national neoliberalism" is very accommodative to such requests.
US relations with Russia, which Trump promised to improve, have chilled to Cold War status. Essentially Trump administration
policies toward Russia of does not differ one bit from the policies of Obama administration. And do not much differ from
what we would expect form Hillary. Part of this is connected the the President no longer determines the foreign policy. Other
forces do. That increases chances of WWIII, which might mean that perishing of the human civilization, as we know it.
Khrushchev's bon mot about the US nuclear superiority still apples, He said something like that: "Yes, the USA is much stronger,
we just have the capability to destroy the USA one time, while they have the capability to destroy the USSR many times"). This
saying is fully applicable to the Trump adoption of the "supersized" military budget.
It does not matter how many times you exceed your opponent military budget, because you can blow out the planet only once. As the
result of care and feeding of MIC and Imperial Wars launched since 1980, the US national debt is now larger than the US economy. This
is imperial overstretch. It is probably unsustainable "in a long run". The only thing we do not know if the long run means
10 years, 20, or 50. Much depends on the price oil oil dynamic. As soon as it exceeds $80-$100 per barrel the USA economy will slide
in "perma-rececssion" (aka secular stagnation).
His "Draining the swamp" slogan in reality turned to be as phony as "change we can believe is. " he proved to be another Bush
II, uneducated, inarticulate, and incompetent President fully controlled by neocon lobby (which in its immense gratitude for services
he provided wants to depose him and organized Mueller witch hunt). Add to this his impulsivity and narcissistic desire to be in the
spotlight and you get a really toxic brew. The number of neocons in Trump administration is comparable with the number of neocons in
Bush II and Obama administrations.
Trump allowed to Washington foreign policy elite to conduct his foreign policy. The latter is arrogant (just look at Pompeo and Bolton),
out of touch with reality and still stuck in the 1990s when the USA really rules the world (USSR collapsed, and China was far from its
present economic might). They believed in American exceptionalism and that the US had an almost divine right to run the world.
American power at this time supposedly rivaled imperial Rome.
Clinton, Bush, Obama and (as we discovered too late) Trump all shared similar foreign policy objectives. First of all they
wanted to to spread the US-style neoliberalism. Even if this needs to be accomplished on the tips of bayonets. Any dissenters
are branded as authoritarian dictators, sanctioned. any non nuclear players (and one small nuclear player -- North Korea) were threatened
with force. The Washington elite believes it is America’s destiny to lead the world forever, despite their own alarming level
of degeneration and incompetence.
Due to this neocons mindset, Government officials and media commentators who have promoted disastrous wars suffer no consequences
and are welcomed back into circles of power. The cost of imperial wars since dissolution of the USSR runs at around 6 trillion. It is
now clear that that large part of the defense budget would be better spent at home, upgrading the country's infrastructure.
Trump proved to be completely different politician then he was pretending to be during 2016 election. In this sense he competes
with Obama for the title of Grandmaster of "bait and switch" game.
His main accomplishment was "Trump tax cut for the rich". Similar to Bush II cut. In this sense he performed a deft "bait and switch"
maneuver similar to one done by Obama and can be called "Republican Obama." Another classic turncoat US politician, who betrayed his
voters three months after the elections.
Thanks to Trump, the US is now in the Israeli situation - an increasing percentage of the population in many countries is beginning
to hate him. A taught us the classics "ideas become a material force when they masses start believing in them"
Moreover, trump pushes himself into the situation of the former USSR, when the main production is the production of weapons. And
except that the filing of the neo-cons will give countries a second Afghan in Iran (with the help of his great friend Netanyahu.)
Obama proves to be completely describable turncoat, but still he (and Bush II before him) managed to get reelected for the second
term. That create some home for Trump as it is probably impossible to exceed Obama in duplicity and mendacity (drone strikes,
"Osama Bin Laden" killing with some signs of a false flag, Libya, Syria, Ukraine). But truth be told foreign adventures does not
mean much in the US Presidential election; the candidates mostly complete on domestic issues. Here Trump failed dismally -- there are
very few new manufacturing jobs. Under neoliberalism profits come before people. And that's why jobs continued to be outsourced
out of the USA. Just destinations might slightly changed. Instead of China other countries more commonly used.
That means that like Obama Trump now depends of the weakness otf Dem party candidate. Against any "decent" candidate he has almost
no chances. Especially newcomer to politics without much political baggage into whom electorate can project their wishes like it did
with Obama and Trump before. In this case Trump can zero chances for reelection. He will be new Hillary in elections 2020: aging
erratic warmonger (with Bolton as an albatross around his neck) with health problems.
Although Trump, like Obama before him won mostly of the boldness of his election promises, now he need to complete on substance an
truck record of his Administration. That's a tough task. After two years in office Trump should be viewed like strange mixture
of Bush II and Obama. It makes him more like Obama from the point of view of a serial betrayer of election promises.
Obama attacked a slate of very denigrating nicknames (Obomber is one, "Teleprompter" is another ;-) . And Trump's
nicknames gallery is even richer and includes: Agent Orange, Very Stable Genius,
Covfefe, Vulgarian, von Clownstick, Trampolino,
dRamp, and Pinocchio. Those nicknames for Trump are not accidental. Among anti-Trump Republicans, discontent is extremely high. When
Ann Coulter Fires Back at Trump: ‘The
Only National Emergency Is That Our President Is an Idiot’ it is easy to understand the President does have problem with his
former base. Ann said that she didn’t need a Tarot card reader to know that Trump would “totally f-over his base.”
In 2016 election campaign Trump had the freedom to position himself as anti-war, anti-establishment candidate and some
of his points resonated strong with the the US population. Now after he betrayed all of them, his options are much more narrow. The
one he already tried to position himself as "anti-socialist" and use Venezuela as a trial balloon for attracting this segment
of voters. Of course his posture is fake, but some fish might swallow this hook. Although in the USA everything
is possible. But it is clear not that he is a part of neoliberal establishment, "national neoliberalism" promoter so to speak.
His anti-war track record is non-existent (Syria bombings, Iran and Korean saber-rattling, launching Venezuela color revolution,
weapons supplies to Ukraine, support of Yemen war, etc) and his anti-corruption and pro white-collar stance now is a sad, nasty
joke (Javanka, "Trump university" scam, his appointments). He essentially did nothing for blue collar voters who secured his victory
in 2015 presenting them "tax cut for rich" as a substitute. So most probably the lion share of those votes now are going to Tulsi
and Warren, respectively, not to Trump. If remaining votes are enough to overcome the opposition, then God bless.
