Neocon stooge formerly known as Anti-Globalist
and Trump betrayal of his voters
All along Trump has been the candidate of the military. The other two power centers of
the power triangle , the corporate and
the executive government (CIA), had gone for Clinton. Trump, as the Pentagon's proxy, defeated Hillary the CIA proxy --
Moon of Alabama,
Oct 21, 2017
The real Donald Trump has been exposed. The man who promised a sensible and non-interventionist Middle Eastern
policy and a reset with Moscow has now reneged on both pledges.
His nitwit United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has
directly linked Russia and Syria for punishment by the omnipotent Leader of the Free World lest anyone be confused.
The unconscionable attack on Syria based on the usual unsubstantiated allegations has shifted the playing field dramatically,
with the “new sheriff in town” apparently intent on proving he is a real man who can play hardball with the rest of them.
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”
― Ian Fleming
It's not so simple, unfortunately. At the last presidential election in 2016,
the only choice
citizens had was between two "insane rats".
They logically chose the one who lied better,
promising to change US policy - which he has not done.
After three following event there is no doubt that Thump became a neocon stooge with the only foreign policy initiatives of
his own that can be attributed to his own impulsivity and lack of international experience. Those three event are
as following
The initial conversion happened just three month after inauguration and full evolution into neocon took slightly more
then a year.
It is true that like Obama before him Mr. Trump was somewhat nontraditional candidate. Like Obama he was a "clean slate
candidate " -- a person without substantial political baggage. Which hunted Hillary Clinton all along the way. So his electorate
(like Obama electorate before) was able to project their wished into him (without any justification; lured by just value election
promises), which increased his chances of victory. He was also non-traditional candidate in several more minor aspects:
In his fund-raising;
In support for atypical for GOP candidate positions on trade and on protection of
Social Security and
Medicare;
Minimal advertising;
Seemingly arbitrary election strategy, that devoted from traditional Republican platform in many ways and was tilted toward Paleoconservatism:
against globalization, neocon dominance in Washington and, especially, past and present warmongers in the Department of State (personally
Hillary Clinton),
Opposition to the intervention and costly wars of neoliberal empire expansion, especially if beneficiaries of the US efforts
are "third parties". Call for NATO countries to increase their share and some doubts about usefulness of this military
block.
But his election victory was just a sign that Pentagon (which supported Trump) and CIA (which supported Hillary Clinton) clashed
in the fight for top seat in government. Pentagon won, and CIA now needs to face consequences, despite vicious counterattack of remnants
of Brennan troops and CIA controlled media.
They unleashed Russiagate witch hunt rving McCartying, and them in May 2017 managed to install the special prosecutor Mueller. all-in-all
since november they launched a color revolution to depose Trump
(The Junta Expands
Its Claim To Power). The CIA owns the media, and without an effective propaganda arm, the military might face another Vietnam.
Still the level of influence of military in Trump cabinet is really unprecedented, even in comparison with Eisenhower administration:
The military will demand its due beyond the three generals now in Trump's cabinet.
With the help of the media the generals in the White House defeated their civilian adversary. In August the Trump ship
dropped its ideological pilot.
Steve Bannon went from board. Bannon's militarist enemy, National Security Advisor General McMaster, had won. I
stated:
Trump's success as the "Not-Hillary"
candidate was based on an anti-establishment insurgency. Representatives of that insurgency, Flynn, Bannon and the MAGA
voters, drove him through his first months in office. An intense media campaign was launched to counter them and the military
took control of the White House. The anti-establishment insurgents were fired. Trump is now reduced to public figure head
of a stratocracy - a military junta which nominally follows the rule of law.
The military took full control of White House processes and policies:
Everything of importance now
passes through the
Junta's hands ... To control Trump the Junta
filters his information input and eliminates
any potentially alternative view ... The Junta members dictate their policies to Trump by only proposing certain alternatives
to him. The one that is most preferable to them, will be presented as the only desirable one. "There are no alternatives,"
Trump will be told again and again.
With the power center captured the Junta starts to implement its ideology and to suppress any and all criticism against
itself.
So Congress finally passed a budget. It’s a blockbuster—$1.3 trillion, or around four thousand dollars for every man, woman,
and child in the U.S.A. Basically it is a compound made up of (a) anything Leftist Democrats could wish for, and (b) anything
that the
Jeb
Bush wing of the Republican Party, and that wing’s
Big Business donors (but I repeat myself), could wish for. But how about the things that sixty-three million of us voted for
in 2016, awarding the Presidency to Donald Trump?
Some of that in such a colossal budget, doesn’t there? After all, Donald Trump is
President, isn’t he? He signed off on this thing, doesn’t he?
...This budget bill is, in short, a middle finger to President
Trump. Its larger message: populism is no match for the Deep State. The contest is an unequal one. It’s almost cruel the way the
congresscritters—Chuck Ryan and Paul Schumer, Nancy McConnell and Mitch Pelosi—it’s almost cruel the way they are grinning and
chuckling and high-fiving among themselves over how easy it’s been to kick sand in the President’s face.
...I see Trump there on my TV screen, in my newspaper, on my Twitter feed; but I don’t see Trumpism. Where is it?
LinkBookmark▲▼A friend has an adjective he deploys to describe Trump: “anticompetent.” A merely in-competent ruler, my friend
says—like the child rulers who sometimes took the throne in old dynastic monarchies—could skate along without doing much harm
by relying on advisors. Trump goes beyond that to anti-competent, sabotaging himself at every turn, taking advice from Deep Staters
who sneer him behind his back and detest the people who voted for him.
Trump did not demonstrate "courage under fire" after neocon unleashed
a color revolution against him, which started with brazen
MSM attacks against his administration (aka Russiagate)
using false, borrowed from Hillary campaign pretext. Supported by dubious sources like Steele dossier which has fingerprints of
intelligence agencies play all over it. It was military brass around him, who saved hist scalp.
After the election Trump quickly abandoned his election platform and in foreign policy became essentially "What do you want General
Mattis?" type of guy. His administration very quickly slide to warmongering in best neocon traditions, exposing his election platform
(and Bannon) as a hoax.
In economic policy his administration gradually slide toward "bastard neoliberalism" (neoliberalism without globalization,
a strange mix of neoliberalism with libertarianism). Key features of new Trump policies are highly toxic for common people. They
include clueless deregulation, plus adventurism in foreign relations. Trump also demonstrated immature, narcissistic behaviour
on a state level (attack against
Syria airbase on false pretencies), with a smell of nepotism (
The Empire Expands - The Unz Review )
It turns out that the voters who cast their ballots for Donald Trump, the patriarch, got a package deal for his whole clan. That
would include, of course,
first
daughter Ivanka who, along with her husband, Jared Kushner, is now a key political adviser to the president of the United States.
Both now have
offices
in the White House close to him. They have multiple
security clearances,
access to high-level leaders whenever they visit the Oval Office or Mar-a-Lago, and the perfect formula for the sort of brand-enhancement
that now seems to come with such eminence. President Trump may have an exceedingly “flexible”
attitude toward policymaking generally, but in one area count on him to be stalwart and immobile: his urge to run the White House
like a business, a family business.
William S. Lind provided good overview of the situation in his article
Going Off the Rails (
The American Conservative May 4, 2017). the article should be read in full, but summarizing we can say:
(1) “Trump won the election because enough people voted against the [neoliberal] establishment, both its Republican and Democratic
wings, and
(2) “Those voters will not turn out again if he merely puts the Republican establishment in power.
(3) “To the contrary, those voters will again seek someone who is anti-establishment, this time with the seriousness
and persistence to fight the establishment and win.”
In other words, unless Trump demonstrates his willingness to fight the neoliberl/neocon establishment, he will lose
support of the considerable part of his voters. He already lost anti-war alt right and as such little chances for reelection if he
seeks one.
There are two issues that can serve a litmus test for Trum desire to "drain the swamp":
Establish and maintain cooperation the Russians. Trump can start with the cease-fire in Syria. He can say “No” to establishment
hawks bothe in Republican and Democrat camps, who oppose good relations with Russia and who want to revive the Cold War
to like the pocket of military-industrial complex and provide ample and lucrative employment for neocons in Washington, DC.
Be willing fight against the wall l with those jingoistic these b*****ds!
Prove the he is serious of fighting illegal immigration. For example he can put the funding for the southern border
wall back in the budget. If there are Republicans and Democrats who want to shut down the federal government over funding of the
wall, let them shut it down.
Unfortunately changes that Trump will follow those recommendations are close to zero. Looks like he is seriously weakened by Russiagate
and all-in-all his administration is more about showmanship, than substance. Still military junta seldom represent a viable government
in case of difficulties. There were several interesting albeit too alarmist comments at the Moon of Alabama on this subject:
The military junta rely on the US dollar as reserve currency for their lurks and perks. the more they take power,
the faster this will slip away. so called allies will move towards China/Russia and other currencies. Dangerous times but the
downfall of the US is gaining momentum.
@1 While I understand the temptation to link Trump to Neo-con policies, I think it over simplifies the issue.
Thierry Meyssan has a recent article in which he questions how seriously we should take the US's anti-Iran policy. In it he
states "We have to keep in mind that Donald Trump is not a professional politician, but a real estate promoter, and that he
acts like one. He gained his professional success by spreading panic with his outrageous statements and observing the reactions
he had created amongst his competitors and his partners."
That statement is a great summary of one of the key precepts of what I called 'asymmetrical leadership' - which I think characterizes
Trumps leadership style (an application of asymmetrical warfare techniques to the political arena). This does not mean that the
Junta has not taken over control. I would agree with b on this. However, the forms by which that control get expressed will still
run through Trump and will still reflect his 'asymmetric' style.
You stated: The insurgency that brought Trump to the top was defeated by a counter-insurgency campaign waged by the U.S.
military. (Historically its first successful one).
I differ. JFK was taken out by a combined US Naval Intel and CIA plot. The beneficiary was the MIC. Eleven days later,
LBJ reversed the executive order by JFK to end the US involvement in Nam. For 11 more years the Military got what it wanted --
war.
LBJ got what he wanted--the Presidency.
The Cuban-Americans got what they wanted--revenge for failure at Bay of Pigs by Kennedy.
The Mafia got what they wanted--revenge for Bobby Kennedy.
One other thing about the counter-insurgency. It was not so much Military. They waited while the IC ran the leaks and counter-insurgency.
Then, Trump fell into the Military's arms. He had been cut off from his base and key supporters and had to empower them by obedience
to their plans. Foreign policy is what they wanted. He can still have all the domestic policy he can get, which is basically nothing
much. A SC justice, some EOs, and all the Twitter-shit he can muster.
Military junta or not b, make no mistake, the real power behind the throne are a cabal of billionaires who buy their way by
co-opting the politicians who make the laws.
Democracy is indeed dead here in the U$A. It's now a full-blown Oligarchy.
""All along Trump has been the candidate of the military. The other two power centers of the power triangle, the corporate
and the executive government (CIA), had gone for Clinton. The Pentagon proxy won over the CIA proxy. (Last months' fight over
Raqqa was similar - with the same outcome.)""
I agree with this division of power and would add that Trump is also the candidate of the police. I see the media though
as more being in the CIA/corporate camps. I think the military backing is necessary as you mention to take the CIA down a few
notches. So far I'd say the result in Syria is promising.
I think this CIA/corporate power has to be dealt with first to give progressive/socialist ideas much of a chance. It's a fine
line but the military is supposed to protect against enemies foreign and domestic.The corporate part of course has huge power
over Congress.
For those who want to avoid being datamined by nhs, the original link about "Why Donald Trump is the perfect tool in the hands
of neocons right now" is here: https://failedevolution.blogspot.com/
It is little surprise if a junta has taken over. Many Democrats would support a military junta over Trump. Now we are hearing
similar calls from Republicans.
One of the latest is this opinion piece by Michael Gerson in the Washington Post from October 12, 2017:
Republicans, it's time to panic The Washington Examiner has a short summary:
Michael Gerson, who's also a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote in an op-ed Friday that "the security of our country
-- and potentially the lives of millions of people abroad -- depends on Trump being someone else entirely."
"The time for whispered criticisms and quiet snickering is over. The time for panic and decision is upon us. The thin line
of sane, responsible advisers at the White House -- such as Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- could break at any moment," Gerson wrote. "The American government now has a dangerous
fragility at its very center. Its welfare is as thin as an eggshell -- perhaps as thin as Donald Trump's skin."
The op-ed comes amid Trump's feud with Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who warned that the president's reckless threats could
lead to "World War III."
"I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it's a situation of trying to contain him," Corker told the
New York Times.
The ground work, or state-of-affairs that lead to what one might call a soft military coup in the US (see b) = within what,
at one extreme could be called Ayn-Randian rabid individualism, and at the other a sort of neo-liberal capitalism which is nevertheless
highly 'socialist' in the sense re-distributive from the center of power (if only to create a slave/subservient class and prevent
uprisings), there is NO public space for 'solidarity' within (besides familial, or close, etc.)
Therefore, the belonging or 'solidarity' is activated only facing an outside enemy who is personalised as e.g. communist, ugly
dictator, intends to attack the US, poisons babies, etc. That gives the military an edge.. Then natch, historically, dying
empires invest in the double prong, military conquest + internal control (can be vicious), ain't flash news.
.... I don't think it is all that clear. Corps or better conglomerates of power like 'the media', the 'silicons', banking
and finance, Energy, electronics, Big Pharma, etc. are politcally inclined (say!) to some form of corporate fascism, > bought
pols from all-sides of any-aisle. Their ties to the military / milit. type power at home are not very strong, they may collaborate
on occasion. Some of these 'industries' fear domination that goes beyond soft power and they loathe sanctions - think about who/what/how
is doing lucrative deals and has continuing biz success in Iraq, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, etc. - NOT US cos./corps.
To me this looks more like total disorganization than anything else.
@J 49
The "farce of elections" is accurate because Trump is not doing what he claimed he would do, not unusual actually. It was
Trump who sprang the "junta" on us. And who claimed that the CIA would be out of power?
I used to think it was a counter-coup also. But sheep-dog Sanders and Trump's having supported Hillary in 2008 among other
things caused me to conclude that it all bullshit. I now believe that the hyper-partisanship is just a show.
The political system in the US is designed to prevent any real populist from gaining power. We are being played. Trump
is the Republican Obama.
I really think that this is the case in this instance. Trump is bellicose and erratic. In the realm of foreign policy and
military, it yielded one positive change: his obsession with ISIS led to huge decrease of fighting between "moderate opposition"
in Syria with "SAA and allies", allowing the latter to effectively reduce the territory controlled by ISIS, similarly, Obama's
efforts to sideline "sectarian forces trained by Iran" from fighting with ISIS were apparently abandoned with similar effect.
But otherwise, no "reset" with Russia, clown show concerning the nuclear program of North Korea, berating allies who spend
insufficiently to fight threats that they do not have, increasing domestic military budget (again, to fight threats that we do
not have) and so on. Formation of the new axis of evil, North Korea, Iran and Venezuela is a notable novelty.
Trump was so contradictory in his campaign statements that it is almost amazing that ANY positive element can be discerned.
At the time, I paid attention to his praises of John Bolton, a proud walrus-American who communicates using bellowing, in other
words, resembles a walrus both in the way he looks, but also in the way he speaks.
Needless to say, Dotard in Chief can exercise power only through underlings that may try to make sense of what he says. In
some cases, like reforming American healthcare according to his promises, this is flatly impossible. So generals are seemingly
in the same position, and of course, when in doubt, they do what they would do anyway.
What seems to have been lost in the discussion is what exactly the "counter-coup" is all about.
1. During the Obama years, "successes" like Lybia and Ukraine were matched by "failures" like the lost proxy war for Syria
and pushing Russia into the arms of China. The new 'Cold War' makes US nationalism more important as 'hot' conflicts become more
likely.
2. Obama/Clinton-led civilian authority was abusing power to promote an "Empire-first" vision of governance, Obama/Clinton:
>> replaced/retired many military officers;
>> placed US resources/forces in a support role ("leading from behind") ;
>> grew a 'radical center' (aka "Third Way") that sought to undermine traditional nationalist/patriotism via immigration
and divisive 'wedge issues'.
The excuse for this was that while US hands were tied (because public wouldn't support further adventurism after Iraq)
close allies could push forward. But the new Cold War has changed the calculus.
The US isn't giving up on Empire. It's just a different type of Empire for a different type of environment. When Trump
talks about "draining the swamp" I think he merely refers to foreign influence.
So Trump pivots US policy based on Obama's record (as Obama did off Bush's record), and the next President will pivot off
Trump's record, but the direction is always the same.
Trump has one ally and that is the 65 million voters who put him into office.
He surrendered his top people. Saker says it was lack of character. I think when they point the gun at you, your family,
your closest friends in your life, you acquiesce. They even took from him Keith Schiller, his personal security man for years.
Kelly forced him out of the WH.
Trump is powerless except when he functions as Leader of the rallies. As President, even with the cabal running the Oval Office,
they all are limited by the Shadow Government, Deep State, IC, Khazarian Matrix. No President is a free man empowered to act.
He now is focused on what is possible. Perhaps that will be a tax cut and a few more SC justices and a few score of judges
for the fed district courts. Those don't interfere with Financial Power and MIC and the Hegemony of Empire.
There is one hope. Putin + Xi. And we know the limits they face. Inside the Tyranny of American government, there is no hope.
During the Trump time Putin and Xi have to make the most of the Swamp creating their own problems. It is that moment of opportunity,
though it looks bleak.
One thing for certain, the US military does not want a direct war. It wants more of these terror conflicts. Africa will
become huge over the next few years. Graham is already selling it big. Trillions of dollars is what is the goal.
SE Asia and Africa are the new big "markets" for MIC. ISIS/AQ are the product. War is the service industry being sold as
the "solution".
The Long War of anti-terror is the scam Smedley Butler told us about in the thirties. -- Excerpt from a speech delivered
in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC:
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of
people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of
the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight.
The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to
get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things
we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply
a racket.
There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out
enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three
years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps.
I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time
being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster
for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession,
I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed
the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent
place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics
for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long.
I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that
name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to
it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I
could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three
continents.
On the bright side, members of Congress are at least nominally elected. Four star Generals, not so much. It's still a
felony carrying a prison term of 5 to 10 years per incident to lie to Congress.
The military have no precedent to recommend
them either as a source of information or in their decision making ability. They are way out of their depth when it comes
to administering a nation.
In none of their unwarranted invasions (all the result of bad information and poor judgment) of other nations have they been
successful the day after the bombs stopped falling.
The time has long passed since one can ignore JFK's failed insistence on the inspections of the illegal Israeli nuclear weapons
program at Dimona, and then his sudden death. Factoring Israel into the equation greatly simplifies understanding the make-up
of the Warren Commission, LBJ's about turn on the relation to the illegal nuclear weapons program and his reaction to the attack
on the Liberty, and the evolution of US politics more generally.
One would be more pressed to argue why one thinks it is not a primary cause.
We voted for change and as usual, we got more of the same. All I can say is thank God it's not Hillary in the White House.
At least Trump's not spoiling for a war with Russia.
Democracy has been dead in America for a long time. I'd rather Kelly run the country than Hillary Clinton. She would have us all
annihilated in a war with Russia and China
It's going to be hard to fight a junta. The military is at least halfway competent, something that can't be said for
either the administration or congress. Look at this latest flap - on the one side you have Wilson the rodeo clown, on the other
you have Trump, who can't resist the urge to pop off on twitter.
Then you have Kelly, who at least comes off like an adult.
Before people start pointing to all the nefarious things the military is doing, let me just say I'm talking about perception.
Moon of Alabama always writes interesting and insightful critiques of the Deep State, the military, and the imperialist/war
party, but falls flat on his face in his naive faith in the supposed anti-establishment, populist, and America First Nationalist
proclivities of Donald Trump, and his arch-reactionary Svengali Steve Bannon.
There is indeed at least one major split in the ranks of the ruling class, but to present Trump and Bannon as either valiant
figures struggling for the national good, or noble isolated men surrounded by vipers and traitors is absurd.
Now, in its late imperial decline, the U.S. has become unable to continue to exercise hegemony, the way it became accustomed
to in the first 70+ years in the Post-WW 2 period. The number one Client/Ally/Master, Israel and their deeply embedded 5th Column
in the U.S., the Zionists with their associated Pro-Zionist factions within the War Party, now nearly directly and openly controls
U.S. foreign policy and military actions in the regions that the Likudnik faction in Israel cares about (i.e. the Levant, North
Africa, and the Horn of Africa).
Hollowed out economically and industrially the U.S. Empire is clearly on the way out. The various factions fighting for control
of policy seem to be oblivious to this basic fact.
The actual situation is similar to that the U.S. participated in during period from the late 1800s - WW 2; the declining
hegemon accustomed to calling the shots in international affairs (then the British Empire, now the U.S.), ends up overextended
and committed in far too many areas, with declining resources and domestic solidarity to dedicate to the tasks; the rising
hegemon (then the U.S. now China) is still focused on issues of internal and external economic development and the exercise of
regional power.
China is already either equal in power to the U.S. or more powerful and will only continue to grow in power as the U.S. continues
to decline. The Israelis/Zionists fully realize that the U.S. would not survive another disastrous war (like the air war they
want the U.S. to wage against Iran, the U.S. does not have the capability to conduct a land war against Iran) intact. They are
willing to try to force the issue to achieve one more step in their plan to establish "Eretz Israel" whose territory would extend
from the Nile to the Euphrates and from the Sinai to Turkey. Their plans are just as crazy as those of the NeoCons and the NeoLiberals
and their endless disastrous wars; and Trump/Bannon are their agents in the U.S.
Yes this is the end. The end of my support for Trump at least. He is now complete and utter bullshit. It is over.
And since he was the only choice, and because there appears no other, there is little more to say than this: We do not have
a country, and we never will. We are, indeed, doomed.
Trump had a powerful political force behind him at the time of the 2016
elections. But when he lobbed the missiles at Syria, it already had been a Red Flag -- a clear sign that Trump intends to
betray all his election promises. Trump got elected largely on the promise to deal with out of control immigration, stop
neoliberal globalization, and at least reduce, or better end, US involvement in foreign wars. The direction his policies and
personnel choices have taken is nothing less than a betrayal of his campaign promises. So, here we are: The “antiwar” president is
putting together a team of warmongers. Trump completely capitulated after billing himself as a highly effective, results oriented
negotiator.
It was obvious that Trump at best had only a minority of Republicans behind
him in Congress. And the federal bureaucracy was packed with Hillary and Obama neo-liberals. Plus the pool of people Trump appointed
to the many positions are the Bush neocons. The deep state that endorsed Hillary is now firmly in control. Trump has been
rolled over on every issue. That means that Trump is a lame duck now. He a man without party
and his "natural" support base is gone due to his betrayals. Trump has proven to be incompetent at forming the key team of
people around him.From day one he filled his staff with people who were against his
platform and often opposed him. The writing was on the wall early on that nothing on immigration or draining the swamp would be
done.
Neocons and neoliberals have him now by the balls, or he wouldn’t have
signed the budget. A demoralized base might led to two consequences:
Republicans will get wiped out in the coming mid-term elections. It
is very probable that candidates associated with Trump are about to get slaughtered in the mid-term elections. Trump voters of
course had different reasons and different issues as reasons why they voted for Trump. For a lot of them, it was a dislike of
Hillary Clinton as the only other choice. Thus any Democrat who isn’t as awful as Hillary will run strong, The party that just
won the White House usually loses seats in Congress in the mid-terms. Its going to be awful for Trump because he’s abandoned
every constituency he had. At this point, Trump has been loyal to no-one and no cause. Thus he can not expect the betrayed to be
loyal to him. Even a liar like Obama could keep a certain core of Democrats who never could see the truth. And a liar like Trump
will keep a certain core of Republicans as well, like Obama did. Maybe 40% to 45% of the voters. The independents will swing
strongly against Trump’s candidates in this election, and a fair number of Republican voters will leave too …. or simply stay at
home and not bother to vote. The only election promises he kept were saber-rattling with Iran, Korea and China, and further
concessions to Israeli lobby. From the point of view of interventionist foreign policy, the final nail in the coffin was the
appointment of Bolton.
With Democrats having the majority impeachment proceedings against Trump
will commence immediately after those elections and move very swiftly. The question of whether Trump survives to the
end of his term or gets impeached is irrelevant – he already abandoned all his key positions, so impeachment changes
nothing. The only positive thing in this situation is that The mainstream media is increasingly being exposed as
incompetent, deceptive, predatory, and not worthy of viewing. And false flags operations that the Deep State conducts are being
exposed...
If Trump was for real, he’d have fought an uphill battle, and even if he had lost, he would go into history as the
President who tried to undermine Neoliberalism and Neoconservatism in the USA. Instead, Trump turns out to have been a con-man
who simply said whatever the crowd wanted to hear. Like many children of alcoholics are socialized to do. Trump turned out to be too
incompetent to pull any serious offence of the entrenched positions of neoliberals and neocons in Washington. It turns out that
running a family business does not prepare one for running a huge organization and bureaucracy and the internal intrigues of control
of the world’s most powerful nation. And worst of all, Trump turned out to be weak and unwilling to fight for what he said that made
the crowds cheer.
I will also add a possibility of a market crash as the elites can use Trump
demise as an excuse. Economically, and socially this country has a good chance of total collapse in life time of our
children. With Bolton as National security adviser and Pompeo as Secretary of State, chances of war with Iran are high. Bolton is an
uber war hawk, itching to launch a war with Iran. Newly appointed Sec. of State Mike Pompeo is another hawk who wants war with Iran.
So Trump essentially allied with Neoconservatives. Here are a couple of comments posted after he appointed Bolton and Po
Outsider independent....LMAO - only according to the very narrowly limited range of
allowed speech that Chomsky references in his famous quote. Trump may not be a D.C. insider
in the recent traditional sense, but he's no outsider and he's no independent. His
three-letter agency actions and judicial nominations clearly point to longstanding
Republican/corporate/Wall Street/Israeli wish lists.
I'm happy about the Syria decision, but I have a suspicion that it's not as positive a
development as many of his supporters are touting.
The truth is that Trump foreign policy was neocon from April 2017 -- first Tomahawk style in Syria. Trump is just yet another
neocon, a huge disappointment for people who voted for him in a hope that he might change the US foreign policy and stop foreign
wars.
The president's equivocating remarks over the defense secretary show that Bolton and
Pompeo are indeed winning.
President Trump with Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Pompeo, Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis and National Security Advisor John Bolton Credit:NATO/Flickr In covering President
Donald Trump's recent pregnant comments about Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, The Wall Street
Journal tucked away in its story an observation that hints at the president's foreign
policy direction. In an interview for CBS's 60 Minutes , the president described
Mattis as "sort of a Democrat if you want to know the truth" and suggested he wouldn't be
surprised if his military chief left his post soon. After calling him "a good guy" and saying
the two "get along very well," Trump added, "He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody
leaves . That's Washington."
Actually that's Trump. He demands total and utter loyalty from his people and gives none in
return. In just his first 14 months as president, he hired three national security advisors,
reflecting the unstable relationships he often has with his top aides. Following the 60
Minutes interview, Washington was of course abuzz with speculation about what all this
might mean for Mattis's fate and who might be the successor if Mattis were to quit or be fired.
It was just the kind of fodder Washington loves -- human drama revealing Trump's legendary
inconstancy amid prospective new turmoil in the capital.
But far more significant than Mattis's future or Trump's love of chaos was a sentence
embedded in the Journal 's report. After noting that recent polls indicated that
Mattis enjoys strong support from the American people, reporter Nancy A. Youssef writes: "But
his influence within the administration has waned in recent months, particularly following the
arrival of John Bolton as national security adviser and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as
secretary of state."
The significance here is that Bolton and Pompeo represent just about everything Trump ran
against during his 2016 presidential campaign. He ran against the country's foreign policy
establishment and its rush to war in Iraq; its support of NATO's provocative eastward
expansion; its abiding hostility toward Russia; its destabilization of the Middle East through
ill-conceived and ill-fated activities in Iraq, Libya, and Syria; its ongoing and seemingly
endless war in Afghanistan; and its enthusiasm for regime change and nation-building around the
world. Bolton and Pompeo represent precisely those kinds of policies and actions as well as the
general foreign policy outlook that spawned them.
Trump gave every indication during the campaign that he would reverse those policies and
avoid those kinds of actions. He even went so far, in his inimitable way, of accusing the Bush
administration of lying to the American people in taking the country to war in Iraq, as opposed
to making a reckless and stupid, though honest, mistake about that country's weapons of mass
destruction. He said it would be great to get along with Russia and criticized NATO's
aggressive eastward push. He said our aim in Syria should be to combat Islamist extremism, not
depose Bashar al-Assad as its leader. In promulgating his America First approach, he
specifically eschewed any interest in nation-building abroad.
The one area where he seemed to embrace America's post-Cold War aggressiveness was in his
attitude toward Iran. But even there he seemed less bellicose than many of his Republican
opponents in the 2016 primaries, who said they would rip up the Iran nuclear deal on their
first day in office. Trump, by contrast, said it was a bad deal but one he would seek to
improve.
Still, generally speaking, anyone listening to Trump carefully before the election would
have been justified in concluding that, if he meant what he said, he would reverse America's
post-Cold War foreign policy as practiced by George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Now we know he didn't mean what he said, and the latest tiff over the fate of Mattis
crystallizes that reality. It's not that Mattis represents the kind of anti-establishment
outlook that Trump projected during the campaign; in fact, he is a thoroughgoing product of
that establishment. He said Iran was the main threat to stability in the Middle East. He
supported sending arms to the Syrian rebels. He decried Russia's intent to "break NATO
apart."
Thus any neutral observer, at the time of Mattis's selection as defense secretary, might
have concluded that he was more bent on an adventurous American foreign policy than his boss.
But it turned out to be just the opposite. There are two reasons for this. First, Mattis is
cautious by nature, and he seems to have taken Trump at his word that he didn't want any more
unnecessary American wars of choice. Hence he opposed the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal
prior to Trump's decision to pull America out of it. That action greatly increased the chances
that America and Iran could find themselves on a path to war. Mattis also redeployed some
military resources from the Middle East to other areas designed to check actions by Russia and
China, which he considered greater threats to U.S. security.
And second, it turns out that Trump has no true convictions when it comes to world affairs.
He brilliantly discerned the frustrations of many Americans over the foreign policy of the
previous 16 years and hit just the right notes to leverage those frustrations during the
campaign. But his actual foreign policy has manifested a lack of consistent and strong
philosophy. Consider his approach to NATO. During the campaign he criticized the alliance's
eastward push and aggressive approach to Russia; then as president he accepted NATO's inclusion
of tiny Montenegro, a slap at the Russians; then later he suggested Montenegro's NATO status
could force the U.S. into a major conflagration if that small nation, which he described as
aggressive, got itself into a conflict with a non-NATO neighbor. Such inconsistencies are not
the actions of a man with strong convictions. They are hallmarks of someone who is winging it
on the basis of little knowledge.
That seems to have presented a marvelous opportunity to Bolton and Pompeo, whose philosophy
and convictions are stark and visible to all. Bolton has made clear his desire for America to
bring about regime change in Iran and North Korea. He supported the Iraq war and has never
wavered in the face of subsequent events. He has advocated a preemptive strike against North
Korea. Pompeo harbors similar views. He favored withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and has
waxed bellicose on both Iran and Russia.
Thus a conflict was probably inevitable between Mattis and these more recent administration
arrivals. The New York Times speculates that Bolton likely undermined Mattis's
standing in Trump's eyes. Writes the paper: "Mr. Bolton, an ideological conservative whose
views on foreign policy are more hawkish than those of Mr. Mattis, appears to have deepened the
president's suspicions that his defense secretary's view of the world is more like those of
Democrats than his own."
The paper didn't clarify the basis of this speculation, but it makes sense. Bolton and
Pompeo are gut fighters who go for the jugular. Trump is malleable, susceptible to obsequious
manipulation. Mattis is an old-style military man with a play-it-straight mentality and a
discomfort with guile. Thus it appears we may be seeing before our eyes the transformation of
Trump the anti-establishment candidate into Trump the presidential neocon.
"... Trump not only wouldn't prosecute war criminals, but he also has no problem enabling foreign governments in their war crimes and proposing that U.S. forces commit them. Bessner calls for reducing America's military footprint abroad, and Trump entertains putting in a new, unnecessary permanent base in Poland. ..."
"... Trump is diametrically opposed to all of these agreements and institutions. Obviously his progressive critics share none of his objections to these things, and they regard his withdrawal from or hostility to them as major errors. ..."
I submit to you that a president who picks John Bolton of all people as his National Security Advisor doesn't care about bringing
more accountability to our foreign policy. Bessner goes further still and says the left "should demand that those who violated domestic
or international law see justice, even if that means prosecuting them."
Trump not only wouldn't prosecute war criminals, but he also has no problem enabling foreign governments in their war crimes
and proposing that U.S. forces commit them. Bessner calls for reducing America's military footprint abroad, and Trump entertains
putting in a new, unnecessary permanent base in Poland.
Bessner calls for threat deflation, and meanwhile Trump is busy hyping threats from Iran, North Korea, and even Venezuela when
it suits him. Perhaps the most obvious and glaring disagreement with Trump is in Bessner's section on internationalism. He writes:
America should engage with other countries through peaceful diplomacy. An important first step would be to embrace international
treaties and institutions endorsed by most nations, like the Paris Agreement on climate change and the International Criminal
Court. Moreover, policymakers should urge disarmament talks with all major powers and reinstate the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump is diametrically opposed to all of these agreements and institutions. Obviously his progressive critics share none of
his objections to these things, and they regard his withdrawal from or hostility to them as major errors.
Brands' argument doesn't make sense in the abstract, and it doesn't hold up when we consider specifics. Like Kagan's
whining
about "isolationism" earlier this week, it mistakenly conflates a certain kind of hawkish meddling with internationalism itself.
That is how Brands can describe someone openly endorsing internationalism as a critic of internationalism.
This argument does nothing to make the audience more informed about the foreign policy of the president or his progressive critics,
but instead tries to mislead readers into thinking that the two sides are fundamentally in agreement when they have practically nothing
in common.
To argue that progressives want to "out-Trump Trump" on foreign policy requires promoting unfounded caricatures of both. It is
remarkably bad analysis, and it isn't even very convincing spin.
"... Trump's worldview is dominated by a zero-sum view of international relations in which the U.S. is constantly being ripped off by everyone. ..."
"... Trump is a militarist by instinct and as a matter of policy, and his progressive critics repudiate that as well. ..."
"... Trump's critique of past U.S. foreign policy boils down to complaining that other countries don't pay us for protection and that the U.S. doesn't plunder resources from the countries it invades. This is not, to put it mildly, what progressives consider to be wrong with U.S. foreign policy. ..."
"... The key failing in Brands' column is that he buys into the falsehood that Trump is in favor of "global retreat," and so he worries that both parties will soon be led by candidates advocating for that. For one thing, there has been no "retreat" under Trump, and everything he has done since taking office has been to mire the U.S. more deeply in the multiple wars he inherited. ..."
"... Literally never heard a Democratic Socialist advocate for anything other than what you summarized – threat de-escalation, reduce US military footprint abroad, don't use the threat of military force as a "diplomatic tool", stop the drone war, end the war in Afghanistan, etc. ..."
"... Of course right now Dem Socialists are just as marginalized within the Democratic party as you are within the Trumpian Neocon hellscape of the current Republican leadership. Maybe one day the Senate will have more Rand Pauls and Chris Murphys but right now we've just got a bunch of Grahams and Schumers perfectly happy to let Trump continue down this dark path. ..."
According to Brands, "the ideas at the heart of Trump's critique of U.S. foreign policy are also the ideas at the heart of the
progressive critique," but that's also simply not true. Trump's worldview is dominated by a zero-sum view of international relations
in which the U.S. is constantly being ripped off by everyone.
The progressive critics he cites specifically reject that assumption and emphasize the importance of international institutions.
Trump is a militarist by instinct and as a matter of policy, and his progressive critics repudiate that as well.
Trump's critique of past U.S. foreign policy boils down to complaining that other countries don't pay us for protection and
that the U.S. doesn't plunder resources from the countries it invades. This is not, to put it mildly, what progressives consider
to be wrong with U.S. foreign policy.
The key failing in Brands' column is that he buys into the falsehood that Trump is in favor of "global retreat," and so he
worries that both parties will soon be led by candidates advocating for that. For one thing, there has been no "retreat" under Trump,
and everything he has done since taking office has been to mire the U.S. more deeply in the multiple wars he inherited.
For another, progressives aren't calling for a "retreat" from international engagement, either. They are opposed to certain aggressive
and destructive policies, but they don't eschew engagement and cooperation with other states.
On the contrary, they are advocating
for more of that while rejecting the militarism that Trump embraces. Indeed, Bessner anticipates Brands' silly criticism and explicitly
says, "None of this means the United States should retreat from the world."
Anthony M says: September 26, 2018 at 5:30 pm
Literally never heard a Democratic Socialist advocate for anything other than what you summarized – threat
de-escalation, reduce US military footprint abroad, don't use the threat of military force as a "diplomatic tool", stop the
drone war, end the war in Afghanistan, etc.
Of course right now Dem Socialists are just as marginalized within the Democratic party as you are within the Trumpian
Neocon hellscape of the current Republican leadership. Maybe one day the Senate will have more Rand Pauls and Chris Murphys
but right now we've just got a bunch of Grahams and Schumers perfectly happy to let Trump continue down this dark path.
Speaking on the House floor on September 13, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard accused the Trump
administration of protecting al-Qaeda terrorists in Idlib. According to the congresswoman,
this amounts to the betrayal of the American people and victims of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks in
the US.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) called out President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence
for allegedly protecting al-Qaeda* in Idlib, Syria, while speaking in the House on September
13.
"Two days ago, President Trump and Vice President Pence delivered solemn speeches about
the attacks on 9/11, talking about how much they care about the victims of al-Qaeda's attack
on our country. But, they are now standing up to protect the 20,000 to 40,000 al-Qaeda and
other jihadist forces in Syria, and threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran, with military force
if they dare attack these terrorists," the congresswoman stressed.
Trump did implement some measures in internal policy that are against neoliberal dogma. Also
in foreign policy he introduced tariffs which is anathema for neoliberal globalization. where he
completely folded is foreign policy and wars for neoliberal empire expansion (with some conducted
for the main benefit of Israel). he generally conducts a neocon foreign policy.
But Bacevich is right in a sense that Trump does not control his own cabinet./ Behaviour of
Haley and Pompeo are clear indications of that.
Notable quotes:
"... almost nothing of substance has changed. ..."
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th U.S. president may last another few weeks, another year,
or another 16 months. However unsettling the prospect, the leaky vessel that is the S.S. Trump
might even manage to stay afloat for a second term. Nonetheless, recent headline-making
revelations suggest that, like some derelict ship that's gone aground, the Trump presidency may
already have effectively run its course. What, then, does this bizarre episode in American
history signify?
Let me state my own view bluntly: forget the atmospherics. Despite the lies, insults, name
calling, and dog whistles, almost nothing of substance has changed. Nor will it.
To a far greater extent than Trump's perpetually hyperventilating critics are willing to
acknowledge, the United States remains on a trajectory that does not differ appreciably from
what it was prior to POTUS #45 taking office. Post-Trump America, just now beginning to come
into view, is shaping up to look remarkably like pre-Trump America.
I understand that His Weirdness remains in the White House. Yet for all practical purposes,
Trump has ceased to govern. True, he continues to rant and issue bizarre directives, which his
subordinates implement, amend, or simply disregard
as they see fit.
Except in a ceremonial sense, the office of the presidency presently lies vacant. Call it an
abdication-in-place. It's as if British King Edward VIII, having abandoned his throne for "the woman I love,"
continued to hang around Buckingham Palace fuming about the lack of respect given Wallis and
releasing occasional bulletins affirming his
admiration for Adolf Hitler.
In Trump's case, it's unlikely he ever had a more serious interest in governing than Edward
had in performing duties more arduous than those he was eventually assigned as Duke of Windsor.
Nonetheless, the 60-plus million Americans who voted for Trump did so with at least the
expectation that he was going to shake things up.
And bigly .
Remember, he was going to "lock her up." He would "drain the swamp" and "build a wall" with
Mexico volunteering to foot the bill. Without further ado, he would end "this American
carnage." Meanwhile, "America First" would form the basis for U.S. foreign policy. Once Trump
took charge, things were going to be different, as he and he alone would "make America great
again."
Yet the cataclysm that Trump's ascendency was said to signify has yet to occur. Barring a
nuclear war, it won't.
If you spend your days watching CNN or MSNBC or reading columnists employed by the New
York Times and the Washington Post , you might conclude otherwise. But those are
among the institutions that, on November 8, 2016, suffered a nervous breakdown from which they
have yet to recover. Nor, it now seems clear, do they wish to recover as long as Donald Trump
remains president. To live in a perpetual state of high dudgeon, denouncing his latest inanity
and predicting the onset of fascism, is to enjoy the equivalent of a protracted psychic orgasm,
one induced by mutual masturbation.
Yet if you look beyond the present to the fairly recent past, it becomes apparent that
change on the scale that Trump was promising had actually occurred, even if well
before he himself showed up on the scene. The consequences of that Big Change are going to
persist long after he is gone. It's those consequences that now demand our attention, not the
ongoing Gong Show jointly orchestrated by the White House and journalists fancying themselves
valiant defenders of Truth.
Trump himself is no more than a pimple on the face of this nation's history. It's time to
step back from the mirror and examine the face in full. Pretty it's not.
The Way We Were
Compare the America that welcomed young Donald Trump into the world in 1946 with the country
that, some 70 years later, elected him president. As the post-World War II era was beginning,
three large facts -- so immense that they were simply taken for granted -- defined America.
First, the United States made everything and made more of it than anyone else. In postwar
America, wealth derived in large measure from the manufacture of stuff: steel, automobiles,
refrigerators, shoes, socks, blouses, baseballs, you name it. "Made in the USA" was more than
just a slogan. With so much of the industrialized world in ruins, the American economy
dominated and defined everyday economic reality globally.
Second, back then while the mighty engine of industrial capitalism was generating impressive
riches, it was also distributing the benefits on a relatively equitable
basis . Postwar America was the emblematic middle-class country, the closest approximation
to a genuinely classless and democratic society the world had ever seen.
Third, having had their fill of fighting from 1941 to 1945, Americans had a genuine aversion
to war. They may not have been a peace-loving people, but they knew enough about war to see it
as a great evil. Avoiding its further occurrence, if at all possible, was a priority, although
one not fully shared by the new national security establishment just then beginning to flex its
muscles in Washington.