The main issue in this election is that the Neoliberal Imperial Oligarchy has now taken off the mask. They have abandoned the pretense
of "Coke Pepsi" two party competition to unite to defend the interests on neoliberal oligarchy, with WikiLeaks detailing the gory details
of their corruption and malfeasance. Essentially they represent a single party, the joint party of MIC and Wall Street. But they
will fight furiously and might try to accomplish with Tulsi the same dirty trick as they accomplished with Sanders in 2016, using her
as a sheepdog.
I would say it does. In a sense Israel should be viewed as a part of MIC lobby. Trump inflated military spending, including nuclear
weapons and military assistance to Israel. All this actions raise serious wuestion and Us infrastructure is in decay and standard of
living of the bottom 80% of population continues to slide.
According to journalist URI Friedman, the United States has been fighting terrorism with a credit card for more than 15 years, naming
this just a socialism for MIC. Perhaps the country might change the course only after the next financial collapse ( a decade expired
after the collapse of 2008, so it can happen anytime soon). If the collapse happens before elections then Trump is doomed.
Pandering of Trump administration
to Israel should be viewed in the context of Trump links to MIC, not as an isolated phenomena: Israel should be viewed as a part of
MIC lobby.The Trump administration’s recent steps in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should surely lay to rest any doubts about
the enormous, and dangerous, power of the Israel lobby in Washington. Under Trump, the lobby has shown it can wield unprecedented influence
– even by its usual standards – in flagrant disregard for all apparent US interests.
First, there was the move this month of the US embassy to Jerusalem, not quietly but on the 70th anniversary of the most sensitive
day in the Palestinian calendar, Nakba Day. That is when Palestinians commemorate their mass expulsion from their homeland in 1948.
By relocating the embassy, Trump gave official US blessing to tearing up the 25-year-old peace process – and in choosing Nakba Day for
the move, he rubbed the noses of Palestinians, and by extension the Arab world, in their defeat. Then, the White House compounded the
offence by lauding Israeli snipers who massacred dozens of unarmed Palestinians protesting at the perimeter fence around Gaza the same
day. A series of statements issued by the White House could have been written by Israel’s far-right prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
himself.
At the United Nations, the US blocked a Security Council resolution calling for the massacre to be investigated, while Nikki Haley,
Trump’s UN envoy,
observed to fellow delegates: “No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.”
None of these moves served any obvious US national interest, nor did Trump’s decision the previous week to tear up the 2015 nuclear
accord with Iran that has long been reviled by the Israeli government. In fact, quite the contrary: These actions risk inflaming tensions
to the point of a regional war that could quickly drag in the major powers, or provoke terror attacks on US soil.
All of these various lobbies have long wielded significant power in Washington, but remained largely separate. In recent years, their
interests have come to overlap considerably, making Israel ever more unassailable in US politics.
Under Trump, their agendas have aligned so completely that this multi-headed lobby has as good as collectively captured the presidency
on matters that concern it most.
That is not to say that the Israel lobby will not face future challenges. Other pressures are emerging in reaction to the unaccountable
power of the Israel lobby, including progressive voices in US politics that are, for the first time, breaking with the long-standing
bipartisan nature of the debate about Israel.
Bernie Sanders’s unexpected surge in the Democratic nomination race for the presidency, the rise of the international boycott, divestment
and sanctions (BDS) movement, the growing alienation of young US Jews from Israel, and the US public’s ever-greater exposure on social
media to Israel’s crimes are signs of trends it will be difficult for Israel to counter or reverse.
But Israel is getting its way at the moment. But hubris is a fault we have been warned about since the time of the ancient Greeks.
Israel may yet come to learn a little humility – the hard way.
|
Assuming something is cobbled together worth opening impeachment hearings over, the Republican majority in the Senate
is still unlikely to convict. Trump will run for reelection in 2020. Will public opinion, empathy, following impeachment proceedings,
help him as it did Bill Clinton? How many voters will see through this politicization of the constitutional process? How many
Democrats who wanted real progress on health care and immigration will see this all as just a
waste of time, their midterm votes squandered on a circus?
Peter Van Buren •
March 11, 2019
|
This will be the first elections
in the USA history which are run after unsuccessful color revolution against sitting President (aka Russiagate), and unprecedented
McCarthyism-style witch hunt unleashed against him.
Successfully played against Trump the Special Prosecutor gambit (with Rosenstein as the Trojan horse and Comey as sacrificial
pawn) might be viewed the first color revolution against sitting President in the history of the USA that did not yet resulted
in removal of the President from his position (if we do not view JFK assassination and Nixon Watergate as two previous color revolutions;
Bush senior was involved in both). And as such Russiagate will got to history books along with Kennedy assassination, Nixon impeachment
and 9/11 as a watershed event for the county.
The witch hunt against Trump, the game which he was not supposed to win, unmasked the level of politicization and corruption within
higher echelons of FBI, pernicious connection of its counterterrorism division to CIA and blatant disregard of the law.
for that we should be grateful to Trump, but only for that.
Still, in a way Trump is an anomaly which defied the concerted rigging of election by neoliberals including Wall Street money and
the mainstream media presstitutes.
Recently Trump tried to position himself as a fighter against socialism. How successful is this phony positioning (with his tax cuts
he proved to be an advocate of corporate socialism) remain to be seen. He remain a shallow. inexperienced, somewhat impulsive politician,
who betrayed his voters.
Despite all Trump faults and his unpreparedness to the position of the President of the USA, the color revolution against
Trump launched by Deep State is still deeply wrong and deeply troubling. Especially the role FBI, CIA, and especially MI6 (Steele
dossier), played in it. But to defend Trump now would be just the defense of the constitution, not the particular person.
In this sense, and only in this sense he still deserves our sympathy and support.
Russiagate has shown to all thinking people in the USA and all people of the world that the real rulers of the USA. And it
is not sitting President and his administration, but intelligence agencies, MIC (which includes Israel lobby) and Wall Street (so called
the Deep State)
Will sympathy to Trump as a victim of vicious witch hunt overweight resentment from his betrayal of his voters in the same way as
Obama faced in 2010 against Romney is difficult to say. But now I see the point when Trump is called "Republican Obama".
Obama managed to win his second term despite blatant betrayal of his voters because he faced much weaker candidate. Who
will be Trump opponent in 2020 election remains to be seen, but neither Liz Warren, nor Tulsi Gabbard will give him the same advantages
as running against universally hated neocon warmonger Hillary. Also Obama was a "CIA-democrat" who enjoyed unconditional
support of intelligence agencies both in the USA and UK. Which is not true for Trump.
The other important legacy of 2016 election is the role of British intelligence serves and surviving Obama faction in CIA and FBI
(which is essentially the same of neocon faction). in 2016 intelligence agencies emerged as kingmakers, throwing Sanders under
the bus and allowing neocon warmonger Hillary (who
has suffered at least five fainting spells on public ) to run against Trump -- which led to surprising Trump victory.
Elections 2020 might be the fist when the USA might have anti-war candidate -- Tulsi Gabbard. But neoliberals and neocons are
like new generation of Bolsheviks -- dishonest, Machiavellian and power hungry to the extreme and will do everything to push her
under the bus. Add to this oversize role of intelligence agencies which like a new Praetorian Guard pretend for the role of kingmakers.
I think Trump already lost most of independent voters, who voted for him in 2016, and lion share of anti-war votes (if he invades
Venezuela he will lost all of them).
He also will not enjoy the huge privilege of running against Hillary, and as such is not longer entitled to "anybody but Hillary"
vote, which probably was at least 10% of all votes for him and, in fact, propelled him to the Presidency.
Because "Trump University" story was enough for anybody with IQ above 100 to understand some negative trait of this person.
The fact the Democratic field is highly fractured and more then a dozen candidates compete in 2002 elections can help, but
not by much as only three main candidates have any chances to get finish line.
With the help of "DemoRats" (Clinton neoliberal democrats faction of the Democratic Party) as well US and British intelligence
agencies a new scapegoat for Hillary fiasco in election, a new American enemy that might help to unite divided bation
has been manufactured in the form of the Russian Federation and its President, Vladimir Putin, who drew the ire of the Washington for
resisting the US hegemony. This reached a crescendo in 2018 when DemoRats won the Congress. The dubious accusations of election
interference made by the same intelligence agencies that sold the pack of lies that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction are not
new.
But alarmingly they become "Official US Truth" (OUT) in Washington propaganda NewSpeak and challenging any of them can cost
a candidate a lot. Tulsi already feels the wrath on neocon -- those greedy and unscrupulous lobbyists for MIC. BTW the most rabid neocons
from the US establishment has even likened the alleged intrusion by Moscow to 9/11 forgetting that this analogy holds if and only if
we view both as false flag operations, conducted by CIA with the help of Mossad, MI6 and other "fiends".
Warren will also soon find herself under fire from Wall Street. That's for sure. And that can help Trump.
Trump's rhetorical efforts to sell himself as the “anti-war”
president have been exposed as a fraud. Moreover it's hard to tell who’s in charge in the Trump administration. In case
of assassination of General Soleimani looks like this evilgelical "Rupture" nut Pompeo was the key figure. Trump hired a dozen of
Bush II neocons, who not only do not
support his agenda but openly defy (Pompeo, Haley, Pence, Ester) and betray (Fiona Hill) him. Here is one insightful comment
from unz.com (the site that well represents anti-war right):
Neocons Pompeo and Bolton are the two most warlike consiglieres I have witnessed in my lifetime. It certainly appears
that, one way or the other, they will get their war against someone, anyone. They may be concerned that time is running out, since
their boss has less than a 50% chance of re-election. Let’s see, will it be Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia – or
all of them at once?
... ... ...
I take that back. I forgot about Queen Hillary and her delight over Colonel Gadhafi’s gruesome death by bayonet up the anus.
@follyofwar
Neocons Pompeo and Bolton are the two most warlike consiglieres I have witnessed in my lifetime.
These two d*ckheads were hand picked by Trump….but his base is too stupid to see Trump is a part of the Deep State.
Actually Trump lost anti-war republicans after the first three month of his presidency. As of January 2020 contributions to
Sanders from members of the US military exceeded their contributions to Trump. Probably he did not value military lives that much,
and they feel it.
In this sense Trump is
treasonous turncoat. That does not make his the establishment candidate: please do not forget this silly and extremely dangerous neo-McCarthyism Russiagate
compaign unleashed against him, which culminated in Ukrainegate and impeachment by the House. For some reason corrupt, completely in pocket
of Wall Street, DemoRats (aka Clinton wing of Democratic party) and intelligence agencies careerists like Brennan and Clapper
never count him of "their" guy, no matter how hard he tried to please them:
libezkova -> sanjait... ,
April 10, 2017 at 04:17 PM
"Trump and Putin are both Kabuki theater specialists who use foreign military adventurism to stoke nationalism and distract
from other issues."
It was Obama and Hillary who were Kabuki theater specialists. The first was Nobel Price winner, my God. Real Kabuki Theater.
But especially Hillary. Remember Libya theater and poor Colonel Gaddafi, sodomized with the bayonet. We came, we saw. he died.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y
Trump campaigned on non-interventionism platform. Almost paleo--conservative platform. And on April 6 he lost "anti-war right".
And even some part of anti-war left ( Sanders supporters who really hated Hillary for her jingoism and corruption ) who supported
him holding the nose. Probably forever.
That might have consequences for him because he lost support from politically active and important segment of his electorate.
Which to certain extent protected him from impeachment as the last thing DemoRats want are fierce protests up to armed clashes
with alt-right afterward.
If his calculation was that DemoRats (neoliberal Democrats) are now also a War party, so it does not matter, he probably badly
miscalculated.
He now needs to worry what Russians might have on him because Wikileaks or other similar sites might get some interesting materials.
Of course Pence would be even more horrible POTUS, and revenge is a dish that better serve cold, but still he probably did not
sleep well after this "Monica" show of strength.
He also probably can forget about any compromises of the style "something for nothing" (as previous presidents enjoyed from
Russia in a wane hope of improving relations between two countries) from Russians for a while.
Only things prepaid with yuans from now on ;-).
The whole move smells with "Monica" and Iraq WDM: "Shoot first ask questions later".