Now
without even pretending to distribute the benefits equitably. Politicians still routinely
paid tribute to the Great American Middle Class. Yet the hallmarks of postwar middle-class life
-- a steady job, a paycheck adequate to support a family, the prospect of a pension -- were
rapidly disappearing. While Americans still enjoyed freedom of a sort, many of them lacked
security.
By 2016, Americans had also come to accept war as
normal . Here was "global leadership" made manifest. So U.S. troops were now always out
there somewhere fighting, however obscure the purpose of their exertions and however dim their
prospects of achieving anything approximating
victory . The 99% of Americans who were not soldiers learned to tune out those wars,
content merely to "support the troops," an obligation fulfilled by offering periodic
expressions of reverence on public occasions. Thank you for your service!
The Way We Are
But note: Donald Trump played no role in creating this America or consigning the America of
1946 to oblivion. As a modern equivalent of P.T. Barnum, he did demonstrate considerable skill
in exploiting the opportunities on offer as the strictures of postwar America gave way. Indeed,
he parlayed those opportunities into fortune, celebrity, lots of golf ,
plenty of sex, and eventually the highest office in the land. Only in America, as we used to
say.
In 1946, it goes without saying, he would never have been taken seriously as a would-be
presidential candidate. By 2016, his narcissism, bombast, vulgarity, and talent for
self-promotion nicely expressed the underside of the prevailing zeitgeist. His candidacy was
simultaneously preposterous, yet strangely fitting.
By the twenty-first century, the values that Trump embodies had become as thoroughly and
authentically American as any of those specified in the oracular pronouncements of Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or Franklin Roosevelt. Trump's critics may see him as an
abomination. But he is also one of us.
And here's the real news: the essential traits that define America today -- those things
that make this country so different from what it seemed to be in 1946 -- will surely survive
the Trump presidency. If anything, he and his cronies deserve at least some credit for
sustaining just those traits.
Candidate Trump essentially promised Americans a version of 1946 redux . He would
revive manufacturing and create millions of well-paying jobs for working stiffs. By cutting
taxes, he would put more money in the average Joe or Jill's pocket. He would eliminate the
trade deficit and balance the federal budget. He would end our endless wars and bring the
troops home where they belong. He would oblige America's allies, portrayed as a crew of
freeloaders, to shoulder their share of the burden. He would end illegal immigration. He would
make the United States once more the God-fearing Christian country it was meant to be.
How seriously Trump expected any of those promises to be taken is anyone's guess. But this
much is for sure: they remain almost entirely unfulfilled.
True, domestic manufacturing has experienced a
slight uptick , but globalization remains an implacable reality. Unless you've got a STEM
degree, good jobs are still hard to come by. Ours is increasingly a "gig" economy, which might
be cool enough when you're 25, but less so when you're in your sixties and wondering if you'll
ever be able to retire.
While Trump and a Republican Congress delivered on their promise of tax "reform," its
chief beneficiaries will be the rich, further confirmation, if it were needed, that the
American economy is indeed rigged in favor of a growing class of plutocrats. Trade deficit?
It's headed for a
10-year high . Balanced budget? You've got to be joking. The estimated federal deficit next
year will exceed a
trillion dollars , boosting the national debt past
$21 trillion . (Trump had
promised to eliminate that debt entirely.)
And, of course, the wars haven't ended. Here is Trump, just last month, doing his best
George McGovern imitation: "I'm constantly reviewing Afghanistan and the whole Middle East," he
asserted . "We never should have been in the Middle East. It was the single greatest
mistake in the history of our country." Yet Trump has perpetuated and, in some instances,
expanded America's military misadventures in the Greater Middle East, while essentially
insulating himself from personal responsibility for their continuation.
As commander-in-chief, he's a distinctly hands-off kind of guy. Despite being unable to
walk, President Franklin Roosevelt visited GIs serving in combat zones more often than Trump
has. If you want to know why we are in Afghanistan and how long U.S. forces will stay there,
ask Defense Secretary James Mattis or some general, but don't, whatever you do, ask the
president.
On Not Turning America's Back on the World
And then there is the matter of Trump's "isolationism." Recall that when he became
president, foreign policy experts across Washington warned that the United States would now
turn its back on the world and abandon its self-assigned role as keeper of order and defender
of democracy. Now, nearing the mid-point of Trump's first (and hopefully last) term, the United
States remains formally committed to defending the territorial integrity of each and every NATO
member state, numbering 29 in all. Add to that an obligation to defend nations as varied as
Japan, South Korea, and, under the terms of the Rio Pact of 1947, most of Latin America. Less
formally but no less substantively, the U.S. ensures the security of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and
various other Persian Gulf countries.
As for obliging those allies to
pony up more for the security we have long claimed to provide, that's clearly not going to
happen any time soon. Our European allies have pocketed both Trump's insults and his assurances
that the United States will continue to defend them, offering in return the
vaguest of promises that, sometime in the future, they might consider investing more in
defense.
By-the-by, U.S. forces under Donald Trump's ostensible command are today present in more
than 150 countries worldwide.
Urged on by the president, Congress has passed a bill that boosts the Pentagon budget to
$717 billion , an $82 billion increase over the prior year. Needless to say, no adversary
or plausible combination of adversaries comes
anywhere close to matching that figure.
To call this isolationism is comparable to calling Trump svelte.
As for the promised barrier, that " big,
fat, beautiful wall ," to seal the southern border, it has advanced no further than the
display
of several possible prototypes. No evidence exists to suggest that Mexico will, as Trump
insisted, pay for its construction, nor that Congress will appropriate the necessary funds,
estimated at somewhere north of
$20 billion , even with Republicans still controlling both houses of Congress. And in
truth, whether it is built or not, the U.S.-Mexico border will remain what it has been for
decades: heavily patrolled but porous, a conduit for desperate people seeking safety and
opportunity, but also for criminal elements trafficking in drugs or human beings.
The point of this informal midterm report card is not to argue that Donald Trump has somehow
failed. It is rather to highlight his essential irrelevance.
Trump is not the disruptive force that anti-Trumpers accuse him of being. He is merely a
noxious, venal, and ineffectual blowhard, who has assembled a team of associates who are
themselves, with few exceptions, noxious, venal, or ineffectual.
So here's the upshot of it all: if you were basically okay with where America was headed
prior to November 2016, just take a deep breath and think of Donald Trump as the political
equivalent of a kidney stone -- not fun, but sooner or later, it will pass. And when it does,
normalcy will return. Soon enough you'll forget it ever happened.
If, on the other hand, you were not okay with where America was headed in 2016, it's past
time to give up the illusion that Donald Trump is going to make things right. Eventually a
pimple dries up and disappears, often without leaving a trace. Such is the eventual destiny of
Donald Trump as president.
In the meantime, of course, there are any number of things about Trump to raise our ire.
Climate change offers a good example. And yet climate change may be the best illustration of
Trump's insignificance.
Under President Obama, the United States showed signs of mounting a belated effort to
address global warming. The Trump administration wasted little time in reversing course,
reverting to the science-denying position to which Republicans adhered long before Trump
himself showed up.
No doubt future generations will find fault with Trump's inaction in the face of this
crisis. Yet when Miami
is underwater and California wildfires
rage throughout the year, Trump himself won't be the only -- or even the principal –
culprit charged with culpable neglect.
The nation's too-little, too-late response to climate change for which a succession of
presidents share responsibility illustrates the great and abiding defect of contemporary
American politics. When all is said and done, presidents don't shape the country; the country
shapes the presidency -- or at least it defines the parameters within which presidents operate.
Over the course of the last few decades, those parameters have become increasingly at odds with
the collective wellbeing of the American people, not to mention of the planet as a whole.
Yet Americans have been obdurate in refusing to acknowledge that fact.
Americans today are deeply divided. There exists no greater symbol of that division than
Trump himself -- the wild enthusiasm he generates in some quarters and the antipathy verging on
hatred he elicits in others.
The urgent need of the day is to close that divide, which is as broad as it is deep,
touching on culture, the political economy, America's role in the world, and the definition of
the common good. I submit that these matters lie beyond any president's purview, but especially
this one's.
Trump is not the problem. Think of him instead as a summons to address the real problem,
which in a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people is the collective responsibility of the
people themselves. For Americans to shirk that responsibility further will almost surely pave
the way for more Trumps -- or someone worse -- to come.
A cultural war has been ignited. The United States in 6 more years will be a different
country. For good or evil, I do not know. Whichever side wins will take all.
There is no more an American people. Trump's election has revealed a cultural divide which
has existed for the past 50 years or more. He didn't cause it, he has unconsciously uncovered
it.
Trump did at least have the courage publicly to
describe the enemy within, which makes him all but unique among Western politicians:
'Their financial resources are virtually unlimited, their political resources are unlimited,
their media resources are unmatched, and most importantly, the depths of their immorality is
absolutely unlimited.'
It is really becoming unlearn why the Deep State hates Trump so much and tries to depose him. He became a typical neocon,
Republican Obama, another "bait and switch" artist with slogan "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) as equivalent to Obama's fake
"Change we can believe in".
May be Deep State has so many skeletons in the closet (811 is one) that he can only allow CIA controlled puppets as
Presidents (looks like Clinton, Bush and Obama were such puppets).
Notable quotes:
"... If you believe Trump is trying to remove neocons(Deep State) from the government, explain Bolton and many other Deep State denizens Trump has appointed. ..."
"... Drain the Swamp? Trump and his sidekick Jared K inhabit the murkiest depths of that Swamp. But people will say Tubby's being forced into a corner and just has to appoint neoCON psychopaths like Bolton. Then explain Trump appointing Nutty Nikki to the UN, at the start of his presidency? Israeli PM wanted Nutty in that job and after watching her unhinged performances in the UNGA, I see why; she's a Shabbos Goy, more than willing to do anything Israel asks, and BTW, keep me in mind for that POTUS opening, OK guys? ..."
"... MAGA was Trump's 'Hope and Change' mantra that many bought. ..."
"... Trump made and lost four multi-billion dollar fortunes while using NYC as his home base. Then made another multi-billion dollar fortune. One doesn't do that in NYC unless you're in bed with the same gangsters that have been looting this nation for decades, those TBTF Wall Street banks that us peasants are forced to bail-out every 10 or so years. ..."
"... Trump was bought and paid for a long time ago, now he's paying off his helpers by doing their dirty work around the word while the 'marks,' us Americans, get our pockets picked. ..."
Another great
article by Mr. Giraldi. If Trump can't get the neocons out of the government, who possibly
can?
In liberals derangement over Trump, and willingness to support anything that challenges his
2016 America First (anti-interventionist) campaign, they're willing to support the old order
for fear of an "isolationist," or realist one, taking its place. If there's a large scale
intervention, it'll be interesting to see what kind of left-liberal/dissident-right anti-war
movement emerges, and if that furthers the deformation of the normative "liberal"
"conservative" divide.
Another great article by Mr. Giraldi. If Trump can't get the neocons out of the
government, who possibly can?
If you believe Trump is trying to remove neocons(Deep State) from the government, explain
Bolton and many other Deep State denizens Trump has appointed.
If you believe Trump is trying to remove neocons(Deep State) from the government,
explain Bolton and many other Deep State denizens Trump has appointed.
Agreed.
Drain the Swamp? Trump and his sidekick Jared K inhabit the murkiest depths of that
Swamp. But people will say Tubby's being forced into a corner and just has to appoint neoCON
psychopaths like Bolton. Then explain Trump appointing Nutty Nikki to the UN, at the start of
his presidency? Israeli PM wanted Nutty in that job and after watching her unhinged
performances in the UNGA, I see why; she's a Shabbos Goy, more than willing to do anything
Israel asks, and BTW, keep me in mind for that POTUS opening, OK guys?
MAGA was Trump's 'Hope and Change' mantra that many bought.
Trump made and lost four multi-billion dollar fortunes while using NYC as his home base. Then
made another multi-billion dollar fortune. One doesn't do that in NYC unless you're in bed
with the same gangsters that have been looting this nation for decades, those TBTF Wall
Street banks that us peasants are forced to bail-out every 10 or so years.
Trump was bought and paid for a long time ago, now he's paying off his helpers by doing
their dirty work around the word while the 'marks,' us Americans, get our pockets picked.
Fascinating to see the tinfoil hat brigade turn out in such numbers to rant and rave about the
"Deep State!" and poor, honest Donald Trump as a freedom fighter who is daily sacrificing
himself for the good people of America.
Why do bullies always pretend to be victims?
As with science, human nature can usually boiled down to the most likely answer, the simple
observable truth. Such as; Donald Trump's entire life is a story of greed, vulgarity and self
promotion to the exclusion of all else. He did not, in his 8th decade, suddenly develop a
desire to serve the American people at his own expense. He is in the White House doing exactly
what he has always done, he is pursuing whatever makes him happiest in the moment with no
regard to consequences, morality or even common sense.
There's a difference between direct Russian gov influence and finding Trump linked to
Russian financing; lots of it. The real question is who benefits and who benefitted already?
Definitely not Russia; only in so much as the military is not involved, but then Russian
Zionists are not interested in military aggression on Russia.
So who benefitted? Israel, and I'm sure Mueller already has the answer. The question is:
will he come out and state in his report who benefitted from the massive Russian oligarchy
investment in Trump? I doubt it
Besides, Trump has Israel's favorite lawyer Dershowitz doing damage control for him. His
ass is covered.
I understand your point of view. But I've made a case (starting @4) that Trump, and Obama
before him, are basically front-men. To the Deep State, your attachment to one party or one
political personality is a lever to work you (and others that have the same
affiliations/beliefs). You (and others) have to understand that you're being played
before you can actually change anything for the better.
Hope that helps.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 31, 2018
12:06:39 AM |
71
@65
Here is a scenario in which Trump might be impeached:
If Trump were impeached Pence would become President. Trump came into power because he
wanted to tear up the Iran deal and Hillary wanted to keep Obama's deal with Iran. Zionists
have been pushing for a U.S. strike on Iran for years. Bush wouldn't do it; Obama got the
deal; Hillary wasn't going to tear up the deal, so Trump was their man. Now, it's possible
that Zionists fear Trump won't go all the way on Iran; but no doubt Pence would.
Maybe now that Trump gave them Jerusalem and tore up the deal; Pence will finish the job
that Trump might not have the stomach for. If this is the case, then Trump might be impeached
or something will surface in the Southern District that will give way to an indictment
against him. It's very possible that if Zionists are sensing hesitation on Trump's part they
will turn on him before the election and put Pence in his place. Pence was also handpicked by
them and now with Bolton and Pompeo in place the way is paved for an attack on Iran.
There is another possibility however. If Trump's Presidency is threatened with
impeachment; it's possible also that Trump will resort to wag the dog and attack Iran before
to have Congress rally around him.
It's going to come down to Iran, because after Syria; Iran was the next target with
Zionists and Neocons.
Thanks. They don't make it easy to connect the dots!
I recognized and blogged about the similarities between Trump and Obama from April 2017.
But only about 2 months ago did I link Kissinger's Op-Ed and MAGA despite my
recognition AT THE TIME that what Kissinger proposed was, as I have called it elsewhere,
a 'declaration of war'.
This is what I wrote shortly after Kissinger's Op-Ed was published in August 2014:
My reading is that Kissinger is asserting that the US can and should do whatever it
takes to keep the US preeminent – even if that means ignoring allies and/or the
post-war international structure (UN, UNSC). That exceptional! message comes through loud
and clear despite his 'triage' formalism. And it is a message that is comforting to the
elite who read the WSJ (before a holiday weekend), though it should give Joe Sixpack
nightmares if fully understood .
There is a lot more there which would take much longer to unpack. But I'll point to
one more thing: Note how he forms an equivalence between all the troubles that the 'West'
now face, and ignores US/Western actions that have contributed to these conflicts by
conflating them. NC readers understand this via Merschemer's (in today's links) work on
Ukraine and many links regarding ISIS (like this one).
This comforting message [from Kissinger] is needed because the Ukraine gambit has
failed miserably – as many independent oberservers [sic] predicted– and a
deeper conflict with Russia (possibly extending to others) is now in the cards. Like the
true neocon that he is, Kissinger has doubled down on Nuland's obnoxious and misguided
"f*ck the EU" with an exceptional! "f*ck the World".
I wrote about the possibility that Trump may not want to be a war President when Cohen and
Manafort were convicted.
I differ with you in that I think it would be Trump's choice. If Trump wants to hand the
reigns to Pence (friend of McCain) , he just needs to pardon Cohen and Manafort - then
resign (knowing that he would be impeached if he didn't) .
I agree completely. Trump is backed by a faction of the deep state. If I had to pick
factions I would pick Trumps. We do not have much of a choice.
8 years of Hillary on top of 8 years of Bill (no pun intended) on top of 20 years of Bush
(8 as VP under Reagan plus the other terms of the squad) is just enough.
Obama's mom was a lifelong CIA officer. That is why he was living on embassy row when he
was a kid in Indonesia. They got people in the pipe to be president. Obama was one of their
long term projects. Both sides have this tutelage thing going where they pick out young
people and mentor them as they show the traits needed that they are looking to build and
enhance into a person. If they show that they will follow orders and have the right mindset
they then support them and place them into various positions.
Trump was not one of them but he was the right guy at the right time and knew the key
players, especially the Zionists. I am convinced that his backers war gamed his candidacy
with AI.
Of course, This is part speculation and part fact based on a hell of a lot of reading and
experience.
"The 'soft progressive liberal set' - just as 'Dems' and 'Reps' - don't really present a
political ideology, framework, view-point, or even low-level adherence and/or claims. They
are cover for an underlying hidden structure: informal tribes/circuits and sections in an
oligarchic corporatist régime, or even something different, which I won't go into
now."
I am intrigued by the "....or even something different, which I won't go into now." part
and encourage you to share your thoughts but let me go back to the rest of the cover as you
call it for the hidden structure. I offer a friendly upgrade to your "oligarchic corporatist
régime" characterization by adding monotheistic religion which says all the tribes are
not informal in your mix. I think they were/are the brainwashing outlet before mass media and
still account for the core faith based delusion so many have and extend to other facets of
their lives....so they don't have to take personal responsibility is my life-experience
call.
Unrelated, but want to add my fervor to the calling out of ongoing war criminal Henry
Kissinger. I am not one to focus my ire on too many individuals, wanting us all to focus on
the structure, BUT, there are reasonable exceptions to all rules and Henry K deserves a
special place in everyones hell including his own.
Trump is not going to pardon Cohen or Manafort unless it benefits Trump. Trump is all
about HIM. The only reason he'd do it is to avoid criminal indictment. Trump will not stick
his neck out for anyone if it will end his Presidency. If Manafort and Cohen have something
on Trump, he's doomed.
I don't see how Manafort has the guts to risk another prosecution especially with the fear
that Trump won't be able to pardon him. Trump will only pardon him if he knows Manafort knows
something and Manafort doesn't act on fear to spill it first.
In that case Trump will choose the lessor of two evils: resignation over indictment and
then the pardon will confirm he committed a crime; because he won't rescue Manafort or Cohen
for any other reason. If Manafort holds out under such tremendous pressure is a pretty big
IF.
Of course there is the possibility that Manafort knows nothing, will be prosecuted and so
Trump will let him rot in prison rather than assuming risk for himself.
One more thing: if you suspect he's not a war President then imagine how his Zionist
handlers see it. If he can't deliver Iran; they'll turn on him and find a way to replace him
with Pence or let him finish his first term and then replace him.
The debate's been ongoing for over 2 years now: Is Trump part of the Deep State, or is he an
outlier backed by a Deep State faction?
Escobar answered the second clause's query in the positive as he admitted being fed info
by a member of that faction. If one's an independent hitman and gets hired by the Mob, does
that make you a member or do you remain just an affiliate? IMO, once employed, you become a
member until you're no longer employed. Ergo, Trump's a member of the Deep State as he's
employed by one or more of its factions.
What was/is the Deep State's stated goal? Full Spectrum Dominance of the planet and outer
space. When was it explicitly stated? During WJ Clinton's second term when Clear Skies
2010 was published, which provided flesh to GHW Bush's announcement of the New World
Order. Is that goal compatible with the 1787 US Constitution? No, in a host of ways, but most
importantly it violates the UN Charter in wholesale fashion.
So, as one who pledged an oath to defend the US Constitution from all enemies, foreign
and domestic , should the orders of POTUS Donald Trump be obeyed since we've just
deduced he's a member of a domestic enemy cabal? No! He must be resisted.
But who do we deem not a domestic enemy, which is to ask: Who can/do we trust, or
should we trust nobody? Of course, these questions are primarily for US citizens to ponder,
specifically those of us who still stand by our Oath despite being discharged from service,
and of course those actively serving or in reserve capacities.
Or maybe some person will shoot my logic full of holes.
Which means that he is not a real fighter. Just a "very flexible" pretender.
Notable quotes:
"... Trump was no revolution and has been little deviation from the norm. The hyperventilating diaspora not withstanding, nobody would know he was anything but another middle of the road neocon with a bit more hawkish immigration policy (that he never intends to implement). ..."
"... And while many of us are amused with some of his antics, President Trump seems at other times to be evolving into a caricature of the anti-PC candidate. Remember the hijacking of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, with bigots and flakes becoming the faces of the organizations in the mass media? The Establishment may in the same way be using Trump to discredit the views of those who voted for him. ..."
"... , on the stupidity of his picks for underlings. He has total responsibility for most of the Feral Gov. bureaucracy, and you don't start off picking people that are against you. ..."
"... In 2008, Obama was touted as a political outsider who will hose away all of the rot and bloody criminality of the Bush years. He turned out to be a deft move by our ruling class. Though fools still refuse to see it, Obama is a perfect servant of our military banking complex. Now, Trump is being trumpeted as another political outsider. ..."
"... A Trump presidency will temporarily appease restless, lower class whites, while serving as a magnet for liberal anger. This will buy our ruling class time as they continue to wage war abroad while impoverishing Americans back home. Like Obama, Trump won't fulfill any of his election promises, and this, too, will be blamed on bipartisan politics." ..."
"... Trump's behavior is very obviously conflicted, but I don't think it's because he doesn't know his own mind. My working hypothesis is that he's making some effort to carry out his platform (very unlike Obama), but that behind-the-scenes forces are resisting mightily. ..."
"... Maybe it is right that Trump is just the latest iteration of Obama, a sop to our nation's discontent. But what choice did we have other than to support him and hope for the best? He does seem increasingly under neocon influence. ..."
Many of Trumps worst problems are the result of his own egregious choices. Such as the
appointment of obvious Deep State apparatchiks to Cabinet and advisory positions, allowing
GOP Inc sycophants such as Ryan, McConnell, Graham and others to ride rough shod over his
campaign promises. Playing good cop to the bad cop Deep State, with Russia. Taking a
belligerent stance with North Korea, Iran, China and the EU.
I strongly suspect he is playing a Nationalist swamp drainer to his base, while in reality he
is a Deep State Globalist.
No fighter of the establishment would make such stupid mistakes as Trump has.
the establishment elites of both parties, who have also not given up on a foreign
policy of using America's economic and military power to attempt to convert mankind to
democracy .
Really, Pat? Surely you know they are trying to convert mankind to Globalism/Bolshevism,
as the rest of your article makes clear. But for some reason Pat feels compelled to put some
stupid lie like this in every article. Cognitive dissonance? Or an effort to keep getting
invited to the DC Club Parties?
"The terrible and fateful events that befell our wonderful and tragic homeland, are carried
as a searing and purifying fire on our souls.
In this fire are burnt the false basis, the errors and prejudices on which the ideology of
the former Russian intelligensia were built. On these basis it was impossible to build
Russia; these falsehoods and prejudices led her to decay and death."
Ivan Ilyin, On Fighting Evil by Force
I hope he is only doing this because he thinks he needs to go slow and play along
sometimes because of all the swamp dwellers aligned against him. However, it is allowing the
swamp to run the clock out on him. It is also allowing the intelligence community to avoid
the shake up it needs and force his foreign policy into something the people don't want.
If he truely is willing to fight the swamp, there will come a time when he can fight and
the swamp won't have any bullets left. However, it doesn't help when he continues to agree
with the swamp that the Russians are meddling in our elections.
Trump was no revolution and has been little deviation from the norm. The hyperventilating
diaspora not withstanding, nobody would know he was anything but another middle of the road
neocon with a bit more hawkish immigration policy (that he never intends to implement).
Global flavela bazaar neoliberalism for everyone is the revolution and it is still on
schedule everywhere outside of the Visegrad.
Don't forget that he has chosen Bolton, Giuliani, Haley
Linh Dinh not only called the election months out, but explained that President Trump,
like President Obama, would amount to nothing more than a vent pipe for a different group of
gullible Americans.
I, too, said that Mr. Trump neither believed nor would act effectively on much of what
many of us here loved hearing in those speeches written by young Mr. Miller. I encouraged
people not to vote, and was accused of doing so to help Jeb, then Hillary.
It sounds like you may be coming to see things differently than you did in 2016.
And while many of us are amused with some of his antics, President Trump seems at
other times to be evolving into a caricature of the anti-PC candidate. Remember the hijacking
of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, with bigots and flakes becoming the faces of the
organizations in the mass media? The Establishment may in the same way be using Trump to
discredit the views of those who voted for him.
AGREED, on the stupidity of his picks for underlings. He has total
responsibility for most of the Feral Gov. bureaucracy, and you don't start off picking people
that are against you.
I don't suspect Trump is a Globalist at heart, though. He may be under tremendous pressure
of some sort by the Deep State to ACT LIKE one.
Remember Ross Perot!
No, I always knew that Trump might not be everything we hoped. I just knew that only he
could beat Hillary. Anybody else but Trump or Cruz and we would already have that Luis
Gutierrez amnesty for 30 million illegals and 100 million more put on the fast track.
"In 2008, Obama was touted as a political outsider who will hose away all of the rot and
bloody criminality of the Bush years. He turned out to be a deft move by our ruling class.
Though fools still refuse to see it, Obama is a perfect servant of our military banking
complex. Now, Trump is being trumpeted as another political outsider.
A Trump presidency will temporarily appease restless, lower class whites, while serving as
a magnet for liberal anger. This will buy our ruling class time as they continue to wage war
abroad while impoverishing Americans back home. Like Obama, Trump won't fulfill any of his
election promises, and this, too, will be blamed on bipartisan politics."
I don't know what your point is? Are you saying we should not have voted or chosen
somebody we know could not win? What is the point of crying that Trump is a bad guy when
there was no other choice?
I don't suspect Trump is a Globalist at heart, though. He may be under tremendous
pressure of some sort by the Deep State to ACT LIKE one. Remember Ross Perot!
It is probable he is under threat from the Deep State, but he should have known that going
in.
The Deep State probably has an unbreakable hold on our government at least by electoral
means. Other means will be needed to crush it.
If he truely is willing to fight the swamp, there will come a time when he can fight and
the swamp won't have any bullets left.
I wish that were true, but I believe the Deep State is so entrenched in our government (it
is the government) that it will not be destroyed by electoral means.
" Who says current values -- some of them deeply evil " "Think about the money we could save and make."
So says the materialist flesh-bot from the Cato Institute in regard to open borders. I'm
assuming the libertarian is okay with the attempt at mainstreaming transgenderism and the
sexualization of children by cultural Luciferians. I'd guess the freedom fighter views
transhumanism as a positive evolutionary step. I'm sure the liberty lover will fit right into
the synthetic/organic hive-mind that will be the result.
Nonsense, Trump and the altright have forced the J-Left to accelerate their plans, tipping
their hands and awakening a lot more people. Thousands will flock to our banner over Sarah
Jeong alone.
The best thing about Pat Buchanan is that, nowadays at least, he's always polite. His is
an example that all of us should take to heart while we still can: Not insulting your
adversary is the first step to bringing him onto your side.
Pat isn't always absolutely frank in his supporting points or in his framing of a
political objective, but then he's not the kind to give up when the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor
either.
The elites have always been the enemies of the people throughout history, in every country.
From the pharaohs of Egypt to the Patricians of Rome, the British aristocracy, the European
monarchies, the Bolsheviks, Soviet Politburo, Chinese princelings to the present day tech
plantation owners, Wall Street billionaires and political elites, these people will do
everything they can to maintain their elitism, if everyone else has access to what they have,
namely money and power, they wouldn't be elite anymore.
It's why democracy does not work. Anyone who can get elected president has to come from
the elites or have wide support of the elites, like Obama. Those who are rich enough to run
their own campaigns, like Trump, is already by definition an elite. Can you trust an elite to
look out for the masses? Not since time immemorial.
Trump campaigned on no more foreign wars and no more illegal immigration, America First.
Two years on and we continue to have wars everywhere, last year we granted more OPT for
foreign grads than at any time in history, he hasn't done jack on H1b, has increased H2b,
still allows H1b spouses to work, no cut on legal immigration, and managed to completely fuck
up healthcare. If it's truly bipartisanship that tripped him up, you wouldn't know it judging
by the umpteen Cohens from Wall Street in his cabinet, and his backing of RINOs like Ryan and
neocons like Pence, Bolton and Haley. Instead of focusing all his energy fighting the Deep
State, he's trying to start a war with Iran. What the fuck do we care about Iran? Trump's
true identity and intention are in doubt. His biggest problem is he lacks principles. There's
only so much you can trust a guy who got rich working almost exclusively with shysters.
America is going through our own Bolshevik revolution, but too many are either unaware,
apathetic or too afraid to speak out.
In deeper over his head than the former community organizer/ constitutional scholar (wow,
what a resume!) fool Øb☭ma? Yeah, there's a lot going on, but picking the right
underlings should not be hard for a businessman – delegation of work is a big part of
the job.
Did you read the post about Mr. Ross Perot? What happened back in 1992 was pretty damn
strange, looked at with the understanding I have now.
You are right, David. Mr. Buchanan is VERY polite. He's as civil as he can be, as if this
were 1985 and the more American-oriented GOP was quibbling over the budget with the more
American-oriented Democrat party in some committee hearings. I've written this before a
couple of times regarding Pat Buchanan:
IT! IS! NOT! 1985! The people we are dealing with will absolutely NOT come to our side if
we treat them nice. It just greatly encourages their stupidity when you are polite and try to
be understanding (unless they are, which is NEVER). David, you are under the highly erroneous
impression that you are dealing with people who are sane. I hate to break it to you this time
of night, but our enemies are deeply insane.
I hope this reply was respectful enough to you, though, David.
Reportedly Richard Spencer created the term "alt-right".
Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is president of the National Policy
Institute, as well as Washington Summit Publishers. Spencer rejects considers himself a white
nationalist or white identitarian. Spencer created the term "alt-right", which he considers a
movement about "white identity". Spencer advocates white-European unity and a "peaceful
ethnic cleansing" of nonwhites from America, criticizes Euroskepticism, and advocates the
creation of a white ethno-state that would be open to all "racial Europeans", which Spencer
considers a reconstitution of the Roman Empire.
Spencer sounded as dumb as a brick on Dinesh Joseph D'Souza's new movie, 'Death of a
Nation', but I suppose that a director can make anybody look the fool, with their edits.
a) Watching the smugness of Hillary and the MSM disappear on election night: by itself worth
the price of admission.
b) Using twitter to go over the heads of the pearl-clutching MSM.
c) Seeing the partisanship in the intelligence community exposed, especially the FBI.
d) Trying to have a formal rather than discretionary immigration policy.
e) Restricting immigration from Mideast countries with radicals.
f) Seeing him try to get along with Putin.
g) International independence in foreign policy.
h) Shutting down the trans-oceanic secret trade treaties and reexamining trade.
i) Just talking to Kim il-Sung
j) Covfefe, because it upsets prudes.
What I haven't liked about Trump:
a) Even more sanctions on Russia.
b) Losing his original advisers to neocon types, one by one.
c) Implacable hostility toward Iran.
Ambiguities in Trump's behavior:
a) Saying he doesn't trust the intelligence community, then retracting.
b) Sanctions, Syrian bombings and military buildup while trying to have talks.
Trump's strange political decisions:
a) What is Jared Kushner?
b) Why didn't he fight Flynn's resignation?
c) Why did he appoint Mueller & Rosenstein?
d) Why did he appoint Pompeo & Bolton?
Trump's behavior is very obviously conflicted, but I don't think it's because he doesn't
know his own mind. My working hypothesis is that he's making some effort to carry out his
platform (very unlike Obama), but that behind-the-scenes forces are resisting mightily. In
some cases I think he's being worn down, in others, I think he's being subjected to very
heavy pressure to avoid and even walk back certain policies. Why did he get rid of his
campaign policy advisers, why did he make politically hostile appointments in the FBI and
Justice, why did he appoint advisors who hold stated positions contrary to his? What made him
retract what he said about trusting intelligence agencies? These were the same guys who let
911 happen after all.
I wouldn't necessarily be happy if he succeeded with all his goals. However, it seems that
every time he tries to do something, massive political barriers and MSM hostility are thrown
up in front of him*. So, I do think that he's fighting the deep state, that the situation is
pretty much revealing how it works, as I'd hoped. There's a chance that he might do some
effective swamp-draining eventually, but we're still in the shallow end.
*With the unfortunate exception of Iranian sabre-rattling.
Buchanan's discussion of the Pundits' opinion starkly exposes their elitist arrogance:
For free trade is always and ever a "win-win for trading partners."
Maybe for the trading partners, but what about the rest of the population? But the most
revealing is:
Who says America's current values -- some of them deeply evil -- are the right ones?
That'd be the people, wouldn't it? And who exactly are the "we" here:
"Think about the money we could save and make." This is truly economics uber alles,
economy before country.
Buchanan reveals a bad attitude: imagine suggesting that money might not be the
bottom line.
But of course the Globalists are plotting; what would make them stop? My money is
on the Kalergi-Coudenhove Plan, formed in 1924, for the Jewish people to rule Europe, based
on lame excuses derived from eugenics theories that make Hitler's racial policies look
positively enlightened. After you've had a chance to look it up, and you stop laughing that
such a preposterous idea could possibly get enough traction to last beyond the next day's
hangover, see this link: https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100019566 , and then search
for the Coudenhove-Kalergi prize recipients in 2010 and 2012. This mad project is about to
survive its centennial.
When you learn what true free trade is you will learn to appreciate the
benefits.
Substitute communism for free trade and it's true believers say the same thing about their
imaginary utopia. Hell, why stop there, put in any ISM you want and get the same thing.
When you learn what true free trade is you will learn to appreciate the benefits.
or else? It's not even clear that "true free trade" is possible, or what it is, for that
matter. The term is a propaganda meme: it's emotionally evocative but linguistically vague.
It's not at all clear what specific policies (i.e., legislation) are being advocated.
Buchanan criticised consequences of the agreements that we have , not hypotheticals
with consequences we'd like to have. The former may have been good for the traders, but they
haven't been beneficial for the middle class, nor the nation at large.
My working hypothesis is that there are three forces at play:
1. Trump with his own agenda – MAGA, terminate wars, stop globalisation
2. Zionist radical globalists
3. Zionist MAGA sympathisers
No. 3 are of course really still Israel-firsters and don't care much about America, but
they do realise that the radical globalist agenda undermines U.S. power, which is causing the
U.S. to lose its grip on the rest of the world. Thus, they support MAGA in order to preserve
and restore U.S. power, so that it may continue to serve Israel.
Trump has allied himself with No. 3, because without any allies he would go the way of JFK
in a hurry (he still might). They let him pursue his nationalist economic agenda, but each
time he tries to pursue his other aims – detente, mostly, a foreign policy that truly
serves America first – they yank his leash.
As I said, this is my working hypothesis; there may be better explanations.
Agree that Mr. Buchanan should be respected, not denounced for not being someone else. He
has long worked in the trenches, and I don't think it too much to say that he and others like
him helped create the alt-Right and made Trump's win possible. This is another fine piece by
him.
I was impressed with Trump's tweet reply to the Kochs. In part Trump said, "I'm for
America First & the American Worker -- a puppet for no one." I'd like to believe that but
it gets harder as his words of support for America are beginning to pale against his acts of
neocon continuity.
Maybe it is right that Trump is just the latest iteration of Obama, a sop to our nation's
discontent. But what choice did we have other than to support him and hope for the best? He
does seem increasingly under neocon influence. The pressures are intense. The negative ones
only relent when he does what they want. The positive pressures reward him with the decadence
of wealth and power. I'd be surprised at this point if he can remember the people he promised
he'd never forget. But we got a mention in twitter
Trump is obviously engaging Iran to please his Jewish-in-law, who probably is laughing behind
his back. During the presidential political campaign, Trump made clear that he was against
regime change and that is why many people voted for him. He has gone back on that pledge,
once again, to please his Jewish son-in-law. Beyond that, Iran is no threat to America and
has nothing whatsoever to do with "making America great again".
Pat Buchanan vastly overestimates American military capabilities. Is he not aware of a war
game with Iran conducted by the Pentagon back in 2002 wherein the American navy lost 16 ships
including an aircraft carrier and 8 cruisers? The war game was even rigged to favor America,
and we still lost. Moreover, the military equipment the Iranians have today is far more
advanced than what they had in 2002. Wake up and smell the coffee Pat.
There is no doubt in my mind that if there is a war with Iran the American Fifth Fleet
would be decimated, as it would be hit by barrages of both subsonic and supersonic antiship
cruise missiles along with the supercavitating 225 mph Hoot torpedoes (based on Russian
technology). Not only that, American bases in that general area would be hit by numerous
surface to surface missiles. And of course Israel would be attacked and destroyed.
Since a land invasion of Iran is out of the question, because it would require at least a
2 million man army to even have a chance of being successful, that leaves the only option of
an air/naval military campaign. Since the Fifth Fleet would be destroyed within a few days of
that war, there would be no carrier launched aircraft. They would have to use land based
aircraft which would have to go up against the S-300, TOR and other air defense systems. The
losses would be enormous. The attacking aircraft that survive the air raids would have to fly
back to bases under rocket attack by the Iranians. The attacking aircraft, both manned and
unmanned, obviously would damage some of Iran's military assets but not to the point that
Iran would throw in the towel.
If any of you recall that several years ago the Iranians downed a highly sophisticated
American spy aircraft thru electronic means (It wasn't shot down.). They took it apart,
analyzed it and probably used its technology in their military equipment. This gives one an
insight into their capabilities.
If any of you think that a war with Iran would result in an American victory, you are
living in a fool's paradise.
Buchanan wrote "U.S., would swiftly prevail.", but your point is valid.
Iran fought a desperate 8-year war with Iraq, and never surrendered.
Iraq was supplied and assisted (e.g. satellite intelligence) by US, UK, etc. Iran basically
had no air-force or any modern (for the time) military equipment. Iranian teenage boys
volunteered by the 1,000s to walk over mine fields and clear them, so that valuable,
experienced soldiers could be spared to fight Iraqi military. As a side note, Iraq is now
Shia controlled and is allied with Iran.
{Iran has the upper hand here. We need to be very careful.}
Exactly. Unfortunately, neocons who run the WH and US foreign policy are not only evil,
but are also recklessly stupid. One cannot underestimate their arrogant stupidity to plunge
US and the region into another bloodbath.
As it stands now, Trump has already lost. The people that won him the election, the
independents and democrats that voted for him will not show up if he keeps on the path he is
on.
Unless he brings the troops home, all of them, makes peace with Russia, Iran, stops trying to
push other nations around like in Venezuela, letting Wall St-Zionists use our military to
make themselves richer while Americans that are already broke as fuk pay for it, droning and
assassinating people who pose no threat to Americans, repeal Patriot act and all of the other
anti-American laws that have been passed since the false flag of 9-11, those voters are not
gonna show up to vote for another Bush-0bama puppet. Stop funding and arming Christian
murdering terrorists for Israels benefit!
People voted for him cause they thought he would be a fighter, he bends over every time the
establishment and media starts throwing their fits, more sanctions, more MIC spending, going
back on everything he said. We're still stuck with crappy unaffordable "healthcare" that is
bankrupting people left and right, while we give Israel and the MIC billions.
If he pulls his nose out of Netanyahus, Wall st, and MIC's ass and does the above he will
win. If not he will lose.
Yeah, I doubt it too.
You make some very good points. The US military decision makers are also well aware of the
perils of attacking Iran. They would resist risking a war with Iran on behalf of the
neocons.
The US administration's war ploy is to intimidate Iran into an agreement to boost Trump's
standing with the voters in the Midterms2018.
Trump won't do a thing for Trumps a neocon himself,Trump was put in office by Jewish money
in fact he is still taking it, and the fools who voted him in office are still waiting for
the clown to keep his word on anything he promised
Iran will be another one of those easy to get into, hard to get out of wars. I'm sure the US
military will defeat the Iranian one within weeks at most. But then what?
Iran is a huge, mountainous country. Israel doesn't want it merely beaten, they want it to
be smashed to pieces because of something or other the Persians did to the Jews millennia
ago. So once again, the US will have to completely destroy a functioning, relatively modern
country and then rebuild it and occupy it for decades to come.
I doubt that many American soldiers would die but it will cost the US another couple of
trillion dollars in debt to the Rothschilds. So the Jews win twice; another ancient enemy
defeated at no cost to them AND the stupid, filthy goyim are even further in debt to
them.
"The faster America dumps this crazy fascination with the Jews the faster it will get it's
act together and become a Country again."
We can only do that by seizing control of the media and redistributing it to ourselves and
our supporters. It's not right that two Jewish strong holds – NY and LA – get to
control the entirety of the country's media and entertainment industry.
Why the hell is prime time CNN in NY instead of Atlanta (hint: to more easily control the
narrative by staffing positions from a pool of people more likely to share certain beliefs).
The NYT, The New Yorker, Hollywood, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, a host of think tanks and
magazines, prominent websites and basically everything else is in just two or three
cities.
We erred very badly in letting the enemy control the narrative machine. Instead of
supporting corporate merges, we should be breaking them up. Instead of defunding public
broadcasting, we should fund it and make it more appealing than the propaganda outlets like
CNN, hurting our enemies by driving down their ratings and helping our cause in the
process.
We can follow this up by banning Israeli control organizations like the SPLC and the
ADL.
But unless we are willing to organize a viable opposition and take control away from the
vermin who originally seized it from our people in the first place, nothing will change.
Things will only get worse.
I don't think "Jewish money" was much of a factor in getting Orange Clown elected. I think
it may have actually tainted him and lowered his odds.
What put Orange Clown in office was Obama's attack on the Syrian Army at Deir Ezzor in
Sept. 2016, and the escalation of tension with Russia, IMO. I believe it was the prospect of
war with Russia that caused some antiwar democrats/Sanders supporters to hold their noses and
vote for Orange Clown that swung the election to him.