Now he really can be impeached by DemoRats with impunity and there will be little on no protests. But now, when he surrendered
to neocons, why DemoRats take trouble to impeach him?
In other words, from April 6 "Agent Orange" is walking in his new clothing like naked king from Andersen tale.
Trump tax cut was an an insult. He cut taxes for his family and friends, not for his voters.
How Trump won The revenge of working-class whites - The Washington Post
he won using thiser votes and then betrayed him with the same ease as OPbama did
For the past 40 years, America's economy has raked blue-collar white men over the coals. It whittled their paychecks. It devalued
the type of work they did best. It shuttered factories and mines and shops in their communities. New industries sprouted in cities
where they didn't live, powered by workers with college degrees they didn't hold.
They were not the only ones who felt abandoned by a rapidly globalizing economy, but they developed a distinctly strong pessimism
in its face.
On Tuesday, their frustrations helped elect Donald Trump, the first major-party nominee of the modern era to speak directly and
relentlessly to their economic and cultural fears. It was a “Brexit” moment in America, a revolt of working-class whites who felt
stung by globalization and uneasy in a diversifying country where their political power had seemed to be diminishing
It was a rejection of the business-friendly policies favored at various points by elites in both parties, which deepened trade
relationships with foreign countries and favored allowing more immigrants in. And it was a raw outburst at the trends of rising inequality
and economic dislocation that defined America's economy thus far this century.
Whites without a college degree — men and women — made up a third of the 2016 electorate. Trump won them by 39 percentage
points, according to exit polls, far surpassing 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney's 25 percent margin. They were the foundation
of his victories across the Rust Belt, including a blowout win in Ohio and stunning upsets in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In polling, these voters have expressed deep racial and cultural anxieties. In exit polls they were more likely than the country
as a whole to say that illegal immigrants should be deported. But those polls also suggested economic concerns and hostility toward
leaders in Washington were much more important factors driving them to Trump.
[Markets plunge worldwide as Trump surges to White House]
Half of these voters said the economy was the most important issue in their vote, compared to 14 percent for immigration. A majority
said international trade takes away American jobs. Three-quarters said the economy is “not good” or “poor” and nearly 8 in 10 said
their personal financial situation was the same or worse than it was four years ago. Two-thirds said they preferred Trump to handle
the economy instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton, compared with less than half of the electorate overall.
Trump attempt to privatize Veteran Administration hospitals and health care faces stiff resistance of veterans (
“Doubling Down”
With Private Care Push, Trump’s VA — ProPublica, Jan 30, 2019 )
When Congress passed a bill last year to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs, lawmakers said they were getting rid of
arbitrary rules for when the government would pay for veterans to see private doctors.
Under the old program, veterans could go to the private sector if they would have to wait 30 days or travel 40 miles for care
in the VA. Lawmakers
and veterans
groups, including
conservatives, criticized those rules as arbitrary. The new law, known as
the Mission Act, was supposed to let doctors and patients decide whether to use private sector based on individualized health needs.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration proposed new rules, known as access standards, to automatically make veterans eligible
for private care. Instead of 30 days, it’s 20 days for primary care or 28 days for specialty care. Instead of 40 miles, it’s a 30-minute
drive for primary care or a 60-minute drive for specialty care.
The announcement appeared to do little to settle the debate over whether the VA’s rules are arbitrary.
“Twenty days is just as arbitrary as 30 days,” Bob Wallace, the executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the largest
veterans service organizations, said in a statement.
What is clear about the new rules is that they are dramatically more permissive. The new drive-time standard alone will make 20
percent of veterans eligible for private primary care and 31 percent eligible for private specialty care, up from 8 percent for both
kinds of care under the old program, according to a
briefing document circulated on Capitol
Hill.
“This is doubling down on the administrative rules such as drive times and wait times,” said David Shulkin, the former VA secretary
who was fired last year by President Donald Trump, in part over disagreements about this bill. “I was in favor of a system that was
clinically based, that put veterans’ needs first and allowed the right match of services. This is just changing and loosening the
administrative rules.”
VA spokeswoman Susan Carter declined to comment.
Last month, a ProPublica
investigation
of the private-care program that the administration is now expanding found overhead costs that were much higher than industry standards
and comparable government programs. In response to the article, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie
acknowledged that the agency
was “taken advantage of” with these overhead costs and vowed to improve.
On the campaign trail, Trump presented himself as a champion for veterans, and as president he frequently boasts about what his
administration has done for former service members. But at the same time, he has enthusiastically supported shifting more veterans
to private medical care, over the objection of major veterans groups that want to preserve the VA’s health system. He has also plunged
the VA into chaos by upending his own leadership team at the agency and handing vast influence to three men nicknamed the “Mar-a-Lago
Crowd” because they meet at the president’s resort in Florida.
The new access standards are the most important step toward reshaping the VA in line with Trump’s vision of enlarging the private
sector’s role.
“None of this should be a surprise to anybody: President Trump has made it clear from pretty much the moment he started running
he wanted full choice,” said Dan Caldwell, the executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, a political group that advocates
for more private care and that is backed by the Koch brothers, the industrialists who have donated hundreds of millions of dollars
to conservative causes. “This does get us closer to full choice. That’s the model we want to get to.”
The VA is planning to continue widening the access standards, dropping the wait time for primary care to 14 days in 2020, according
the agency’s briefing materials.
Already, according to the document, almost half of the VA’s primary care sites (69 out of 141) have wait times longer than 20
days, meaning their patients could get private care. In gastroenterology, 81 out of 128 sites have waits longer than 28 days. But,
the document cautioned, “This data is not reliable.”
According to people present for briefings on Wednesday, congressional staff and veterans groups had a long list of questions that
largely went unanswered by VA officials. Among them:
- How many more veterans will become eligible for private care based on the wait times standards?
- How does the software that the VA bought from Microsoft calculate drive times?
- How many more patients does the VA expect to choose private care?
- How many more private-sector appointments does the VA expect to pay for?
- How many more veterans will sign up for VA benefits, or use the VA instead of their other insurance coverage, now that they
could see private doctors at no cost to them?
- How will the VA ensure, as required by the Mission Act, that veterans referred to the private sector can get appointments
there sooner than they could in the VA? (The VA’s briefing materials said average national wait times are higher than in the VA.)
“They just didn’t provide a whole lot of answers to questions about the impact,” said Carl Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America’s
executive director. “The fact is it’s going to open up eligibility. It’s debatable whether there are adequate resources to do so.
What won’t be acceptable is for them to take money from other programs in the VA to pay for it.”
The unanswered questions could dramatically change the program’s cost. The
official notice for the new rules on the
website for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs says the “Anticipated Costs and Benefits” are “TBD.” In Wednesday’s
briefings, officials said the new access standards will increase the agency’s expenses by $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion next year
and by $19 billion to $20 billion over five years, the people present said.
Lawmakers have cast doubt on the VA’s cost projections. In a
letter to Wilkie on Monday, 28 Democratic senators noted that officials had provided “widely varying and potentially contradictory”
figures depending on the day.
“I don’t know why they’re not using the resources we used to model this,” said Nancy Schlichting, the former CEO of the Henry
Ford Health System who led a congressionally chartered commission that in 2016 issued a report on the VA’s future. The commission
estimated that paying for veterans to see private doctors without a referral from the VA could increase costs by $96 billion
to $179 billion a year.
“It’s very, very unsophisticated, frankly,” Schlichting said of the administration’s proposal.
When debating the Mission Act, lawmakers relied on a projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that
assumed the rate of veterans
using the private sector would stay about the same. That assumption has now been blown up by the way the administration is implementing
the law.
“Today’s announcement hastily rolling out new access standards places core VA services and vital research programs at risk by
shifting money towards care outside VA,” House veterans committee chairman Mark Takano said in a statement on Wednesday, vowing to
hold a hearing. “Today’s announcement places VA on a pathway to privatization and leads Congress to assume the worst.”
Wilkie had moved to pre-empt such criticism. “Some will claim falsely and predictably that they represent a first
step toward privatizing the department,” he said in a
lengthy statement on Monday, two days before the
news access standards were announced.
As evidence, Wilkie said appointments in the VA’s health system have increased by 3.4 million since 2014 to more than 58 million
in 2018. But his statement did not mention how much the VA’s private-sector appointments have grown: more than four times as much.
According to agency data provided to ProPublica, the VA’s private-care appointments increased by 14.9 million since 2014 to 33.2
million in 2017. Private care accounted for 37 percent of the VA’s total outpatient appointments in 2017, up from 25 percent in 2014,
the data shows.
In developing these access standards, Wilkie relied extensively on Darin Selnick, who previously worked for Concerned Veterans
for America, the organization supported by the Koch brothers. Selnick signed onto an
infamous 2016 proposal to dismantle the VA’s government-run health system. Selnick also
worked closely with
the trio of unofficial advisers known as the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”
Selnick sat on the “executive steering committee” in charge of implementing the Mission Act and reported directly to Wilkie as
a senior adviser, according to an organization chart obtained by ProPublica. However, when the VA presented a version of the same
chart to Congress at a December hearing, Selnick’s name was not there.
Lawmakers voted for the Mission Act with the understanding that access standards would automatically trigger private care for
only a few kinds of services, such as lab tests, X-rays and urgent care, the 28 Senate Democrats said. But now the administration
is making the access standards apply to everything, a plan that ProPublica
first revealed
in November.
“This proposal risks needlessly siphoning away VA resources to private providers, which could irresponsibly starve excellent existing
VA clinics and hospitals,” Senate veterans committee member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement on Wednesday.
Lawmakers and the public may not get more information about the how the program will be funded until the White House releases
its budget for 2020. But officials have indicated
they won’t submit the president’s budget to Congress on time, blaming the 35-day partial government shutdown. The shutdown did not
affect the VA, but it did furlough staff in the Office of Management and Budget, putting the VA at risk of being late on the Mission
Act regulations that are due in June, according to an agency report obtained by ProPublica.
The VA recently chose Optum, a division of UnitedHealth
Group, to take over administering the new private-care program in most of the country. However, because the agency was late in awarding
the contracts, Optum won’t be ready to start when the new program is supposed to take effect in June.
In the interim, program will be run by TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the old vendor that charged unusually high fees. TriWest has
also filed a formal protest challenging the VA’s decision to hire Optum. The
dispute will be adjudicated by the Government Accountability Office.
Help us investigate: Do you know what’s going on at the VA? Are you a VA employee or a veteran who receives VA
benefits and services? Contact Isaac Arnsdorf at 917-512-0256 or
[email protected] Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.
Correction, Feb. 5, 2019: This story, relying on incorrect calculations from the Department of Veterans Affairs,
originally misstated the proportion of total VA outpatient appointments in the private sector. It was 37 percent in 2017, up from
25 percent in 2014; not 58 percent in 2017, up from 33 percent in 2014.
As Clinton wing launched a color revolution against Trump, the USA now is not a newcomer to using color revolutions mechanisms as
a political tool. I do not see why this some Gene Sharp recommendation can't be implemented by Eliabeth Warren in 2020 race against
Trump -- who is a perfect opponent for any anti-corruption crusader.
A fearsome the anti-corruption campaign can be launched against Trump administration too member of which has had its share of transgressions
and scandals. In a way Trump is an ideal political sparring partner for an anti-corruption candidate, who can be send into knockdown
with relatively modest effort. Just the story of Trump university
( a classic "bait and switch" scheme) if properly revived can so a real damage (hint -- he settled the NY lawsuit for 25 millions).
And Warren is a more formidable opponent for Trump in this area that those two weaklings of 2016 Presidential race: Marco Rubio and
Ted Cruz (The Sad Story of Trump 'University'
):
I don't know anything about starting a university, and that was a fake university," Rubio said as Trump repeatedly tried to interrupt
him. "There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now. $36,000 to go to a university that's
a fake school. And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump."
"I've won most of the lawsuits," Trump protested.
Cruz also got in on the act. "You know, Marco made reference earlier to the litigation against Trump University. It's a fraud
case. His lawyers have scheduled the trial for July," he said. "I want you to think about, if this man is the nominee, having the
Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud. You don't think the mainstream media
will go crazy on that?"
Friday morning on NBC's Today, Rubio kept the heat on Trump for his "fake school." "You have a guy who is being sued right now
for fraud for Trump University," said Rubio. "I've had stories written about my driving record."