1) An electorate that has soured on Wilsonian interventionism to the point that they
managed to shut down talk of regime change in Syria back in 2013 unilaterally, despite being
supported by both the White House and the opposition dominated Congress, to say nothing of
mainstream media outlets high on the Arab Spring. And a President that was both nominated and
elected not least because voters figured he'd be less likely than his opponents to go on
military crusades abroad.
2) A treasury that is trillions of dollars in debt. News flash to the GOP: wars be
expensive, way more expensive than welfare programs.
3) A country with a cohesive basis in culture/ethnicity that nobody else in the Middle
East except for Israel has, three times Iraq's population, and a far more
functional/competent governmental apparatus, military, and special forces. Not to mention
that this time around, there's not going to be an oppressed majority sect fantasizing about
toppling the regime and getting revenge, a la the Shi'a in Iraq.
4) A military who hasn't faced a serious opponent in a long time.
5) Further confirming for the world-especially the people in Moscow and Beijing-that the
Americans are a bunch of trigger-happy kids hell-bent on spreading their decidedly
not-looking-very-good-from-a-distance political system around the world, and who should
never, ever be taken at their word. Not to mention sending a message to Pyongyang to make
sure we're aware of the nuclear bomb so that we don't decide KOREAN FREEDOM is next, and
advertising to Muslims in general that the stereotypes of spoiled Saud princes and the Jews
truly controlling things in Washington are all too true.
First let me state that I'm opposed to war with Iran, but there is an argument, and it may be
a neocon argument, but there is a legitimate argument for war with them.
1. The Iranian army, navy and air force could probably be destroyed within a couple of weeks
with air power alone.
2. Iranian infrastructure, bridges, communications, transportation, could also probably be,
at the least, severely damaged in an air attack. The US military could defang the Iranians
and put them in a vulnerable position for years to come.
3. Regime change, boots on the ground would be a grave mistake, although I believe the US
would eventually prevail, the cost in lives wouldn't be worth the fight.
4. Because the US petrodollar is the world's reserve currency, the US can keep printing to
pay for all the replacement costs of military hardware, and even take other steps, like
raising interest rates, to control inflation.
5. Finally, a 20% increase in the cost of oil would make shale oil look cheap and would add
millions of jobs to the US payrolls, making plenty of money for investors.
I'm a vet myself, and opposed to sending more of our guys to a foreign country to die, but
I could definitely see the chicken-hawks in DC win this argument.
PJB is one of the best but it is simply amazing to recall how many people have written so
many stories about how an Iran attack is imminent. Those stories have been out there since at
least 2005 when GWB was about to launch an air campaign against Iran and the dire concern
then was that US troops were vulnerable to retaliation in Iraq. Take a breath. It's not going
to happen. Trump knows it would be the end of his presidency. There are not enough neocons to
offset the loss of deplorable support. And in fact, the neocons are still going to hate him.
He sucks up to Israel, moves the Embassy and pulls out of the Iran deal and it gets him no
where with them.
I believe you underestimated the main reason Independents voted for Trump. Militant
Marxists taking over the MSM, and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. If anything
the attacks on Trump and 'anybody but Hillary' voters have gotten more and more pointed and
aggressive. Do those voters care about Iran? No. Not to any significant degree when
confronted by aggressive enemies of what remains of their culture right here in the US trying
to take over the House in order to impeach Trump and to criminalize free speech (when it
doesn't favor their agendas). No 'blue wave' will materialize IMO. But even if it does, it's
going to get squashed by more of the same that it experienced in 2016. Can't wait to watch
them blame the Russians again while the wheels fall off of their little red wagons carrying
their dreams of the fourth coming of Hillary.
And of course Israel would be attacked and destroyed
.
How and by who? More likely Israel, which has the capability and motivation would do the
destroying. They've been flying their F35′s around Iran undetected.
He will have his war during his second term, and then, he could not care less. They are
gearing up now – economic sanctions that are imploding the economy, and protests in the
street.
Agree with you in general, but am just wondering why people think that asymmetrical
warfare by Iran would be confined to the Middle East? Suppose their sleeper cells in the US
decided to shut down our power grid–something that can be done with few resources and
little manpower. We already know that destroying fewer than ten electrical power substations
would do the trick, and those are alongside rural roads everywhere in the
country–"guarded" by modest chain-link fences and in plain view of the roads.
But suppose that the critical substations have been hardened by our efficient and
ever-forward-looking government bureaucrats. Simply knocking out substations "here and there"
could shut down entire cities–no water, no banking, no payments system, no distribution
system, no food in stores, etc., etc. That could be done quite easily in one night by a very
small number of men. Shut off Chicago's water supply. And Denver's. Bring down a bridge at
Baton Rouge and close the Mississippi to all traffic for months or even years. Etc. Does
anybody really believe that the Iranians are not prepared to do these very things?
I can't think why people seem to think that Iran's reaction would be confined to "the
Middle East." These are not stupid people.
{They've been flying their F35′s around Iran undetected.}
How could _you_ possibly know that? You think Iranians would announce they had detected an
F-35? Only Iranians know if they had detected F-35s or not.
Remember the "stealth" US drone RQ-170 that Iran captured intact? How were they able to
detect a stealth drone? And certainly a stealth drone is a lot harder to detect than a
stealth fighter jet. No?
"... If Trump is serious about a dramatic realignment of US relations with Russia, why did he surround himself with people who are implacably opposed to his approach: Nikki Haley, John Bolton, Mad Dog Mattis, Pompeo Maximus, Bloody Gina Haspel, Christopher Wray, and Dan Coats, who undermined him before Air Force One lifted off from Helsinki? Either Trump should fire them for insubordination or they should resign. Otherwise, this is all psychology not politics ..."
"... What kind of tyrant would appoint all of his own "deep state" coup plotters? ..."
"... Trump's doltish prevarications have done more to boost Mueller's deflating investigation than 1000 hours of the hyperventilating Rachel Maddow . ..."
"... Trump didn't do Putin any favors. The political over-reaction to Trump's obsequiousness will almost certainly prevent the removal of sanctions on the Russian economy. It may even prompt the imposition of more onerous measures. Russian civilians will almost certainly bear most of the price. ..."
He is pathologically narcissistic and supremely arrogant. He has a grotesque sense of entitlement, never doubting that he can
do whatever he chooses. He loves to bark orders and to watch underlings scurry to carry them out. He expects absolute loyalty, but
he is incapable of gratitude. The feelings of others mean nothing to him. He has no natural grace, no sense of shared humanity, no
decency.
He is not merely indifferent to the law; he hates it and takes pleasure in breaking it. He hates it because it gets in his way
and because it stands for a notion of the public good that he holds in contempt. He divides the world into winners and losers. The
winners arouse his regard insofar as he can use them for his own ends; the losers arouse only his scorn. The public good is something
only losers like to talk about. What he likes to talk about is winning.
He has always had wealth; he was born into it and makes ample use of it. But though he enjoys having what money can get him, it
is not what excites him. What excites him is the joy of domination. He is a bully. Easily enraged, he strikes out at anyone who stands
in his way. He enjoys seeing others cringe, tremble, or wince with pain. He is gifted at detecting weakness and deft at mockery and
insult. These skills attract followers who are drawn to the same cruel delight, even if they know that is dangerous, the followers
help him advance to his goal, which is the possession of supreme power.
His possession of power includes the domination of women, but he despises them far more than desires them. Sexual conquest excites
him, but only for the endlessly reiterated proof that he can have anything he likes. He knows that those he grabs hate him. For that
matter, once he has succeeded in seizing the control that so attracts him, in politics as in sex, he knows that virtually everyone
hates him. At first that knowledge energizes him, making him feverishly alert to rivals and conspiracies. But it soon begins to eat
away at him and exhaust him.
Sooner or later, he is brought down. He dies unloved and unlamented. He leaves behind only wreckage.
Donald Trump? Not exactly. This is Stephen Greenblatt's psychological profile of Richard the Third in his briskly readable new
book, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
.
Based on Trump's infantile performance in Helsinki, we'd probably all be better off if Putin just went ahead and annexed the
US.
If Trump is serious about a dramatic realignment of US relations with Russia, why did he surround himself with people
who are implacably opposed to his approach: Nikki Haley, John Bolton, Mad Dog Mattis, Pompeo Maximus, Bloody Gina Haspel, Christopher
Wray, and Dan Coats, who undermined him before Air Force One lifted off from Helsinki? Either Trump should fire them for insubordination
or they should resign. Otherwise, this is all psychology not politics
What kind of tyrant would appoint all of his own "deep state" coup plotters?
Trump's doltish prevarications have done more to boost Mueller's deflating investigation than 1000 hours of the hyperventilating
Rachel Maddow .
Trump was momentarily on track when he wanted to draw a moral equivalence between the brutish global political games of Russia
and the US. But instead of lashing Hillary over her stupid emails, which have nothing to do with antagonizing Russia, why didn't
Trump attack her for her nefarious activities in Ukraine and the decimation of Libya? I know, I know. He's a dotard.
Will Mueller subpoena that soccer ball?
Trump didn't do Putin any favors. The political over-reaction to Trump's obsequiousness will almost certainly prevent
the removal of sanctions on the Russian economy. It may even prompt the imposition of more onerous measures. Russian civilians
will almost certainly bear most of the price.
Trump should have consulted with his Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon. She could have told him from her experience
running the World Wrestling Federation that you have to at least put up a little fight during the Hoedown in Helsinki to make
a fixed outcome look if not real, at least entertaining
For those of us anxious for a de-escalation in tensions between the US and Russia, Trump's petulant display probably ensured
that the opposite will happen
Putin and Trump both sought Bibi's blessing before the summit. Bibi has become the new Billy Graham, who all politicians have
on direct dial for consultation in fraught political moments. Graham always considered him a top notch military strategist, once
urging Nixon to bomb the dikes in North Vietnam which would have killed a million people.
Trump: "What is the server saying?"
The Server: "This subpoena is for you, sir ."
Did QE2 ask Putin to show up 30 minutes late for his huddle with Trump as payback for Trump's tardiness at Windsor?
Ari Melber, MSDNC: "Today, July 16, 2018, will go down in the history books as an inflection point in US-Soviet relations."
The Cold War may be over, as Putin declared, but not the Cold War mentality
Aides
struggle to talk Trump out of launching invasion
In August of 2017, President Trump
surprised many by openly talking about the idea of launching a military attack on
Venezuela. The public talk of this didn't last long, and it has been all but forgotten. But
not forgotten by President Trump.
This shocked members of his cabinet, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. They were both opposed to the idea, but it's less
clear if their successors, Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, would have a problem with this sort
of unprovoked US attack.
After spending 17 years at Goldman Sachs, Trump's new Treasure Secretary, Steven Mnuchin ran
OneWest Bank in CA. Guess who he worked for? George frigging Soros.
So, Trump is partners with infamous globalist atheist George Soros, Orthodox Jews, Islamic
Extremists, Goldman Sachs and GHW Bush's Carlyle Group.
And one more morsel to ponder. The CEO of CNN (portrayed as rabidly anti-Trump) is one of a
long list of Globalist Zionists who have been Trump supporters for decades.
It is a very sad day to admin the neocon Kristof ( see Robert Parry evalution of this guy at
America's Journalistic Hypocrites – Consortiumnews
) is mostly right in his one year old Trump evaluation. Rephazing Oscar Wilde (
Notable quotes:
"... But while you voted for Trump because you put faith in his gauzy pledges, I bet he will do no better with campaign promises than with marriage vows. ..."
"... The biggest Trump bait-and-switch was visible Friday when he talked about giving Americans "access" to health care. That's a scam his administration is moving toward, with millions of Americans likely to lose health insurance: Instead of promising insurance coverage, Trump now promises " access " -- and if you can't afford it, tough luck. ..."
"... This promise of "access" is an echo of Marie Antoinette. In Trump's worldview, starving French peasants wouldn't have needed bread because they had "access" to cake. ..."
"... Let's not get distracted by his howls or tweets. What's most important at this moment is not Trump's theatrics, but the policies he is putting in place in areas like health care and immigration that will devastate the lives of ordinary Americans. ..."
"... The truth is that among the biggest losers from Trump policies will be you Trump voters, especially those of you from the working and middle class. You were hoping you'd elected a savior, and instead Donald Trump is doing to you what he did to just about everyone who ever trusted him: He's betraying you. ..."
You've been had. President Trump sold you a clunker. Now that he's in the White House, he's betraying you -- and I'm writing in
hopes that you'll recognize that betrayal and hold him accountable.
Trump spoke to your genuine pain, to the fading of the American dream, and he won your votes. But will he deliver? Please watch
his speeches carefully. You'll notice that he promises outcomes, without explaining how they'll be achieved. He's a carnival huckster
promising that America will thrive with his snake oil.
"We're going to win, we're going to win big, folks," Trump declared Friday at the CPAC meeting, speaking of his foreign policy.
Great! Problem solved. Next? He then outlined his take on drug trafficking and what will surely be his outcome:
"No good. No good. Going to stop." Wow! Why didn't anyone else think of that?
Similarly, all looks rosy for tax outcomes: "We're going to massively lower taxes on the middle class," Trump said.
But that seems like a classic shell game. The Tax Policy Center
estimated that
Trump's tax plan (to the extent that there is one) would hugely increase the federal debt and give middle-income households an average
tax cut of $1,010, or 1.8 percent of after-tax income -- while the top 1 percent would save $214,690, or 13.5 percent of after-tax
income.
Trump made more than 280 campaign promises as a candidate, and a few -- such as infrastructure spending to create jobs -- would
be sensible if done right. But there still is no infrastructure plan, and The Washington Post Fact Checker
is tracking
60 specific campaign promises and found only six cases so far of promises kept.
It's still early, and Trump has nominated a smart conservative to the Supreme Court and followed his campaign line on issues like
barring refugees.
But while you voted for Trump because you put faith in his gauzy pledges, I bet he will do no better with campaign promises
than with marriage vows.
Health care will be one of the greatest betrayals. On Friday, he described his plan: "We're going to make it much better, we're
going to make it less expensive."
Yet the steps that Republicans seem likely to take on health care will hurt ordinary Americans.
For example, Trump seems poised to weaken the
contraception
mandate for insurance coverage and curb funding for women's health clinics. The upshot will likely be more unintended pregnancies,
more abortions, more unplanned births -- and more women dying of cervical cancer.
The biggest Trump bait-and-switch was visible Friday when he talked about giving Americans "access" to health care. That's
a scam his administration is moving toward, with millions of Americans likely to lose health insurance: Instead of promising insurance
coverage, Trump now promises " access
" -- and if you can't afford it, tough luck.
This promise of "access" is an echo of Marie Antoinette. In Trump's worldview, starving French peasants wouldn't have needed
bread because they had "access" to cake.
Many of you voted for Trump because he campaigned as a populist. But instead of draining the swamp, he's wallowing in it and monetizing
the presidency. He retains his financial interests, refuses to release his taxes or explain what financial leverage Russia may have
over him, and doubled the fee to join Mar-a-Lago to $200,000.
The greatest betrayal of all will come if, as some of his
advisers
recommend , he "reforms" and tears holes in some of the big safety net programs like Medicaid, Social Security or Medicare. Medicaid
is particularly vulnerable.
Trump howls at the news media, not just because it embarrasses him, but because it provides an institutional check on his lies,
incompetence and conflicts of interest. But we can take his vitriol: When the time comes, we will write Trump's obituary, not the
other way around.
Let's not get distracted by his howls or tweets. What's most important at this moment is not Trump's theatrics, but the policies
he is putting in place in areas like health care and immigration that will devastate the lives of ordinary Americans.
Trump's career has often been built on scamming people who put their faith in him, as Trump University shows. Now he's moved the
scam to a much bigger stage, and he boasts of targeting Muslims, refugees and unauthorized immigrants.
Please don't cheer, or acquiesce in these initial targets. The truth is that among the biggest losers from Trump policies
will be you Trump voters, especially those of you from the working and middle class. You were hoping you'd elected a savior, and
instead Donald Trump is doing to you what he did to just about everyone who ever trusted him: He's betraying you.
The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you can fight back and push for policies that will protect your health care and Social
Security, defend the integrity of our election system and protect your own interests. You have a false savior, and you will have
to turn on him to save yourselves and our nation.
"... I agree Trump is an Israeli Flunky, but he likes Missile Strikes, so I think the Missile Strike, his second on Syria, was as much his idea as it was Israel's. It makes for great Optics. It makes Trump, in his Twisted Mind at least, look Big & Strong throwing Rocks at Toddlers in their Playpens. ..."
I suspect that only Israel had any real interest in saving the face of their hired
boogeyman. Trump being a flunky of Israeli, he did what he had to do.
I agree Trump is an Israeli Flunky, but he likes Missile Strikes, so I think the
Missile Strike, his second on Syria, was as much his idea as it was Israel's. It makes for
great Optics. It makes Trump, in his Twisted Mind at least, look Big & Strong throwing
Rocks at Toddlers in their Playpens.
Ultimately Trump is a typical playground bully, he's a bullshitter, a blowhard. All talk.
Trump was the same with Kim, and is the same with Putin and Assad.
Like all bullies underneath he is a coward, he threatens Putin with ridiculous teenager
Tweet threats, but as soon as Putin but back Trump backpeddles.
In an age of fake news and endless propaganda it's very difficult these days to see the woods
from the trees... The words butcher and thug are easily thrown around in the Syrian civil
war.
It appears some people have short memories as it wasn't that long ago when we were witnessing
the alternative world of Islamic State in Syria. Head choppers running amok and anyone
suspected of being gay being chucked off tall buildings. Women being flogged to death for
trumped up charges of adultery. Kids having their hands cut off for stealing apples.
To make matters worse these sadistic psychopaths were armed and driving around in vehicles
supplied by the West... It had developed into a living hell for many as the death cult of
Isis took hold.
I remember the so called thug Putin saying someone had to take on these terrorists...
The West were reluctant to do the dirty work required... So it came down to Russia to get
boots on the ground to help defeat Islamic State.
Why does the UK supply the terror supporters of the Arabian Peninsula with weapons while
fighting and vilifying Assad? This is real hypocrisy. Yemenis suffer horrendously from Saudi
attacks, the UK's close friends. Assad always guaranteed religious freedom and Syrians
enjoyed much more freedom than any of the Middle Eastern countries.
What's actually is disconcerting is the fact that mainline media have taken the alleged
chemical attack as a fact. They don't have their reporters on the ground or even Western
military personnel in the area. But a claim and some unauthenticated videos from headchoppers
are taken as a fact. A fact which is not allowed to be tested or critiqued. Does it mean they
just want more bombs and missiles to hammer Syria and any reason/justification would do?
Now the color revolution against Trump just does not make any sense. We got to the point
where Trump=Hillary. Muller should embrace and kiss Trump and go home... Nobody care if Trump is impeached anymore.
Donald Trump's far-right loyal fans must be really pissed off right now after permanently
switching himself to pro-war mode with that evil,
warmongering triplet in charge and the second bombing against Syria. Even worse,
this time he has done it together with Theresa May and the neoliberal globalist Emmanuel
Macron.
We can tell that by watching the mind-blowing reactions of one of his most fanatic alt-right
media supporters: Alex Jones. Jones nearly cried(!) in front of the camera, feeling betrayed
from his 'anti-establishment', 'anti-interventionist' idol and declared that he won't support
Trump anymore. Well, what did you expect, Alex? expect, Alex?
A
year before the 2016 US national elections, the blog already warned that Trump is a pure
product of the neoliberal barbarism , stating that the rhetoric of extreme cynicism
used by Trump goes back to the Thatcherian cynicism and the division of people between
"capable" and "useless".
Right after the elections, we supported that the US
establishment gave a brilliant performance by putting its reserve, Donald Trump, in
power, against the only candidate that the same establishment identified as a real threat:
Bernie Sanders. Right after the elections, we supported that the US
establishment gave a brilliant performance by putting its reserve, Donald Trump, in
power, against the only candidate that the same establishment identified as a real threat:
Bernie Sanders.
The only hope that has been left, was to resist against starting a war with Russia, as the US
deep state (and Hillary of course) wanted. Well, it was proven to be only a hope too. Last
year, Trump bombed Syria under the same pretext resembling the lies that led us to the Iraq war
disaster. Despite the fact that the US Tomahawk missile attack had zero value in operational
level (the United States allegedly warned Russia and Syria, while the targeted airport was
operating normally just hours after the attack), Trump sent a clear message to the US deep
state that he is prepared to meet all its demands - and especially the escalation of
confrontation with Russia. Indeed, a year later, Trump already built a pro-war team that
includes the most bloodthirsty, hawkish triplet.
And then, Donnie ordered a second airstrike against Syria, together with his neo-colonial
friends.
It seems that neither this strike was a serious attempt against the Syrian army and its allies.
Yet, Donnie probably won't dare to escalate tension in the Syrian battlefield before the next
US national elections. That's because many of his supporters are already pissed off with him
and therefore, he wants to go with good chances for a second term.
Although we really hope that we are are wrong this time, we guess that, surrounded by all these
warmongering hawks, Donnie, in a potential second term, will be pushed to open another war
front in Syria and probably in Iran, defying the Russians and the consequent danger for a
WWIII.
Poor Alex et al: we told you about Trump from the beginning. You didn't listen ...
Trump became a despicable warmonger. That true. And undisputable after the recent attack on
Syria ("operation Stormy Daniels"). But was it War Party that coerced him or were other processes
involved?
The main weakness of Buchanan hypothecs is that it is unclear wether Trump was coerced by War
Party, or he was "Republican Obama" from the very beginning performing classic "bait and switch"
operation on gullible electorate (as in "change we can believe in") . The second hypothesis is
now strong then the fist and supported by more fact. just look at the "troika" of
Haley-Bolton-Pompeo -- all three were voluntarily selected by the President and all three are
rabid neocons. So it looks liek no or little coercion from the War Party was necessary.
Notable quotes:
"... Wall Street Journal ..."
"... Defense Secretary James Mattis called the U.S.-British-French attack a "one-shot" deal. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appears to agree: "The rest of the Syrian war must proceed as it will." ..."
"... Clearly, with the U.S. fighting in six countries, Commander in Chief Trump does not want any new wars, or to widen any existing wars in the Middle East. But he is being pushed into becoming a war president to advance the agenda of foreign policy elites who, almost to a man, opposed his election. ..."
"... We have a reluctant president being pushed into a war he does not want to fight. This is a formula for a strategic disaster not unlike Vietnam or George W. Bush's war to strip Iraq of nonexistent WMDs. ..."
"... The assumption of the War Party seems to be that if we launch larger and more lethal strikes in Syria, inflicting casualties on Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah, and the Syrian army, they will yield to our demands. ..."
"... As for Trump's statement Friday, "No amount of American blood and treasure can produce lasting peace in the Middle East," the Washington Post ..."
April
16, 2018, 9:55 PM "Ten days ago, President Trump was saying 'the United States should
withdraw from Syria.' We convinced him it was necessary to stay."
Thus boasted French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, adding, "We convinced him it was
necessary to stay for the long term."
Is the U.S. indeed in the Syrian Civil War "for the long term"?
If so, who made that fateful decision for this republic?
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley confirmed Sunday there would be no drawdown of the 2,000 U.S.
troops in Syria, until three objectives were reached. We must fully defeat ISIS, ensure
chemical weapons will not again be used by Bashar al-Assad and maintain the ability to watch
Iran.
Translation: whatever Trump says, America is not coming out of Syria. We are going deeper
in. Trump's commitment to extricate us from these bankrupting and blood-soaked Middle East wars
and to seek a new rapprochement with Russia is "inoperative."
The War Party that Trump routed in the primaries is capturing and crafting his foreign
policy. Monday's Wall Street Journal editorial page fairly blossomed with war
plans:
The better U.S. strategy is to turn Syria into the Ayatollah's Vietnam. Only when Russia
and Iran began to pay a larger price in Syria will they have any incentive to negotiate an
end to the war or even contemplate a peace based on dividing the country into ethnic-based
enclaves.
Apparently, we are to bleed Syria, Russia, Hezbollah, and Iran until they cannot stand the
pain and submit to subdividing Syria the way we want.
But suppose that, as in our Civil War of 1861-1865, the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and
the Chinese Civil War of 1945-1949, Assad and his Russian, Iranian, and Shiite militia allies
go all out to win and reunite the nation.
Suppose they choose to fight to consolidate the victory they have won after seven years of
war. Where do we find the troops to take back the territory our rebels lost? Or do we just bomb
mercilessly?
The British and French say they will back us in future attacks if chemical weapons are used,
but they are not plunging into Syria.
Defense Secretary James Mattis called the U.S.-British-French attack a "one-shot" deal.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appears to agree: "The rest of the Syrian war must
proceed as it will."
The Journal 's op-ed page Monday was turned over to former U.S. ambassador to Syria
Ryan Crocker and Brookings Institute senior fellow Michael O'Hanlon: "Next time the U.S. could
up the ante, going after military command and control, political leadership, and perhaps even
Assad himself. The U.S. could also pledge to take out much of his air force. Targets within
Iran should not be off limits."
And when did Congress authorize U.S. acts of war against Syria, its air force, or political
leadership? When did Congress authorize the killing of the president of Syria whose country has
not attacked us?
Can the U.S. also attack Iran and kill the ayatollah without consulting Congress?
Clearly, with the U.S. fighting in six countries, Commander in Chief Trump does not want
any new wars, or to widen any existing wars in the Middle East. But he is being pushed into
becoming a war president to advance the agenda of foreign policy elites who, almost to a man,
opposed his election.
We have a reluctant president being pushed into a war he does not want to fight. This is
a formula for a strategic disaster not unlike Vietnam or George W. Bush's war to strip Iraq of
nonexistent WMDs.
The assumption of the War Party seems to be that if we launch larger and more lethal
strikes in Syria, inflicting casualties on Russians, Iranians, Hezbollah, and the Syrian army,
they will yield to our demands.
But where is the evidence for this?
What reason is there to believe these forces will surrender what they have paid in blood to
win? And if they choose to fight and widen the war to the larger Middle East, are we prepared
for that?
As for Trump's statement Friday, "No amount of American blood and treasure can produce
lasting peace in the Middle East," the Washington Post on Sunday dismissed this as
"fatalistic" and "misguided." We have a vital interest, says the Post , in preventing
Iran from establishing a "land corridor" across Syria.
Yet consider how Iran acquired this "land corridor." The Shiites in 1979 overthrew a shah
our CIA installed in 1953. The Shiites control Iraq because President Bush invaded and
overthrew Saddam and his Sunni Baath Party, disbanded his Sunni-led army, and let the Shiite
majority take control of the country. The Shiites are dominant in Lebanon because they rose up
and ran out the Israelis, who invaded in 1982 to run out the PLO.
How many American dead will it take to reverse this history?
How long will we have to stay in the Middle East to assure the permanent hegemony of Sunni
over Shiite?
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles
That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever. To find out more about Patrick
Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
website at www.creators.com.
In reality Trump proved again that POTUS does not matter and presidential elections matter very little. In was he is like
drunk Obama, reckelss and jingoistic to the extreme. Both foreign and domestic policy is determined by forces, and are outside POTUS control, with very little input
possible. But the "deep state"
fully control the POTUS, no matter who he/she are.
Notable quotes:
"... To Trump apologists: Trump is the Republican Obama. The follow the same model of government: faux populist leader dogged by crazy critics that want to derail a righteous agenda. ..."
"... Obamabots gave similar excuses. Real populists simply don't get have a chance of being elected in US money-driven elections. ..."
"... Why was there only two populists running for President in 2016? Sanders, Hillay's sheepdog, destroyed the movement that would been the best check on the establishment and the rush to war. That movement was never going to be allowed to take root. Trump, a friend of the Clinton's was probably meant to prevail. ..."
To Trump apologists: Trump is the Republican Obama. The follow the same model of government: faux populist leader
dogged by crazy critics that want to derail a righteous agenda.
Obamabots gave similar excuses. Real populists simply don't get have a chance of being
elected in US money-driven elections.
Why was there only two populists running for President in 2016? Sanders, Hillay's sheepdog, destroyed the movement that would been the best check on the
establishment and the rush to war. That movement was never going to be allowed to take root.
Trump, a friend of the Clinton's was probably meant to prevail.
Rome had bread and circuses. We've got crumbs and tweets.
The reason we voted for Trump is because we are tired of this sanctimonious hypocritical horse shit. Instead we get more of
what we didn't vote for. All Russia did was kindly not sink any of our war ships when we attacked Syria on an assumption.
You got exactly what you voted for... because if you were dumb enough to think you could actually get an outsider maverick
anywhere near the white house I have to think you are too dumb to figure out how to turn on a computer.
Trump's in deep over his head. It was an open question whether he posed any genuine obstacle to the pathocracy, but it seems
more clear now that, one way or another, he has been brought more tightly under their control. THAT, much more than any individual
false-flags or other deceptions or wrongs, should be cause for the rational world to fear. The psychopaths are still on the march,
and Trump is at least paying lip service to their chicanery. The further out on a limb he goes, the more reluctant and then helpless
he will be to backtrack as pathology becomes more extreme and events escalate under their own momentum. With markets looking more
precarious than ever, how long will it be before the psychopaths commit more and bigger false flags?
Cornered animal; that sounds like Trumps modus operandi. Notice that
anyone who criticizes him gets lambasted with personal attacks
instead of a reasoned response.
We need a President who
understands freedom and who is a reasonable person, neither of which
traits are possessed by Trump. He didn't win the election on his own
qualification but on Hillary's lack of qualification. This speaks to
the point, "The lesser of two evils is still evil".
Another hypothesis is that is a "false flag" operation, like Obama was. Or in political
jargon "bait and switch" candidate.
Notable quotes:
"... The case for stupidity is fairly strong: after all, where's the evidence that Assad launched a chemical attack? Like the series of fake "attacks" touted by the jihadist rebels over the years, this one lacks verification – but that doesn't bother the War Party. Since when do they need evidence? ..."
"... The case for craziness – a real mental affliction – is even stronger, in my opinion. When President Obama was confronted with the same phony "attacks," as reported by jihadist "activists" and "medics," Trump urged him to stay out of it . Yet now that's he's in the Oval Office, he's doing what he urged Obama not to do. This is the classic behavior pattern of a schizoid nutjob with multiple personalities: it's " The Three Faces of the Donald ," and the big question is which one will emerge today? ..."
"... He's a Beta male masquerading as an Alpha ..."
"... The top three most powerful foreign lobbies in Washington are pushing the US to not only stay in Syria but to expand the role of US troops: the Saudis, who directly support the jihadist rebels, the Israelis, who have long sought to overthrow Assad, and the British, who are behind the maniacal anti-Russian propaganda campaign, starting with the shenanigans of Christopher Steele. Trump's craven capitulation to these "allies" is yet more evidence of his cowardice under fire. ..."
and wrote about
Trump's various foreign policy pronouncements right up until very recently: as I've pointed out
repeatedly, and exhaustively, the very fact that a successful presidential candidate criticized
the Iraq war ("they lied") and our policy of global intervention – e.g., questioned
NATO's existence – was and still is a great step forward. That Trump isn't living up to
his campaign promises and his post-election rhetoric is another matter entirely. The
"deplorables" are in open rebellion against this new
turn: Trump is losing his base.
So here's the question: is he stupid, like George W. Bush, or is he crazy, in the tradition
of, say, Richard M. Nixon?
The case for stupidity is fairly strong: after all, where's the evidence that Assad
launched a chemical attack? Like
the series of fake "attacks" touted by the jihadist rebels over the years, this one lacks
verification – but that doesn't bother the War Party. Since when do they need
evidence? Last time Trump fell for this routine it turned out that his own Secretary of
Defense
admitted – well after the US bombing raid – that there was "no evidence" that
the Syrian government had launched a chemical attack. The same
dodgy "proof"
beleaguers the Skripal "poisoning" case in
Britain – and, what a coincidence, the same villains are being blamed – Putin
& Co. The idea that Assad had anything to gain from launching such an attack is not even
worth refuting: he'd already won the war. So what would be the point? It isn't hard to
understand this, yet our President is clueless – or pretends to be.
The case for craziness – a real mental affliction – is even stronger, in my
opinion. When President Obama was confronted with the same phony "attacks," as reported by
jihadist "activists" and "medics," Trump urged him to stay out of it . Yet now
that's he's in the Oval Office, he's doing what he urged Obama not to do. This is the
classic behavior pattern of a schizoid nutjob with multiple personalities: it's " The Three Faces of the
Donald ," and the big question is which one will emerge today?
Another issue I was apparently dead wrong about is the ascension of John Bolton as National
Security Advisor: no big deal , I
said. Wrong ! I refuse to believe that Trump is caving in to the War Party on Syria
just as
Bolton gets the keys to his new office . And here's another non-coincidence: this new turn
comes just after Trump got into an argument with his
generals over Syria. He wanted out: they insisted we stay. It didn't take him long to find an
excuse – this bogus "attack" – to cave.
So he's not just stupid, and crazy – he's also a coward. He refuses to confront the
War Party head on, despite his campaign trail rhetoric. Just the other day he was telling
crowds in Ohio how we were on the way out of Syria because "we have to take care of our own
country." The crowd cheered. Would he go back to that same audience and tell them we need to
intervene in a country that's been wracked by warfare for years, with no real hope of a
peaceful settlement? Of course not.
He's a Beta male masquerading as an Alpha .
The top three most powerful foreign lobbies in Washington are pushing the US to not only
stay in Syria but to expand the role of US troops: the Saudis, who directly support the
jihadist rebels, the Israelis, who have long sought to overthrow Assad, and the British, who
are behind the maniacal anti-Russian propaganda campaign, starting with the shenanigans of
Christopher Steele. Trump's craven capitulation to these "allies" is yet more evidence of his
cowardice under fire. And there's no doubt that his blaming Russia – and naming
Putin – as supposedly responsible for this "gas attack" is a ploy to get Robert Mueller
off his back.
I have to say that the future looks grim. This puts Trump's entire foreign policy agenda up
for grabs, including the once-promising Korean peace initiative. Will he sabotage what might
have been his greatest accomplishment – peace on the Korean peninsula?
It's entirely possible.
We are now entering uncharted territory – although, come to think of it, that's been
true since Election Day, 2016. Hold on to your hats, folks, and get a grip on your nerves
– because it's going to be a long, scary ride.
A Note to My Readers : I need to clarify
my column on the current confrontation between the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli
military.
I did not mean to draw an equal sign between the two sides: the Israelis, who are wantonly
slaughtering unarmed protesters, including children – and clearly marked media
representatives – are clearly the aggressors. Their actions are inexcusable and just
another giant step in the direction of complete moral degeneration. While I stand by my
criticism of such actions as the "Knife Intifada," what's clear to me is that this is not the
consequence of some inherent flaw in the Palestinian cause, but a mark of sheer desperation.
Yes, Hamas is a monstrous entity, but the Israelis encouraged its
growth and development from the start, which is something you don't read about very often:
see here .
Let no one misunderstand me: while I never give unconditional support to anyone, and I'm
especially critical of the Palestinian leadership, I stand with the Palestinian people
in their just struggle against an oppressive apartheid state. Period.
The Never Trump cabal can now claim total victory. Unsuccessful at preventing Trump from
winning the nomination or the general election, they have instead co-opted his presidency for
their own policies and programs.
With the nomination of John Bolton, Never Trump interventionists have installed one of the
unrepentant architects of the catastrophic Iraq War to head the National Security Council.
In recent months, ignoring and rejecting his own party's convention platform, Trump has
agreed to send lethal weapons to Ukraine. Besides accelerating the deaths of Ukrainians and
ethnic Russians while laying waste to the civilian population of the Donbas, what advantage to
the people of the United States does this military escalation provide?
Last summer, in one of the strangest speeches in American history, President Trump announced
he would surge troop levels in Afghanistan -- and then in the same breath admitted it was a
mistake and something he didn't really want to do. That should show the conflict here: Trump's
instincts versus the establishment sorts around him.
Never Trumpers are not so secretly celebrating. They got the president they thought they
didn't want. And now, pretending they still don't want him, they can hardly believe their good
fortune.
Achieving their foreign policy goals is just the icing on the cake. They also got the
president to implement the entire Wall Street agenda: lowering taxes on the super rich;
advancing huge subsidies to the medical insurance industry; keeping the Export-Import Bank
funded; re-authorizing the ivory trade; shrinking the size of national monuments so that
multi-national corporations can turn our wilderness areas into strip mines and clear-cut
wastelands.
Then, just this week, in a reckless act of generational theft, Trump endorsed the second
biggest budget in U.S. history, caving in to every demand and desire of the UniParty and the K
Street lobbyists whom they serve.
In the 18th century, the cry went "Millions for defense, but not one penny for tribute!"
Trump's cry is "Billions for defense, but not one penny for a wall!"
Trump justifies his signature on the omnibus bill by claiming it was necessary for national
security. But that claim rings hollow when comparatively little is allocated for the protection
of America's own borders and the defense of its homeland. Americans intuitively know that the
real danger to their safety is not along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; it's along the
U.S.-Mexico border. But Trump's own laudable instincts have been neutered by the globalist,
interventionist generals and policy wonks who now populate powerful positions at the White
House and the departments of State and Defense.
Many reading this might now protest: what's wrong with passing the omnibus? Isn't it
providing the funds necessary for making America great again? But Donald Trump did not run for
office on a platform of bloating spending; he ran on opposition to massive debt increases and
specifically to many of the programs they pay for. The budget can be summed up in a paraphrase
of a Broadway musical hit tune: whatever crony wants, crony gets.
Has there been a fiercer critic of the Iraq war than Donald Trump? Yet he promotes to the
head of the NSC perhaps that conflict's most vociferous apologist. Trump promised he would end
the wars of choice, that he would refrain from taking sides in other nation's internal
conflicts. He called for a reasonable rapprochement with Russia with the goal of making America
and Americans safer. He specifically said he would wind down the military commitment in
Afghanistan as quickly and safely as possible.
His only bellicose pledge concerned ISIS, which he promised to destroy. As we have seen,
that was one of the few promises he kept. In most other policy areas he has reversed his
campaign pledges. His foreign policy is no longer America First; it's evolved into the same,
old, dangerous, meddling, interventionist program of the last quarter century. Trump has
deepened U.S. involvement in Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan without clearly defining
the missions, the goals, and the risks. If voters had wanted this, they would have elected
Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump.
Yet of all the betrayals, the war on nature is the most grievous and shocking. As someone
who supported Trump from day one in June 2015, who has seen virtually every one of his
speeches, interviews, and tweets, I cannot recall a single word about the national parks or
monuments.
Had Trump forecast during the campaign how he would govern on environmental issues, would he
have been elected? Could those narrow margins of victory in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin,
and Iowa have gone the other way? With his appointment of Ryan Zinke to the Department of the
Interior, Trump needlessly and recklessly alienated tens of thousands of voters who might
otherwise have supported him and who may indeed have voted for him in 2016. Although its hard
to discern exactly why the president's poll numbers are as low as they are, it would be a
mistake to discount the animus engendered by the unexpected assault on wilderness, open space,
endangered species, and America's magnificent national monuments.
The only national monument that Trump has failed to shrink is the Beltway swamp. In fact,
judging from the continuing spread of McMansions in Potomac, Maryland and Falls Church,
Virginia, he has effectively widened its borders. It's as if the chants from all those packed
stadiums during that long ago presidential campaign were "Fill that swamp! Fill that
swamp!"
It is now abundantly clear why the Never Trumpers are tittering over their cocktails. Trump
has staffed most departments of his government with establishment cronies and neoconservative
zealots. He now presides over the implementation of their agenda. In effect, we're
getting a variation on what could be called the third Bush presidency -- minus the decorum.
Trump's is also the all-talk presidency: talk tough on illegal immigration, but fail to
build the wall; talk tough on sanctuary cities, but fail to cut federal subsidies; talk tough
on illegal immigration, then push for the biggest amnesty since 1986; talk tough against the
Export-Import Bank, then fund it; talk tough on Obamacare, then fund big insurance to keep the
subsidies flowing; talk tough on reducing taxes, then screw millions of homeowners across
America by actually raising their taxes; talk tough on trade, then tiptoe around
Mexico and Canada on everything that really matters; talk tough on the deficit, then sign the
second biggest boondoggle spending bill in U.S. history.
Still, it cannot be denied: President Trump has accomplished much -- for the establishment
and their K Street lobbyists. They write the bills, Paul Ryan guides them through the House
amendment-free, and Trump signs them in to law.
For those who packed those campaign rallies, who wore those red "Make America Great Again"
caps, and for the rest of us mere plebs, Donald Trump's presidency is best summed up by The
Bard: "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Ron Maxwell wrote and directed the Civil War motion-pictures Gettysburg ,
Gods & Generals , and Copperhead .
Speaking candidly to a Columbia University audience comprised largely of College Republicans
and a few hecklers expecting a debate, Coulter broke down her bitter disappointment with Trump
- recounting one instance in which she and the President engaged in a "profanity-laced shouting
match" in the Oval Office last year over what she felt was his weak follow-through on
immigration promises made during the campaign.
" It kind of breaks my heart, " Coulter acknowledged of her disappointment with the
president, and she recounted a profanity-laced shouting match she had with Trump in the Oval
Office last year over what she saw as his lackluster follow-through on immigration policy. "
He's not giving us what he promised at every single campaign stop ." -
Daily Beast
That said, Coulter still says that Trump was the best house in a bad neighborhood when it
came to voting for the 2016 lineup of candidates.
"I regret nothing. I'd do the exact same thing," said Coulter. "We had 16 lunatics being
chased by men with nets running for president -- and Trump. So of course I had to be
pedal-to-the-metal for Donald Trump. I'd been waiting 30 years for someone to say all these
things " -- i.e., that illegal immigration is hurting low-income American citizens and carries
with it high rates of crime. " I went into this completely clear-eyed ."
"I knew he was a shallow, lazy ignoramus, and I didn't care," said the conservative
pundit.
At one point in the evening, Coulter dispatched a heckler after she blamed income inequality
in California on immigration.
We are bringing in immigrants who are good for the very rich, " she said. "They don't live
in their neighborhoods. They don't fill up their schools or their hospital emergency rooms.
And, oh boy, you should see how clean Juanita gets the bathtub. You can eat off of it after
she's done. "
"You're a racist! " shouted a young man from back.
" No, I'm sorry, the people bringing in Juanita, the maid, and underpaying her, are the
racists, " Coulter fired back. " You are a moron! " she added, to fervent applause. " You're
very stupid. I can't argue with stupid people ."
On Wednesday evening, Coulter joined Fox Business Network 's Lou Dobbs to discuss her
"ignoramus" comment. When Dobbs called her out on it, she said " A switch changed with him ,"
adding "An elegant person would have said the things he was saying. It was precisely that he
was so coarse that allowed him to say these incredibly courageous things. He didn't care what
Manhattan elites thought of him ."