Warren really has teeth in this area and Trump will feel very very uncomfortable in any debate that raises this topic.
Kushner crossed the line from using his First Amendment right to speak freely about government policy into subverting official US
foreign policy in favor of Israel very early, even before his father-in-law inauguration. He attempted via Flynn to influence
the vote of Russia on UN anti-Israel resolution. It did not work well (but was fraudulently used to fueled Russiagate hysteria) and
got Flynn into hot water. Later Flynn was deliberately ambushed by Muller and caught in lies to FBI. So Flynn was the first
victim of Kushner pro-Israel machinations.
Later Donald Trump had appointed Jared Kushner to be his point-person on US relations with the Middle East. The latter was specifically
charged with forging an Israel-Palestine peace plan, which Trump, in typical flamboyant fashion, called "the ultimate deal". Essentially
appointing a Zionist with zero experience in international diplomacy and close connections to stanch Zionist Netanyahu (and this distrusted
by Palestinians) to run this intricate negotiation. The result was predictable. In June 2019 Pompeo declared this plan DOA.
Both Israeli elite and leaders throughout the region were stunned that the US had appointered real estate speculator with resolving
one of the world’s most difficult diplomatic problem. Moreover Kushner has made significant donations to Israeli settlements, was already
known to be heavily pro-Israel in his approach. For some reason he determined that the Saudis were the key to unlock the Arab
part of the equation. So he’s made three visits to the Saudi kingdom in the past year. He brought his father-in-law on the latter’s
first foreign trip as president to visit King Salman and the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. This was an astonishing turn in US relations.
Cultivate the Saudi royals, expecting them to “bring along” the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world towards that "ultimate"
peace deal was a bold and risky gamble to forge Israel-Saudi alliance. It was also very risky step with a lot of diplomatic fallout.
With the rel possibility of creating the alliance of Turkey, Iran and Qatar opposing fledging Isreal-Saudi alliance pushed by Kushner.
Due to his close association with Israel Kushner is putting US Middle East policy in lock-step with Israel. That certainly leaves the
Palestinians, among others, out in the cold.
Due to his continuing business deal in foreign countries Kushner also has problem obtaining the security clearances. Trump
overruled FBI experts which were reluctant to grant this clearance. Brennan recently described this is some detail (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1BSmwJb6gs ) Kushner also has albatross about
his neck in a form of skyscraper called 333 Fifth Avenue (
Kushner, Inc Vicky Ward on How Jared and Ivanka’s Greed & Ambition Compromise
U.S. Foreign Policy - YouTube ). Loan 1.4 billon was coming due and no America lender with touch it. So he badly needed a foreign
investor. The Trump-Kushner “pivot” toward Saudi Arabia accords along with a similar Israeli embrace of the House of Saud also
was directed against Trump arch-enemy -- Iran. He eventually got money from Qatar -- on unimaginably favorite conditions (99 year lease
for 1.3 billion)
Kushner and Ivanka were also instrumental is pushing out of Trump administration several key people, such as Bannon.
Violating the Logan Act
The Wall Street Journal reported a new development in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation: did Jared Kushner violate the
Logan Act whenr he lobbied UN Security Council members to sabotage a resolution denouncing Israeli settlements. The act dates back to
the earliest days of the republic when the USA was much weaker then European powers. Who were eager to interfere with the domestic and
foreign affairs of weaker states. For that reason, American legislators passed the Logan Act which prohibited private citizens from
becoming agents of foreign states in trying to influence US foreign policy.
The curious case of Jared Kushner and the
Israel lobby Middle East Eye
The Act, as it was implemented, became something of a double-edged sword as it enabled the political party in power to target
anyone in the opposition who exercised his right to lobby for a particular policy regarding various foreign states.
Eventually, virtually everyone realised that a weapon you used against an opponent could be wielded against you once you were
out of power. So the Act fell into limbo. Only one individual was ever charged with violating it and he was never prosecuted.
But news that Kushner was under suspicion of violating the Act raised interesting issues. Though many US politicians have been
accused of being shills for Israel and the Israel lobby holds sway over an enormous number of legislators, and though numerous Americans
have been convicted of spying on Israel's behalf, no one has ever been convicted of harming the interests of the US for Israel's
sake.
In fact, the rallying cry of the lobby is that there is no difference between Israeli and US interests. In other words, when you
work on behalf of Israel's interests, you're also advancing America's. Of course, this is utter nonsense. It turns both countries
into awkwardly conjoined Siamese twins.
Kushner is placing US Middle East policy in lock-step with Israel. That certainly leaves the Palestinians, among others, out in
the cold
That's certainly what Kushner did in this case: Netanyahu, who initiated the request for Trump's intervention in the UN affair,
wanted to fend off the resolution at all costs. It was originally put forward by Egypt.
As Vicky Ward, the author of
Kushner, Inc. Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump told
Democracy Now the joke is
Bebi Netanyahu was the US Secretary of State the last two years.
Here is a counple comments from Youtube that refect prevalent sentiments of the audience
If Trump did something useful in dismantling neoliberalism in the USA it would be his discreditation of the neoliberal
MSM, such as CNN, MSNBC, NYT and WaPo.
Here Trump, surprisingly, did play a rare positive role, sometimes helping to unmask those "rascals of the pen", the presstitutes
of financial oligarchy which rules the country. thanks to Trump, CNN now is now called "Clinton News Channel", NYT
-- "the CIA bulletin", and WaPo -- "Bezos' blog".
Neoliberalism is now in decline, and with it is in decline the international
influence and significance of the USA. Many people in the USA started to understand that neoliberalism destroyed their well-being and
continue to do so. That's why they, after "serial betrayer" Obama "bait and switch" maneuver, Trump managed to lob a hand grenade
into the Capitol and White House blowing out Hillary chances.
That means that in 2020 Trump can't position himself in the same way as in 2016 as now he has considerable and controversial political
baggage as a defender of the US neoliberal empire. Most of the items in this part of his baggage are pretty disappointing.
Trump administration looks like Bush III administration and is infected with neocons and representatives of financial oligarchy.
As "Personnel is policy" you can easily guess what policies they pursued and Trump did nothing to stimulate employment in the USA and
to stop migration of jobs from the USA oversees. And he was elected on the promises to stop outsourcing and offshoring of
US jobs.
Tim Swift in his article Trump v Republican elite - the
split explained outlined several election-time difference. The net result after two years of Trump administration are close
to zero. Trump stance on NATO changed. Trump stance on Russia became undistinguishable from Obama polices.
Mr Trump describes himself as a "commonsense conservative" and the fact that his message has earned him millions of Republican
votes suggests a fracture between the grassroots and leadership.
Here are five key issues upon which the billionaire businessman diverges from Republican orthodoxy as represented by leaders like
Mr Ryan and presidents of the past.
- Immigration
- Mainstream Republicans: Traditionally Republicans have favoured increased immigration in keeping with the party's
close relationship with the business community. Both President Ronald Reagan and President George HW Bush extended amnesty
to millions of undocumented workers while in office. Mainstream Republican figures such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio initially
favoured similar immigration reforms that would have provided a "path to citizenship", but those efforts stopped after meeting
resistance from more conservative members of Congress.
- Trump: Views on immigration have shifted rightward across the Republican Party in recent years, but Mr Trump's views
are some of the most extreme in American politics. He has:
- advocated deporting nearly 11 million undocumented workers
- called for a border wall to be built between the US and Mexico
- said he would force Mexico to pay for the wall by threatening to ban Mexicans in the US from sending remittances
home
Most Republicans oppose mass deportations. While they support increased border security, they do not advocate a border wall
paid for by the Mexican government.
- International trade
- Mainstream Republicans: Republicans have long supported trade agreement such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
(Nafta), which increased trade between Canada, the US and Mexico in the 1990s. Many Republicans in the Congress currently support
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pending trade agreement between the US and many Pacific Rim countries. Supporters of these
agreements say the pacts increase economic growth and enhance American competitiveness in the global market.
- Trump: Mr Trump has aggressively criticised international trade agreements, particularly NAFTA, saying the pacts
have harmed the US manufacturing sector and cost millions of US jobs. He has pointed to the country's massive trade deficit
with China, saying tariffs are needed to address the imbalance. Most Republicans oppose tariffs, saying they would spark a
trade war that would damage the economy.
- Foreign policy
- Mainstream Republicans: Republicans have long supported a muscular foreign policy and have not shied away from supporting
the use of military force aboard. While generally opposed to government spending, Republicans make a key exception for defence
spending, allowing the US military to maintain scores of bases overseas and protect the interests of its allies in Europe and
the Pacific.
- Trump: Mr Trump has been a vocal critic of the Iraq War and says the US need not be the world's policeman. While
Mr Trump has supported strengthening the military, he says he would do so by extracting concessions from allies. He has repeatedly
said the US should rethink its commitments to Nato, saying other member countries do not pay their fair share of the organization's
budget. He has also floated an idea that South Korea and Japan could arm themselves with nuclear weapons - eliminating the
need for US protection.
- Social services
- Mainstream Republicans: A key faction of the Republican Party is made of fiscal conservatives who view the federal
deficit as a major long-term problem for the country. After defence spending, two social services programmes that benefit the
elderly - Social Security and Medicare - are the next biggest contributors to the deficit. Social Security provides living
expenses for workers older than 65 and Medicare provides health care benefits to older Americans. Republicans - in particularly
Mr Ryan - have long supported changes to Social Security and Medicare that would turn those programmes over to the private
market. Mr Ryan currently supports turning Medicare into a programme in which the government provides vouchers that would be
used to purchase private insurance.
- Trump: Efforts to make changes to Social Security and Medicare are deeply unpopular with American voters. Mr
Trump has said he would not make cuts or changes to those programmes and instead he would bolster their funding sources by
strengthening the US economy and reallocating some foreign aid to the coffers of Social Security and Medicare.
Despite his campaign rhetoric (“our foreign policy is a complete and total disaster”; “we’re rebuilding other countries while weakening
our own”), Trump used the playbook of the neocon foreign-policy. He practiced typical gagster capitalism, well know from previous administration
which unleashed wars in Iraq and Libya. he continued the war in Syria, but as elections 2020 became close decided to withdraw
some troops, still leaving small contingent in the country; effectively relocation them across the border to Iraq. He decided
to withdraw from the Intermediate Missiles Treaty with Russia, the treaty that was tremendously beneficial to The USA.
He continue the war in Afghanistan. In short, Trump policy is really undistinguishable from the Policies that Hillary might pursue,
strengthening the assertion that Presidents perform mainly ceremonial duties legitimizing the regime in the eyes of voters. And the
real foreign policy decisions are done by the Deep State. Which make the USA radically different from what we understand as a democratic
country. It is a typical "inverted totalitarism" regime with gif leaf of election covering like the smoke screen the brutal and
directed against the interests of people of the USA policies of financial oligarchy and MIC (neocons are just lobbyists for MIC)
The withdrawal from tremendously beneficial to the USA INF treaty with Russia is another nail into Trump political coffin.
Most experts view it as both reckless and stupid move (as most Trump moves in foreign policy), which advances interests
of MIC and its despicable lobbyists like Boot, Kristol and Kagan. But not the security and well-being of American people.
The USA foreign policy after 1991 can be compared with
Third Reich polices. It has the slogan
"America Uber Alles", which can he tattooed on the foreheads of Bolton and Pompeo. In essence after collapse of the USSR on 1991
the Washington elite tried to position the USA as the "ruler of Earth", which drained the country resources and impoverished the
majority of population while enriching MIC and financial oligarchy (all wars are bankers wars).
Trump definitely is not a diplomat. His methods are taken from the playbook of organized crime, and he himself looks more and more
like NYC racketeer. He essentially operated more like a gangster selling his protection racket, than as a mature politician
and skillful diplomat (remember the quip attributed to Al Capone "You can get more with
a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word.").
His foreign policy was a typical neocon foreign policy. With the only positive step so far of Syria withdrawal after bombing the
Assad air force three time, the air force which is fighting against the USA supported Islamic State fighters , essentially serving
as ISIS air force (which in reality means movement of forces over the border to Iraq). And even this withdrawal is incomplete
(around 500 troops are left in the county; left illegally). This withdrawal is a bone thrown to his former anti-war voters, it
too little too late and is offset by his saber-rattling with Venezuela. He betrayed Kurds and strained relations with Turkey
-- a unique diplomatic achievement.