" Now all he wants is for Goldman Sachs to like him ," she continued. "I don't know what
happened. But that's a different president. I haven't changed. He has."
"Affirmation complexes are never attractive and unfortunately I believe there is some truth
to the fact that there are those in the White House who would like to guide him toward this
liberal fantasy that is a nightmare for America and has proved to be such for our middle class
which has been dwindling for the past 20 years," Dobbs said, to Coulter's hearty agreement.
"Under this president, they're starting to grow and money is starting to come in and we're
starting to see housing prices rise."
In my opinion the May show is no more than paying the price the EU wants for remaining in
the common market.
The EU on the one hand wants to increase the economic war against Russia, on the other it
must prevent that after Brexit GB develops close economic ties with Russia.
The remain in the common market ticket is temporarily, when the agreed period is over a
further price can be asked, the Brussels imperialists think, I suppose.
Alas, Merkel is on her way out, her minister of police etc. begins playing the nationalist
card, resistance in France against Macron is rising, and how the euro country Italy can be
saved nobody knows.
These two staggering leaders want more Europe.
On top of all this misery, the until some time ago biggest bank in the world, Deutsche
Bank, once 100.000 employees worldwide, now 50.000, may soon collapse, share prices dropping
daily for the past week, transaction volumes in shares from 25.000 to even 35.000, where
8.000 is normal.
The derivates DB owns are said to be staggering, over thirty trillion, the EU total national
income, in comparison, is less than ten trillion.
Varoufakis predicted a world wide crash which will make look 1929 child's play in
comparison.
Cannot imagine that the EU survives this crash, the populations will look to the national
governments for food, the rationing thereof, etc.
The fact that Trump is a sad excuse for a human being and a conman has been pretty obvious
since the 1980s. It was never clear to me why conservatives believed this man had really
changed his spots.
The one and only issue where Trump really does seem to have some principles and conviction
is trade. He has certainly defied the Deep State, and most of his donors, on that issue and
he may yet force China to cave and open their economy to Western corporations. If he pulls
that off, he will deserve some credit.
And really, despite his lack of structural change to immigration laws, the ICE does seem
to have become a lot more zealous under Trump's watch than it would have been under Hillary,
so there is that. Problem is Trump is actually looking a lot like Obama – a lot of
symbolic gestures that will probably be instantly reversed by the next President (whether Dem
or GOP), but no real influence over congress and very little substantive legislative changes.
From Carter to Obama and now Trump the record of "outsiders" in the White House is pretty
pathetic.
Rolled is putting things mildly. This is such brazen act of capitulation by the self styled
swamp slayer Trump that he should strongly consider resigning to save face. Trump just took a
giant dump on the people who risked their physical safety to support him at campaign rallies.
At this point I'm throwing him to the wolves and hope Mueller destroys him or the coming
Democrat majority in 2018 impeaches him. He only has his cowardly, lying self to blame.
This is the third spending bill with no wall funding, no reductions in H1B or H2B visas
and no added interior enforcement funding requested by the WH. Trump keeps rubber stamping
these bills then vows to fight next time around only to meekly sign yet again. This all just
seems to be reality TV to him.
This really leaves the deplorables and those opposed to the third worlding of America in
the lurch. Trump was our only and probably last hope and now he's decided to join the swamp
and conduct business as usual. We're totally without political representation at the moment
while the country browns, yellows and blackens at an alarming rate.
I guess we shouldn't be too surprised since Trump has very few core convictions about
anything other than making money and having sex. And of course "winning" which we've done
little of since he assumed office. The only "win" was that he wasn't Hillary but now he
is!
The few political convictions he might possess are very shallow and subject to change
almost hourly depending on who he talks to, Ivanka's emotional state and his PMS like mood
swings. The only thing that's non-negotiable for Trump is slavish support for and devotion to
Israel. Obama was an anti-white and anti-American bigot, but at least he had a world view and
ideology guiding his actions regardless of input he received, his media coverage or his
approval rating.
Trump = Obama = W. Different actors get to play the same role on behalf of the super rich
– it's in the Constitution. It's sad to see a zombie voter express voter's remorse on
social media. An emotional zombie is an obedient slave. They are easy to control since
there's no need for the lash to get them crying about politics.
Trump will have to pound his chest about war like Clinton did with Yugoslavia. This will
make him a well rounded President – he just needs the right supporting cast.
Some actors like General Kelly proudly served the country into 9/11. You'd figure a guy
would get fired for such an enormously bad performance. Instead this moribund ghoul serves as
Chief of Staff. Perhaps it's not his fault and big complicated computers determine when
massive amounts of people need to be killed from time to time.
"... Mainstream Media: Trump Victorious At CPAC, Economic Nationalist 'Takeover of Conservatism Is Complete, ..."
"... Witness the celebration of neocon pundit Mona Charen (pictured right) a marginal talent whose career of purported conservatism while actually accepting liberal clichés is endangered by the rise of nationalism in the GOP. Her condemnation of CPAC as a "disgrace" because it invited Marion Le Pen of France led to gleeful celebration in the MSM. Charen was promptly rewarded with an op-ed in the New York Times, ..."
"... CPAC panelist reveals in NYT op-ed that she was happy to be booed ..."
"... National Review's ..."
"... Speaking Truth ..."
"... National Review ..."
"... Europe in Crisis ..."
"... Marion Marechal Le Pen's Dynamic Speech, The American Conservative ..."
"... But, of course, what do they care? After all, it's increasingly clear that many Conservatism Inc. functionaries, such as Bill Kristol, always regarded their fellow American citizens as the real enemy anyway . ..."
"... Wanna Be a Player at CPAC? Write a Check First ..."
"... Daily Beast, ..."
"... The Coming Clash of the GOP Titans ..."
"... The American Conservative, ..."
"... WesternJournalism, ..."
"... Kentucky Democrat wins state House in Trump stronghold ..."
"... In blow to Trump, Supreme Court won't hear appeal of DACA ruling ..."
"... I was good with Kucinich and Nader. I'm neither Conservative nor Republican. I voted for McGovern. Yet I am a card carrying deplorable. Bernie is a fraud and Trump is the only real opposition to the entrenched thieves and murderers in Washington. Your Conservative grass roots have a significant cohort of fellow travelers. Trump could not have won the upper midwest without us. ..."
It was only two years ago that then-candidate Trump avoided the annual Conservative
Political Action Conference [CPAC] because it looked likely he would be booed by "true
conservatives." At this year's CPAC, both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence
were treated as conquering heroes, leading the Main Stream Media to declare the president's
victory conclusive [ Trump's Takeover of Conservatism Is Complete and Total, by Tim Alberta,
Politico, February 25, 2018]. But there are still real dangers for
National Conservatives aiming to use the GOP as a vehicle to achieve patriotic immigration
reform. Chief among them: the possibility that President Trump will continue to show weakness
on immigration. With midterms approaching, time is running out, and Trump
simply has not yet given his base a compelling reason to follow him .
This is inexcusable given President Trump's remarkable capture the GOP . Pat Buchanan correctly observed on
the most recent McLaughlin Group that the "Bush party has become a Trump party" on immigration,
trade and foreign policy [ Pat Buchanan: The Bush Party Has Become A Trump Party On Immigration, Trade, Staying Out of
Foreign Wars, by John Binder, Breitbart, February 25, 2018]. The
rank-and-file conservative activists at CPAC showed utter contempt for Bush-era talking points,
lustily booing the ritualistic references to Hispanic immigrants as "natural Republicans."
An astonishing 93 percent of CPAC attendees gave the president a favorable approval rating,
with almost 80 percent demanding the GOP Congress do a better job of working with him [
Trump tweets CPAC straw poll showing favorable approval rating, by John
Boweden, The Hill, February 24, 2018].
With any other Republican, this could simply be dismissed as the grassroots backing their
leader. but with Donald Trump, it shows that much of the official Conservative Movement has
bent the knee to a man they regarded as a usurper during his candidacy.
And those who would dethrone Trump and, more importantly, Trumpism, are still rallying their
forces. Thus Alberta began: "If you're a conservative with something critical to say about
President Trump, watch your back" -- implying the conservative faithful will ruin the careers
of anyone who attacks the Commander-in-Chief. But attacking Trump is in reality a great
professional move for ambitious conservative mediocrities, who can become more prominent in the
Main Stream Media by trashing the president.
Witness the celebration of neocon pundit
Mona Charen (pictured right) a marginal talent whose career of purported conservatism
while actually accepting liberal clichés is endangered by the rise of nationalism in the
GOP. Her
condemnation of CPAC as a "disgrace" because it invited Marion Le Pen of France led to
gleeful celebration in the MSM. Charen was promptly rewarded with an op-ed in the New York
Times, where she got to brag about how she was "glad to be booed at CPAC" [
CPAC
panelist reveals in NYT op-ed that she was happy to be booed, by Alessia
Grunberger, CNN, February 25, 2018]. Charen thus joins the ranks of people like
Charlie Sykes ,
Rick Wilson , and Jennifer Rubin , professional
"conservatives" who, somehow, never have anything positive to say about Republicans but instead
validate the MSM line of the day.
Of more interest was National Review's celebration of Charen. Yuval Levin praised
her and presenting her antics as a Time For
Choosing : "Mona's comments and the ugly reaction of some in the audience lay out before us
two possible paths for the Right," he said sanctimoniously. "Let's hope we ultimately choose
the right one. It certainly isn't the one we have generally been choosing lately" [ Speaking
Truth, February 25, 2018].
Yet what Levin is urging is not some return to an idealized intellectual conservatism, but a
turn back to the lame slogans which marked the George W. Bush years and a refusal to confront
the issues of today. The Islamization of Europe is occurring before our eyes, and has even been
described in National Review itself [ Europe in Crisis, by David Pryce-Jones, July 10, 2017]. Marion Le
Pen (pictured right) also offered, by far, the most intellectually sophisticated and
authentically conservative address of the conference, which even Rod Dreher admitted avoided
the usual "conservative boilerplate" that passes for wisdom at these increasingly embarrassing
junkets [ Marion
Marechal Le Pen's Dynamic Speech, The American Conservative, February 22,
2018]. Yet even at this moment of existential civilization danger, the parasites of the
Respectable Right are determined to make sure there is no effective resistance until it's
too late -- just as they purged everyone
who warned of America's immigration disaster which now threatens the entire GOP with
annihilation.
This intellectual bankruptcy won't prevent Conservatism Inc. from simply retaking the
movement once President Trump is gone, or politically defeated. While the grassroots is with
Trump and CPAC could not openly oppose the president, the panels were still ultimately
controlled by the Donor Class, which pushed cheap labor, mass immigration and resistance to
America First trade and immigration policies [ Wanna Be a
Player at CPAC? Write a Check First, by Lachlan Markay, Daily
Beast, February 23, 2018]
2/ was somehow responsible for those wage increases, not increased immigration enforcement
and thus a tighter labor market with less cheap, foreign competition. This assertion seems to
be common among the Reagan-nostalgic wing of the GOP,
And Mitt Romney is also clearly setting himself up as the "anti-Trump,"
denouncing identity politics from the crypto-ethnostate of Utah. Once
he gets his chance, he'll go back to making sure Republicans continue politely losing the way
they did over the past decade [ The
Coming Clash of the GOP Titans, by Daniel Depetris, The American
Conservative, February 23, 2018].
And Romney may get his chance soon. Rasmussen has President Trump's approval rating at 50
percent, but it only polls likely voters. Groups that poll all registered voters have the
president's approval rating as far lower, even in the mid 30's [ Trump Hits 50% by Dick
Morris, WesternJournalism, February 25, 2018]
This is significant because in 2018 there is likely to be far more voter turnout than usual
in a midterm election, as the Main Stream Media has whipped the Democrat base into a frenzy.
Democrats are also scoring a number of special election victories in districts President Trump
and the Republicans won handily in 2016 [ Kentucky
Democrat wins state House in Trump stronghold, by Maegan Vasquez,
CNN, February 22, 2018].
The defeat of Roy Moore in Alabama (albeit due to his
betrayal by a terrified GOP Establishment ) should also be considered a warning sign.
Yet Republicans appear complacent -- and this includes the "nationalists." And with the
Supreme Court's recent decision to allow DACA recipients to stay in the country until the issue
is litigated through the appeals court level, President Trump's peculiar decision to try
to pose as a
pro-DACA moderate on immigration no longer makes any sense because Democrats will not be
under any pressure to "save the Dreamers" [
In blow to Trump, Supreme Court won't hear appeal of DACA ruling, by Pete
Williams, NBC News, February 26, 2018]. The March 5 "deadline" is now gone for
good.
Trump needs to change the equation on immigration and find new sources of pressure to put on
the Democrats. One of the easiest moves:
advocate a remittance tax to pay for the border wall. With the Supreme Court's DACA ruling,
an action like this practically becomes a political necessity.
CPAC shows the conservative grassroots are with the president and that the Beltway elites
are cowed. But they are still hostile. They will only accept the president while he is strong.
Today, he appears weak, as even foreign leaders such as former Mexican President Vicente Fox
are mocking him, saying Mexico
will never pay for the wall.
It is time for President Trump to show leadership and strength on his signature issue. And
if he doesn't act soon, the anti-Trump wing of the GOP will join the incipient coup against
him.
CuckPAC has never represented any conservative values and has always been a display of
Zionist ass kissing. That they now love them some Donald just shows what a worthless Israel
firster Trump has shown himself to be.
"This intellectual bankruptcy won't prevent Conservatism Inc. from simply retaking the
movement once President Trump is gone, or politically defeated."
When Trump is gone or politically defeated it will be due to the efforts of Conservative
Inc. for which CuckPAC has always been the showcase.
CPAC shows the conservative grassroots are with the president and that the Beltway
elites are cowed.
I was good with Kucinich and Nader. I'm neither Conservative nor Republican. I voted for
McGovern. Yet I am a card carrying deplorable. Bernie is a fraud and Trump is the only real
opposition to the entrenched thieves and murderers in Washington. Your Conservative grass
roots have a significant cohort of fellow travelers. Trump could not have won the upper
midwest without us.
I thought Trump's offer of amnesty in exchange for moving toward a sane immigration policy
WAS leadership. It's easier to stop immigration than to reverse it. And he exposed the
Democrats. They have lost the dreamers as a political tool.
Where Trump is losing me is with his stupid and dangerous foreign policy. That's where I
would like to see some leadership.
President Donald Trump flew to Davos for the World Economic Forum, and completely
electrified it,
according to reports .
Although the "America First" slogan had raised concern in the global economic community that
this meant the United States would disregard the needs and concerns of other world economic
powers, the President dispelled this worry handily. Members of his cabinet had been in Davos a
bit before his arrival, and were involved in interview and panels already, and when he arrived,
he and his assistants were able to explain more what this philosophy actually means.
"America first is not America alone", said Gary Cohn, the president's economic adviser. The
point of this idea is not for the United States to dominate and control the world, but in
Trump's view, to make better deals and better trade agreements around the world, and to also
cement and strengthen the diplomatic relations between the USA and her allies, most notably
England and Israel.
The President met with both Prime Ministers Netanyahu of Israel and Theresa May of the
United Kingdom. In each meeting he affirmed the very close ties between nations, and also waved
away the rumors that the US and Britain were in a fractious state with one another in his
meeting with PM Theresa May.
"... What do you think? Perhaps almost 60,000 Americans dying in Vietnam was a darker time. Or maybe when Hitler's armies rolled across Europe, Japan surprise attacked Pearl Harbor, and 400,000 American soldiers died World War II. ..."
"... Anyone who thinks Trump's Presidency is the darkest time in American history is a poor student of American history. And I must assume their lives are pretty amazing if this is the worst they have ever felt. ..."
I saw someone refer to the Trump Presidency as "possibly the darkest time in American
history." I've heard some iteration of that many times from people still in a frenzy over the
Trump Administration.
I'm not a big Trump fan. I wasn't a big Obama fan either. But their presence in office did
not and does not hang over my life like a dark cloud. They really aren't that important.
Yes, they have the ability to make life more difficult for many. It is unfortunate that any
politicians have that much control over our day to day lives.
But the darkest time in American history ?
What do you think? Perhaps almost 60,000 Americans dying in Vietnam was a darker time. Or
maybe when Hitler's armies rolled across Europe, Japan surprise attacked Pearl Harbor, and
400,000 American soldiers died World War II.
For Japanese Americans, FDR's
presidency was likely a darker time, as they sat in detainment facilities. Their crime was
having Japanese ancestors.
In 1918 the Spanish Flu swept across the globe killing at least 20 million people worldwide,
675,000 Americans. At the same time, soldiers were coming home from WWI blinded by chemicals
and mutilated by bombs.
And that is just going back one century. American history also includes the Civil War,
slavery, and
the Whiskey Rebellion .
Anyone who thinks Trump's Presidency is the darkest time in American history is a poor
student of American history. And I must assume their lives are pretty amazing if this is the
worst they have ever felt.
... ... ...
Look at where it left the global
warming alarmists . They wanted to reduce pollution, which is a noble cause. But they lied
about the goals, they lied about the causes, and they exaggerated the timetable. It's the
classic boy who cried wolf.
... ... ...
I used to be paranoid about the government. Obviously, some of that paranoia is well
founded. They do monitor communications and
disrupt online discourse . They do violate
rights . They are oppressive
in many ways.
Bannon backed candidate later lost. So much for this Bannon "success".
This idea of Trump playing 6 dimensional chess is a joke. It's the same explanation that was pushed for Obama disastrous neocon
foreign policy. Here is one very apt quote: "What Trump has done are disasters, and equates to treason. Selling billions of dollars
of weapons the our enemies the terrorists/Saudis, killing innocent people in Syria, and Yemen, sending more troops to
Afghanistan..." What 6-dimetional chess?
According to Occam razor principle the simplest explanation of Trump behaviour is probably the most correct. He does not control
foright policy, outsourcing it to "generals" and be does not pursue domestic policy of creating jobs as he promised his
electorate. In other words, both in foreign policy and domestic policy, he became a turncoat,
betraying his electorate, much like Obama. kind of Republican Obama.
And as time goes by, Trump looks more and more like Hillary II or Republican Obama. So he might have problems with the candidates he supports
in midterm elections. His isolationism, if it ever existed, is gone. Promise of jobs is gone. Detente with Russia is gone.
What's left?
Note the level disappointment of what used to be Trump base in this site comment section...
Notable quotes:
"... In a serious rebuke for President Trump (and perhaps moreso for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), ousted judge and alt-right favorite Roy Moore has won the Alabama Republican Primary by a landslide ..."
"... The Steve Bannon-backed candidate, who defied court orders to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom and refused to recognize gay marriage after the Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, is leading by 9.6 points with 92% of the votes counted... ..."
"... These attacks on Bannon were one of the most prominent news stories in the first week following Trump's election victory. It didn't take long, however, for a counter-attack to emerge - from the right-wing elements of the Jewish community. ..."
"... Bannon is a true fucking patriot trying to pull this once great country from the sinkhole. ..."
"... I think the reality is that this was a message to McConnell much more than Trump. That message is simple: I'm coming to kill your career. Bannon went out of his way to say he fully supports Trump (despite backing the opposite candidate). And, let's face it, if Bannon buries McConnell, he's doing everyone a service, Trump included. ..."
"... The echo chamber media "is so surprised" that in Germany and the US we are seeing a rising tide of pissed off people, well imagine fucking that? Leaving the echo chamber and not intellectually trying to understand the anger, but living the anger. ..."
"... Well, we can only hope that Trump gets the message. He was elected to be President of the USA, not Emperor of the World. Quote from that Monty Python film: "He's not the Messiah; he's a very naughty boy!" ..."
"... A cursory background reading on Roy Moore tells me that he is one of the worst types for public office. And he might just turn out to be like Trump -- act like an anti-swarm cowboy and promise a path to heaven, then show his real colors as an Establishment puppet once the braindead voters put him in office. ..."
"... When Trump won the Republican nomination, and then the Presidency it was because people were rebelling against the establishment rulers. There is considerable disgust with these big government rulers that are working for themselves and their corporate cronies, but not for the US population. ..."
"... Trump seems to have been compromised at this point, and his support of the establishment favourite, Luther Strange is evidence that he isn't really the outsider he claimed to be. Moore's victory in Alabama says the rebellion still has wheels, so there is some hope. ..."
"... In Missouri where I live, the anti-establishment Republican contender for the upcoming US Senatorial 2018 race is Austin Peterson. It will be interesting to see how he, and his counterparts in other states do in the primaries. Both of the current Missouri Senators are worthless. ..."
"... I remember well the last "3-Dimensional Chess master" Obama while he too was always out maneuvering his apponents, per the media reports... ..."
"... Every now and then Trump tends to make huge blunders, and sometimes betrayals without knowing what he is doing. "Champions"- (great leaders) do not do that. ..."
"... What Trump has done are disasters, and equates to treason. Selling billions of dollars of weapons the our enemies the terrorists/Saudis, killing innocent people in Syria, and Yemen, sending more troops to Afghanistan... ..."
"... It is epitome of self-delusion to see people twisting themselves into pretzels, trying to justify/rationalize Trump's continuing display of disloyalty to America ..."
"... YOU CAN'T BE A ZIONIST AND AN AMERICAN FIRSTER, IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER. ..."
Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy,
WIN in Dec!
In a serious rebuke for President Trump (and perhaps moreso for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), ousted judge and
alt-right favorite Roy Moore has won the Alabama Republican Primary by a landslide
The Steve Bannon-backed candidate, who defied court orders to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom and refused to
recognize gay marriage after the Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, is leading by 9.6 points with 92%
of the votes counted...
... ... ...
However, as Politco
reported this evening, President Donald Trump began distancing himself from a Luther Strange loss before ballots were even cast,
telling conservative activists Monday night the candidate he's backing in Alabama's GOP Senate primary was likely to lose ! and suggesting
he'd done everything he could do given the circumstances.
Trump told conservative activists who visited the White House for dinner on Monday night that he'd underestimated the political
power of Roy Moore, the firebrand populist and former judge who's supported by Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, according
to three people who were there.
And Trump gave a less-than full-throated endorsement during Friday's rally.
While he called Strange "a real fighter and a real good guy," he also mused on stage about whether he made a "mistake" by backing
Strange and committed to campaign "like hell" for Moore if he won.
Trump was encouraged to pick Strange before the August primary by son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner as well as other aides,
White House officials said. He was never going to endorse Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks, who has at times opposed Trump's agenda,
and knew little about Moore, officials said.
... ... ...
Déjà view -> Sanity Bear •Sep 26, 2017 11:19 PM
AIPAC HAS ALL BASES COVERED...MIGA !
On Sept. 11, the Alabama Daughters for Zion organization circulated a statement on Israel by Moore, which started by saying
the U.S. and Israel "share not only a common Biblical heritage but also institutions of representative government and respect
for religious freedom." He traced Israel's origin to God's promise to Abram and the 1948 creation of modern Israel as "a fulfillment
of the Scriptures that foretold the regathering of the Jewish people to Israel."
Moore's statement includes five policy positions, including support for U.S. military assistance to Israel, protecting Israel
from "Iranian aggression," opposing boycotts of Israel, supporting Israel at the United Nations, and supporting direct Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations without outside pressure. He added, "as long as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority wrongly refuse to recognize Israel's
right to exist, such negotiations have scant chance of success."
While those views would give Moore common ground with much of the Jewish community regarding Israel, most of the state's Jewish
community has been at odds with Moore over church-state issues, such as his displays of the Ten Commandments in courthouses, and
his outspoken stance against homosexuality, both of which led to him being ousted as chief justice.
moore misreads the Bible as most socalled christians do. they have been deceived, they have confused the Israel of God( those
who have been given belief in Christ) with israel of the flesh. They cant hear Christs own words, woe is unto them. they are living
in their own selfrighteousness, not good. they are going to have a big surprise for not following the Word of God instead following
the tradition of men.
They were warned over and over in the Bible but they cant hear.
I Claudius -> VinceFostersGhost •Sep 27, 2017 6:27 AM
Forgive? Maybe. Forget? NEVER!! He tried to sell "US" out on this one. We now need to focus on bringing "Moore" candidates
to the podium to run against the RINO's and take out McConnell and Ryan. It's time for Jared and Ivanka to go back to NYC so Jared
can shore up his family's failing empire. However, if his business acumen is as accurate as his political then it's no wonder
the family needed taxpayer funded visas to sell the property. Then on to ridding the White House of Gen Kelly and McMaster - two
holdover generals from the Obama administration - after Obama forced out the real ones.
Clashfan -> Mycroft Holmes IV •Sep 26, 2017 11:33 PM
Rump has hoodwinked his supoprt base and turned on them almost immediately. Some refuse to acknowledge this.
These attacks on Bannon were one of the most prominent news stories in the first week following Trump's election victory.
It didn't take long, however, for a counter-attack to emerge - from the right-wing elements of the Jewish community. The
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) came to Bannon's defense and accused the ADL of a "character assassination" against Bannon.
The Wizard -> Oh regional Indian •Sep 26, 2017 10:12 PM
Trump should figure out the Deep State elites he has surrounded himself with, don't have control of the states Trump won. Trump
thought he had to negotiate with these guys and his ego got the best of him. Bannon was trying to convince him he should have
stayed the course and not give in.
~"American politics gets moore strange by the day..."~
Technically speaking OhRI, with Moore's win politics became less Strange, or "Strange less", or "Sans Luther", depending on
how one chose to phrase it [SMIRK]
Adullam -> Gaius Frakkin' Baltar •Sep 26, 2017 11:05 PM
Trump needs to fire Jared! Some news outlets are saying that it was his son in law who advised him to back Strange. He has
to quit listening to those who want to destroy him or ... they will.
overbet -> Killtruck •Sep 26, 2017 9:41 PM
Bannon is a true fucking patriot trying to pull this once great country from the sinkhole.
Juggernaut x2 -> overbet •Sep 26, 2017 10:07 PM
Trump better pull his head out of his ass and quit being a wishy-washy populist on BS like Iran- the farther right he goes
the greater his odds of reelection because he has pissed off a lot of the far-righters that put him in- getting rid of Kushner,
Cohn and his daughter and negotiating w/Assad and distancing us from Israhell would be a huge help.
The whole Russiagate ploy was a diversion from (((them)))
NoDebt -> Killtruck •Sep 26, 2017 9:42 PM
I think the reality is that this was a message to McConnell much more than Trump. That message is simple: I'm coming to
kill your career. Bannon went out of his way to say he fully supports Trump (despite backing the opposite candidate). And, let's
face it, if Bannon buries McConnell, he's doing everyone a service, Trump included.
Oldwood -> NoDebt •Sep 26, 2017 10:08 PM
I think it was a setup.
Bannon would not oppose Trump that directly unless there was a wink and a nod involved.
Trump is still walking a tightrope, trying to appease his base AND keep as many establishment republicans at his side (even
for only optics). By Trump supporting Strange while knowing he was an underdog AND completely apposed by Bannon/his base he was
able to LOOK like he was supporting the establishment, while NOT really. Trump seldom backs losers which makes me think it was
deliberate. Strange never made sense anyway.
But what do I know?
Urahara -> NoDebt •Sep 27, 2017 12:20 AM
Bannon is hardcore Isreal first. Why are you supporting the zionist? It's an obvious play.
general ambivalent -> Urahara •Sep 27, 2017 2:23 AM
People are desperate to rationalise their failure into a victory. They cannot give up on Hope so they have to use hyperbole
in everything and pretend this is all leading to something great in 2020 or 2024.
None of these fools learned a damn thing and they are desperate to make the same mistake again. The swamp is full, so full
that it has breached the banks and taken over all of society. Trump is a swamp monster, and you simply cannot reform the swamp
when both sides are monsters. In other words, the inside is not an option, so it has to be done the hard way. But people would
prefer to keep voting in the swamp.
Al Gophilia -> NoDebt •Sep 27, 2017 3:58 AM
Bannon as president would really have those swamp creatures squirming. There wouldn't be this Trump crap about surrounding
himself with likeminded friends, such as Goldman Sachs turnstile workers and his good pals in the MIC.
Don't tell me he didn't choose them because if he didn't, then they were placed. That means he doesn't have the clout he pretends
to have or control of the agenda that the people asked him to deliver. His backing of Stange is telling.
Bobbyrib -> LindseyNarratesWordress •Sep 27, 2017 5:38 AM
He will not fire Kushner or Ivanka who have become part of the swamp. I'm so sick of these 'Trump is a genius and planned this
all along.'
To me Trump is a Mr. Bean type character that has been very fortunate and just goes with the flow. He has nearly no diplomacy,
or strategic skills.
NoWayJose •Sep 26, 2017 10:35 PM
Dear President Trump - if you like your job, listen to these voters. Borders, Walls, limited immigrants (including all those
that Ryan and McConnell are sneaking through under your very nose), trade agreements to keep American jobs, and respect for our
flag, our country, and the unborn!
I had hope for Trump, but as someone who reads ZH often, and does not suffer from amnesia (like much of America), I knew he
was way too good to be true.
We all know his back tracking, his flip flops...and while the media and many paid bloggers like to spin it as "not his fault",
it actually is.
His sending DACA to Congress was the last straw. Obama enacted DACA with a stroke of his pen, but Trump "needed to send it
to Congress so they could "get it right". The only thing Congress does with immigration is try and get amnesty passed.
Of course while Trump sends DACA to Congress, he does not mind using the military without Congress, which he actually should
do.
Why is it when it's something American's want, it has to go through the "correct channels", but when its something the Zionists
want, he does it with the wave of his pen? We saw the same bull shit games with Obama...
Dilluminati •Sep 26, 2017 11:02 PM
Anybody surprised by this is pretending the civility at the workplace isn't masking anger at corporate America and Government.
I'll go in and put in the 8 hours, I'm an adult that is part of the job. However I'm actually fed up with allot of the stupid
shit and want the establishment to work, problem is that we are witnessing failed nations, failed schools, failed healthcare,
even failed employment contracts, conditions, and wages.
The echo chamber media "is so surprised" that in Germany and the US we are seeing a rising tide of pissed off people, well
imagine fucking that? Leaving the echo chamber and not intellectually trying to understand the anger, but living the anger.
You haven't seen anything yet in Catalonia/Spain etc, Brexit, or so..
This is what failure looks like: That moment the Romanovs and Louis XVI looked around the room seeking an understanding eye,
there was none.
Pascal1967 •Sep 26, 2017 11:19 PM
Dear Trump:
Quit listening to your moron son-in-law, swamp creature, Goldman Sachs douchebag son-in-law Kushner. HE SUCKS!! If you truly
had BALLS, you would FIRE his fucking ass. HE is The Swamp, He Is Nepotism! THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HATE HIM.
MAGA! LISTEN TO BANNON, DONALD.
DO NOT FUCK THIS UP!
ROY MOORE, 100%!!!!
You lost, Trump ... get your shit together before it is too late!
ElTerco •Sep 26, 2017 11:28 PM
Bannon was always the smarts behind the whole operation. Now we are just left with a complete idiot in office.
Also, unlike Trump, Bannon actually gives a shit about what happens to the American people rather than the American tax system.
At the end of the day, all Trump really cares about is himself.
samsara •Sep 26, 2017 11:25 PM
I think most people get it backwards about Trump and the Deplorables.
I believed in pulling troops a from all the war zones and Trump said he felt the same
I believed in Legal immigration, sending people back if here illegal especially if involved in crime, Trump said he felt the
same.
I believed in America first in negotiating treaties, Trump said he felt the same.
I didn't 'vote' for Trump per se, he was the proxy.
We didn't leave Him, He left us.
BarnacleBill •Sep 26, 2017 11:31 PM
Well, we can only hope that Trump gets the message. He was elected to be President of the USA, not Emperor of the World.
Quote from that Monty Python film: "He's not the Messiah; he's a very naughty boy!" It's high time he turned back to the
job he promised to do, and drain that swamp.
napper •Sep 26, 2017 11:47 PM
A cursory background reading on Roy Moore tells me that he is one of the worst types for public office. And he might just
turn out to be like Trump -- act like an anti-swarm cowboy and promise a path to heaven, then show his real colors as an Establishment
puppet once the braindead voters put him in office.
America is doomed from top (the swarm) to bottom (the brainless voters).
Sid Davis •Sep 27, 2017 1:40 AM
When Trump won the Republican nomination, and then the Presidency it was because people were rebelling against the establishment
rulers. There is considerable disgust with these big government rulers that are working for themselves and their corporate cronies,
but not for the US population.
Trump seems to have been compromised at this point, and his support of the establishment favourite, Luther Strange is evidence
that he isn't really the outsider he claimed to be. Moore's victory in Alabama says the rebellion still has wheels, so there is some hope.
In Missouri where I live, the anti-establishment Republican contender for the upcoming US Senatorial 2018 race is Austin Peterson.
It will be interesting to see how he, and his counterparts in other states do in the primaries. Both of the current Missouri Senators
are worthless.
nevertheless -> pfwed •Sep 27, 2017 7:33 AM
I remember well the last "3-Dimensional Chess master" Obama while he too was always out maneuvering his apponents, per the
media reports...
LoveTruth •Sep 27, 2017 2:56 AM
Every now and then Trump tends to make huge blunders, and sometimes betrayals without knowing what he is doing. "Champions"-
(great leaders) do not do that.
nevertheless -> LoveTruth •Sep 27, 2017 7:16 AM
What Trump has done are disasters, and equates to treason. Selling billions of dollars of weapons the our enemies the terrorists/Saudis,
killing innocent people in Syria, and Yemen, sending more troops to Afghanistan...
But most treasonous of all was his sending DACA to "get it right", really? Congress has only one goal with immigration, amnesty,
and Chump knows dam well they will send him legislation that will clearly or covertly grant amnesty for millions and millions
of illegals, dressed up as "security".
Obama enacted DACA with the stroke of a pen, and while TRUMP promised to end it, he did NOT. Why is it when it's something
Americans want, it has to be "Constitutional", but when it comes form his banker pals, like starting a war, he can do that unilaterally.
It is epitome of self-delusion to see people twisting themselves into pretzels, trying to justify/rationalize Trump's continuing
display of disloyalty to America, and loyalty to Zionism.
Trump should always have been seen as a likely Zionist shill. He comes form Jew York City, owes everything he is to Zionist
Jewish bankers, is a self proclaimed Zionist...
YOU CAN'T BE A ZIONIST AND AN AMERICAN FIRSTER, IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER.
Either Zero Hedge is over run with Zionist hasbara, giving cover to their boy Chump, or Americans on the "right" have become
as gullible as those who supported Obama on the "left".
"... As for Bannon himself, his downfall has been fast and unceremonious: trashed by the president after he gossiped to Michael Wolff, abandoned by his deep-pocketed Mercer family funders, sacked by Breitbart, and then forced to watch as Trump indicated in a meeting earlier this week that he could sign a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Marat's downfall saw him elevated into a revolutionary martyr; Bannon has been banished into exile. ..."
"... But revolutions don't die with their figureheads. Bannonism won't either because, unlike the ethereal ideas behind liberalism and conservatism, it's found visceral real-world resonance -- among blue collars who see economic nationalism as a glimmer of hope among boarded-up plants, service-members frustrated with fruitless wars, young men flummoxed by modern feminism, right-wing activists frustrated with their political party's perceived impotence. Taunt Bannon all you like, but the imprint he leaves behind will be far larger than one spurious tell-all. ..."
"... The last blast of paleconservatism was Perot and the strong late 1990s economy halted that movement. ..."
"... The biggest thing lacking of the Bannon/Trump movement is how push back against the economic elite. Trump is governing exactly like an establishment Republican. Look at Trump/Perry ideas on saving coal which was properly turned down. This plan was unbelievably awful and not the right way for a better electric system and was simply handing Murray and First Energy a bunch money. ..."
"... Conservatism stands for stability and community. The accretions of "limited government" and "lower taxes", charming they may be as mantras, are more libertarian (Classic Liberal) than they are conservative ..."
"... A bomb-throwing Bolshevik like Bannon truly belongs on The Left, but in these days of abysmal ignorance of civics, it doesn't matter. "Bannonism" may live on, but thanks to the crackpot nature of its cobbled-together ideology, will remain a niche religion much like hard-core anarcho-libertarianism. ..."
"... Given the current atmosphere of outrage porn, willful ignorance and gleeful brutality, I do not have much hope for a Burkean conservatism to thrive, at least until after the pending social collapse ..."
"... Bannon will likely fade into oblivion via the Bourbon barrel, and the name Trump may become synonymous with "traitor" (but not like the media elite would hope). These men did not create a movement nor inspire anything. They were both savvy enough to see the political reality in this country and to give it voice. They will go, but the reality will remain. Ironically, but predictably, both men will likely be laid low by their own egos. But, so it goes ..."
"... The reality that supersedes these egotistical, narcissistic men is the fact that the traditional core of the American people have "woke" to the fact of their betrayal by the elite class to whom they have entrusted the leadership of this country for decades. They have awakened to find decay and rot throughout every American institution and to discover that these elites have enriched themselves beyond measure with the wealth of the nation at the cost of the workers and taxpayers who make that wealth possible. They have awakened to their own replacement and now realize the disdain with which they are viewed by those who would be their "masters." ..."
"... These Deplorables, white, working, taxpaying, Bible-believing, gun-owning MEN(!), are not going back into the opioid sleep of blissed out suburbia. They are now aware of the ill-hidden hatred which the elite class has for them and the future of serfdom to which these elites have fated them and their children. Gentlemen, a beast is being born out here in the hinterlands. It will not be put back in the cage ..."
Bannon is an imperfect ideologue. He has a gargantuan ego that often leads him astray, perhaps lately towards the delusion that
he himself would be a better populist messenger than the man he helped elect. But he's also hit on a paradox at the core of today's
American conservatism. Conservatives, in theory at least, look with skepticism upon grand projects and giant leaps, which too often
end up rupturing with the societal traditions they hold dear. Yet much of what conservatives support today is actually quite radical:
banning all or most abortions, rolling back the regulatory state, rejecting decades of orthodoxy on the issue of climate change,
a massive downshift of power from the federal government to states and localities, a moral ethic rooted in Christianity rather than
identity politics -- and lately questioning the "liberal international order" in favor of something more nationalist and protectionist.
The enactment of such an agenda would cause a good deal of upheaval and uncertainty, exactly the sort of void conservatives' forebears
feared most.
Some have wrangled with this contradiction by scaling back their proposals, claiming great problems can be addressed with light-touch
solutions, like child tax credits to arrest sagging birth rates. Others, much of Conservative Inc. it seems, are fine pretending
this tension doesn't exist at all. Bannon's approach has been to gleefully embrace conservatism's radical side. Disagree with him
all you like (and I do), but his is a perfectly logical position. His ascent -- some would say his transformation -- is a predictable
consequence of conservatives yearning for something increasingly distant from the modern world, just as did young people in the quietly
simmering 1950s. Indeed, there are many stylistic similarities between the radicals of today and those half a century ago: the "for
the lulz" performance art of a Milo Yiannopoulos contains an echo of the prankster Yippies, for example. Those who lack cultural
power can sell out, they can evolve, they can retreat to the catacombs -- or they can take Bannon's approach, they can transgress
and pump their fists and try to burn it all down.
Bannon's digestible binaries -- establishment versus the people, globalists versus Americans -- are easily superimposed on an
electorate that's itself divided both economically and culturally. Red states and the Rust Belt have for decades been the victims
of bad federal policy; Bannonism gives them an abstract enemy to blame, a valve for their fury. The algorithmic and library-voiced
Mitt Romney and the earnest Paul Ryan seem woefully inadequate by comparison: have those praying they run for higher office again
learned nothing? In The Constitution of Liberty , F.A. Hayek critiques conservatism by defining it as "a brake on the vehicle
of progress" and observing that a mere decrease in speed "cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving." Likewise,
while conventional taxes-and-terrorism Republican rhetoric doesn't feel like much of a heave on the ship's wheel, Bannonism furnishes
a clear vision, a real change, swords to wield, dragons to slay. Guess which one has greater appeal right now?
The modern right has always had a whiff of radicalism about it, with origins in pushback against the 60s counterculture, a second
wind in Newt Gingrich's legislative reformation, and late-life vitality in the Saul Alinsky-invoking tea party. But it's with Bannon
that the odor has become most pungent. He is an unlikely revolutionary. An
early profile from Bloomberg Businessweek
in 2015 portrays him as more of an operative than anything, determined to professionalize a conservative movement that had made too
many unforced errors. Other pre-Trump appearances found Bannon worrying about the national debt and extolling his Catholic faith.
It's a windy road from there to storming the barricades under Donald Trump's sigil, but it's one many conservatives have traveled
in recent years. The challenge for more traditional Republicans will be fashioning a new politics that quenches voters' burning thirst
for change -- a position they've arrived at themselves, not been brainwashed into by Fox News -- while circumventing Bannonism's
conflagrations and The Camp of the Saints ugliness.
As for Bannon himself, his downfall has been fast and unceremonious: trashed by the president after he gossiped to Michael Wolff,
abandoned by his deep-pocketed Mercer family funders, sacked by Breitbart, and then forced to watch as Trump
indicated in
a meeting earlier this week that he could sign a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Marat's downfall saw him elevated into
a revolutionary martyr; Bannon has been banished into exile.
But revolutions don't die with their figureheads. Bannonism won't either
because, unlike the ethereal ideas behind liberalism and conservatism, it's found visceral real-world resonance -- among blue collars
who see economic nationalism as a glimmer of hope among boarded-up plants, service-members frustrated with fruitless wars, young
men flummoxed by modern feminism, right-wing activists frustrated with their political party's perceived impotence. Taunt Bannon
all you like, but the imprint he leaves behind will be far larger than one spurious tell-all.
Matt Purple is the managing editor of The American Conservative
There is always a level of Bannonism /Paleoconservatism in the US politics but who knows how impactful it will be.
Probably the biggest issue for Bannon was Trump was elected in 2016 and our nation did not want or need a Leninist. (It
wasn't 2008 anymore) Frankly most conservatives were satisfied that HRC and Obama were not President and did not want massive changes.
The whole the people and globalist division is too simplistic and there are a lot 'People' that support free trade or relatively
open borders. (For instance I don't see the economic benefit of steel tariffs at all.)
The last blast of paleconservatism was Perot and the strong late 1990s economy halted that movement.
We still don't know how much a pushback on Trump/Bannonism will be. Trump is not popular and the House is endangered.
5) The biggest thing lacking of the Bannon/Trump movement is how push back against the economic elite. Trump is governing
exactly like an establishment Republican. Look at Trump/Perry ideas on saving coal which was properly turned down. This plan was
unbelievably awful and not the right way for a better electric system and was simply handing Murray and First Energy a bunch money.
It is a cardinal error to confuse conservatism with The Right, as much as it is to conflate liberalism with The Left.