That means that in 2020 he can't count on anti-war voters, which was significant fraction of independents who votes for him
despite all his faults
While neocons are now very happy with his foreign policies, most of them (for example Max Boot, Kagan and Kristol ) defected
to Democratic Party and will try to damage his reelection bid. Association with neocons and bringing several of them into administration
(which as infested with neocons as Bush II administration) is a self-defeating policy and might further diminish his chances for reelection.
Even some members of establishment started to realize that Trump neocons such as Pompeo and Bolton are dangerous for the country
(better late, then never ;-). See for example Stephen Walt’s
The Hell of Good Intentions. Here
is one Amazon comment
C. Overgaard
A Powerful Critique of US Foreign Policy November 4, 2018
This is a well written, well researched, and well reasoned criticism of Liberal Hegemony (“LH”). LH rests on the belief that the
United States is uniquely positioned to spread democracy and shape the international system to promote international peace and
prosperity. LH has led to the invasion of Iraq, military efforts in Afghanistan, and counterterrorism operations in Somalia, Yemen,
Libya and Syria. The results, according to Walt, are not favorable:
- Our military operations have been costly in both dollars and lives but have had scant success;
- The number of violent extremists and the number of places where they are active is greater now then when Al Qaeda first
emerged;
- Our military efforts have created resentment because of civilian casualties;
- Our foreign activities have taken time, attention and resources away from pressing domestic concerns; and
- Efforts to promote democracy and human rights have gone into reverse with a decline in many countries of political rights
and civil liberties.
In spite of this, LH continues to be advocated almost universally in the media and by political and foreign policy commentators.
People who criticize its exercise are ostracized. Nevertheless, Walt names proponent’s names and few well known political and
military spokesmen are spared.
Walt reviews Trump’s foreign policy and military efforts and concludes he has made matters worse.
Walt presents a very persuasive alternative strategy that he calls Offshore Balancing. It would entail a continued strong military
but much less active military involvement in other countries and more use of diplomacy. This is truly a book well worth reading.
The only area where Trump was more or less consistent with his election promises was the immigration. But even here his record is
not that satisfactory as he missed his changes to build the Wall and retracted on many important issues like H1B visa, etc. In
this sense he might be helped by continuing crisis of Democratic Party (aka Demexit) and its inability to get rid off the corrupt to
the core Clinton wing of Dems.
Hs stance toward Israel is controversial and led to a sarcastic rewording of his slogan MAGA into MIGA. His behavior in Syria might
signify his complete political dependence on Israel lobby, which now is viewed suspiciously by most US voters. So
while Russiagate witch hunt tries to find connection between Trump and Russia (although connections between Trump and Russian mobsters
might really exists) the real scandal is the level of subservience of Trump toward Israel.
In his recent article "Averting World
Conflict with China" Ron Unz has come up with an intriguing suggestion for the Chinese government to turn the tables on the December
1 st arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada. Canada detained Mrs. Meng, CFO of the world's largest telecoms equipment manufacturer
Huawei, at the request of the United States so she could be extradited to New York to face charges that she and her company had
violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. The sanctions in question had been imposed unilaterally by Washington and it is widely believed
that the Trump Administration is sending a signal that when the ban on purchasing oil from Iran comes into full effect in May
there will be no excuses accepted from any country that is unwilling to comply with the U.S. government's demands. Washington
will exercise universal jurisdiction over those who violate its sanctions, meaning that foreign officials and heads of corporations
that continue to deal with Iran can be arrested when traveling internationally and will be extradited to be tried in American
courts.
There is, of course, a considerable downside to arresting a top executive of a leading foreign corporation from a country that
is a major U.S. trading partner and which also, inter alia, holds a considerable portion of the U.S. national debt. Ron Unz has
correctly noted the " extraordinary gravity of this international incident and its potential for altering the course of world
history." One might add that Washington's demands that other nations adhere to its sanctions on third countries opens up a Pandora's
box whereby no traveling executives will be considered safe from legal consequences when they do not adhere to policies being
promoted by the United States. Unz cites Columbia's
Jeffrey Sachs as describing
it as "almost a U.S. declaration of war on China's business community." If seizing and extraditing businessmen becomes the
new normal those countries most affected will inevitably retaliate in kind. China has already detained two traveling Canadians
to pressure Ottawa to release Mrs. Meng. Beijing is also contemplating some immediate retaliatory steps against Washington to
include American companies operating in China if she is extradited to the U.S.
Ron Unz has suggested that Beijing might just want to execute a quid pro quo by pulling the licenses of Sheldon Adelson's
casinos operating in Macau, China and shutting them down, thereby eliminating a major source of his revenue. Why go after an Israeli-American
casino operator rather than taking steps directly against the U.S. government? The answer is simple. Pressuring Washington is
complicated as there are many players involved and unlikely to produce any positive results while Adelson
is the prime mover on much of the Trump foreign policy, though one hesitates to refer to it as a policy at all.
Adelson is the world's leading diaspora Israel-firster and he has the ear of the president of the United States, who reportedly
speaks and meets with him regularly. And Adelson uses his considerable financial resources to back up his words of wisdom. He
is the fifteenth wealthiest man in America with a
reported fortune of $33 billion. He is the number one contributor to the GOP having given $81 million in the last cycle. Admittedly
that is chump change to him, but it is more than enough to buy the money hungry and easily corruptible Republicans.
In a certain sense, Adelson has obtained control of the foreign policy of the political party that now controls both the White
House and the Senate, and his mission in life is to advance Israeli interests. Among those interests is the continuous punishment
of Iran, which does not threaten the United States in any way, through employment of increasingly savage sanctions and threats
of violence, which brings us around to the arrest of Meng and the complicity of Adelson in that process. Adelson's wholly owned
talking head National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly had prior knowledge of the Canadian plans and may have actually
been complicit in their formulation. Adelson has also been the major force behind moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, has also
convinced the Administration to stop its criticism of the illegal Israeli settlements on Arab land and has been instrumental in
cutting off all humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. He prefers tough love when dealing with the Iranians,
advocating dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran as a warning
to the Mullahs of what more might be coming if they don't comply with all the American and Israeli demands.
His tax cuts benefitted mainly the rich -- clear betrayal of his 2016 platform, which emphasized creation of jobs for middle
class and improving the condition of workers. He adopted monstrous military budget which clearly is stealing funds from his voters.