Conservatism stands for stability and community. The accretions of "limited government" and "lower taxes", charming they
may be as mantras, are more libertarian (Classic Liberal) than they are conservative. (Thanks loads, Frank Meyer.)
A bomb-throwing Bolshevik like Bannon truly belongs on The Left, but in these days of abysmal ignorance of civics, it doesn't
matter. "Bannonism" may live on, but thanks to the crackpot nature of its cobbled-together ideology, will remain a niche religion much
like hard-core anarcho-libertarianism.
Given the current atmosphere of outrage porn, willful ignorance and gleeful brutality, I do not have much hope for a Burkean
conservatism to thrive, at least until after the pending social collapse.
Bannon will likely fade into oblivion via the Bourbon barrel, and the name Trump may become synonymous with "traitor" (but
not like the media elite would hope). These men did not create a movement nor inspire anything. They were both savvy enough to
see the political reality in this country and to give it voice. They will go, but the reality will remain. Ironically, but predictably,
both men will likely be laid low by their own egos. But, so it goes.
The reality that supersedes these egotistical, narcissistic men is the fact that the traditional core of the American people
have "woke" to the fact of their betrayal by the elite class to whom they have entrusted the leadership of this country for decades.
They have awakened to find decay and rot throughout every American institution and to discover that these elites have enriched
themselves beyond measure with the wealth of the nation at the cost of the workers and taxpayers who make that wealth possible.
They have awakened to their own replacement and now realize the disdain with which they are viewed by those who would be their
"masters."
These Deplorables, white, working, taxpaying, Bible-believing, gun-owning MEN(!), are not going back into the opioid sleep
of blissed out suburbia. They are now aware of the ill-hidden hatred which the elite class has for them and the future of serfdom
to which these elites have fated them and their children. Gentlemen, a beast is being born out here in the hinterlands. It will
not be put back in the cage.
The writer's allusion to the French Revolution is somewhat telling. The history of the West is replete with moments of savagery
and destruction directed inwardly. It will be so again. When these Deplorables turn on their keepers, it will not be pretty. The
Progressive elites who believe that they can control and shape "narratives" to harness that power are fools. The cloistered intellectuals
who believe that they can "opt" out of the coming clash are dreaming.
The traditional core of the American people are no different than their ancestors. They just don't live as close to the edge
as those folks did. But when they are backed up to that edge, when betrayal has been made clear and the institutions are revealed
for the Oz that they have become, they will recall that old hatred that still courses in the Western man's veins and will react
in ways that will chill the blood. The imaginary "crimes" with which "privileged whites" are damned by the rioting Cultural Marxists
will escape imagination and leap into reality. God help us.
Re: The last blast of paleconservatism was Perot and the strong late 1990s economy halted that movement.
Perot, for whom I voted in 1992 but not 1996, was not a paleoconservative, but rather a pragmatic centrist. Compare his position
on social issues with Pat Buchanan's (Buchanan being Mr. Paleoconservative -- and who ran in 1992 too)
Looks like Bannon is really weak in political economy. He does not even use the term neoliberalism. Go
here to read the full transcript of his speech.
One very interesting quote is ""I believe we've come partly off-track in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union and we're
starting now in the 21st century, which I believe, strongly, is a crisis both of our church, a crisis of our faith, a crisis of the
West, a crisis of capitalism."
Notable quotes:
"... That war triggered a century of barbaric -- unparalleled in mankind's history -- virtually 180 to 200 million people were killed in the 20th century, and I believe that, you know, hundreds of years from now when they look back, we're children of that: We're children of that barbarity. This will be looked at almost as a new Dark Age. ..."
"... I believe we've come partly offtrack in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union and we're starting now in the 21st century, which I believe, strongly, is a crisis both of our church, a crisis of our faith, a crisis of the West, a crisis of capitalism. ..."
"... I see that every day. I'm a very practical, pragmatic capitalist. I was trained at Goldman Sachs, I went to Harvard Business School, I was as hard-nosed a capitalist as you get. I specialized in media, in investing in media companies, and it's a very, very tough environment. And you've had a fairly good track record. So I don't want this to kinda sound namby-pamby, "Let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya' around capitalism." ..."
"... One is state-sponsored capitalism. And that's the capitalism you see in China and Russia. I believe it's what Holy Father [Pope Francis] has seen for most of his life in places like Argentina, where you have this kind of crony capitalism of people that are involved with these military powers-that-be in the government, and it forms a brutal form of capitalism that is really about creating wealth and creating value for a very small subset of people. And it doesn't spread the tremendous value creation throughout broader distribution patterns that were seen really in the 20th century. ..."
"... The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing, is what I call the Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism. And, look, I'm a big believer in a lot of libertarianism. I have many many friends that's a very big part of the conservative movement -- whether it's the UKIP movement in England, it's many of the underpinnings of the populist movement in Europe, and particularly in the United States. However, that form of capitalism is quite different when you really look at it to what I call the "enlightened capitalism" of the Judeo-Christian West. It is a capitalism that really looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost -- as many of the precepts of Marx -- and that is a form of capitalism, particularly to a younger generation [that] they're really finding quite attractive. And if they don't see another alternative, it's going to be an alternative that they gravitate to under this kind of rubric of "personal freedom." ..."
Buzzfeed has the remarks of Stephen Bannon, former CEO of Breitbart News ,
and currently appointed by President Elect Trump to be his chief advisor, at a conference at
the Vatican in the summer of 2014:
Steve Bannon:
Thank you very much Benjamin, and I appreciate you guys including us in
this. We're speaking from Los Angeles today, right across the street from our headquarters in
Los Angeles. Um. I want to talk about wealth creation and what wealth creation really can
achieve and maybe take it in a slightly different direction, because I believe the world, and
particularly the Judeo-Christian west, is in a crisis. And it's really the organizing principle
of how we built Breitbart News to really be a platform to bring news and information to people
throughout the world. Principally in the west, but we're expanding internationally to let
people understand the depths of this crisis, and it is a crisis both of capitalism but really
of the underpinnings of the Judeo-Christian west in our beliefs.
It's ironic, I think, that we're talking today at exactly, tomorrow, 100 years ago, at
the exact moment we're talking, the assassination took place in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand that led to the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the bloodiest century
in mankind's history. Just to put it in perspective, with the assassination that took place 100
years ago tomorrow in Sarajevo, the world was at total peace. There was trade, there was
globalization, there was technological transfer, the High Church of England and the Catholic
Church and the Christian faith was predominant throughout Europe of practicing Christians.
Seven weeks later, I think there were 5 million men in uniform and within 30 days there were
over a million casualties.
That war triggered a century of barbaric -- unparalleled in mankind's history --
virtually 180 to 200 million people were killed in the 20th century, and I believe that, you
know, hundreds of years from now when they look back, we're children of that: We're children of
that barbarity. This will be looked at almost as a new Dark Age.
But the thing that got us out of it, the organizing principle that met this, was not
just the heroism of our people -- whether it was French resistance fighters, whether it was the
Polish resistance fighters, or it's the young men from Kansas City or the Midwest who stormed
the beaches of Normandy, commandos in England that fought with the Royal Air Force, that fought
this great war, really the Judeo-Christian West versus atheists, right? The underlying
principle is an enlightened form of capitalism, that capitalism really gave us the wherewithal.
It kind of organized and built the materials needed to support, whether it's the Soviet Union,
England, the United States, and eventually to take back continental Europe and to beat back a
barbaric empire in the Far East.
That capitalism really generated tremendous wealth. And that wealth was really
distributed among a middle class, a rising middle class, people who come from really
working-class environments and created what we really call a Pax Americana. It was many, many
years and decades of peace. And I believe we've come partly offtrack in the years since the
fall of the Soviet Union and we're starting now in the 21st century, which I believe, strongly,
is a crisis both of our church, a crisis of our faith, a crisis of the West, a crisis of
capitalism.
And we're at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict, of which if
the people in this room, the people in the church, do not bind together and really form what I
feel is an aspect of the church militant, to really be able to not just stand with our beliefs,
but to fight for our beliefs against this new barbarity that's starting, that will completely
eradicate everything that we've been bequeathed over the last 2,000, 2,500 years.
Now, what I mean by that specifically: I think that you're seeing three kinds of
converging tendencies: One is a form of capitalism that is taken away from the underlying
spiritual and moral foundations of Christianity and, really, Judeo-Christian belief.
I see that every day. I'm a very practical, pragmatic capitalist. I was trained at
Goldman Sachs, I went to Harvard Business School, I was as hard-nosed a capitalist as you get.
I specialized in media, in investing in media companies, and it's a very, very tough
environment. And you've had a fairly good track record. So I don't want this to kinda sound
namby-pamby, "Let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya' around capitalism."
But there's a strand of capitalism today -- two strands of it, that are very
disturbing.
One is state-sponsored capitalism. And that's the capitalism you see in China and
Russia. I believe it's what Holy Father [Pope Francis] has seen for most of his life in places
like Argentina, where you have this kind of crony capitalism of people that are involved with
these military powers-that-be in the government, and it forms a brutal form of capitalism that
is really about creating wealth and creating value for a very small subset of people. And it
doesn't spread the tremendous value creation throughout broader distribution patterns that were
seen really in the 20th century.
The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing, is what I call the
Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism. And, look, I'm a big believer in
a lot of libertarianism. I have many many friends that's a very big part of the conservative
movement -- whether it's the UKIP movement in England, it's many of the underpinnings of the
populist movement in Europe, and particularly in the United States.
However, that form of capitalism is quite different when you really look at it to what I
call the "enlightened capitalism" of the Judeo-Christian West. It is a capitalism that really
looks to make people commodities, and to objectify people, and to use them almost -- as many of
the precepts of Marx -- and that is a form of capitalism, particularly to a younger generation
[that] they're really finding quite attractive. And if they don't see another alternative, it's
going to be an alternative that they gravitate to under this kind of rubric of "personal
freedom."
The other tendency is an immense secularization of the West. And I know we've talked
about secularization for a long time, but if you look at younger people, especially millennials
under 30, the overwhelming drive of popular culture is to absolutely secularize this rising
iteration.
"... "I'm not a white nationalist, I'm a nationalist. I'm an economic nationalist," Bannon told the news outlet earlier this week. "The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f -- ed over." ..."
"... "Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe," Bannon told Mother Jones in August. "Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that's just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements." ..."
"... "It's everything related to jobs," Bannon said and seemingly bragged about how he was going to drive conservatives "crazy" with his "trillion-dollar infrastructure plan." ..."
"... "With negative interest rates throughout the world, it's the greatest opportunity to rebuild everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up," he proposed. "We're just going to throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater than the Reagan revolution -- conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist movement." ..."
"... Bannon, in the Reporter interview, also gave some insight into how he viewed his political foes (presumably, liberals and the media) -- and the "darkness" he touts in fighting against them. ..."
Steve Bannon, the chief strategist and right-hand man to President-elect Donald Trump,
denied in an interview that he was an advocate of white nationalism -- and gave hints instead
about how his brand of "economic" nationalism will shake up Washington.
In The Hollywood Reporter, Bannon, the controversial former head of Breitbart News who went
on to chair Mr. Trump's presidential campaign, discussed why he believed his candidate won the
election.
"I'm not a white nationalist, I'm a nationalist. I'm an economic nationalist," Bannon told
the news outlet earlier this week. "The globalists gutted the American working class and
created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f -- ed
over."
Bannon's appointment to the White House has drawn criticism from Democrats and several civil
liberties groups, in part because of his (and Breitbart's) strong association with
the alt-right , a political movement with strains of white supremacy.
In the past, the former Breitbart CEO has admitted the alt-right's connections to racist and
anti-Semitic agendas.
"Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the
philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,"
Bannon told Mother Jones in August. "Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are
attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes,
right? But that's just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard
left that attract certain elements."
In the Reporter interview, Bannon challenged the notion that racialized overtones dominated
the Trump campaign on the trail. He predicted that if the administration delivered on its
election promises, "we'll get 60 percent of the white vote, and 40 percent of the black and
Hispanic vote and we'll govern for 50 years."
"It's everything related to jobs," Bannon said and seemingly bragged about how he was going
to drive conservatives "crazy" with his "trillion-dollar infrastructure plan."
"With negative interest rates throughout the world, it's the greatest opportunity to rebuild
everything. Ship yards, iron works, get them all jacked up," he proposed. "We're just going to
throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. It will be as exciting as the 1930s, greater
than the Reagan revolution -- conservatives, plus populists, in an economic nationalist
movement."
Bannon, in the Reporter interview, also gave some insight into how he viewed his political
foes (presumably, liberals and the media) -- and the "darkness" he touts in fighting against
them.
"Darkness is good," Bannon said. "Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power. It only
helps us when they...get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing."
"... When Donald Trump burst onto the scene, Bannon had found what he is quoted describing as a "blunt instrument for us," a man who had "taken this nationalist movement and moved it up twenty years." ..."
"... the rise of Bannon and Trump holds lessons for the Dissident Right. One of them: despite how powerful the Establishment may appear, there are fatal disconnects between it and the people it rules -- for example, on social and identity issues. Thus, many members of this Ruling Class, such as the Republican strategists who predicted a Jeb or Rubio victory, have been more successful in deluding themselves than they have been in building any kind of effective base. Similarly, Clinton campaign operatives believed, without much evidence, that undecided voters would eventually break in their favor. Because the thought of a Trump presidency was too horrifying for them to contemplate, they refused to recognize polls showing a close race, ignored the Midwest and sauntered their candidate off to Arizona in the final days. ..."
"... Of course, currently the ideas that Bannon fought for appear to be on the wane, leading him to declare upon leaving the White House that the "Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over." [ Weekly Standard, August 18, 2017] ..."
"... But this is probably somewhat of an exaggeration. I doubt that Bannon laments the fact that the current president is Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton or Marco Rubio. But it has proved much more difficult to change government policy than to win an election. Unlike GOP strategists, the Deep State appears to know what it is doing. ..."
Throughout 2016, I would occasionally turn on the television to see how the punditocracy was
responding to the mounting
Trump tsunami . If you get most of your news online, watching cable news is frustrating.
The commentary is so dumbed down and
painfully
reflective of speaker's biases, you can always basically guess what's coming next. With a
few exceptions -- above all Ann Coulter 's famous June 19, 2015
prediction of a Trump victory on
Bill Maher -- these pundits again and again told us that Trump would eventually go away,
first after he made this or that gaffe, then after he "failed" in a debate, then after people
actually started voting in the primaries.
The most interesting cases to me: the "
Republican strategists ," brought on to CNN and MSNBC to give the audience the illusion
that they were hearing both sides: Nicole Wallace, Steve Schmidt, Ana Navarro, Rick Wilson,
Margaret Hoover, Todd Harris.
Mike Murphy even convinced donors to hand him over $100 million to make Jeb Bush the
next president -- [
Jeb's 2016 departure draws out Mike Murphy critics , By Maeve Reston, February 22,
2016]
With campaigns and donors throwing money at these people, and the Main Stream Media touting
them, it was easy to assume they must know what they were talking about. Significantly, each of
these pundits was a national security hawk, center-right on economic issues, and just as
horrified by "
racism " and " sexism
" as their
Leftist counterparts . By a remarkable coincidence, the "
strategic " advice that they gave to Republican candidates lined up perfectly with these
positions. Their prominence was a mirage created by the fact that the MSM
handed this token opposition the Megaphone
because they did not challenge the core prejudices of the
bipartisan Ruling Class.
And of course they were all humiliated in a spectacular fashion, November 8 being only the
climax.
Joshua Green begins his book Devil's
Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency by giving us a
view inside the Trump campaign on election night, before tracing Steve Bannon's path up to that
point. Reliving the journey is one of the joys of Green's work, which is mostly an intellectual
biography of Steve Bannon,
with a special focus on his relationship with Trump and the election.
Bannon
joined the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016 without any previous experience in
electoral politics. But like the candidate himself, the Breitbart editor showed that he
understood the nature of American politics and the GOP base
better than Establishment Republicans. The "strategists'" supposed "expertise," "strategic
advice," and "analysis" was in reality built on a house of cards. (In fact, the
Bannon-Trump view of the electorate is closer to the consensus
among political scientists that, unlike more nationalist and populist policies,
Republican Establishment positions have relatively little popular support. [ Political Divisions in 2016 and Beyon d | Tensions Between and Within the Two
Parties, Voter Study Group, June 2017]).
Bannon at Breitbart.com gave the Republican base what it wanted. Moral: in a democracy, you
always have a chance at winning when public opinion (or at least intraparty opinion) is on your
side.
Green traces Bannon's journey from his Irish-Catholic
working-class roots and traditionalist upbringing, to his time in the Navy, at Harvard
Business School and Goldman Sachs, and finally Breitbart.com and the pinnacle of American
politics. The picture
that emerges is of a man with principles and vigor, refusing to submit to the inertia that
is part of the human condition, with enough confidence to realize that life is too short to not
make major changes when staying on the current path is not going to allow him to accomplish his
goals.
For example, Bannon originally wanted a career in defense policy, and took a job in the
Pentagon during the Reagan administration. Yet he was off to Harvard Business School when he
realized that the rigid bureaucracy
that he was a part of would not let him move up to a high-level position until he was
middle-aged. Decades later, after taking over his website upon the unexpected death of Andrew Breitbart in
2012, it would have been easy to go low-risk -- sticking to Establishment scripts, making life
comfortable for Republican elites, implicitly submitting to the taboos of the Left.
Instead , he helped turn Breitbart News into a major voice of the populist tide that has
been remaking center-right politics across the globe.
When Donald Trump burst onto the scene, Bannon had found what he is quoted describing as
a "blunt instrument for us," a man who had "taken this nationalist movement and moved it up
twenty years."
From Green, we learn much about Bannon's intellectual influences. Surprisingly, although he
was raised as a Roman Catholic and maintains that faith today, we find out that Bannon briefly
practiced Zen Buddhism while in the Navy. There are other unusual influences that make
appearances in the book, including Rightist philosopher Julius
Evola and
René Guénon, a French occultist who eventually became a Sufi Muslim. Although
not exactly my cup of tea, such eccentric intellectual interests reflect a curious mind that
refuses to restrict itself to fashionable influences.
It's incorrect to call Devil's Bargain a biography. There is practically no mention
of Bannon's personal life -- wives, children. I had to Google to find out that he has three
daughters. His childhood is only discussed in the context of how it may have influenced his
beliefs and political development.
Rather, we get information on Bannon's intellectual and career pursuits and his
relationships with consequential figures such as mega-donor Robert Mercer, Andrew Breitbart and
Donald Trump.
As Bannon exits the White House and returns to Breitbart, we must hope that Bannon and the
movement he's helped to create accomplish enough in the future to inspire more complete
biographies.
But the rise of Bannon and Trump holds lessons for the Dissident Right. One of them:
despite how powerful the Establishment may appear, there are fatal disconnects between it and
the people it rules -- for example, on social and identity issues. Thus, many members of this
Ruling Class, such as the Republican strategists who predicted a Jeb or Rubio victory, have
been more successful in deluding themselves than they have been in building any kind of
effective base. Similarly, Clinton campaign operatives believed, without much evidence, that
undecided voters would eventually break in their favor. Because the thought of a Trump
presidency was too horrifying for them to contemplate, they refused to recognize polls showing
a close race, ignored the Midwest and sauntered their candidate off to Arizona in the final
days.
Of course, currently the ideas that Bannon fought for appear to be on the wane, leading
him to declare upon leaving the White House that the "Trump presidency that we fought for, and
won, is over." [
Weekly Standard, August 18, 2017]
But this is probably somewhat of an exaggeration. I doubt that Bannon laments the fact
that the current president is Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton or Marco Rubio. But it
has proved much more difficult to change government policy than to win an election. Unlike GOP
strategists, the Deep State appears to know what it is doing.
In his memoir Nixon's White House Wars , Pat Buchanan writes about how, despite
playing a pivotal role in the election of 1968, the conservative movement was
mostly shut out of high-level jobs:
Then there was the painful reality with which the right had to come to terms. Though our
movement had exhibited real power in capturing the nomination for Barry Goldwater and helping
Nixon crush the Rockefeller-Romney wing of the Republican Party, and though we were
playing a pivotal role in the election of 1968, the conservative movement was
mostly shut out of high-level jobs:
Then there was the painful reality with which the right had to come to terms. Though our
movement had exhibited real power in capturing the nomination for Barry Goldwater and helping
Nixon crush the Rockefeller-Romney wing of the Republican Party, and though we were veterans
of a victorious presidential campaign, few of us had served in the executive branch. We
lacked titles, resumes, credentials Our pool of experienced public servants who could
seamlessly move into top positions was miniscule compared to that of the liberal Democrats
who had dominated the capital's politics since FDR arrived in 1933.
History repeated itself in 2016, when Donald Trump would win the presidency on a nationalist
platform but find few qualified individuals who could reliably implement his agenda.
If nationalists want to ensure that their next generation of leaders is able to effectively
implement the policies they run on, they are going to have to engage in the slow and tedious
project of working their way up through powerful institutions.
Bannon may have been and remains an "outsider" to the political Establishment. But
nonetheless, throughout his life he has leveraged elite institutions such as Harvard, Goldman
Sachs, the Republican Party, and even Hollywood in order to become financially independent and
free to pursue his political goals.
If enough of those on the Dissident Right forge a similar path, we can be sure that future
nationalist political victories will be less hollow. Jeremy Cooper is a specialist in
international politics and an observer of global trends. Follow him at @NeoNeoLiberal .
@Clyde
Wilson Is there any evidence that Trump even tried to find the right people to fill the
offices? Having dabbled ever so slightly in this process in the spring, my impression is that
there is a mechanism run largely by lawyers from the big DC law firms (presumably one for
each party) who are the gatekeepers for applicants. The result of this system, which I have
little doubt that the "Trump Team" did not try to take on (after all, they had only a couple
of months to put together the beginnings of a team, and that left little or no time replacing
The Swamp Machine ) is that the key positions throughout the administration are largely
filled with lawyers from connected law firms. After all, who better to administer the
government than lawyers -- ? -- ?
At any rate, my experience with the process was: on your marks, get set, nothing. 30 years
experience in and around federal government, but not a lawyer. Don't call us, we don't want
to talk to you. (I also made clear in my cover letter that the key motivator for my
application -- and first ever political contributions -- was Trump and his agenda. In
retrospect, this "admission" was probably a kiss of death. I was a Trumpite. Eeeewww -- -- --
(I may well not have been qualified for anything, but I'm SURE I was disqualified by my
support for Trump )
Too little, too late. Also Bannon by demonizing Russians has shown that his is a dangerous warmonger. And a weak
politician.
Notable quotes:
"... Bannon added that his comments to Wolff were "aimed at Paul Manafort," the former Trump campaign manager who has been charged as part of an investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and members of Trump's team. Manafort was also at the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Manafort, Bannon said, "should have known how the Russians operate. He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. ..."
"... Bannon released the statement after a three-day barrage of criticism from Trump and his allies. The president dubbed Bannon "Sloppy Steve." Bannon's statement also followed a CNN appearance on Sunday by Stephen Miller, the president's senior policy adviser and former Bannon ally, who eviscerated his comments to Wolff as "grotesque." ..."
The former White House aide said Donald Trump Jr. is a "patriot and a good man."
Steve Bannon backpedaled on comments to journalist Michael Wolff, whose explosive new book
sparked
a backlash against the former top Donald Trump aide over his remarks about a meeting at
Trump Tower in June 2016. According to the book, released a week early due to high demand, the
former White House strategist called the infamous meeting in New York between Donald Trump Jr.
and Russian operatives at Trump Tower "treasonous."
In a
statement to Axios on Sunday, Bannon heaped praise on Trump and his agenda, and called Don
Jr. a "patriot and a good man." "My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from
my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to
hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years when our focus was
the defeat of 'the evil empire' and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and
Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them, " Bannon said in the statement.
Bannon
added that his comments to Wolff were "aimed at Paul Manafort," the former Trump campaign
manager who has been charged as part of an investigation into possible collusion between the
Russian government and members of Trump's team. Manafort was also at the 2016 Trump Tower
meeting. Manafort, Bannon said, "should have known how the Russians operate. He should have
known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends.
To reiterate, those comments (about
the meeting with the Russians) were not aimed at Don Jr." In the statement, Bannon again denied
that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. And though he did not deny any of the remarks
that were attributed to him in the book, Bannon said he regretted "that my delay in responding
to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president's
historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency."
Bannon released the statement
after a three-day barrage of criticism from Trump and his allies. The president dubbed Bannon
"Sloppy Steve." Bannon's statement also followed a CNN appearance on Sunday by Stephen Miller,
the president's senior policy adviser and former Bannon ally, who eviscerated his comments to
Wolff as "grotesque."
Earlier Sunday, Trump railed about what he called Wolff's "Fake Book" on
Twitter:
"... Economic nationalism is a term used to describe policies which are guided by the idea of protecting domestic consumption, labor and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labour, goods and capital. It is in opposition to Globalisation in many cases, or at least on questions the unrestricted good of Free trade. It would include such doctrines as Protectionism, Import substitution, Mercantilism and planned economies. ..."
"... Examples of economic nationalism include Japan's use of MITI to "pick winners and losers", Malaysia's imposition of currency controls in the wake of the 1997 currency crisis, China's controlled exchange of the Yuan, Argentina's economic policy of tariffs and devaluation in the wake of the 2001 financial crisis and the United States' use of tariffs to protect domestic steel production. ..."
"... Think about what a trade war with China would do. It would crash the world economy as China tried to cash in on it US Treasury holdings with the US likely defaulting......just one possible scenario. ..."
"... Here is Bannon's latest: Bannon dismissed the far-right as irrelevant: "Ethno-nationalism!it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more." "These guys are a collection of clowns," he added. Bannon is no friend of White Nationalists. ..."
"... I think Bannon is an authentic economic nationalist, and one that Trump feels is good counsel on those matters. If this is so, then Bannon cannot be trying to provoke a trade war with China, since that would be an economic catastrophe for the US (and China and the rest of the world). I'm hoping he's playing bad cop and eventually Trump will play good cop in negotiations for more investment by China in the US and other goodies in exchange for 'well, not much' from the US. Similar to what the US dragged out of Japan in the 80s nd 90s. ..."
"... Bannon (and most of his followers) have no trust in the corporate sector as they are to a large degree Globalists - they used the US and then threw it aside in pursuit of profit elsewhere. For that, he would even call them traitors. So you could call him a Nationalist. ..."
"... Bannon does not seem himself as an "ethno-nationalist". Yet his slanderous contempt for the liberal ethos/values of many Americans would tend to make one question if he can be called a Nationalist. ..."
"... If Bannon was a Zionist, he would never make the comments he does against the financial sector ..."
"... Isn't exceptionalism the same as narcissism? ..."
"... At least the concern for 10 million in Seoul (mostly missing in the discussion of other leaders) show he is not a psychopath ..."
So lets start parsing this economic nationalism that Bannon is making happen with Trump.
Economic nationalism is a term used to describe policies which are guided by the idea of protecting domestic consumption, labor
and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labour, goods
and capital. It is in opposition to Globalisation in many cases, or at least on questions the unrestricted good of Free trade.
It would include such doctrines as Protectionism, Import substitution, Mercantilism and planned economies.
Examples of economic nationalism include Japan's use of MITI to "pick winners and losers", Malaysia's imposition of currency
controls in the wake of the 1997 currency crisis, China's controlled exchange of the Yuan, Argentina's economic policy of tariffs
and devaluation in the wake of the 2001 financial crisis and the United States' use of tariffs to protect domestic steel production.
Think about what a trade war with China would do. It would crash the world economy as China tried to cash in on it US Treasury
holdings with the US likely defaulting......just one possible scenario.
At least now, IMO, the battle for a multi-polar (finance) world is out in the open.....let the side taking by nations begin.
I hope Bannon is wrong about the timing of potential global power shifting and the US loses its empire status.
Here is Bannon's latest: Bannon dismissed the far-right as irrelevant: "Ethno-nationalism!it's losers. It's a fringe element.
I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more." "These guys are a collection
of clowns," he added. Bannon is no friend of White Nationalists.
Bannon can be perfectly mature, adult and realist on some points and be totally blinded by biases on others - him wanting total
economic war against China is proof enough. So I don't rule out that he has a blind spot over Iran and wants to get rid of the
regime. I mean, even Trump is realist and adult in a few issues, yet is an oblivious fool on others.
Kind of hard to find someone who's always adult and realist, actually. You can only hope to pick someone who's more realist
than most people. Or build a positronic robot and vote for him.
I think Bannon is an authentic economic nationalist, and one that Trump feels is good counsel on those matters. If this is so,
then Bannon cannot be trying to provoke a trade war with China, since that would be an economic catastrophe for the US (and China
and the rest of the world). I'm hoping he's playing bad cop and eventually Trump will play good cop in negotiations for more investment
by China in the US and other goodies in exchange for 'well, not much' from the US. Similar to what the US dragged out of Japan
in the 80s nd 90s.
@ Everybody who bought into the MSM Steve Bannon promoted white supremacy and through Breitbart. Suggested you read his world
view expressed in remarks at Human Dignity Institute, Vatican Conference 2014
Progressives and Steve Bannon have something surprising in common: hating Wall Street
Pop quiz! Which major American political figure said the following:
"The 2008 crisis is really driven I believe by the greed, much of it driven by the greed of the investment banks."
"I think the bailouts in 2008 were wrong."
"[N]ot one criminal charge has ever been brought to any bank executive associated with 2008 crisis."
"The Republican Party "is really a collection of crony capitalists that feel that they have a different set of rules"
and are "the reason that the United States' financial situation is so dire."
In the Vatican talk, Bannon described in length and detail how he views the biggest issues of the day:
He wants to tear down "crony capitalism": "a brutal form of capitalism that is really about creating wealth and
creating value for a very small subset of people.[.]
He is against Ayn Rand's version of libertarianism: "The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing,
is what I call the Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism.[.]
He believes the West needs to wage "a global war against Islamic fascism": "They have a Twitter account up today,
ISIS does, about turning the United States into a "river of blood" if it comes in and tries to defend the city of Baghdad.
And trust me, that is going to come to Europe.[.]
He believes the capitalism of the "Judeo Christian West" is in crisis: "If you look at the leaders of capitalism
at that time, when capitalism was I believe at its highest flower and spreading its benefits to most of mankind, almost
all of those capitalists were strong believers in the Judeo-Christian West.[.]
He believes the racists that are attracted to Trump will become increasingly irrelevant: [.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
this recent Bannon interview with The American Prospect will now go viral. Drudgereport headlines the WAPO spin.
Except for the selective Zion-flavored warmongering, Bannon appears to be an intelligent and thoughtful person. Also crafty. Is
he not "Trump's Brain" in the way that Rove was Bush's Brain?
Agree. I think Bannon's quite bright and very very clever and crafty.
However, if anyone believes the lies he spewed yesterday about white supremacists, let me enlighten you that that's what's
called "good PR" or something. Bannon is someone whom I hold quite responsible for contributing to the rise of White Supremacy
in the USA, which I consider a clear and present danger. Bannon's dismissive hand waving yesterday is meant to dissemble. Guess
some are willing to buy what he was selling yesterday. Not me.
The first group to call themselves Progressives were the 19th century Populists. Their mantle was adopted by T. Roosevelt and
other like-minded Republicans. Lafollette and Wallace are perhaps the best remembered Progressives--yes, FDR is portrayed as one,
but when examined really isn't: Eleanor was far more Progressive and since she was people also thought he was too. Once Wallace
was ousted from government, Democrats reverted to their old ways, although Truman did order the military to desegregate--perhaps
his only Progressive act. JFK was in the process of becoming a Progressive in the months prior to his murder. LBJ very reluctantly
made some Progressive noises in his War on Poverty that he was essentially forced into thanks to massive ethnic strife and related
riots during the 60s. But essentially since the beginning of WW2, Progressives and their goals vanished from the political landscape.
Nader brought it back to the fringe from the wilderness, but the so-called Progressive Caucus really isn't Progressive thanks
to its war promotion.
Admittedly, I don't know much about Steve Bannon; he certainly isn't a Progressive, but he doesn't seem to be a Regressive
either. The points he made at the Vatican Talk supplied by likklemore @28 are rather encouraging in an anti-Deep State manner.
So, his interaction with The American Prospect I don't see as surprising--he's seeking allies: "'It's a great honor to
finally track you [Robert Kuttner] down. I've followed your writing for years and I think you and I are in the same boat when
it comes to China. You absolutely nailed it.'... Bannon explained that his strategy is to battle the trade doves inside the administration
while building an outside coalition of trade hawks that includes left as well as right. Hence the phone call to me." I think Kuttner
will discover Bannon will "still [be] there" after Labor Day, so he might as well make his travel plans.
I won't give you a pass. Your bias and lack of intelligence is on great display.
Read and understand as Bannon is proven right on events.
The $28 - trillion (US dollar) global bailouts in 2008 is proven to have failed. A handful on Wall Street became trillionaires
instead of being suited in special stripes.
Negative interest rates steal the retirement savings of seniors. Pensions and Insurance companies cannot meet promised payouts.
And all is fine. Corruption flourishes. Judeo-Christian moral values are not in crisis.
@12... "Bannon is a fascist" I'm not so sure. Mussolini defined fascism as being an alliance of corporate and state powers...
but Bannon (and most of his followers) have no trust in the corporate sector as they are to a large degree Globalists - they used
the US and then threw it aside in pursuit of profit elsewhere. For that, he would even call them traitors. So you could call him
a Nationalist.
@ 8 as you say... Bannon does not seem himself as an "ethno-nationalist". Yet his slanderous contempt for the liberal ethos/values
of many Americans would tend to make one question if he can be called a Nationalist.
@ 9 If Bannon was a Zionist, he would never make the comments he does against the financial sector (see @28).
@28 Bannon would never call himself a Socialist, but the most logical expression of his individualist views when applied to
the business world are expressed by none other than Ayn Rand. The financial world simply got legal cover to act on the views that
he rails against. Bannon does not like what he sees when the rules he claims for himself are given to the rest of the world. Which
makes him an "Exceptionalist"??
Isn't exceptionalism the same as narcissism?
At least the concern for 10 million in Seoul (mostly missing in the discussion of other leaders) show he is not a psychopath.
"... Bannon is almost universally loathed by the Washington press corps, and not just for his politics. When he was the CEO of the pro-Trump Breitbart website, he competed with traditional media outlets, and he has often mercilessly attacked and ridiculed them. ..."
"... The animosity towards Bannon reached new heights last month, when he incautiously told the New York Times that "the media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while." He also said the media was "the opposition party" to the Trump administration. To the Washington media, those are truly fighting words. ..."
"... Bannon's comments were outrageous, but they are hardly new. In 2009, President Obama's White House communications director, Anita Dunn, sought to restrict Fox News' access to the White House. She even said, "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent." The media's outrage over that remark was restrained, to say the least. ..."
"... Reporters and pundits are also stepping up the effort to portray Bannon as the puppet master in the White House. Last week, MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski said, "Legitimate media are getting word that Steve Bannon is the last guy in the room, in the evening especially, and he's pulling the strings." Her co-host, Joe Scarborough, agreed that Bannon's role should be "investigated." ..."
"... I'm all for figuring out who the powers behind the curtain are in the White House, but we saw precious little interest in that during the Obama administration. ..."
"... Liberal writer Steven Brill wrote a 2015 book, America's Bitter Pill , in which he slammed "incompetence in the White House" for the catastrophic launch of Obamacare. "Never [has there] been a group of people who more incompetently launched something," he told NPR's Terry Gross, who interviewed him about the book. He laid much of the blame at Jarrett's doorstep. "The people in the administration who knew it was going wrong went to the president directly with memos, in person, to his chief of staff," he said. "The president was protected, mostly by Valerie Jarrett, from doing anything. . . . He didn't know what was going on in the single most important initiative of his administration." How important was Jarrett inside the Obama White House? Brill interviewed the president about the struggles of Obamacare and reported Obama's conclusion: "At this point, I am not so interested in Monday-morning quarterbacking the past." ..."
"... five of the highest-ranking Obama officials had told him that "as a practical matter . . . Jarrett was the real chief of staff on any issues that she wanted to weigh in on, and she jealously protected that position by making sure the president never gave anyone else too much power." When Brill asked the president about these aides' assessment of Jarrett, Obama "declined comment," Brill wrote in his book. That, in and of itself, was an answer. Would that Jarrett had received as much media scrutiny of her role in eight years under Obama as Bannon has in less than four weeks. ..."
"... I've had my disagreements with Bannon, whose apocalyptic views on some issues I don't share. Ronald Reagan once said that if someone in Washington agrees with you 80 percent of the time, he is an ally, not an enemy. I'd guess Bannon wouldn't agree with that sentiment. ..."
Bannon is almost universally loathed by the Washington press corps, and not just for his politics. When he was the
CEO of the pro-Trump Breitbart website, he competed with traditional media outlets, and he has often mercilessly attacked
and ridiculed them.
The animosity towards Bannon reached new heights last month, when he incautiously told the New York Times that "the media
should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while." He also said the media was "the opposition
party" to the Trump administration. To the Washington media, those are truly fighting words.
Joel Simon, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told CNN that "this kind of speech not [only] undermines the work of the
media in this country, it emboldens autocratic leaders around the world." Jacob Weisberg, the head of the Slate Group, tweeted that
Bannon's comment was terrifying and "tyrannical."
Bannon's comments were outrageous, but they are hardly new. In 2009, President Obama's White House communications director,
Anita Dunn, sought to restrict Fox News' access to the White House. She even said, "We're going to treat them the way we would treat
an opponent." The media's outrage over that remark was restrained, to say the least.
Ever since Bannon's outburst, you can hear the media gears meshing in the effort to undermine him. In TV green rooms and at Washington
parties, I've heard journalists say outright that it's time to get him. Time magazine put a sinister-looking Bannon on its
cover, describing him as "The Great Manipulator." Walter Isaacson, a former managing editor of Time , boasted to MSNBC that
the image was in keeping with a tradition of controversial covers that put leaders in their place. "Likewise, putting [former White
House aide] Mike Deaver on the cover, the brains behind Ronald Reagan, that ended up bringing down Reagan," he told the hosts of
Morning Joe . "So you've got to have these checks and balances, whether it's the judiciary or the press."
Reporters and pundits are also stepping up the effort to portray Bannon as the puppet master in the White House. Last week,
MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski said, "Legitimate media are getting word that Steve Bannon is the last guy in
the room, in the evening especially, and he's pulling the strings." Her co-host, Joe Scarborough, agreed that Bannon's role should
be "investigated."
I'm all for figuring out who the powers behind the curtain are in the White House, but we saw precious little interest in
that during the Obama administration.
It wasn't until four years after the passage of Obamacare that a journalist reported on just how powerful White House counselor
Valerie Jarrett had been in its flawed implementation. Liberal writer Steven Brill wrote a 2015 book, America's Bitter Pill
, in which he slammed "incompetence in the White House" for the catastrophic launch of Obamacare. "Never [has there] been a group
of people who more incompetently launched something," he told NPR's Terry Gross, who interviewed him about the book. He laid much
of the blame at Jarrett's doorstep. "The people in the administration who knew it was going wrong went to the president directly
with memos, in person, to his chief of staff," he said. "The president was protected, mostly by Valerie Jarrett, from doing anything.
. . . He didn't know what was going on in the single most important initiative of his administration." How important was Jarrett
inside the Obama White House? Brill interviewed the president about the struggles of Obamacare and reported Obama's conclusion: "At
this point, I am not so interested in Monday-morning quarterbacking the past."
Brill then bluntly told the president that five of the highest-ranking Obama officials had told him that "as a practical matter
. . . Jarrett was the real chief of staff on any issues that she wanted to weigh in on, and she jealously protected that position
by making sure the president never gave anyone else too much power." When Brill asked the president about these aides' assessment
of Jarrett, Obama "declined comment," Brill wrote in his book. That, in and of itself, was an answer. Would that Jarrett had received
as much media scrutiny of her role in eight years under Obama as Bannon has in less than four weeks.
I've had my disagreements with Bannon, whose apocalyptic views on some issues I don't share. Ronald Reagan once said that
if someone in Washington agrees with you 80 percent of the time, he is an ally, not an enemy. I'd guess Bannon wouldn't agree with
that sentiment.
But the media's effort to turn Bannon into an enemy of the people is veering into hysterical character assassination. The Sunday
print edition of the New York Times ran an astonishing 1,500-word story headlined: "Fascists Too Lax for a Philosopher Cited
by Bannon." (The online headline now reads, "Steve Bannon Cited Italian Thinker Who Inspired Fascists.") The Times based this
headline on what it admits was "a passing reference" in
a speech by Bannon at a Vatican conference in 2014 . In that speech, Bannon made a single mention of Julius Evola, an obscure
Italian philosopher who opposed modernity and cozied up to Mussolini's Italian Fascists.
ho is Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the 30-year-old White House aide who could be a key player in the blockbuster
investigation into Russian ties to President Trump and his campaign?
Cohen-Watnick, 30, who
The New York Times reports
provided key information in the probe, is a once fast-rising protege of ousted
Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn with deep roots in suburban Washington's Jewish community.
The paper identified him as one of two staffers who explosively gave information on intelligence gathering in
the Russia probe to Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a move that potentially
compromised the lawmaker's role in the bombshell probe.
Cohen-Watnick grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside the nation's capital, and attended the nearby
Conservative synagogue Ohr Kodesh. Last November he celebrated his engagement to Rebecca Miller at the synagogue.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 2008. Cohen-Watnick began working as an intelligence
analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency after college. At the DIA, Cohen-Watnick met Flynn, the then-director
who was later removed from his position during the Obama administration.
After Trump won the November election, Flynn brought Cohen-Watnick from the DIA to the Trump transition team,
where the young staffer, according to
The Washington Post,
was among the few Trump advisers to hold a top security clearance. He participated in
high-level intelligence briefings and briefed Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and their team on national security
issues.
When Flynn was appointed to lead the National Security Council, he hired Cohen-Watnick to work with him there.
But Flynn served as national security adviser for less than a month before being asked to leave following
revelations that he had maintained ties with Russia during the campaign.
Flynn's successor, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, sought to remove Cohen-Watnick from the team, following input from
the CIA director who pointed to problems intelligence officers had when dealing with Cohen-Watnick. Questions were
raised about his ability to carry out the position of senior NSC director for intelligence programs, who oversees
ties with intelligence agencies and vets information that should reach the president's desk.
But Cohen-Watnick was spared when Trump personally intervened, reportedly after top White House aides Sphen
Bannon and Jared Kushner stepped in. Cohen-Watnick still serves as senior director at the NSC.
Cohen-Watnick is known for holding hawkish views on national security issues and of being a proponent of an
American tough line toward Iran.
The Times said that Cohen-Watnick became swept up in the Russia probe this month, shortly after Trump wrote on
Twitter about unsubstantiated claims of being wiretapped on the orders of the former president Barack Obama.
Cohen-Watnick apparently was reviewing highly classified reports detailing the intercepted communications of
foreign officials that consisted primarily of ambassadors and other foreign officials talking about how they were
trying to curry favor with Trump's family and inner circle in advance of his inauguration.
He and another aide, identified as Michael Ellis, came across information that Trump aides may have been
inadvertently caught on some of the surveillance.
Nunes says he went to the White House to meet with the aides, whom he has refused to identify. Nunes wolud not
share the information with his colleagues on the committee but did brief Trump, raising major questions about his
independence.
Cohen-Watnick, 30, who
The New York Times reports
provided key information in the probe, is a once fast-rising protege of ousted
Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn with deep roots in suburban Washington's Jewish community.
The paper identified him as one of two staffers who explosively gave information on intelligence gathering in
the Russia probe to Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a move that potentially
compromised the lawmaker's role in the bombshell probe.
Cohen-Watnick grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside the nation's capital, and attended the nearby
Conservative synagogue Ohr Kodesh. Last November he celebrated his engagement to Rebecca Miller at the synagogue.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 2008. Cohen-Watnick began working as an intelligence
analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency after college. At the DIA, Cohen-Watnick met Flynn, the then-director
who was later removed from his position during the Obama administration.
After Trump won the November election, Flynn brought Cohen-Watnick from the DIA to the Trump transition team,
where the young staffer, according to
The Washington Post,
was among the few Trump advisers to hold a top security clearance. He participated in
high-level intelligence briefings and briefed Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and their team on national security
issues.
When Flynn was appointed to lead the National Security Council, he hired Cohen-Watnick to work with him there.
But Flynn served as national security adviser for less than a month before being asked to leave following
revelations that he had maintained ties with Russia during the campaign.
Flynn's successor, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, sought to remove Cohen-Watnick from the team, following input from
the CIA director who pointed to problems intelligence officers had when dealing with Cohen-Watnick. Questions were
raised about his ability to carry out the position of senior NSC director for intelligence programs, who oversees
ties with intelligence agencies and vets information that should reach the president's desk.
But Cohen-Watnick was spared when Trump personally intervened, reportedly after top White House aides Sphen
Bannon and Jared Kushner stepped in. Cohen-Watnick still serves as senior director at the NSC.
Cohen-Watnick is known for holding hawkish views on national security issues and of being a proponent of an
American tough line toward Iran.
The Times said that Cohen-Watnick became swept up in the Russia probe this month, shortly after Trump wrote on
Twitter about unsubstantiated claims of being wiretapped on the orders of the former president Barack Obama.
Cohen-Watnick apparently was reviewing highly classified reports detailing the intercepted communications of
foreign officials that consisted primarily of ambassadors and other foreign officials talking about how they were
trying to curry favor with Trump's family and inner circle in advance of his inauguration.
He and another aide, identified as Michael Ellis, came across information that Trump aides may have been
inadvertently caught on some of the surveillance.
Nunes says he went to the White House to meet with the aides, whom he has refused to identify. Nunes wolud not
share the information with his colleagues on the committee but did brief Trump, raising major questions about his
independence.
@Paul Well, the
real enemy of the people are the real terrorists behind the scenes. Those who planned the
9/11 false flag. Those who sent the Anthrax letters to resisting congress members. Those who
pre-planned the wars of aggression in the whole middle east.
So any appeal to the "White House" is almost pointless since the White House is one
element of the power structure captured by the war-criminal lunatics.
To change something people in the US should at first stop buying their war criminal lying
mass media.
Then they should stop supporting ANY foreign intervention by the US and should stop
believing any of the preposterous lies released by the media, the state dept., or any other
neocon outlet.
Actually Trump was probably elected because he said he was anti-intervention and
anti-media. But did it help?
The US needs mass resistance (demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, non-participation,
sit-ins, grass-root information, or whatever) against their neocon/zionist/mafia/cia power
groups or nothing will change.
We need demonstrations against NATO, against war, against false flag terrorism, against
using terrorists as secret armies, against war propaganda!
B.t.w. Iran has always been one of the main goals. Think of it: Why did the US attack
Afghanistan and Iraq? What have those two countries in common? (Hint: a look on the map helps
to answer this question.) I am beginning to get interested in why some people are sure 9/11
was a false flag affair covered up by a lot of lies. So may I try my opening question on you.
How much, if any of it, have you read of the official 9/11 commission report?
"... Europe will not contribute more to its defense, and Trump will not abandon NATO. China will continue on as before, indifferent to the blustering of the American president because it realizes Trump needs Chinese workers to manufacture the things Americans will not (at Chinese wages), the same things (at low prices) that maintain the lifestyle of the Trump supporters. ..."
"... So civil religion is now a name for national megalomania? ..."
"... If you think the Americans sacralize the presidency, then I don't think you know what it actually means to sacralize a state authority. Look at Putin, Stalin and the tsars in Russia. American presidents are nowhere near them in sacralization ..."
"... Clinton, on the other hand, presents us with a deadly serious plan ("no fly zone")to start an unnecessary unjustified war against Syria, Russia and Iran, the only beneficiaries of which would be Al-Qaida and ISIS, the inevitable results of which would be the destruction of Middle Eastern Christianity and an intensification of the migrant invasion of Europe, and the obvious risk of which is a catastrophic nuclear exchange. ..."
"... Trump will be the first president since Eisenhower who can be trusted to enforce the immigration laws, reduce the trade deficit, and avoid unnecessary wars. ..."
"... Look, here's the deal: Trump is the only candidate who has identified the problems of Middle America and who has identified ways to begin to fix those problems. Trump is not a "miracle" worker, but he does have the will and the courage to lead the country back in the right direction. And as his supporters he has our backing all the way. ..."
"... As President Trump will no doubt run into problems in implementing some aspects of his broad, multi-faceted program to make America great again. For sure there will be setbacks and delays, because (1) there is so much wrong with the country that has to be set right again, and because (2) there are so many powerful, wealthy, vested interests who will oppose doing what the country needs. ..."
"... Nelson said: You can't be a Christian and hate thy neighbor. ..."
"... Well, let's see what John Adams had to say about the Christian nation concept. ""The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." ..."
"... "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding ." ..."
"... There's a whole lot more I could point to that further illustrates the erroneous nature of the Christian nation myth. But people love their myths, just as the term Christian is quite a bit problematic in that historically it most accurately describes Orthodox Jews. ..."
"... Bush2/Cheney fancied themselves caesars invading multiple Mideast nations. Obama fancies himself as god. ..."
"... Is Trump a surprise? Only in that he is unapologetic and doesn't hide it. ..."
"... WYSIWYG. The problem is he is a mirror, and the problem is it is your image staring back even if you find it horrible. ..."
"... Trump is what you get when a party becomes bankrupt of any real ideas other than personal greed. ..."
"... Why is the author, and some commenters here, acting as if the label "Evangelical" means any more to those Evangelicals than the label "Catholic" means to most Catholics, or the label "Jewish" means to most Jews, etc. ..."
"I even brought my Bible-the evangelicals, OK?" Donald Trump
whinged at a
campaign stop in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. "We love the evangelicals and we're polling so well." For good measure, he waved
his prop a little more and doubled down, "I really want to win Iowa-and again, the evangelicals, the Tea Party-we're doing unbelievably,
and I think I'm going to win Iowa."
This sycophantic word vomit was about average as Trump's public forays into religion go. His transparent attempts to cast himself
as a churchgoer have been awkward
at best
, and more often approach the bizarre if not
the heretical
. Nevertheless, as the man himself would say, the professing evangelicals-and the "professing"
is key here -love him. They really, really do.
But for all the headlines the
Trumpvangelicals have snagged,
their vehement support is ably matched by the strident
opposition to Trump found among millions of American Christians of all stripes, many of them (like me) appalled that such blatant
pandering and brash prurience is, well, working on our fellow travelers in the faith. Nearly a year into this misadventure,
it is still tempting to ask: How is this happening? How is the heir of the Moral Majority
endorsing a twice-divorced former
strip
club owner? How is Trump so appealing to what is supposed to be a Christian nation?
And it is in precisely that last phrase-"Christian nation"-the answer may be found: America's
entrenched
, pseudo-Christian civil religion
is the primary culprit here. President Trump is the due result of our theologically vacant imperial cult, which in the guise
of orthodoxy worships only the power of the state.
Granted, the connection may not be immediately obvious, particularly in light of the harsh critiques Trump has received from many
prominent Christians, as well as his own dime-store costume faith.
These surface obstacles obscure the deeper fit. Trump's extravagant self-deification, his demands of personal allegiance, and
his obsession with unique national and personal greatness all flow naturally out of a civil religion which co-opts Christianity to
cast an aura of divine approval on Washington. Indeed, Trump fancies himself a modern
Caesar
, tinged with divinity and cloaked in
gold . Our civil religion gives him just the theological resource he needs.
Consider, first, Trump's view of himself. As Frank Bruni persuasively
argued
in the New York Times , the Republican frontrunner comes off not as "someone interested in serving God" so much as "someone
interested in being God." Trump so closely links himself and the divine that
he drifts into boasting of his own accomplishments
in the very process of explaining why God is important. The candidate feels he
is above the need for God's
forgiveness ( as it is written
, "there is one who is righteous, yea, just one") and recently
named "an eye for an
eye" as his favorite Bible verse, an interesting selection given the New Testament's
assignment of vengeance
as God's prerogative.
Of course, Americans might rightly protest that we don't ascribe divinity to the presidency, but the office is undoubtedly sacralized.
Its successes-notably in foreign policy-are attributed to divine blessing. Conventional politicians may be more politic than Trump,
but most will happily harness God to tow their pet projects. A classic example is what theologian Michael J. Gorman
labels the "divine
passive voice," in which, often in the run-up to war, presidents
say things like "We are called " to subtly invoke a holy authority for their plans. In a Trump White House, the voice would simply
become slightly more active.
Beyond this there's Trump's demand (
and receipt
) of intense personal loyalty. One gets the feeling that the provision of a bust of Trumpself for long-distance
veneration would not be taken amiss by many of his followers, but usually a simple pledge of allegiance will do.
"I do solemnly swear that I, no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions, if there are hurricanes or whatever, will vote
on or before the 12th for Donald J. Trump for President,"
he asked Floridian supporters
to promise in advance of their state's primary. This sort of ultimatum is right at home in a civil religion that facilitates unthinking
Christian loyalty to the state by means of a clever syncretism: If America is "under God"-if the United States becomes the "
city on a hill "-we needn't worry about obeying God
rather than men. It's all one and the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph is idolatrously mutated into an American tribal
deity.
But the most convincing link lies in Trump's preoccupation with greatness. In the context of American civil religion, Gorman
explains , "Greatness
is defined especially as financial, political, and/or military strength, and this definition carries with it the conviction that
both America and Americans should always enjoy and operate from a position of strength and security."
"Weakness," he adds, "is un-American; Americans want to be number one. For many, these kinds of secular strengths are seen as
manifestations of power from God." Gorman wrote that more than five years ago, but Trump couldn't have said it better himself. His
is a
perverse patriotism inextricably tied to the notion that God likes America (and the Donald) most. Trump is certainly more explicit
in his promises of unparalleled
personal
("the greatest jobs president God ever created") and
national ("we will have so much winning") greatness, but his distinction from our standard-issue civil religion is one of degree,
not kind.
We might ask why a Trumpian candidate is only now appearing-and with such success-on our political stage. The civil religion is
hardly new, but surely Trump is. The tipping point, I suggest, is primarily about the expansion of power in the executive branch,
a process which has been underway for decades but accelerated in recent times. The authority of the White House has expanded to match
the sanctity we've assigned it. (Not for nothing is it called the imperial presidency.) The
modern office "looks nothing like
the modest, businesslike, law-governed executive the Framers envisioned," and if it did, Trump wouldn't want it.
In The Four Loves , C.S. Lewis
recounts a conversation with an elderly clergyman sincerely convinced that his "own nation, in sober fact, has long been, and
still is markedly superior to all others." "To be sure," Lewis muses, "this conviction had not made my friend (God rest his soul)
a villain; only an extremely lovable old ass. It can however produce asses that kick and bite." If mixed with assurance of unique
divine favor, he continues, this dangerous nonsense "draws evil after it. If our country's cause is the cause of God, wars must be
wars of annihilation. A false transcendence is given to things which are very much of this world."
In Trump we find such nonsense crystallized into an ass that kicks and bites, and gleefully plans to
torture and
murder because this is what
will make America great again. His gilded self-aggrandizement is the organic fruit of a "Christian" nation that welcomed such theo-nationalism
in drabber forms for years. We may not for a while see again so shameless an execution of the temple ceremonies of the American state,
but the false transcendence of our civil religion will not die with the Trump campaign.
Bonnie Kristian is a writer who lives in the Twin Cities. She is a graduate student at Bethel Seminary, a contributor at The Week , a columnist at Rare, and a fellow at the American Security Initiative Foundation. Her writing has also appeared
at Time , Relevant, and The American Conservative , among other outlets. Find her at
bonniekristian.com and
@bonniekristian .
Brendan, May 5, 2016 at 7:00 am
Well, America has had a born again evangelical Christian in the Whitehouse in recent memory, and how did that work out?
I suspect most Presidents are a reflection of culture, rather than shapers and formers of it. In other words, the problem didn't
begin and end with Trump.
Nick Valentine, May 5, 2016 at 8:03 am
The opinion of the New York Times is not normally a reliable voice when one seems to determine what is and what is not properly
Christian.
Nonetheless, as a Christian voter, I'll gladly explain my support of Donald Trump despite his questionable Christian "creds".
I don't care.
I've given up on finding a true, virtuous, Conservative Christian to lead us in DC, because that's never going to happen. This
is NOT a devoutly Christian nation any longer. Sure, many people identify as Christians, but like Trump, few of them ever pick
up a Bible.
Instead, I prefer the man who speaks his mind – however un-PC his mind may be – honestly and forthrightly, and who talks directly
to the citizens about the real issues that concern us as a nation:
Illegal immigration, Islamic terrorism, corruption in government, jobs and the economy, crony-capitalists who are destroying
the middle class by shipping jobs overseas, and unfair trade deals that also damage American jobs.
Based on Mr. Trump's business success and extreme confidence, he strikes me as the man most likely to right this ship of state.
So as a Christian, I'm confident that if Trump is President, I'll do just fine.
In all honesty, any Christians who are looking for devout Christianity at the polls should probably stay home.
Daniel (not Larison ), May 5, 2016 at 8:59 am
Nick wrote:
Instead, I prefer the man who speaks his mind – however un-PC his mind may be – honestly and forthrightly, and who talks directly
to the citizens about the real issues that concern us as a nation:
Does "speaking his mind" and being "un-PC" include shameless, ham-fisted pandering to Evangelicals, as posted in the article?
Trump is as deceptive as the rest of them, perhaps more so. You just get a kick out of him offending certain people, the people
that you don't like either. If anyone–including Trump–said something to hurt your precious feelings, you wouldn't say "I love
how he speaks his mind!" You'd call him an @sshole.
That doesn't make you weak, it makes you human. But to support it when others are the victims is just sad.
JLF, May 5, 2016 at 9:30 am
The most frightening thing will not come in the immediate wake of Trump's inauguration. It will not be brought by Democrats
and Republicans-in-exile. It will come from the Trump faithful when they see that their idol has feet of clay and cannot perform
the miracles he says he will. Even with a compliant Congress (and Court), Trump will not build a wall. Mexico will not pay for
it. He will not deport 11 million illegal aliens. Europe will not contribute more to its defense, and Trump will not abandon
NATO. China will continue on as before, indifferent to the blustering of the American president because it realizes Trump needs
Chinese workers to manufacture the things Americans will not (at Chinese wages), the same things (at low prices) that maintain
the lifestyle of the Trump supporters.
The scales fallen from their eyes, Trump's followers will act in the same way any mob acts and turn on the one that has betrayed
them. Only two questions remain: how long after inauguration will it take for their enlightenment, and how will The Donald react
to being cast down from his pedestal?
Rancor, May 5, 2016 at 9:49 am
So civil religion is now a name for national megalomania?
The British saw themselves as the lost tribe of Israel
The French as Galls and descendants of the Roman Empire
The Germans as Germanics who are supposed to destroy the Rome
The Russians as Katechons who must conquer Europe, as the last and true Rome
All of this is civil religion?
If you think the Americans sacralize the presidency, then I don't think you know what it actually means to sacralize a
state authority. Look at Putin, Stalin and the tsars in Russia. American presidents are nowhere near them in sacralization
John Gruskos, May 5, 2016 at 10:02 am
Trump muses about the possibility of using torture and assassination against a small number of terrorists who have American
blood on their hands.
Clinton, on the other hand, presents us with a deadly serious plan ("no fly zone")to start an unnecessary unjustified war
against Syria, Russia and Iran, the only beneficiaries of which would be Al-Qaida and ISIS, the inevitable results of which would
be the destruction of Middle Eastern Christianity and an intensification of the migrant invasion of Europe, and the obvious risk
of which is a catastrophic nuclear exchange.
Please remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from mine.
Trump will be the first president since Eisenhower who can be trusted to enforce the immigration laws, reduce the trade
deficit, and avoid unnecessary wars. He is receiving enthusiastic support because of his *platform*, not his alleged cult
of personality. The clown act was a necessary tactic to circumvent the media gatekeepers who prevented previous outsiders such
as Buchanan, Tancredo and Paul from presenting their ideas to the public. See Scott Adams' blog for a full explanation. Bravo
Trump! You weren't too proud to fight for the interests of the American people.
Robert Thomas, May 5, 2016 at 10:20 am
Not that I am particularly religious nor does religion play a part in my politics.
However I don't need to be a bible thumper to see how over my life Christianity has been slowly systematically and successfully
attacked and wiped clean from our culture but the left and their orahanizatuons like the ACLU. Trump is the first guy who actually
acknowlages this and addresses it by simply saying " we will say Merry Christmas again"
When B.J.B. And Michael Sheuer both support Trump That's a great indicator that My support for Trump is well founded.
I was surprised to see an article like this written in TAC
It would be more fitting and we'll received in the national review or huffington post!
Clint, May 5, 2016 at 10:54 am
Trump,
"I will be the greatest representative of the Christians they've had in a long time." It appears Trump will be a better advocate
for Christians than Obama or Hillary Clinton.
SteveM, May 5, 2016 at 11:16 am
These days the ONLY thing we get from a president are NEGATIVE impacts. I.e., too much war, too much immigration, too much
regulation, a pathologically busted health care solution, tolerance of a pathological tax code, tolerance of Beltway Swamp corruption,
supplicant to the Security State. All of it – just too much
If Trump us just gives a small respite, let alone some actual relief from the massive parasitic hammer of the Leviathan, I'll
settle for that.
"Business as usual" just can't continue. It can't
Kurt Gayle, May 5, 2016 at 11:57 am
@ JLF, who wrote: "The most frightening thing will come from the Trump faithful when they see that their idol has feet of clay
and cannot perform the miracles he says he will."
With all due respect, JLF, I think you hold those of us who are "the Trump faithful" in an unusual level of contempt.
Look, here's the deal: Trump is the only candidate who has identified the problems of Middle America and who has identified
ways to begin to fix those problems. Trump is not a "miracle" worker, but he does have the will and the courage to lead the country
back in the right direction. And as his supporters he has our backing all the way.
As President Trump will no doubt run into problems in implementing some aspects of his broad, multi-faceted program to
make America great again. For sure there will be setbacks and delays, because (1) there is so much wrong with the country that
has to be set right again, and because (2) there are so many powerful, wealthy, vested interests who will oppose doing what the
country needs.
But as tough and steadfast a group as we Trump supporters have shown ourselves to be, why would you think that we would see
setbacks and delays as signs of some sort of "betrayal"? Why? That doesn't make any sense. Haven't you learned yet, JFL, that
of all the groups of Americans supporting all the candidates of both parties, those of us who are Trump supporters are by far
the most loyal, the most unshakeable, and the toughest.
So, don't try to hang some kind of prissy faint-of-heart label on us. As Trump supporters we're in this for the long haul.
We're ready to fight against the setbacks. We'll be fighting this out for as long as it takes to get the job done.
TB, May 5, 2016 at 6:40 pm
Nelson said: You can't be a Christian and hate thy neighbor.
____________________
all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
Lee, May 5, 2016 at 6:42 pm
Well, let's see what John Adams had to say about the Christian nation concept. ""The government of the United States is
not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
-John Adams
Or what of Thomas Jefferson's letter to John Adams on April 11 of 1823?
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed
with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought
in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding ."
There's a whole lot more I could point to that further illustrates the erroneous nature of the Christian nation myth. But
people love their myths, just as the term Christian is quite a bit problematic in that historically it most accurately describes
Orthodox Jews.
LouisM, May 5, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Bush2/Cheney fancied themselves caesars invading multiple Mideast nations. Obama fancies himself as god. He has gone
beyond any president in usurping the congress and the states for his personal beliefs in Islam, global warming, drugs, immigration,
unions, sexual identity, Title IX, Healthcare, etc.
Is Trump a surprise? Only in that he is unapologetic and doesn't hide it. More than likely future presidents will
not be as overt and obvious but that does not make them any less psychopathic in seeing the Presidency as a throne rather than
a orchestra leader.
tz, May 5, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Sad. Bush and Obama have both tortured and murdered and garnered only a few peeps – aside from the few low level personnel
who were all but ordered to do so, who is in prison, much less been tried?
Trump is the epitome of our last two decades of compromise, of the end justifies the means, the "24" "Jack Bauer" that will
save the day at any cost, and is somehow the amoral savior.
The most rabidly righteous evangelicals who hate even the mild "damn" love "24". For some reason they originally preferred
Cruz.
This is the one thing – Trump may be many other forms of evil, but is not a hypocrite. He doesn't equivocate on torture (listen
to Cruz's debate response). He doesn't pull punches. He doesn't triangulate or check the polls.
WYSIWYG. The problem is he is a mirror, and the problem is it is your image staring back even if you find it horrible.
Jay L , May 6, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Trump is what you get when a party becomes bankrupt of any real ideas other than personal greed. The party of NO wing
of the Republican Party has reached its logical conclusion. The Party has paid only lip service to Evangelicals for a generation.
Look at all the shirt sleeve pols that end up in sex and/or money scandals all the while thumping the bible and being born again.
Look how every problem can be solved and every issue addressed if only you support us is giving the corporate and wealthy class
another round of tax cuts and hand outs. The Party has over and over said to the Evangelicals if you support us we will get around
to your agenda right after we address the lobbyists who fund our greed. I have wondered for years when the Evangelicals would
see that the ends don't justify the means philosophy of the Republican Party isn't really interested in what they have to say.
One doesn't achieve a Christian state through the seven deadly sins.
My greatest fear is that Trumps rise and the rise of a civil religion/cult is but a step on the path to chaos. History has
shown many times that when people don't see religion as an answer to their problems that they next turn to civil god champions
and when their champions ultimately fail there is nothing left to turn to except the social chaos of tearing the whole structure
down. Many of Trumps and Bernie's supporters won't listen to or care about what dangers, even to themselves, are on the path they
are supporting as long as it hurts the current ruling class that refuses to share the benefits of the system.
A. G. Phillbin , May 6, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Why is the author, and some commenters here, acting as if the label "Evangelical" means any more to those Evangelicals
than the label "Catholic" means to most Catholics, or the label "Jewish" means to most Jews, etc.
People are asked in a survey
to identify by religion. People saying, for example, "Catholic," would include both liberal and traditionalist Catholics, practicing
Catholics and lapsed Catholics and perhaps even ex-Catholics who haven't converted to anything. But the poll would only reflect
the number of people who checked the "Catholic" box, not the depth of their faith.
Similarly, would not people checking "Evangelical"
include people who were born into an Evangelical Christian household, but don't practice much themselves and have given little
thought as to what being an Evangelical means, as well as the very devout?
Without knowing which Evangelicals or which Catholics or which Jews are supporting a candidate or political position, how useful
is the information?
There are hardly any rational actors left in the Trump administration.
Rex Tillerson is a
joke and should have long done these bunch of crazies. Russia and China should join forces
and should tell Trump and his Ziocon backers what is at stake if they attack Syria or Iran.
Nikki Haley is the mouthpiece of the Zionist regime and tried to make Colin Powell. If the
US-Zionist and the Saudi regime attack Iran, at least the Zionist regime and the decadent
Saudi one will be doomed. The US should adjust itself to more coffins from the Middle East
and Afghanistan.
Just recently I watched an interview with Security adviser McMasters on BBC,
and I could not believe the nonsense this guy was saying about Iran, Hezbollah et cetera. He
is very dangerous. Such a policy advice is not rational but insane.
A comment on Trump's national security doctrine, I read it as 'U.S. uber alles'.
The remarkable thing is to see the complete disappearance of the anti-war left. On CNN,
their reaction was, Trump is talking the talk but not walking the walk. They were miffed that
he had a polite phone conversation with Putin. It's not enough to send weapons to Ukraine,
call the Russians and Chinese revisionist powers, have aggressive air patrols near Crimea,
maintain sanctions in perpetuity, have a massive increase in Defense spending, and expand
NATO, you have to be rude to Putin on every possible occasion, perhaps even allow a terrorist
attack.
Some see this as a big fake out to satisfy the Neocons, he's got me eating grass too
(picture Defensive End missing a Running Back in a football game). I guess we just have to
wait to see what the next 3yrs bring.
All signs that the citizens of the imperial court have poisoned themselves with their own
propaganda. Apparently they've collectively forgotten that it all started out as a con for
the rubes. An exceedingly dangerous condition.
I was surprised neither China or Russia vetoed the recent UN sanctions on North Korea. I
can see how the SCO countries would want to play for time, but I wonder if throwing NK to the
wolves makes war more likely rather than less so. I could see Iran interpreting it as being
on deck (next, a baseball term), and the Neocons as a green light.
And so few seem to care... It's almost as if they've been conditioned to want war.
I was dragged to the latest Star Wars movie this weekend. Explosion porn... For a story
ostensibly about sacrifice and honor, it had so many silly comic book jokes I was almost
surprised it didn't have a laugh track.
On the new National Security Doctrine – excellent! The US does not mince words and
states clearly, that both China and Russia are "resurgent" and "revisionist powers", who
"threaten the world order". The US dominated unipolar world order that's it. Which, again, is
true.
If Obama/Clinton had their way, Russia will be listed among the "threats to the national
security" such as ISIL, Ebola and DPRK. Well – who remembers about Ebola's outbreak and
ISIL is losing its memeticness by hour. The esteemed members of the establishment (the
legislative branch) also would have liked to see Russia among such "top priority national
security threats" as Iran and DPRK.
Instead we, Russia, are in China's company. Not bad, not bad at all. Cuz the US can't
negotiate with Iran, North Korea and ISIL without losing a face. With China – now, here
a sort of détente is possible.
It actually appears to be from "Napalm: an American Biography" by Robert M. Neer, 2013.
The book is divided into 3 sections: Hero, Soldier, Pariah - hence the seeming title of
Soldier at the top of the page.
A Google search on "correspondent Cutforth" (including the quotation marks) returns a
slightly differently typeset book but with the same copy as b's image. The image itself is
also returned under Images for that search. So it's definitely the Napalm book.
A comment on Trump's national security doctrine, I read it as 'U.S. uber alles'.
The remarkable thing is to see the complete disappearance of the anti-war left. On CNN,
their reaction was, Trump is talking the talk but not walking the walk. They were miffed that
he had a polite phone conversation with Putin. It's not enough to send weapons to Ukraine,
call the Russians and Chinese revisionist powers, have aggressive air patrols near Crimea,
maintain sanctions in perpetuity, have a massive increase in Defense spending, and expand
NATO, you have to be rude to Putin on every possible occasion, perhaps even allow a terrorist
attack.
Some see this as a big fake out to satisfy the Neocons, he's got me eating grass too
(picture Defensive End missing a Running Back in a football game). I guess we just have to
wait to see what the next 3yrs bring.
On the new National Security Doctrine – excellent! The US does not mince words and
states clearly, that both China and Russia are "resurgent" and "revisionist powers", who
"threaten the world order". The US dominated unipolar world order that's it. Which, again, is
true.
If Obama/Clinton had their way, Russia will be listed among the "threats to the national
security" such as ISIL, Ebola and DPRK. Well – who remembers about Ebola's outbreak and
ISIL is losing its memeticness by hour. The esteemed members of the establishment (the
legislative branch) also would have liked to see Russia among such "top priority national
security threats" as Iran and DPRK.
Instead we, Russia, are in China's company. Not bad, not bad at all. Cuz the US can't
negotiate with Iran, North Korea and ISIL without losing a face. With China – now, here
a sort of détente is possible.
"Apparently they've collectively forgotten that it all started out as a con for the
rubes."
Exactly. And that condition seems to appertain to the formation of most domestic and
foreign policies emanating from Washington these day. That's what you get in a country where
folks like to gorge themselves on the swill of cable news and talk radio.
Trump is now 100% pure neocon. What a metamorphose is less a year from inauguration...
Notable quotes:
"... It says, with extreme hyperbole, that "China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence. At the same time, the dictatorships of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran are determined to destabilize regions, threaten Americans and our allies, and brutalize their own people." ..."
"... A somewhat more detailed account of what Moscow is up to is also contained in the written report, stating that "Russia is using subversive measures to weaken the credibility of America's commitment to Europe, undermine transatlantic unity, and weaken European institutions and governments. With its invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its willingness to violate the sovereignty of states in the region. Russia continues to intimidate its neighbors with threatening behavior, such as nuclear posturing and the forward deployment of offensive capabilities." ..."
"... Nearly every detail in the indictment of Russia can be challenged. Most notably, if anyone is forward deploying offensive capabilities in Eastern Europe or invading other countries it is the United States, a trend that continues under Donald Trump. Just this past week, Trump approved the sale of offensive weapons to Ukraine, which has already drawn a warning from Moscow and will make any dialogue with Russia unlikely. ..."
"... And, of course, there is the usual softball for Israel claiming that "For generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region's problems." It is a conclusion that must make the unspeakable Benjamin Netanyahu smile. One might observe that as Israel has attacked all of its neighbors since it was founded, holding its governments blameless is a formulation that others in the region might well dispute. ..."
"... So the Donald Trump National Security Strategy will be more of the same, a combination of the worst ideas to emerge from his two predecessors with little in the way of mitigation. Trump might balk at going toe-to-toe with North Korea because they have the actual capability to strike back and might think they have nothing to lose if they are about to be incinerated, something no bully likes to see, but Iran is certainly in the cross hairs and you best believe they have taken notice and will be preparing. Vladimir Putin too can sit back and wonder how Trump could possibly have gotten everything so ass-backwards when he had so much latitude to get at least some things right. The National Security Strategy will deliver little in the way of security but it will provide an answer to why most of the world has come to hate the United States. ..."
If one takes Trump at his word, the U.S. will use force worldwide to make sure that only
Washington can dominate regionally, a frightening thought as it goes beyond even the wildest
pretensions of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. And equally ridiculous are the potential
consequences of such bullying – the White House clearly believes that it will make other
nations respect us and follow our leadership whereas quite the reverse is likely to be
true.
On the very limited bright side, Trump did have good things to say about the benefits
derived from intelligence sharing with Russia and he also spoke about both Moscow and Beijing
as "rivals" and "adversaries" instead of enemies. That was very refreshing to hear but
unfortunately the printed document did not say the same thing.
The NSS report provided considerably more detail than did the speech but it also was full of
generalizations and all too often relied on Washington group think to frame its options. The
beginning is somewhat terrifying for one of my inclinations on foreign policy:
"An America that is safe, prosperous, and free at home is an America with the strength,
confidence, and will to lead abroad. It is an America that can preserve peace, uphold liberty,
and create enduring advantages for the American people. Putting America first is the duty of
our government and the foundation for U.S. leadership in the world. A strong America is in the
vital interests of not only the American people, but also those around the world who want to
partner with the United States in pursuit of shared interests, values, and aspirations."
One has to ask what this "lead" and "leadership" and "partner" nonsense actually represents,
particularly in light of the fact that damn near the entire world just repudiated Trump's
decision to move the American Embassy in Israel as well as the nearly global rejection of his
response to climate change? And Washington's alleged need to lead has brought nothing but grief
to the American people starting in Korea and continuing with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and
numerous lesser stops along the way in places like Somalia, Panama and Syria. The false
narrative of the threat coming from "foreigners" has actually done nothing to make Americans
safer while also diminishing constitutional liberties and doing serious damage to the
economy.
The printed report is much more brutal than was Trump about the dangers facing America and
it is also much more carefree in the "facts" that it chooses to present. It says, with extreme
hyperbole, that "China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests,
attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies
less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to
repress their societies and expand their influence. At the same time, the dictatorships of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran are determined to
destabilize regions, threaten Americans and our allies, and brutalize their own people."
A somewhat more detailed account of what Moscow is up to is also contained in the written
report, stating that "Russia is using subversive measures to weaken the credibility of
America's commitment to Europe, undermine transatlantic unity, and weaken European institutions
and governments. With its invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its willingness
to violate the sovereignty of states in the region. Russia continues to intimidate its
neighbors with threatening behavior, such as nuclear posturing and the forward deployment of
offensive capabilities."
Nearly every detail in the indictment of Russia can be challenged. Most notably, if anyone
is forward deploying offensive capabilities in Eastern Europe or invading other countries it is
the United States, a trend that continues under Donald Trump. Just this past week, Trump
approved the sale of offensive weapons to Ukraine, which has already drawn a warning from
Moscow and will make any dialogue with Russia unlikely.
And, of course, there is the usual softball for Israel claiming that "For generations the
conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant
preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from jihadist terrorist
organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the
cause of the region's problems." It is a conclusion that must make the unspeakable Benjamin
Netanyahu smile. One might observe that as Israel has attacked all of its neighbors since it
was founded, holding its governments blameless is a formulation that others in the region might
well dispute.
So the Donald Trump National Security Strategy will be more of the same, a combination of
the worst ideas to emerge from his two predecessors with little in the way of mitigation. Trump
might balk at going toe-to-toe with North Korea because they have the actual capability to
strike back and might think they have nothing to lose if they are about to be incinerated,
something no bully likes to see, but Iran is certainly in the cross hairs and you best believe
they have taken notice and will be preparing. Vladimir Putin too can sit back and wonder how
Trump could possibly have gotten everything so ass-backwards when he had so much latitude to
get at least some things right. The National Security Strategy will deliver little in the way
of security but it will provide an answer to why most of the world has come to hate the United
States.
"... Defense Secretary James Mattis seems skeptical about neocon hysteria, declaring that the North Korean missile program does not pose a "capable threat" to the United States. With that in mind, we can only hope that President Trump will encourage Tillerson to do another about-face and return to the idea of talks without pre-condition. Strategic ambiguity is one thing, sending constantly mixed signals when nuclear war looms is something else. (Republished from The Ron Paul Institute by permission of author or representative) ..."
President Trump has often said that his foreign policy objective was to
keep his enemies guessing. If that's the goal, you could say that he's doing a good job. The problem is who
does he think his enemies are, because the American people are often left guessing as well.
US policy toward North Korea last week is a good example of how the Trump
Administration is wittingly or unwittingly sowing confusion among friend and foe alike. In what looked like
a breakthrough, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced last Tuesday that the US would be willing to sit
down and talk with North Korea "without preconditions." Previously the US had demanded that North Korea
agree to end its nuclear weapons and missile programs before Washington was willing to sit down to formal
talks.
The State Department shift toward actual diplomacy with North Korea was
quickly quashed, however, when the White House announced that its position on North Korea had not changed.
It seemed that the State Department and White House were each pursuing different foreign policies on the
Korea issue.
The White House even appeared to belittle Tillerson's attempt at
diplomacy, releasing a statement on Wednesday that talks with North Korea would be "pointless." No wonder
speculation persists that Tillerson is on his way out as Secretary of State.
Then on Friday Secretary Tillerson seemed to do a u-turn on his own
policy, announcing at a UN Security Council meeting that a "sustained cessation of North Korea's threatening
behavior" must precede any negotiations with the US. "North Korea must earn its way back to the table," he
said. So, after just three days the offer of unconditional talks with North Korea had been put on and then
removed from the table.
There is more than a little hypocrisy in US demands that North Korea cease
its "threatening behavior." Just this month the US and South Korea launched yet another joint military
exercise targeting North Korea. Some 12,000 military personnel and 230 aircraft – including stealth fighters
– participated in the massive war games. Does anyone think this is not meant to be threatening to North
Korea?
It is a shame that the hawks in the Administration continue to dominate.
It seems pretty reasonable to open talks with North Korea after a period of "good faith" gestures between
Washington and Pyongyang. Why not agree on no US/South Korean joint military exercises for six months in
exchange for no North Korean missile launches for the same period and then agree to a meeting on neutral
ground? How could it possibly hurt, particularly considering the alternative?
The hawks continue to talk up a US strike against North Korea. Senator
Lindsey Graham seemed pleased when he announced that there was a 70 percent chance that the US would attack
North Korea if it detonated another nuclear weapon. Does he realize how many people will die? Does he care?
Defense Secretary James Mattis seems skeptical about neocon hysteria,
declaring that the North Korean missile program does not pose a "capable threat" to the United States. With
that in mind, we can only hope that President Trump will encourage Tillerson to do another about-face and
return to the idea of talks without pre-condition. Strategic ambiguity is one thing, sending constantly
mixed signals when nuclear war looms is something else.
(Republished from
The Ron Paul Institute
by permission of author or representative)
Best solution would be to have each race have their own league. Due to biological race-ism that favors
blacks in sports, non-blacks can hardly play in pro sports.
So, let there be various racial leagues.
Since biological race-ism discriminates against whites in NBA and NFL, let there be the Blanco League.
T. Rex is probably closer to the mark. Clearly the Last Trump is continuing his Wizard of Oz impersonation
and being humored by his minders while others try to go about the business of actually performing miracles.
Eventually Congress critters will wake up back home in their jerrymandered constituencies and realize it has
all been a bad dream.
"Senator Lindsey Graham seemed pleased when he announced that there was a 70 percent chance that the
US would attack North Korea if it detonated another nuclear weapon. Does he realize how many people will
die? Does he care?"
1) Yes.
2) No.
It's a sick, sad world where a former JAG Corps officer has so much influence over foreign and national
defence and security policies.
Trump should re-activate him and either put him in Syria to brief the rules of engagement to the special
ops forces (who will no doubt frag him) in real-time, or at one of the bases near the Korean DMZ, where
he'll get real-world experience in the first wave of the invasion he is cheering on.
In a competent administration I'd assume good cop / bad cop. In the Trump era no assumptions are possible.
Everything is just random noise, like leaves and trash blowing down the street, or cats yowling on a fence.
With that in mind, we can only hope that President Trump will encourage Tillerson to do another
about-face and return to the idea of talks without pre-condition.
You got that right Dr. Paul. We can only hope. We want peace. We vote for peace. But we get war.
Why not agree on no US/South Korean joint military exercises for six months in exchange for no North
Korean missile launches for the same period and then agree to a meeting on neutral ground? How could it
possibly hurt, particularly considering the alternative?
Well the simple reason is that the US continues to dream of regime change in North Korea there is no
other 'plan'. There is no desire for simple coexistence with North Korea. That is quite plain and indisputable, based on the US actions. The US refusal to even consider a peace treaty for 60 years now makes that sinister motive plain as day. So it is useless to start from the point that the US is somehow interested in 'defusing' the North Korean
crisis or even cares about the nuclear weapons or missiles
Missiles and nukes are not the problem even without those the US has never abandoned its core goal of 70
years to dominate the entire Korean peninsula. As soon as we recognize what the dynamics here really are then we can go forward. It is interesting to see here that Tillerson is yet again showing himself to be hugely capable of
realism. This man is a gift to the American people but he is undermined by Dump himself who has chosen to adopt
the entire neocon agenda. If we assume that the policy of the US is shaped more by unseen actors rather than the elected and
visible personalities on center stage then my hope is that there are some rational players among those
'unseen' shot callers who may be supporting the Tillerson realpolitik approach because getting real and snapping out of disneyland fantasies is the only thing that is going to stave
off impending disaster for the US
We can only hope that such a faction of realists exists within the 'unseen' power structure. What we can be plenty sure of is that there is clearly another powerful faction at work call them the
neocons the war party or what you will and they seem to have the upper hand over the pathetically weak Dump
"... America has lost moral grounds. Its propaganda machine is falling apart exposing America as an international outlaw ..."
"... America is in a situation when it cannot wage an open full-scale war and it cannot negotiate anything. For example, a war with N. Korea potentially will be an extremely bloody for America with totally unpredictable consequences and, at the same time, America cannot negotiate anything since, in a case of Iran, Trump stated that he did not give a shit to any negotiated agreements. ..."
"... Trump vision of making America great is to be a greater lackey of Israel and by impoverishing the America middle class by enriching his lenders on the Wall Street. ..."
" there are many vacancies, which has opened the door to eager neoconservative-leaning
nominal Republicans to re-enter government . At the State Department Brian Hook of the
neocon John
Hay Initiative is now chief of policy planning, courtesy of Margaret Peterlin,
Tillerson's chief of staff. They have recently hired David Feith , the son of the infamous
Pentagon Office of Special Plans head Doug Feith , to head the Asia desk. And Wes Mitchell
, whose policies are largely indistinguishable from his predecessor, has replaced Victoria
Nuland as Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs . While Elliot Abrams,
Eliot Cohen, the Kagans and other prominent neocons have been blocked, second-tier
activists carrying less political baggage have quietly been brought in . "
" The unfortunate Donald Trump Administration decision to recognize Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel serves no visible American interest , in spite of what some of the
always-loyal-to-Israel punditry has been suggesting. Israel is already moving to exploit
the situation in its usual fashion . Immediately after the announcement was made, Israeli
Ambassador in Washington Ron Dermer suggested
that the decision on Jerusalem could now be extended to include other disputed areas,
most particularly Syria's Golan Heights that were occupied in 1967"
" Nothing good will come out of the Trump decision as the situation in the region is
already starting to unravel. The Turks are talking about opening an Embassy to Palestine in
East Jerusalem and the 56 other Muslim countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
might follow suit."
The perfect example of the present state of American "morality". We are paying you off to
agree with us and if not we will take our ball and go home. And as for Haley's comment that
"This is what the American people want and is the right thing to do", when were the American
people ever asked and who says it is the right thing to do other than neocons?
Sanctions and Miltary intervention is the sum total of US foreign policy. Is it any wonder
that the Chinese are winning friends and making inroads around the world by engaging in quiet
diplomacy and reaching win/win investment solutions with no political demands made on the
host country.
The Trump's foreign policies are a total catastrophe:
America has lost moral grounds. Its propaganda machine is falling apart exposing
America as an international outlaw
America is in a situation when it cannot wage an open full-scale war and it cannot
negotiate anything. For example, a war with N. Korea potentially will be an extremely
bloody for America with totally unpredictable consequences and, at the same time, America
cannot negotiate anything since, in a case of Iran, Trump stated that he did not give a
shit to any negotiated agreements.
Trump vision of making America great is to be a greater lackey of Israel and by
impoverishing the America middle class by enriching his lenders on the Wall Street.
IIRC from my international affairs classes, the UN was always a rubber stamp for American
interests. Every "international" organization was like this. Now, we see the tables are
turning and we might end up ditching these organizations as the Empire no longer controls
them.
Look back at the Korean War. Originally, the loss of sovereignty was meant to be an MIC
rubber stamp, to commit the US to war while going around Congress. In other words, the UN was
the MIC's rubber stamp to approve whatever it wanted, without Congressional approval, and
without making American politicians bear the burden of guilt.
Stop right there trollie .... the ONLY outrageous challenge to US "sovereignty" is the
Zionist talmudist ethnocentric chosenites who have their "dual"-citizens
pulling the strings on US foreign policy:
"Neoconservative Douglas Feith writes a position paper entitled "A Strategy for Israel."
Feith proposes that Israel re-occupy "the areas under Palestinian Authority control" even
though "the price in blood would be high." [Commentary, 9/1997; American Conservative,
3/24/2003; In These Times, 3/13/2007] Feith is the co-author of the 1996 position paper "A
Clean Break" (see July 8, 1996), which advocates a similar aggressive posture for
Israel."
"January 30, 2001: First National Security Council Meeting Focuses on Iraq and Israel, Not
Terrorism.
The Bush White House holds its first National Security Council meeting. The focus is on Iraq
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...But Bush isn't interested in terrorism...Instead, Bush
channels his neoconservative advisers, particularly incoming Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz... in taking a new approach to Middle East affairs, particularly the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict...
Rice begins noting "that Iraq might be the key to reshaping the entire region."...Bush orders
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Hugh Shelton to
begin preparing options for the use of US ground forces in Iraq's northern and southern
no-fly zones in support of a native-based insurgency against the Hussein regime..."Meeting
adjourned. Ten days in, and it was about Iraq...
"US Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, later recalls: "From the very beginning, there
was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go. From the
very first instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this
regime...officials never questioned the logic behind this policy. No one ever asked, "Why
Saddam?" and "Why now?" Instead, the issue that needed to be resolved was how this could be
accomplished. "It was all about finding a way to do it," O'Neill will explain. "That was the
tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this.'""
"The president told his Pentagon officials to explore the military options, including use of
ground forces..."These were the policies that even the Israeli right had not dared to
implement." One senior administration official says after the meeting, "The Likudniks are
really in charge now."..."
"Shortly After September 11, 2001: Pentagon Officials Wolfowitz and Feith Set Up Counter
Terrorism Evaluation Group"
"Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith set up a secret
intelligence unit, named the Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group (CTEG -- sometimes called the
Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group), to sift through raw intelligence reports and look
for evidence of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda... George Packer will later describe their
process, writing, "Wurmser and Maloof were working deductively, not inductively: The premise
was true; facts would be found to confirm it."...Critics claim that its members manipulate
and distort intelligence, "cherry-picking" bits of information that support their
preconceived conclusions... They were cherry-picking intelligence and packaging it for [Vice
President] Cheney and [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld to take to the president. That's
the kind of rogue operation that peer review is intended to prevent."...A defense official
later adds, "There is a complete breakdown in the relationship between the Defense Department
and the intelligence community, to include its own Defense Intelligence Agency. Wolfowitz and
company disbelieve any analysis that doesn't support their own preconceived conclusions. The
CIA is enemy territory, as far are they're concerned."... For weeks, the unit will attempt to
uncover evidence tying Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks, a theory advocated by both Feith
and Wolfowitz..."
"The rest of the US intelligence community is not impressed with CTEG's work. "I don't
have any problem with [the Pentagon] bringing in a couple of people to take another look at
the intelligence and challenge the assessment," former DIA analyst Patrick Lang will later
say. "But the problem is that they brought in people who were not intelligence professionals,
people were brought in because they thought like them. They knew what answers they were going
to get."..."
"Dismissing CIA's Findings that Iraq, al-Qaeda are Not Linked... In CTEG's view, policy
makers should overlook any equivocations and discrepancies and dismiss the CIA's guarded
conclusions: "[T]he CIA report ought to be read for content only -- and CIA's interpretation
ought to be ignored." Their decision is powered by Wolfowitz, who has instructed them to
ignore the intelligence community's view that al-Qaeda and Iraq were doubtful allies. They
also embrace the theory that 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi official in
Prague, a theory discredited by intelligence professionals..."
"The group is later accused of stovepiping intelligence directly to the White House. Lang
later tells the Washington Times: "That unit had meetings with senior White House officials
without the CIA or the Senate being aware of them. That is not legal. There has to be
oversight." According to Lang and another US intelligence official, the two men go to the
White House several times to brief officials, bypassing CIA analysts whose analyses they
disagreed with..."
For those how do not want to read the article I've linked to these quotes let me highlight
a few passages (apologies in advance as someone replied to my previous article so I could not
do it prior):
"Neoconservative Douglas Feith writes a position paper entitled " A Strategy for Israel ."
Feith proposes that Israel re-occupy "the areas under Palestinian Authority control" even
though "the price in blood would be high." [Commentary, 9/1997; American Conservative,
3/24/2003; In These Times, 3/13/2007] Feith is the co-author of the 1996 position paper " A
Clean Break " (see July 8, 1996), which advocates a similar aggressive posture for
Israel."
" January 30, 2001 : First National Security Council Meeting Focuses on Iraq and Israel,
Not Terrorism
The Bush White House holds its first National Security Council meeting. The focus is on
Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...But Bush isn't interested in terrorism
...Instead, Bush channels his neoconservative advisers, particularly incoming Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz... in taking a new approach to Middle East affairs, particularly the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict...
Rice begins noting "that Iraq might be the key to reshaping the entire region."...Bush
orders Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Hugh
Shelton to begin preparing options for the use of US ground forces in Iraq's northern and
southern no-fly zones in support of a native-based insurgency against the Hussein
regime..."Meeting adjourned. Ten days in, and it was about Iraq ...
"US Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, later recalls: "From the very beginning, there
was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go. From the
very first instance, it was about Iraq . It was about what we can do to change this
regime...officials never questioned the logic behind this policy . No one ever asked, "Why
Saddam?" and "Why now?" Instead, the issue that needed to be resolved was how this could be
accomplished. " It was all about finding a way to do it ," O'Neill will explain. "That was
the tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this.'""
"The president told his Pentagon officials to explore the military options, including use
of ground forces ..."These were the policies that even the Israeli right had not dared to
implement." One senior administration official says after the meeting, "The Likudniks are
really in charge now."..."
"Shortly After September 11, 2001: Pentagon Officials Wolfowitz and Feith Set Up Counter
Terrorism Evaluation Group"
"Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith set up a secret
intelligence unit, named the Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group (CTEG -- sometimes called the
Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group), to sift through raw intelligence reports and look
for evidence of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda... George Packer will later describe their
process, writing, "Wurmser and Maloof were working deductively, not inductively: The premise
was true; facts would be found to confirm it ."...Critics claim that its members manipulate
and distort intelligence, "cherry-picking" bits of information that support their
preconceived conclusions... They were cherry-picking intelligence and packaging it for [Vice
President] Cheney and [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld to take to the president. That's
the kind of rogue operation that peer review is intended to prevent. "...A defense official
later adds, "There is a complete breakdown in the relationship between the Defense Department
and the intelligence community, to include its own Defense Intelligence Agency. Wolfowitz and
company disbelieve any analysis that doesn't support their own preconceived conclusions . The
CIA is enemy territory, as far are they're concerned."... For weeks, the unit will attempt to
uncover evidence tying Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks, a theory advocated by both Feith
and Wolfowitz..."
"The rest of the US intelligence community is not impressed with CTEG's work. "I don't
have any problem with [the Pentagon] bringing in a couple of people to take another look at
the intelligence and challenge the assessment," former DIA analyst Patrick Lang will later
say. "But the problem is that they brought in people who were not intelligence professionals
, people were brought in because they thought like them. They knew what answers they were
going to get ."..."
"Dismissing CIA's Findings that Iraq, al-Qaeda are Not Linked... In CTEG's view, policy
makers should overlook any equivocations and discrepancies and dismiss the CIA's guarded
conclusions: "[T]he CIA report ought to be read for content only -- and CIA's interpretation
ought to be ignored." Their decision is powered by Wolfowitz, who has instructed them to
ignore the intelligence community's view that al-Qaeda and Iraq were doubtful allies . They
also embrace the theory that 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta met with an Iraqi official in
Prague, a theory discredited by intelligence professionals..."
"The group is later accused of stovepiping intelligence directly to the White House . Lang
later tells the Washington Times: " That unit had meetings with senior White House officials
without the CIA or the Senate being aware of them . That is not legal . There has to be
oversight." According to Lang and another US intelligence official, the two men go to the
White House several times to brief officials, bypassing CIA analysts whose analyses they
disagreed with ..."
Oh, that's right. Bill Clinton and the Democrats NEVER condoned regime change in Iraq.
Just like they NEVER proposed accepting Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The UN is Washington's most powerfull tool to keep the rest of the world in check.
And because Washington wants to preserve the global status quo (which has been constructed
to Washington's advantage), the UN is not allowed to do "anything productive".
As a Gringo, you should be damn content with the UN, because Washington's control over the
UN facilitates your luxurious Gringo-lifestyle.
But you can't have it all: AND a luxurious Gringo-lifestyle AND the applause of the rest
of the world.
UN, IMF and World Bank are just the three pillars on which the neo-colonial US-empire is
built.
Most of the world would wish to be liberated from you Gringos,but you don't even realize
what you're wishing for, because you've never looked beyond your home-town, next month's pay
check or thought about what happened longer than a week ago.
"Could we just finally leave the UN now? Or are we waiting for them to finally like
us?"
Yes! Please! Leave! Go with god, but go!
I think it's long over due to move the UN out of New York to any-place-is-better. To be
blackmailed by its xenofobic USA-host, is just unacceptably lethal to a plurinational
institution like the UN.
Maybe the Crimea Peninsula would be a rather suitable place: it's more central for most of
the rest of the world and Russia is a much more respectful and hospitable host.
To be rid of the two most murderous rogue states of the UN, would make life so much easier
for the rest of the world. Without the USA and Israel, the UN would be able to advance with
leaps on a laundry list of bogged down global problems.
I'm quite sure that within a few years of voluntary isolation, the USA and Israel would
come back, begging to be atmitted again to the UN. But of course, the USA would not get back
its veto right in the Security Counsil anymore.
While its populist to shit post the UN, many here are smarter than that. Likely you
appreciate this may be the first signs of the great pivot East. Putin & Xi Jingping will
be crunching their popcorn with interest at this, if not cackling down the phone to each
other. US may well save on its UN subscriptions if this course is pursued, the end result
will be UN HQ will move, not to Switzerland, but to Bejing and with it American isolationism
in a way thats not been experienced since the great depression. More than anything else, the
US needs foreign trade, and that calls for engagement.
The disturbing part is why choose now to recognise Jerusalem? What exactly has Israel done
for the US? Dance on some rooftops while WTC came down? Caused havoc to most of her
neighbors? Schemed and conived to set one neighbor against another.
The Don knew this would sit badly abroad, possibly it's linked with some push back against
Putin in Syria, and to tell Iraq how pissed he is they rained on the Kurdish State parade.
Likely it includes some MIC trade off to pull CiA dogs off his back??? IDK - but it will
forment more dissent in Middle East, and since that's where much of the world's oil & gas
still comes from, we'll all feel the hit.
It seems an action more guided by the Generals? and whilst US does have a formidable
military to add leverage to decisions, it's military infrastructure was built in the cold
war. Much of it in need of replacement:
Stop overthinking. This is nothing more than a campaign funding promise to Sheldon Adelson
and his conservative Isreali-American Council (note which name appears first). $50+ million
to his campaign, $5 million to inauguration.
Some even think the Las Vegas shooting (Adelson owns Las Vegas) was a not so subtle signal
to Trump to get on with it or more events like it would happen.
Canada's entire economic system is so incredibly connected to the USA that it is to a
great extent dependent on a happy and prosperous USA. The last thing Canada needs right now
(since the country already has an embarrassing buffoon as a leader) is to upset the US.
To abstain was their only option, especially since it was known that it would make no
difference in the vote. So it was the wise choice. It had little to do with dumbass
Trudeau.
"... Needless to say, the Never Trumpers were eminently correct in their worry that Trump would sully, degrade and weaken the Imperial Presidency. That he has done in spades with his endless tweet storms that consist mainly of petty score settling, self-justification, unseemly boasting and shrill partisanship; and on top of that you can pile his impetuous attacks on friend, foe and bystanders (e.g. NFL kneelers) alike. ..."
There was a sinister plot to meddle in the 2016
election, after all. But it was not orchestrated from the Kremlin; it was an entirely homegrown
affair conducted from the inner sanctums---the White House, DOJ, the Hoover Building and
Langley----of the Imperial City.
Likewise, the perpetrators didn't speak Russian or write in the Cyrillic script. In fact,
they were lifetime beltway insiders occupying the highest positions of power in the US
government.
Here are the names and rank of the principal conspirators:
John Brennan, CIA director;
Susan Rice, National Security Advisor;
Samantha Power, UN Ambassador;
James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence;
James Comey, FBI director;
Andrew McCabe, Deputy FBI director;
Sally Yates, deputy Attorney General,
Bruce Ohr, associate deputy AG;
Peter Strzok, deputy assistant director of FBI counterintelligence;
Lisa Page, FBI lawyer;
and countless other lessor and greater poobahs of Washington power, including President
Obama himself.
To a person, the participants in this illicit cabal shared the core trait that made Obama
such a blight on the nation's well-being. To wit, he never held an honest job outside the halls
of government in his entire adult life; and as a careerist agent of the state and practitioner
of its purported goods works, he exuded a sanctimonious disdain for everyday citizens who make
their living along the capitalist highways and by-ways of America.
The above cast of election-meddlers, of course, comes from the same mold. If Wikipedia is
roughly correct, just these 10 named perpetrators have punched in about 300 years of
post-graduate employment---and 260 of those years (87%) were on government payrolls or
government contractor jobs.
As to whether they shared Obama's political class arrogance, Peter Strzok left nothing to
the imagination in his now celebrated texts to his gal-pal, Lisa Page:
"Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support......I LOATHE
congress....And F Trump."
You really didn't need the ALL CAPS to get the gist. In a word, the anti-Trump cabal is
comprised of creatures of the state.
Their now obvious effort to alter the outcome of the 2016 election was nothing less than the
Imperial City's immune system attacking an alien threat, which embodied the very opposite
trait: That is, the Donald had never spent one moment on the state's payroll, had been elected
to no government office and displayed a spirited contempt for the groupthink and verities of
officialdom in the Imperial City.
But it is the vehemence and flagrant transparency of this conspiracy to prevent Trump's
ascension to the Oval Office that reveals the profound threat to capitalism and democracy posed
by the Deep State and its prosperous elites and fellow travelers domiciled in the Imperial
City.
That is to say, Donald Trump was no kind of anti-statist and only a skin-deep populist, at
best. His signature anti-immigrant meme was apparently discovered by accident when in the early
days of the campaign he went off on Mexican thugs, rapists and murderers----only to find that
it resonated strongly among a certain element of the GOP grass roots.
But a harsh line on immigrants, refugees and Muslims would not have incited the Deep State
into an attempted coup d'état; it wouldn't have mobilized so overtly against Ted Cruz,
for example, whose positions on the ballyhooed terrorist/immigrant threat were not much
different.
No, what sent the Imperial City establishment into a fit of apoplexy was exactly two things
that struck at the core of its raison d' etre.
First was Trump's stated intentions to seek rapprochement with Putin's Russia and his
sensible embrace of a non-interventionist "America First" view of Washington's role in the
world. And secondly, and even more importantly, was his very persona.
That is to say, the role of today's president is to function as the suave, reliable
maître d' of the Imperial City and the lead spokesman for Washington's purported good
works at home and abroad. And for that role the slovenly, loud-mouthed, narcissistic,
bombastic, ill-informed and crudely-mannered Donald Trump was utterly unqualified.
Stated differently, welfare statism and warfare statism is the secular religion of the
Imperial City and its collaborators in the mainstream media; and the Oval Office is the bully
pulpit from which its catechisms, bromides and self-justifications are propagandized to the
unwashed masses---the tax-and-debt-slaves of Flyover America who bear the burden of its
continuation.
Needless to say, the Never Trumpers were eminently correct in their worry that Trump would
sully, degrade and weaken the Imperial Presidency. That he has done in spades with his endless
tweet storms that consist mainly of petty score settling, self-justification, unseemly boasting
and shrill partisanship; and on top of that you can pile his impetuous attacks on friend, foe
and bystanders (e.g. NFL kneelers) alike.
Yet that is exactly what has the Deep State and its media collaborators running scared. To
wit, Trump's entire modus operandi is not about governing or a serious policy agenda---and most
certainly not about Making America's Economy Great Again. (MAEGA)
By appointing a passel of Keynesian monetary central planners to the Fed and launching an
orgy of fiscal recklessness via his massive defense spending and tax-cutting initiatives, the
Donald has more than sealed his own doom: There will unavoidably be a massive financial and
economic crisis in the years just ahead and the rulers of the Imperial City will most certainly
heap the blame upon him with malice aforethought.
In the interim, however, what the Donald is actually doing is sharply polarizing the country
and using the Bully Pulpit for the very opposite function assigned to it by Washington's
permanent political class. Namely, to discredit and vilify the ruling elites of government and
the media and thereby undermine the docility and acquiescence of the unwashed masses upon which
the Imperial City's rule and hideous prosperity depend.
It is no wonder, then, that the inner circle of the Obama Administration plotted an
"insurance policy". They saw it coming-----that is, an offensive rogue disrupter who was soft
on Russia, to boot--- and out of that alarm the entire hoax of RussiaGate was born.
As is now well known from the recent dump of 375 Strzok/Gates text messages, there occurred
on August 15, 2016 a meeting in the office of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (who is still
there) to kick off the RussiaGate campaign. As Strzok later wrote to Page, who was also at the
meeting:
" I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office -- that
there's no way he gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk......It's like an
insurance policy in the unlikely event that you die before you're 40."
They will try to spin this money quote seven-ways to Sunday, but in the context of
everything else now known there is only one possible meaning: The national security and law
enforcement machinery of Imperial Washington was being activated then and there in behalf of
Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Indeed, the trail of proof is quite clear. At the very time of this August meeting, the FBI
was already being fed the initial elements of the Steele dossier, and the latter had nothing to
do with any kind of national security investigation.
For crying out loud, it was plain old "oppo research" paid for by the Clinton campaign and
the DNC. And the only way that it bore on Russian involvement in the US election was that
virtually all of the salacious material and false narratives about Trump emissaries meeting
with high level Russian officials was disinformation sourced in Moscow, and was completely
untrue.
As former senior FBI official, Andrew McCarthy, neatly summarized the sequence of action
recently:
The Clinton campaign generated the Steele dossier through lawyers who retained Fusion GPS.
Fusion, in turn, hired Steele, a former British intelligence agent who had FBI contacts from
prior collaborative investigations. The dossier was steered into the FBI's hands as it began
to be compiled in the summer of 2016. A Fusion Russia expert, Nellie Ohr, worked with Steele
on Fusion's anti-Trump research. She is the wife of Bruce Ohr, then the deputy associate
attorney general -- the top subordinate of Sally Yates, then Obama's deputy attorney general
(later acting AG). Ohr was a direct pipeline to Yates.....
Based on the publication this week of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and
Lisa Page, the FBI lawyer with whom he was having an extramarital affair, we have learned of
a meeting convened in the office of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe...... right around the
time the Page FISA warrant was obtained......
Bruce Ohr met personally with Steele. And after Trump was elected, according to Fusion
founder Glenn Simpson, he requested and got a meeting with Simpson to, as Simpson told the
House Intelligence Committee, "discuss our findings regarding Russia and the election."
This, of course, was the precise time Democrats began peddling the public narrative of
Trump-Russia collusion. It is the time frame during which Ohr's boss, Yates, was pushing an
absurd Logan Act investigation of Trump transition official Michael Flynn (then slotted to
become Trump's national-security adviser) over Flynn's meetings with the Russian
ambassador.
Here's the thing. There is almost nothing in the Steele dossiers which is true. At the same
time, there is no real alternative evidence based on hard NSA intercepts that show Russian
government agents were behind the only two acts----the leaks of the DNC emails and the Podesta
emails----that were of even minimal import to the outcome of the 2016 presidential
campaign.
As to the veracity of the dossier, the raving anti-Trumper and former CIA interim chief,
Michael Morrell, settled the matter. If you are paying ex-FSA agents for information on the
back streets of Moscow, the more you pay, the more "information" you will get:
Then I asked myself, why did these guys provide this information, what was their
motivation? And I subsequently learned that he paid them. That the intermediaries paid the
sources and the intermediaries got the money from Chris. And that kind of worries me a little
bit because if you're paying somebody, particularly former [Russian Federal Security Service]
officers, they are going to tell you truth and innuendo and rumor, and they're going to call
you up and say, 'Hey, let's have another meeting, I have more information for you,' because
they want to get paid some more,' Morrell said.
Far from being "verified," the dossier is best described as a pack of lies, gossip, innuendo
and irrelevancies. Take, for example, the claim that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with
Russian Federation Council foreign affairs head Konstantin Kosachev in Prague during August
2016. That claim is verifiably false as proven by Cohen's own passport.
Likewise, the dossier 's claim that Carter Page was offered a giant bribe by the head of
Rosneft, the Russian state energy company, in return for lifting the sanctions is downright
laughable. That's because Carter Page never had any serious role in the Trump campaign and was
one of hundreds of unpaid informal advisors who hung around the basket hoping for some role in
a future Trump government.
Like the hapless George Papadopoulos, in fact, Page apparently never met Trump, had no
foreign policy credentials and had been drafted onto the campaign's so-called foreign policy
advisory committee out of sheer desperation.
That is, because the mainstream GOP foreign policy establishment had so completely boycotted
the Trump campaign, the latter was forced to fill its advisory committee essentially from the
phone book; and that desperation move in March 2016, in turn, had been undertaken in order to
damp-down the media uproar over the Donald's assertion that he got his foreign policy advise
from watching TV!
The truth of the matter is that Page was a former Merrill Lynch stockbrokers who had plied
his trade in Russia several years earlier. He had gone to Moscow in July 2016 on his own dime
and without any mandate from the Trump campaign; and his "meeting" with Rosneft actually
consisted of drinks with an old buddy from his broker days who had become head of investor
relations at Rosneft.
Nevertheless, it is pretty evident that the Steele dossier's tale about Page's alleged
bribery scheme was the basis for the FISA warrant that resulted in wiretaps on Page and other
officials in Trump Tower during September and October.
And that's your insurance policy at work: The Deep State and its allies in the Obama
administration were desperately looking for dirt with which to crucify the Donald, and thereby
insure that the establishment's anointed candidate would not fail at the polls.
So the question recurs as to why did the conspirators resort to the outlandish and even
cartoonish disinformation contained in the Steele dossier?
The answer to that question cuts to the quick of the entire RussiaGate hoax. To wit, that's
all they had!
Notwithstanding the massive machinery and communications vacuum cleaners operated by the $75
billion US intelligence communities and its vaunted 17 agencies, there are no digital
intercepts proving that Russian state operatives hacked the DNC and Podesta emails. Period.
Yet when it comes to anything that even remotely smacks of "meddling" in the US election
campaign, that's all she wrote.
There is nothing else of moment, and most especially not the alleged phishing expeditions
directed at 20 or so state election boards. Most of these have been discredited, denied by
local officials or were simply the work of everyday hackers looking for voter registration
lists that could be sold.
The patently obvious point here is that in America there is no on-line network of voting
machines on either an intra-state or interstate basis. And that fact renders the whole election
machinery hacking meme null and void. Not even the treacherous Russians are stupid enough to
waste their time trying to hack that which is unhackable.
In that vein, the Facebook ad buying scheme is even more ridiculous. In the context of an
election campaign in which upwards of $7 billion of spending was reported by candidates and
their committees to the FEC, and during which easily double that amount was spent by
independent committees and issue campaigns, the notion that just $44,000 of Facebook ads made
any difference to anything is not worthy of adult thought.
And, yes, out of the ballyhooed $100,000 of Facebook ads, the majority occurred after the
election was over and none of them named candidates, anyway. The ads consisted of issue
messages that reflected all points on the political spectrum from pro-choice to anti-gun
control.
And even this so-called effort at "polarizing" the American electorate was "discovered" only
after Facebook failed to find any "Russian-linked" ads during its first two searches. Instead,
this complete drivel was detected only after the Senate's modern day Joseph McCarthy, Sen. Mark
Warner, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading legislator
on Internet regulation, showed up on Mark Zuckerberg's doorstep at Facebook headquarters.
In any event, we can be sure there are no NSA intercepts proving that the Russians hacked
the Dem emails for one simple reason: They would have been leaked long ago by the vast network
of Imperial City operatives plotting to bring the Donald down.
Moreover, the original architect and godfather of NSA's vast spying apparatus, William
Binney, has essentially proved that the DNC emails were leaked by an insider who downloaded
them on a memory stick. By conducting his own experiments, he showed that the known download
speed of one batch of DNC emails could not have occurred over the Internet from a remote
location in Russia or anywhere else on the planet, and actually matched what was possible only
via a local USB-connected thumb drive.
So the real meaning of the Strzok/Gates text messages is straight foreword. There was a
conspiracy to prevent Trump's election, and then after the shocking results of November 8, this
campaign morphed into an intensified effort to discredit the winner.
For instance, Susan Rice got Obama to lower the classification level of the information
obtained from the Trump campaign intercepts and other dirt-gathering actions by the
Intelligence Community (IC)--- so that it could be disseminated more readily to all Washington
intelligence agencies.
In short order, of course, the IC was leaking like a sieve, thereby paving the way for the
post-election hysteria and the implication that any contact with a Russian--even one living in
Brooklyn-- must be collusion. And that included calls to the Russian ambassador by the
president-elect's own national security advisor designate.
Should there by any surprise, therefore, that it turns out the Andrew McCabe bushwhacked
General Flynn on January 24 when he called to say that FBI agents were on the way to the White
House for what Flynn presumed to be more security clearance work with his incipient staff.
No at all. The FBI team was there to interrogate Flynn about the transcripts of his
perfectly appropriate and legal conversations with Ambassador Kislyak about two matters of
state----the UN resolution on Israel and the spiteful new sanctions on certain Russian citizens
that Obama announced on December 28 in a fit of pique over the Dems election loss.
And that insidious team of FBI gotcha cops was led by none other than......Peter Strzok!
But after all the recent leaks---and these text messages are just the tip of the
iceberg-----the die is now cast. Either the Deep State and its minions and collaborators in the
media and the Republican party, too, will soon succeed in putting Mike Pence into the Oval
Office, or the Imperial City is about ready to break-out in vicious partisan warfare like never
before.
Either way, economic and fiscal governance is about ready to collapse entirely, making the
tax bill a kind of last hurrah before they mayhem really begins.
In that context, selling the rip may become one of the most profitable speculations ever
imagined.
Not sure why Stockman went off on a tangent about Trump's innumerate economic strategy -
kinda dilutes from an otherwise informative piece for anyone who hasn't a handle on the
underhand shit that's been hitting the fan in recent months. Its like he has to have a go
about it no matter what the main theme. Like PCR and "insouciance". And then there's the
texting...
Clue yourself in, David.
A very small percentage of the public are actually informed about what is really going
down. Those that visit ZH or your website. Fox is the only pro-Trump mainstream TV news
outlet, and as to the NYT, WP et al? The media disinformation complex keep the rest in the
matrix, and it has been very easy to see in action over the last year or so because it has
been so well co-ordinated (and totally fabricated).
Given the blatant and contemptous avoidance of the truth by the MSM (the current litany of
seditious/treasonous actions being a case in point), it is fair to say that Trump's tweets
provide a very real public service - focussing the (otherwise ignorant) public's attention on
many things the aforementioned cunts (I'll include Google and FaecesBook) divert from like
the plague (and making them look utter slime in the process).
I do respect stockman but here's bullshit-call #1: he says that the deep state doesn't
like the divisiveness he causes: bush certainly did that and Obama' did so at an order of
magnitude higher. I don't believe that the left is more upset by trump than we were by Barry-
we're just not a bunch of sniveling, narcissistic babies like they are.
When the details of the FISA warrant application are revealed, it will be like a
megaton-class munition detonating, and the Deep State will bear the brunt of destruction.
Similar mass deception was in play to start the Iraq war as well. Constant bombardment led
to public consensus and even the liberal New York Times endorsed the war. Whenever we see
mass hysteria about something new, we should just go with the flow and not ask any questions
at all. It is best for retaining sanity in this dumbed down and getting more dumber
world.
Susan Rice and Obama should be indicted for illegally wiretapping Trump Towers for the
express purpose of finding oppo research to help Hellary's late term abortiion of a
campaign
This one is deeper but well laid out. Comey & Mueller Ignored McCabe's Ties to Russian
Crime Figures & His Reported Tampering in Russian FBI Cases, Files
Great read, loved the 'Imperial City's immune system' analogy...
I disagree about the economy though.
It feels strange to me that the architect of the Reagan Revolution is unable to see the
makings of another revolution, the Trump Revolution.
We have had 10-20 years of pent up demand in the economy and instead of electing another
neo-Marxist Alynski acolyte, the American people elected a hard charging anti-establishment
bull in a China shop.
Surely Dave can see the potential.
It kills me when people are surprised by a 12 month, 5000 point run up on Wall Street.
For God's sake the United States was run by a fucking commie for 8 years, what the fuck
did you think was gonna happen?
America is divided and will remain divided. I think it will last at least for the next 50
years, maybe longer. The best way out is to limit the federal government and give each state
more responsibility. States can succeed or fail on their own. People will be free to move
where they want.
Somewhere there is a FISA judge who should be defrocked and exposed as a fraud. No sober
judge would accept such evidence for any purpose, much less authorizing government snooping
on a major party candidate for president.
The CIA holds all the videos from Jeff Epstein's Island (20 documented trips by Bill, 6
documented trips by Hillary), I'm sure Bill doing a 12 year old, Hillary and Huma doing an 8
year old girl together, etc. So what are they willing to do for the CIA? Anything at any
cost, getting caught red handed with a dossier is chump change when you look at the big
picture..they don't care and will do anything...ANYTHING to get rid of Trump.
This is the only reason they are so frantic. There is absolutely no other reason they
would play at this level.
As always, Dave puts it all into prospective for even the brain dead. Ya think Joe and his
gang will be talking about this article on their morning talk show today?? I wonder how
Brezenski's daughter is going to tell daddy that the gig is up and they may want to look into
packing a boogie bag just to play it safe?
David Stockman is a flame of hope in a world of dark machievellian thought!
Why did the alt media and the msm all stop reportinmg that McCabe's wife recieved 700
thousand dollars from Terry McAulife (former Clinton campaign manager times 2!) for a
Virginia State Senate run? Quid pro quo? Oh no, never the up and up DemonRats.
So when I hear that the conversation was held in McCabe's office- I want to puke first
then start building the gallows.
fucken brilliant article!! There is a lot I don't like about trump (some of which stockman
discusses above), but as a retired govt worker, I can tell you that he right about what he is
saying here.
One little tidbit that has been lost in all of this:
If the FBI was willing to use their power to back Hillary and defeat Trump at the national
level, what did they try to do in McCabe's wife's state senate campaign? She is a
pediatrician and she ran for state senate. ??? WTF is that about? She's not only a doctor but
a doctor for children. Those people are usually wired to help people. Yet she was going to
for-go being a doctor for a state senate position. ??? And the DNC forked over $700,000 to
put her on the map.
I'm sure the people meeting daily in Andy's office were not pleased with the voter
resistance to his wife and to Hillary. The FBI needs to be shut down. They have become an
opposition research firm for the DNC. Even if they can't find dirt on candidates using the
NSA database, they are able to tap that database to find out political strategies in real
time on opposition The fish is rotten from the head down to the tail.
No matter what article you read here, and don't get me wrong, I love the insight, but
every fucking article is "it's all over. America is doomed, the petro dollar days are over,
China China China. It's getting a bit old. The charts and graphs about stock market
collapse......it becoming an old record that needs changed. If I say it's going to rain every
fucking day, at some point I will be right. That doesn't make me a genius....it makes me
persistent.
It's a Deep State mess and Sessions is trying his best as he cowers in a corner sucking
his thumb.
If they continue to go after Trump, the FBI is going to be found guilty of violating the
Hatch Act by exonerating Hillary. See burner phones. See writing the conclusion in May when
the investigation supposedly ended with Hillary's interview on July 3rd. The FBI will also be
exposed for sedition as they then carried out the phony Russiagate investigation as their
"insurance policy."
However, they have created an expectation with the left that Trump and his minions will be
brought to "justice." If we thought the Left didn't handle losing the election well, they
will not be pleased at losing Russiagate.
The overall direction of the empire was never going to change with or without Trump and we are seeing it play out now.
Notable quotes:
"... Ok, he has been called the most pro Israel President by Netanyahu himself, his administration just recognized Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel, something even most ardent analysts in here did not predict. His son-in-law who he listens to is a pure Zionist
and the neo-con lap dog Hailey is quite clearly gearing the audience up for a confrontation with Iran. One way or another....watch out
2018. ..."
"... But no he is not controlled enough by the Zionists? The overall direction of the empire was never going to change with or without
Trump and we are seeing it play out now. ..."
"... America is a particularly vivid example of indoctrinated groupthink and I just cannot see anyone/movement espousing alternative
ways of operating getting traction. ..."
"... Simply pay attention to what those monsters actually do. The Trump Administration has continued and expanded US domestic and
foreign policy precisely as has his predecessors. NATO is bigger, better funded, and more heavily deployed along Russia's "near abroad"
than at any time in history. The Pentagon now admits we have 2,000 to 5,000 active "boots on the ground" in Syria, and they have no
intention of ever leaving. Goldman Sachs is embedded in every Executive Branch office. Taxes on the wealthy and corporations are being
slashed soon to be followed in social services, as neo-liberal economics remains the god worshipped by all. ..."
"I won't be optimistic about AmeriKKKa until Russia and/or China announce a Zero Tolerance policy toward US military adventurism
in countries on the borders of Russia/China - by promising to bomb the continental USA if it attacks a Russia/China neighbor.
Imo it's absolutely essential to light a big bonfire under AmeriKKKa's Impunity. And it would be delightful, sobering,
and a big boost for Peace and Diplomacy to hear the Yankees whingeing about being threatened by entities quite capable of following
through on their threats."
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 19, 2017 11:10:32 AM | 14
Hell yes, I'd love that scenario, but never happen. Too much $to be made by kissing up to the empire.
Sad Canuck @ 31: Abso fukken 'lutely!!
b, you better change what you're smoken' if you believe the empire is going isolationist.
@48 They did not want him lol? So many comments in here make me chuckle.
Ok, he has been called the most pro Israel President by Netanyahu himself, his administration just recognized Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel, something even most ardent analysts in here did not predict. His son-in-law who he listens to is a pure
Zionist and the neo-con lap dog Hailey is quite clearly gearing the audience up for a confrontation with Iran. One way or another....watch
out 2018.
But no he is not controlled enough by the Zionists? The overall direction of the empire was never going to change with
or without Trump and we are seeing it play out now.
@26 "I think you would find that the vast majority of Americans would be quite happy to disengage militarily from the rest of
the world, and put resources at work on domestic problems."
Disengage militarily? I would like to think so sleepy but why do they keep getting so involved internationally? Instead of
concentrating on domestic issues putting 'America first' seems to mean bullying any country that doesn't do what it's told.
@ Debsisdead with the end of his comment
" America is a particularly vivid example of indoctrinated groupthink and I just cannot see anyone/movement espousing alternative
ways of operating getting traction.
"
There are those that say the same (vivid example of indoctrinated groupthink) about China, so there might be some competition
in our world yet.
I , for one, want to end private finance and maybe give the China way a go. Anyone else? I did future studies in college and
am intrigued by planning processes at the scale that China has done 13 of....their 5-year plans.
May we live to see structural change in the way our species comports itself......soon, I hope
NemesisCalling, I suggest paying little to know attention to Trump's (or any other politician/oligarch) platitudes.
Simply pay attention to what those monsters actually do. The Trump Administration has continued and expanded US domestic
and foreign policy precisely as has his predecessors. NATO is bigger, better funded, and more heavily deployed along Russia's
"near abroad" than at any time in history. The Pentagon now admits we have 2,000 to 5,000 active "boots on the ground" in Syria,
and they have no intention of ever leaving. Goldman Sachs is embedded in every Executive Branch office. Taxes on the wealthy and
corporations are being slashed soon to be followed in social services, as neo-liberal economics remains the god worshipped by
all.
I remain amazed that people who KNOW that the MSM lies to us constantly, about things big and small, still believe with all
their hearts the MSM narrative that Trump is an "outsider" whom the Establishment hates and has fought against ever since they
gave him $5 billion in free advertising.
Disengage? In 2017, U.S. Special Operations forces, including Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, deployed to 149 countries around
the world, according to figures provided to TomDispatch by U.S. Special Operations Command. That's around 75 percent of the nations
on the planet.
What the vast majority of Americans might want has been cast aside by this president after he got their votes. There go hope
and change again, damn.
"... The antiwar movement could not survive the end of the draft. One most Americans did not have to worry about their kids being sent in harm's way, when minorities became soldiers for the pay, the enthusiasm waned. It was other people's kids that did the fighting and the dying. None of your concern. ..."
"... Initiatives of the Military-Industrial-Complex are well-planned, well-funded, and have paid staff to keep the interests of the corporate sector healthy and powerful. ..."
"... The Pentagon knows that as long as we have a volunteer army and outsource much of the nasty side of conflict to contractors, the volunteer peace activists don't stand a chance against their wealthy corporate allies. ..."
The duopoly succumbed to the war machine, while organized resistance got pushed to the fringe
Veterans For Peace rally in Washington, less than a month after 9/11. Credit:
Elvert Barnes/Flickr
"Imagine there's no heaven and no religion too."
A more useful line when it comes to our current wars may be "Imagine there's no duopoly." It's hard to fault John Lennon for his
idealism, of course. In his day, many blamed religion on the wars of history. But a much bigger obstacle right now, at least in the
U.S., is partisanship. The two major political parties, in power and out, have been so co-opted by the war machine that any modern
anti-war movement has been completely subsumed and marginalized -- even as American troops and killer drones continue to operate
in or near combat zones all over the world.
Aside from the very early days of the Iraq war, the anti-war movement has been a small, ineffectual pinprick on the post-9/11
landscape. A less generous assessment is that it's been a bust. After liberals helped elect the "anti-war" Barack Obama, the movement
all but disappeared, even though the wars did not. By putting a Nobel Peace Prize-winning Democratic face on his inherited wars,
Obama expanded into new conflicts (Libya, Syria, Yemen) with little resistance,
ultimately bombing seven different
countries during his tenure. By 2013, Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin
lamented
, "We've been protesting Obama's foreign policy for years now, but we can't get the same numbers because the people who would've
been yelling and screaming about this stuff under Bush are quiet under Obama."
It's easy to blame the military-industrial complex, the corporate media, and the greed and malleability of politicians. But what
about the anti-war movement itself? Why has it failed so miserably, and can it revive as President Donald Trump continues the wars
of his predecessors and threatens new ones?
The rallies and protests in the early 2000s attracted significant numbers but they were weighed down by far-left organizations
like the World Workers Party, which brought with them myriad other issues beyond war like global warming and poverty. There was also
long-held and fairly broad skepticism about
the intentions of United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, which organized most of the big protests over
the last 17 years. This was due to the "big tent" affiliations of some of their steering committee members, which critics say led
to a dilution of the message and drove the anti-war movement further from the mainstream.
Perhaps the movement's biggest weakness was that it shied away from directly attacking its own -- the liberal Democrats who voted
for the war in Congress.
In a sense, Democrats did emerge as the de facto anti-war party during the Iraq war, but that was only because a Republican --
George W. Bush -- was commander-in-chief. And what of the Democrats who voted for the war and continued to fund it? Out of 77 senators
who supported the resolution authorizing military force against Iraq in 2002, 20 are still in office and roughly half are Democrats,
while out of the 296 votes in favor in the House, 90 are still in office and 57 of them are Democrats. Some of them, like Harry Reid
and Chuck Schumer, went on to become party leaders. Two others, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, went on to become secretaries of
state and their party's nominees for president in 2004 and 2016 respectively. All went on to support new military interventions and
regime changes, albeit under a new, liberal interventionist, Democratic banner.
Conversely, steadfast non-interventionist Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who voted against the resolution, failed badly in both his
2004 and 2008 attempts at his party's presidential nomination. Bottom line: Support for the war was hardly a deal-breaker for voters,
any more than opposition to it was a dealmaker.
Reaction to war is just a microcosm of the political landscape, a manifestation of partisan-driven, short-term memory. Sure there
might have been momentary disapproval, but when it came time to decide whether supporters of the war stayed or went, the sins of
one's party leaders meant very little in the zero-sum game of electoral politics. Parties outside the duopoly be damned.
The same thing happened to the anti-war right, as the Ron Paul movement took off in 2008 with an immense level of grassroots energy.
One of the singular successes of his movement was the ability to reach people on an intellectual and practical level about the folly
of our foreign interventions and the waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars. Paul didn't shy from criticizing his own party's leaders
and actions. He explained the Federal Reserve's relationship to the monetary costs of war.
Ultimately, media blackouts and distortion of Paul's message (for example, conflating his non-interventionist foreign policy views
with "isolationism") helped kill his campaign. After Paul's 2008 defeat, conservative political activists seized upon the Texas congressman's
libertarian-leaning revolutionary momentum and channeled it into the Tea Party -- while leaving the non-interventionist impulses
behind. By 2011, national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin
acknowledged , "On foreign
policy probably the majority [of Tea Party Patriots] are more like [hawks] Michele Bachmann or Newt Gingrich."
And don't underestimate how the escalation of drone warfare during the Obama presidency muted the anti-war effort. Drone attacks
made fewer headlines because they supposedly caused less collateral damage and kept U.S. troops out of harm's way, which was portrayed
by administration officials and the war establishment in Washington as progress.
What the drone program did, in essence, was to create the illusion of "less war." Nevertheless,
studies showing an increase of terrorism since the beginning of the "war on terror" indicate precisely the opposite: Civilian
drone deaths (not always reported) create more enemies, meaning more of our troops will be put in harm's way eventually.
So where should the anti-war movement go from here? Perhaps it should begin by tempering its far-left impulses and embracing its
allies on the right who have been made to feel unwelcome. They could take a lesson from right-leaning places like Antiwar.com and
TAC that have long been open to writers and activists on the left.
Meanwhile, flying "Resist Trump" signs at rallies not only misses the mark by suggesting that our needless wars aren't a bipartisan,
systemic problem, but creates a non-inclusive atmosphere for anti-war Trump voters. Ironically, not much "resistance" was heard when
Democrats recently helped pass Trump's $700 billion 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and failed to repeal the original
post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force, as was advocated for by Senator Rand Paul this year.
In addition, the few on the anti-war left who oppose war based on pacifist or religious reasons need to acknowledge that the majority
of Americans believe in a strong national defense as outlined in the Constitution. Most people are willing to accept that there's
a big difference between that and the terrible waste and tragedy that comes with waging unnecessary wars overseas.
They are also averse to their lawmakers doing favors for special interests. Focusing on the money and influence that giant defense
contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing have on Capitol Hill -- essentially making war a business -- makes the anti-war point
by raising the issue of crony capitalism and the cozy relationship between politicians and big business, which increasingly leaves
the American public out of the equation.
These corporations, along with Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, have accounted for $42 million in contributions to congressional
candidates since 2009, with $12 million in the 2016 cycle alone. The majority of these funds have targeted Armed Services
Committee members, such as perennial
war hawk John McCain. In addition, influential neoconservative think tanks have received millions in grants over the years from "philanthropic"
organizations such as the
Bradley Foundation and the Olin
Foundation, which have corporate backgrounds in the defense industry. The conservative Heritage Foundation is reportedly considering
the vice president of Lockheed
as its
new president.
Furthermore, mantras and slogans like, "you're either with us or against us" and "support our troops" have been used as powerful
psy-ops to create a false dichotomy: you either support the war policy or you're not patriotic. Debunking this by pointing out how
these wars profit the elite while serving as a pipeline that puts more American military servicemembers -- often from working-class
backgrounds -- into harm's way should appeal to the current populist spirit on both sides of the political fence. In fact, it could
begin to draw new, disenchanted voters into the movement.
Americans today are tired of war, which is good, for now. Unfortunately, without a strong anti-war movement, there won't be much
resistance when the next "big threat" comes along. The two major parties have proven to be false friends when it comes to opposing
war -- they only do it when it suits them politically. Moving beyond them and becoming stronger with allies and numbers -- imagine,
there's no parties -- is the best way to build a real opposition.
Daniel Martin is an anti-war activist, musician, and rock journalist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Follow him on Twitter
@MartysInvasion .
The antiwar movement could not survive the end of the draft. One most Americans did not have to worry about their kids being
sent in harm's way, when minorities became soldiers for the pay, the enthusiasm waned. It was other people's kids that did the
fighting and the dying. None of your concern.
The so-called 'anti-war' or 'peace' movement is mostly a genuine grass roots phenomenon that relies upon volunteers and ordinary
people taking time out of their busy lives to become active. The energy and drive are hard to sustain on a volunteer basis.
To a great extent, motivation for activism is a reaction to something egregious, not a planned and sustained response to an on-going
situation. Despite the power of social media, reactively movements lead by well-intentioned amateurs cannot martial prolonged
support.
Initiatives of the Military-Industrial-Complex are well-planned, well-funded, and have paid staff to keep the interests of
the corporate sector healthy and powerful. The activism that pulled the US out of SE Asia in the 70s took 10 years to build strength
against a what was less organised and planned war machine than we see today. The Pentagon knows that as long as we have a volunteer
army and outsource much of the nasty side of conflict to contractors, the volunteer peace activists don't stand a chance against
their wealthy corporate allies.
The tragedy yet to be is that the business of war and its boosterism only ends when the suffering of war comes upon the nation
whose leaders make it. It might be different if the population were inclined against it, but there is a widespread belief in U.S.
Exceptionalism and a belief that it is America's birthright to rule the world by military force if required. And ruling peoples
against their wills does require force.
The consistency of human nature does not promise any respite from the propensity to make war, as has occurred throughout all
known history. Those wars will be waged with ever greater and even world-ending technology – there never has been a weapon created
that was not used, and every one of them has proliferated.
This makes sense to me. There has to be a coalition of anti interventionists across the political spectrum because the two parties
are dominated by warmongers. On foreign policy I am closer to many of the conservatives here than to many or most liberals I know
in real life or online. I have never heard a liberal in my real life mention Yemen or drones unless I bring it up. Syria was never
seen as a place where our support for " moderate" rebels kept the killing going. A friend of mine has become outraged when I tell
him our support for the Saudis in Yemen is much more important than Russiagate. So Russiagate matters more than our complicity
in a crime against humanity.
Mainstream liberals simply don't care about our stupid wars unless there is a large American death toll and it can be blamed
solely on a Republican. I am not saying conservatives are better. The ones here are better.
I hope that the anti-war movement grows again, and persists throughout the probable Democratic Presidency in 2020. There's such
little a single person can do, though.
1) Most military is below the headlines and it is hard to protest here. There several thousands troops in Africa and hardly
anybody knows it.
2) The last 7 Prez elections, 6 doves (2004 exception and yes Bush pretended to the dove in 2000.) won and yet the dovish winner
is more hawkish in the White House. So it is hard not to use the military and it would wise to answer that question,
3) Anti-War conservatives only had modest support when Obama signed the nuclear deal or avoided bombing in Syria. Where were the
'Ron Paul' voters there to support the President making dovish choices? Sure Syria was handled poorly but if we heard more support
it might change things.
4) And it is true the hard left is very-war but focused on other agenda. Witness Bernie Sanders was unable to beat HRC because
he is dove complaining about Cold War battles that is past history. And watch out Matt Duss is writing his speeches and Bernie
is taking them seriously.
I'm a liberal democrat and certainly would agree that President Obama was culpable for destroying our anti-war movement. It was
one of my grievances with him from the very beginning, as nothing about his rhetoric was ever about peace. It was only till the
very end of his last term that he ever learned any lessons on caution in intervention (But never about the folly of drone striking
civilians), and by then, it was too late.
Neo-militarism, which is where the costs of war are separated from engagement with it in order to reduce civil unrest over
military actions, wasn't something Obama created though. It was a reaction to the Vietnam War that was thoroughly ingrained in
the conscience of both parties. The only lesson they learned from that war is that if Americans see and hear of the suffering
of their soldiers, they won't be supportive of military pork and intervention.
And so we live in a really weird culture now where most people don't even know a soldier, where our soldiers are off to forever
war and in the system they are in is so distant that they don't understand civilian society either, and where the costs of war
are hidden. There is a political problem certainly, but the root of it is a cultural problem. We are fed patriotic myths of American
invincibility and Spartanism, and militarism has become one of the only unifying threads in being an "American", even though most
Americans have not even the faintest clue of how the military operates or what soldiers are like.
You can gather up all the anti-war activists across the political spectrum, and you still aren't going to find enough people
for a successful movement. And I'm not entirely sure how you can change the culture on this issue, as it would require undoing
a lifetime worth of programming and propaganda in every citizen.
It may take another cultural trauma from a war so disastrous that even the worst chicken hawks have to say, "Wow, we really
ruined everything here" for Americans to finally learn a lesson beyond how to sweep the nasty parts of war under the rug so the
public doesn't see them. I suppose North Korea is looking promising on that front.
I dislike the term anti-war. It sounds too much akin to a pacifists pose. I don't have any issues with people who are sincerely
pacifists. But there are times when war is required. And sometimes in my view, that includes the use of force for humanitarian
purposes.
I rest on the views that push the "clear and present danger" as old as it may be. And I do so without being ignorant of my
own concerns about the strategic threats that abound or potentially abound in the future, near and far.
Where's the anti-war movement -- they are in think tanks, congress, and CEO corporate positions seeking to atone for the mess
they made of our communities, country and veterans since the the misguided anti-war slogans of the late '60's and early '70's.
The consequence of an all volunteer military separates the community from a national sense of risk. I will dare utter, the
unspoken, Vietnam was not about some just cause or care about the Vietnamese or the national conscience. It was the basic fear
of personal sacrifice – period.
Ohh it was nicely clothed in all kinds of rhetorical discourse about war, peace loving Vietnamese, peace-love and understanding,
free speech, anti-colonialism . . . blah and blah.
As Dr. King would soon discover, lending his intellect to young white kids fears, sabotaged the real retrenchment of the consequence
of the nation's hypocrisy.
It takes a moral courage that has been bled out because there is in my view essentially no risk individual national investment.
If x hundred thousand are willing to sign-up for defense --
that is a choice of no account to citizens who don't.
There is a war going on and its right here at home.
If we want the freedom to comfortably drive to the convenience store to buy more plastic products from China, we must have war
to secure the oil, flow of foreign goods and exploitation of foreign labour necessary to maintain our predatory and non-productive
way of life. Peace requires a transformation of consciousness with the resultant total rejection of consumerism. The personal
sacrifice required for peace is the missing element.
"a strong national defense as outlined in the Constitution."
I take strong exception to this. The second amendment
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed."
Unlike what most people think, the "free State" mentioned here represents the 13 original states. Their "well regulated Militia"'s
could not be disarmed because that would allow the federal military to take away their sovereign freedom. The federal government
was never intended to be more powerful than the individual state's militias.
And Section 8 Clause 12 of the Constitution when describing Congress' responsibilities:
"To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years"
The Constitution assumed that Congress would only raise an army when at war, and it would be dismantled almost immediately,
hence the "two Years" limit on funding the military.
The Constitution assumes a very weak defensive posture, and the continued massive military system of the USA is the most unconstitutional
thing we do. By a million miles.
As long a there is a volunteer military there will not be a strong anti war movement. Remember, the sixties and that so called
anti war movement which turned out to be nothing more that an anti draft movement. As soon as the military draft stopped those
so called activists shaved their beards, got a haircut, took a bath, and along with those who came back from Canada went on to
join daddy's business or law firm, with many migrating to wall street, eventually becoming the chicken hawks of the current era.There
would never have been an invasion of Iraq or the perpetual war if every family shared the burden of sending one of their sons
or daughters to act as cannon fodder. With the poverty draft only five percent of the younger generation are doing the fighting
and dying. Americans will not even give up attending football games where disrespect for the military takes the form of disrespecting
the flag, let alone join the military or put one of their children in harms way.
"The Constitution assumes a very weak defensive posture, and the continued massive military system of the USA is the most unconstitutional
thing we do. By a million miles."
I guess if one skips the preamble one might come to that conclusion. But the Purpose of the Constitution establishing a nation
spells out in very clear terms --
" . . . provide for the common defense . . ."
That is not a weak posture in any sense of the word. And no founder of government not those that followed understood that said
union was to be weak. Avoiding unnecessary wars or conflicts does not mean a weak defense. What they pressed was a weak federal
systems that would subvert internal freedoms for states and individuals.
It's hard to argue that no established international defense was sought -- when it states in very clear terms -- the nation
is created for the very purpose of defending it's existence.
A strong defense does not require a an over aggressive posture, but existence requires an ability to defend it. And right now
nothing more threatens our existence as much as weak immigration enforcement.
And I think the evidence for that is overwhelming. Most poignantly demonstrated by the events of 9/11. And there christians
of many brands are a threat to the US by aiding and abetting the violations of that sovereignty and using Christ as the excuse
to do so, even as that defense undermines their fellow citizens. That breed of christian ethos is certainly not new nor are its
tentacles of hypocrisy.
What I object to among both interventionists is that they both don't mind giving people in the country illegally a pass despite
their mutual claims of legal moral high bround.
Biggest sign of how weak we are in this article is the assumption built into this: "In addition, the few on the anti-war left
who oppose war based on pacifist or religious reasons need to acknowledge that the majority of Americans believe in a strong national
defense as outlined in the Constitution." I mean the assumption that one cannot oppose the whole institution for the overwhelming
secular empirical reasons that it endangers us, destroys our environment, impoverishes us, erodes our liberties, militarizes our
localities, degrades our culture, poisons our politics. See the case made at World Beyond War's website.
Superb article by Daniel Martin. The first step out of this mess is to fully acknowledge the scope of the mess: Democrats and
Republicans -- who squabble about many things -- unite to give bipartisan support for American militarism.
The anti-war movement is not listened to. In SF during a bombardment of Gaza, there were hundreds of anti-war protesters at City
Hall. The most liberal deliberative body in the US looked stone-faced and emotionless. When they finished, if on a cue, a Jewish
member of the Board tabled the agenda item, and it was never heard from again. Not one of these eleven lawmakers even asked a
question. Who said you cannot fight City Hall? They were right.
A lot of Dems stepped forward to oppose the Iraq War and they got plowed over for it politically.
I fully expect the same to happen to any Dems who divert their attention from stopping the other budget busting, middle-class
harming, anti-environmental, anti-women measures the GOP is currently pushing to make a futile attempt to stop whatever Trump
decides to do with our military.
The argument that there can be no anti-war movement without a draft to drive it is belied by the fact that no war in our history
generated more protests than the Bush Administration's build-up towards the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Where the mass base of any
anti-war movement seems to draw the line is not specifically at their kids but at the possibility of significant American casualties,
period. Hence, the absence of mass protest against drone warfare on the one hand, and the immediate and decisive push back by
the public against Congress authorizing Obama to "put boots on the ground" in Syria on the other.
My friends in the International Bolshevik Tendency ( http://bolshevik.org/
) argue for the classic united front in their anti-war organizing. Everyone opposed to War X should march together but retain
their right to free speech at the march and on the podium. So the official call for the march is not a laundry list, but marchers
and speakers are not subject to censorship or being shut down if they want to make connections that discomfit some Democratic
politician or movement hack. It makes more sense to me than either the single-issue, "we must ALL stay ON point" model or the
multi-issue, excessively intersectional and virtue-signaling one that arose in reaction to it.
No one seems to mention the power and importance of the mainstream, corporatized, media, which has supported all our wars and
associated aggressions in recent times, and which ignores and suppresses antiwar sentiments and opinion writers, as well as inconvenient
facts. This holds for the NYT, the WP, the WSJ and client newspapers as well as the TV news channels. The internet is evidently
not powerful enough to offset this national bias. Antiwar periodicals tend to be on the fringe in terms of mass circulation.
It also takes money in this society to get things done, and the anti-war "left"(or right) , in addition to having organizational
problems, lacks those resources. An antiwar super billionaire, if that is not a contradiction in terms, might make a dent by creating/promoting
TV and news channels.
EliteCommInc., be assured you will get your wars. Also be assured that they won't accomplish the aims they will be sold to accomplish.
Some of those who know the real reasons may well accomplish their private goals for a season. One day, the real cost to be paid
will come due, and it may not be a rude awakening, but nuclear death. So by all means, continue not to be against war, against
all the evidence. We are predisposed to war because our fallen nature leads us to dream of it.
Democrats and Republicans -- who squabble about many things -- unite to give bipartisan support for American militarism.
That is because, sadly, American voters demand it.
As I've observed before – if you place a candidates militarism on a spectrum of 0 (Ghandi) to 100 (Hitler) American voters
are conditioned to prefer a candidate with a score 20 points higher than theirs to a candidate 5 points lower.
Kent makes a very good point. Yet this baby nation was somewhat torn between a Scylla and Charybdis of military readiness. The
Scylla was the fear of a "European" track that is to say the evolution into a Monarchy anchored on a powerful national army. The
Charybdis was the potential invasions by the powerful European states of Great Britain and Spain.
The opinion that anti-war people, particularly from the Vietnam era, did so because they didn't want to sacrifice is ludicrous.
It displays an ignorance of the sacrifices made, and the success of the war party to paint them in this manor. Veterans are appointed
a myriad of benefits, a plethora of memorials,holidays, endless honorable mentions. For the war resistors, nothing, unless one
could count the kind of scorn I see here, on an antiwar site ! It is not "selfish" to look both ways before crossing the street,
and perhaps choosing not to if it appears the risk is not worth the reward. In fact, this behavior defines "conservative". Militant
societies require centralization. The key to modern centralized militant power, is nuclear war. The existence of these weapons
produces a huge secrecy, and internal security state. They produce an insane populace whom believe the state is protecting them
from annihilation. Know this, our militant masters love that North Korea has the bomb. Sleep tight.
"... At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be remarkable resilient, particularly as many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable hawks, hostile to Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel. In short, many neocons can be unmasked as Hillary Clinton Democrats if one looks at them issue by issue, which certainly helps to explain some subsequent developments. ..."
"... Multiple sources are predicting Tillerson out and Mike Pompeo in at State Department with Pompeo replaced at CIA by Senator Tom Cotton. The White House is denying the story, calling it "fake news," but it is clear that Trump is uncomfortable with the current arrangement and Tillerson will be gone sooner or later. ..."
"... Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State replaces a somewhat bumbling businessman adept at dealing in energy futures contracts who has been struggling with reducing State's enormously bloated payroll. Pompeo, a real hard-nosed political hardliner who tends to see complex issues in fairly simplistic ways, has become a presidential confidant, briefing Trump frequently on the state of the world, most recently pushing for the horrific decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. ..."
"... Pompeo would like to turn the United States into an unleashed wrecking ball directed against the enemies of the American Way and he appears intent on starting that process in the Middle East. ..."
"... And Pompeo will be replaced as CIA Director by Tom Cotton. The less said about Tom the better, but I will attempt to summarize in 8 words here: Tom is completely owned by the Israel Lobby. ..."
"... I do not wish to imply that Cotton and Pompeo are somehow stupid, but they do tend to see the world in a very monochromatic fashion, just like their boss. Pompeo was first in his class at West Point and Cotton graduated from Harvard as an undergrad and also from the Law School ..."
"... Haley really is stupid. And ambitious. And is also owned by the Israel Lobby, which appears to be a thread that runs its way through all the Trump foreign policy appointees. ..."
"... Neocon watchers will undoubtedly note that big names like Brill Kristol, the Kagans, Michael Chertoff and Max Boot will not be showing up in government. True, but that is because they will instead be working through their foundations, of which FDD is only one. The Alliance for Securing Democracy, which has recently sprung up in lobby-land, markets itself as "bipartisan, and transatlantic " but it actually is pure neocon. ..."
"... The replacement of former political appointees in the government has been so slow in Trump's first year that it has actually benefited the neocons in their recovery. Many survivors of the two previous administrations are still in place, nearly all of whom reflect the hawkishness prevalent during 2001-2016. They will be supplemented by second and third tier neoconservatives, who will fill in the policy gaps, virtually guaranteeing that the neocon crafted foreign policy that has been around for the past sixteen years will be here for some time longer. ..."
Back during the admittedly brief shock and awe period that immediately followed on the Trump
electoral victory, it appeared that there might be an actual realignment of American foreign
policy. The neoconservatives virtually unanimously had opposed Donald Trump in the most vile
terms, both in the GOP primaries and during the actual electoral campaign, making clear that
Hillary was their choice for a future full of unrelenting, ideologically driven warfare to
convert the world to democracy. By that metric, one would assume that Trump would prefer to be
roasted on a spit rather than have neocons on his national security team, and many in the
punditry did agree with that analysis and went on to share that view.
At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be
remarkable resilient, particularly as many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party
values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable hawks, hostile to
Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel. In short, many neocons can be
unmasked as Hillary Clinton Democrats if one looks at them issue by issue, which certainly
helps to explain some subsequent developments.
Some Washington observers who actually care about such things have been writing how there
has been a kumbaya process going on between self-described conservative neocons and liberal
interventionists. Katrina vanden Heuvel describes
the progressive hawks as "the essential-country crowd," borrowing a phrase from
ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
There are inevitably minor disconnects between the two groups based on their motives for
aggression – Democrats claim to do it to bring democracy and freedom while Republicans
say they do it to enhance national security. Both are lying in any event as it all comes down
to great power rivalries, with big powerful nations pushing smaller weaker nations around
because they are able to get away with it and feel more comfortable if everyone lines up behind
them.
So everyone in Washington and New York's financial services industry agrees that a more
assertive America is a better America even when the reality is that no one winds up with either
democracy or security. Which brings us to the latest shuffle in the Donald Trump cabinet and
what it is likely to mean down the road. Multiple sources are predicting Tillerson out and
Mike Pompeo in at State Department with Pompeo replaced at CIA by Senator Tom Cotton. The White
House is denying the story, calling it "fake news," but it is clear that Trump is uncomfortable
with the current arrangement and Tillerson will be gone sooner or later.
Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State replaces a somewhat bumbling businessman adept at
dealing in energy futures contracts who has been struggling with reducing State's enormously
bloated payroll. Pompeo, a real hard-nosed political hardliner who tends to see complex issues
in fairly simplistic ways, has become a presidential confidant, briefing Trump frequently on
the state of the world, most recently pushing for the horrific decision to recognize Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel. In a
recent speech , Pompeo criticized the CIA, observing that it had both forgotten how to spy,
which is almost certainly true, while adding that it will have to become "more vicious" to
accomplish its mission of making the United States "safe." Pompeo would like to turn the
United States into an unleashed wrecking ball directed against the enemies of the American Way
and he appears intent on starting that process in the Middle East.
And Pompeo will be replaced as CIA Director by Tom Cotton. The less said about Tom the
better, but I will attempt to summarize in 8 words here: Tom is completely owned by the Israel
Lobby. In his 2014 election as junior Senator from Arkansas, he received $1 million from
the Emergency Committee for Israel headed by Bill Kristol as well as additional assistance from
the Republican Jewish Coalition. In March 2015, Tom paid those supporters back when 47
Republican United States Senators signed a letter
allegedly written by him that was then sent to the Iranian government directly, warning
that any agreement over that country's nuclear program reached with President Barack Obama
would likely be overturned by the Congress. The letter, which undercuts the authority of the
American president before an international audience, was signed by the entire Republican Party
leadership in the Senate and also included then presidential contenders Rand Paul, Marco Rubio
and Ted Cruz.
I do not wish to imply that Cotton and Pompeo are somehow stupid, but they do tend to
see the world in a very monochromatic fashion, just like their boss. Pompeo was first in his
class at West Point and Cotton graduated from Harvard as an undergrad and also from the Law
School . Trump claims to be the smartest person in the room no matter where he is
standing. But for all the academic credentials and other posturing, it is hard to imagine how
the new choices could possibly be worse from a common-sense perspective unless one includes
Nikki Haley, who is, fortunately, otherwise engaged. Haley really is stupid. And ambitious.
And is also owned by the Israel Lobby, which appears to be a thread that runs its way through
all the Trump foreign policy appointees.
What is wrong about the whole Trump team is that they all seem to believe that you can go
around the world kicking the shit out of everyone without there being any consequences. And
they all hate Iran for reasons that continue to be obscure but may be connected to their
relationships with – you guessed it – the neoconservatives and the Israeli
Lobby!
Yes, the neocons are back. I noted back in October that when Pompeo and National Security
Adviser H.R. McMaster wanted a friendly place to drop by to give a policy speech that would be
warmly received they went to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), whose
marketing masthead
slogan is "Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Freedom." FDD is currently neocon central, used
like the American Enterprise Institute was when Dick Cheney was Vice President and needed a
friendly audience. It is headed by Canadian Mark Dubowitz, whose passion in life is making sure
that sanctions on Iran are enforced to the letter. Unfortunately, it is not easy to deport a
Canadian.
Neocon watchers will undoubtedly note that big names like Brill Kristol, the Kagans,
Michael Chertoff and Max Boot will not be showing up in government. True, but that is because
they will instead be working through their foundations, of which FDD is only one. The Alliance
for Securing Democracy, which has recently sprung up in lobby-land, markets itself as
"bipartisan, and transatlantic " but it actually is pure neocon. Its goal is to "expose
Putin's ongoing efforts to subvert democracy in the United States of America and Europe." It
includes the usual neocon names but also has the loyal Democratic opposition, including ex-CIA
Acting Director Mike Morell and Jake Sullivan, both of whom were top level advisers to Hillary
Clinton.
The replacement of former political appointees in the government has been so slow in
Trump's first year that it has actually benefited the neocons in their recovery. Many survivors
of the two previous administrations are still in place, nearly all of whom reflect the
hawkishness prevalent during 2001-2016. They will be supplemented by second and third tier
neoconservatives, who will fill in the policy gaps, virtually guaranteeing that the neocon
crafted foreign policy that has been around for the past sixteen years will be here for some
time longer.
What all this means is that, now that the Palestinians have been disposed of and the
Israelis rewarded, we can expect armed conflict with Iran within the next year, followed by
increased hostility towards Moscow as Russiagate continues to play out. I do not even want to
guess at what kind of insanity the gang in the West Wing Situation Room will come up with for
dealing with North Korea. The good news is that the builders of home bomb shelters, a booming
enterprise when I was growing up back in the 1950s and 1960s now used to cultivate mushrooms,
will be back in business.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National
Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation that seeks a more interests-based
U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is www.councilforthenationalinterest.org,
address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected].
Of course, UNZ is more radical on this issue then most (actually they use the terms "Jew", "neocons" and "Zionist" almost interchangeably,
but in most case the meaning is neocon -- ideology, not nationality ) , but it looks like public support of neocons in the USA
now dropped dramatically, especially after their attacks on Trump during 2016 elections.
Notable quotes:
"... They are not a threat to the US and while I think we will be in a support capacity -- with Israel obviously -- to a bunker buster attack it will be regarded as US backed war throughout the Islamic world. Trump may be too weak to resist Netanyahu's best sales pitch. ..."
"... The Neocons are turning up at MSNBC of late. In addition to Podhoretz, Brooks, Kristol, we are now seeing E. Johnson, B. Stephens, D. Pletka on the scene as regular rotation players. No doubt where they will be leading. Moving in where opportunities abound for some reason? ..."
"... "Trump may be too weak to resist Netanyahu's best sales pitch." Trump is an Israeli sycophant ..a loser. ..."
"... That US missile attack on the Syrian airport cost Trump a lot of domestic and international support for zero benefit... ..."
"... This is a war of an elite. [Tom] Friedman laughs: I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment within a five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened. ..."
"... Yet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to Israel, you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi, lose your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show concern for the nation you love and are loyal to. ..."
"... While Pompeo would be not good, Tillerson has been a big disappointment with his latest statements on Crimea and Ukraine included. ..."
"... You obviously do not live here. 99% of Americans have a flat screen TV installed in their living rooms and believe everything (jooie managed images and info) spewing forth from it. ..."
"... The "problem" is that the whole American "business model" is based on global economic supremacy, which means, essentially, the dollar as world reserve currency. If that goes, the whole US house of cards will probably implode, Soviet-style. That requires unchallenged American "world leadership". The big threat to the "American model" isn't the EU and certainly not the Russian Federation. It's China. ..."
"... Yeah, yeah, yeah big bad ISIS. The Israeli Secret Intelligence Service. "Keeping Fools and Idiots At Each Other's Throats". Since 1950. I don't know what to tell you ..."
"... The US is expansionist, projecting itself all over the globe and uses force against anyone who resists. Force is all it understands. What happens when the irresistible force bumps into the immovable object? War hysteria, of which we've had an unending amount for the past three generations. Objectively there's nothing conservative about the so-called neocons. They're hardly any different from fascists except the rhetoric is different. Mussolini had limits as to how much territory he wanted to conquer for his empire unlike the US which recognizes no limits. ..."
"... BTW, I still don't see an attack on Iran as being very likely. If Russia and China would not greenlight an attack on Syria, they will be doubly reluctant to greenlight an attack on Iran. ..."
"... The "democracy" the neocons want to push is the one in which (((mass media))) successfully lobotomizes the electorate into thinking it has democracy. The zombies then make their way to the polls seeking "hope & change" but with no choice. Hegemony is the goal, not democracy. ..."
"... American has an all volunteer armed forces (mercenary), they are paid to kill or be killed, their fates is only a few seconds on the screens if the MSM decided to air them, otherwise the wars and the American soldiers' lives have nothing to do with the American public. Mayhem in far away land in out of sight and out of mind. ..."
"... The real issue is how to finance the war, as long as the war does not cause hyper inflation in the USA, the warmongers in the Washington beltway will go ahead with the war without much concern, with EU, Australia, Japan and S Korea in line paying the bills, the American should be able to wage another regime change war in the ME without much difficulty. ..."
"... Having some small portion of Scotch-Irish ancestry myself, and having ancestors who pioneered Tennessee, I don't think General Andrew Jackson would support the Israel First foreign policy of Tom Cotton. ..."
"... Yet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to Israel, you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi, lose your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show concern for the nation you love and are loyal to. ..."
"... Re: At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be remarkable resilient, particularly as many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable hawks, hostile to Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel ..."
"... And when it comes to foreign policy, of course the Neocons are globalists, like the international bankers whom they serve. ..."
"... The Neocons are nothing less than a parasitical foreign body which has us thinking in accordance with its interests; in fact they are mortal enemies, nothing less. ..."
"... Wall Street power held a gun to the head of the entire US economy and said 'Give us money, OR we will take ALL OF YOU down with us.' ..."
"... My knowledge of foreign policy is headline-quality only. My knowledge of some domestic policy is pretty good. I've been on the public stump in my area. The reality of American policy, as I've seen it, is that it's bought and paid for. There is no "public interest", no "national interest". I'm not even sure there's an America, in the sense of a people joined by some common values. Sometimes I think of America as an agglomeration of rackets. You're goddamned right I don't like thinking this way. ..."
"... Dump's second big mistake was firing Comey again on the advice of Kushner. Which got the Mueller ball rolling. Some have rightly drawn the parallels of Kushner whispering in Dump's ear to the same role of Kissinger vis a vis Nixon's downfall ..."
"... Then Kushner appeared to connive with his buddy KSA Clown Prince MBS to engineer the Hariri fiasco [which Tillerson managed to "deftly undo..."] ..."
"... That is a useless statement on many levels Tillerson deftly managed what is arguably America's most important corporation in what is surely the most strategic and geopolitical global industry energy ..."
"... The neocons are of course insane they are picking fights with Iran, Venezuela and others who are going to be the first to ditch the petrodollar and accelerate the tipping point to the new global financial order that is going to impoverish the US overnight ..."
"... The same neocons are also the ones who are undermining US demographics because their Ponzi scheme economy is based on perpetual growth which, in turn, requires perpetual population growth which means more immigration. Also the immigration keeps the wages low which is just extra gravy for the Plutocracy ..."
I'm really concerned an attack on Iran is a correct assessment Philip. They are not a threat to the US and while I think
we will be in a support capacity -- with Israel obviously -- to a bunker buster attack it will be regarded as US backed
war throughout the Islamic world. Trump may be too weak to resist Netanyahu's best sales pitch.
Tillerson will be gone sooner or later: No question, perhaps the week between Christmas and New Year?
Cotton and Pompeo: Pompeo may have problems with the Mueller probe. Cotton has a number of rumors in his
past and maybe they are just unfortunate talk? But I don't see him at CIA (we shall see?)
The Neocons are turning up at MSNBC of late. In addition to Podhoretz, Brooks, Kristol, we are now seeing E. Johnson, B.
Stephens, D. Pletka on the scene as regular rotation players. No doubt where they will be leading. Moving in where opportunities
abound for some reason? At least two (Halperin, Ford) aren't around anymore on Coffee Joe.
We're all just hapless passengers on the Neocon Titanic, unable to influence what's playing out on the bridge. Steady as she goes
on the unsinkable U.S.S.
From the movie Iron Sky, meant as a condemnation of Nazism, but inadvertently conveying a sensible message about the merits of
purity.
Renate Richter:
This is very simple. The world is sick, but we are the doctors. The world is anemic, but we are the vitamin. The world
is weary, but we are the strength. We are here to make the world healthy once again, with hard work, with honesty, with
clarity, with decency. We are the product of loving mothers and brave fathers. We are the embodiment of love and bravery!
We are the gift of both God and Science. We are the answer to the question. We are the promise delivered to all mankind.
For that, we raise our hands to one Nation. We step to the beat of one drum. We march to the beat of one heart and it is
this song that we will sing to this world. We are the people who carry the children on our shoulders in the same way that
our fathers carried us and their fathers carried them. We are the one people united and strong. We are the one people with
certainty, moral certainty. We are invincible and we have no fear because the truth makes us wise.
Well, if conflict is simply air assault on Iranian nuclear facilities that shouldn't be a problem for either party. Israelis/Americans
bomb a bit and then everything goes back to normal. Something as that cruise missile launch on Syria.
That US missile attack on the Syrian airport cost Trump a lot of domestic and international support for zero benefit...
I do not even want to guess at what kind of insanity
Insanity. That's the key. Sick beyond redemption. No rational person could ever begin to understand their motives. Somehow
the jackals need to be restrained.
We see the same usual suspects time and again, waving their pom-poms lustily cheering on endless war that does NOT help or benefit
the USA. In fact, it is destroying our nation economically, spiritually and politically.
From an April 2003 Haaretz article:
The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President
Bush to change the course of history. Two of them, journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, say it's possible.
This is a war of an elite. [Tom] Friedman laughs: I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment
within a five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war
would not have happened.
Yet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to Israel,
you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi, lose
your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show concern
for the nation you love and are loyal to.
Will Americans ever realize they are being played for fools by a country and Zionist con artists which doesn't give a tinkers
damn about us or will we keep jumping up and down to the pom-pom waving?
Of course I hope you're wrong Phil. While Pompeo would be not good, Tillerson has been a big disappointment with his latest
statements on Crimea and Ukraine included.
Cotton would be another matter altogether and even though there is a 'collegial spirit' in the Senate I would hope that Rand
Paul and other senators with common sense would squash this guys nomination. Even if he has to carry himself back from Kentucky,
broken ribs and all, to squash this Neocon stooge Cotton. Also, I'm hopping there are some boys in the closet when it comes to
Cotton. lol
Faith in Bush the OLDER is misplaced. In 1979 he stood shoulder to shoulder w/ Bibi and Benzion Netenyahu, and Midge Decter
& other neocons, in Jerusalem, as they drafted the blueprint for GWOT. Planning went so far as to name the 7 states to take out.
USSR was #1 at the time. Jews got Jews Who had been highly educated at Russian expense – out of Russia, now Russia is back in
the crosshairs.
Americans are stoopid and cowardly fucks for being so easily manipulated by the Jew.
Not so much anymore. Meanwhile, didn't the Muslims spend five years fighting each-other right on the Israeli border? But wait
– they did attack Israel once – and apologised:
"the American public isn't as gullible as before ."
Ha, Ha. You obviously do not live here. 99% of Americans have a flat screen TV installed in their living rooms and believe
everything (jooie managed images and info) spewing forth from it. More than 50% of Americans have multiple flat screen TV
in their homes so they can be sure not to miss the latest disinfo or lies.
The "problem" is that the whole American "business model" is based on global economic supremacy, which means, essentially,
the dollar as world reserve currency. If that goes, the whole US house of cards will probably implode, Soviet-style. That requires
unchallenged American "world leadership". The big threat to the "American model" isn't the EU and certainly not the Russian Federation.
It's China. 1.4 billion people and rapidly heading for global economic hegemony. To say nothing of a rising India at 1.2
billion. At 300 million, the US is small beans. How to ward off the Yellow Peril? That's the problem the US hegemonists had to
resolve.
Yeah, yeah, yeah big bad ISIS. The Israeli Secret Intelligence Service. "Keeping Fools and Idiots At Each Other's Throats".
Since 1950. I don't know what to tell you ..
It's not that difficult to strategize HOW to go about "restraining the jackals." 99 44/100% of what ziocons accuse others of
is projection. They say, "They [_____ Iran, ISIS, Palestinians, Russians - fill in the blank] understand only force." This projects
that the only thing that will restrain psychopathic Israel is force.
When an Iranian nuclear engineer was assassinated in Tehran, Ronen Bergman told Brian Williams that "Israel has used assassination
more than any other state; not even Stalin or Hitler used assassination as much as Israel. . . ."
So far the President has proved much smarter than most people expected him to be
Exactamundo, Ben Frank (any relation to Anne, Princess of the Ballpoint Pen?). Naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel was fucking
brilliant. Don't you worry your pretty little head about all the US forces in the multiple bases in the region that are accessible
to mad-as-hornets Muslims; Israel will have their backs, fer shur.
--
Come to think of it, maybe Trump can burnish his "much smarter-ness" by taking a page out of Reagan's playbook: Immediately
after the first US soldier is plinked by an Angry Arab, Trump should pull ALL US FORCES out of the region: do a Reagan-post-Black
Hawk down.
If the Israelis want to stir the pot, let them stand over the steam-heat and wield the spoon. We're outa there.
The people of the ME can't catch a break. Since being pried away from the Ottoman empire a hundred years ago they've been the
plaything of various western countries. Their national borders drawn up by distant foreigners, they've been interfered with constantly,
their regimes dictated by foreigners. Then the selfsame westerners turn around and point to their backwardness as proof that they're
incapable of doing anything on their own.
The US is expansionist, projecting itself all over the globe and uses force against
anyone who resists. Force is all it understands. What happens when the irresistible force bumps into the immovable object? War
hysteria, of which we've had an unending amount for the past three generations. Objectively there's nothing conservative about
the so-called neocons. They're hardly any different from fascists except the rhetoric is different. Mussolini had limits as to
how much territory he wanted to conquer for his empire unlike the US which recognizes no limits.
it was faint, and barely perceptible, but at some level, I did actually tremble when I read those words. Cotton is the new
John McCain. The ultimate traitor to this nation and its people and all people of good will on the planet and every tenet of decency
known to the universe
a lickspittle to Sheldon Adelson and everything that repulsive toad represents. if Cotton is exalted to head the CIA, I'll
have to think very hard about leaving these shores. perhaps Bobby Fischer was right, and the ZUSA is endemically, irredeemably
evil.
there can be no doubt that the zio-Fiend is the incarnation of evil itself, but I always keep hoping that the good people of
the ZUS will repudiate the zio-Fiend- that has them waging serial wars all over the planet to benefit the Jews. As their infrastructure
crumbles back home, and their veterans can't get health care, and the jobs are 'in' and outsourced to the third world. what will
it take to wake up the bovine, cud-chewing sheople?!
their children come home in body bags, or with their souls so eviscerated by the sheer evil of the wars they're forced to fight,
that they often just 'snuff it' as the only escape from their nightmares. (and the realization that the ZUSA is a drooling fiend
and that they've murdered innocent people and destroyed nations on its behalf)
those young people can not abide the evil that the ZUS government has become, and their only salvation is to end their young
lives.
for those of us with more choices at hand, why can't we finally and simply repudiate the zio-scum who've done us and so many
others so much harm?!
PS If the USA / American people and their representatives conformed foreign as well as economic policy to the vision of George
Washington rather than Louis Brandeis -- > Benjamin Netanyahu & fellow psychopaths and traitors, USA would engage with
OBOR rather than attempt to destroy it.
Destruction (and deception) are the way of the Talmudists. Even Heinrich Graetz, the Germanophilic Jew who authored the first
modern history of the Jewish people, had nothing but opprobrium to heap on Talmudists.
The American 'way' is not the way of the Talmud. Christian values are not Talmudic values. George Washington's
legacy was not Talmudic, it was America First :
doesn't matter, we are still the ones doing the dirty work. there is no escape from the responsibility. it is like a hitman
claiming he is a professional, it is just business. that doesn't fly.
What's with it with neoconservative Israel lackeys like Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz graduating from a prestigious and supposedly left-wing
school like Harvard? Are they book-smart without common sense? The country would be better off if Cotton stayed in the Senate.
He can do less damage if 1 of 100. Plus, the shelf-life of anyone in the Trump admin seems to be very short – and he'd better
not have groped any Harvard classmates, who might just be waiting in the wings to destroy his career.
As recently as a month ago, I was still willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. But it should now be obvious to all what
a total zio-muppet he really is. If there's any silver lining in all of this, it's the fact that the Jew-media have expended so
much effort in attacking Trump that he'll now make a very poor spokesman for their cause abroad.
BTW, I still don't see an attack on Iran as being very likely. If Russia and China would not greenlight an attack on Syria,
they will be doubly reluctant to greenlight an attack on Iran.
The "democracy" the neocons want to push is the one in which (((mass media))) successfully lobotomizes the electorate into
thinking it has democracy. The zombies then make their way to the polls seeking "hope & change" but with no choice. Hegemony is
the goal, not democracy.
Trump may have been skeptical as a candidate about America's role as policeman of the world, but the establishment knives are
out and he might (correctly?) surmise that the only way to stay in office is to make the ziocons happy. Even Bill Kristol would
see the error in never-Trump_vs_deep_state if bombs started falling on Iran.
American has an all volunteer armed forces (mercenary), they are paid to kill or be killed, their fates is only a few seconds
on the screens if the MSM decided to air them, otherwise the wars and the American soldiers' lives have nothing to do with the
American public. Mayhem in far away land in out of sight and out of mind. Citing the American public gullibility is really
a residual sentiment of old days cold war mentality and trying to attach some kind of morality to the wars the American has been
fighting. American has long been demonstrated they are just as morally defunct imperialist as the British and their mentor, the
Romans.
The real issue is how to finance the war, as long as the war does not cause hyper inflation in the USA, the warmongers
in the Washington beltway will go ahead with the war without much concern, with EU, Australia, Japan and S Korea in line paying
the bills, the American should be able to wage another regime change war in the ME without much difficulty.
Tom Cotton is not to be trusted. Many gave US Senator Tom Cotton credit for his offering a bill that would cut legal immigration
in half and would significantly reduce illegal immigration. It is now clear that the immigration reduction ploy proffered by Tom
Cotton was a sneaky way to mollify the White Core American voter base of President Trump.
Tom Cotton is a stooge for Sheldon
Adelson and the Neo-Conservatives. The Neo-Conservatives know they are highly vulnerable on the immigration issue and the national
question. That is why they sent their puppet Tom Cotton out with instructions to bang the pot on reducing immigration.
Recently, the Neo-Conservative-controlled, Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal gave Tom Cotton a half page, above the fold puff
piece where Tom Cotton is said to be offering a foreign policy fit for "Jacksonian America." I think Tom Cotton must be referring
to Michael Jackson or some other Jackson, and not General Andrew Jackson. Having some small portion of Scotch-Irish ancestry
myself, and having ancestors who pioneered Tennessee, I don't think General Andrew Jackson would support the Israel First foreign
policy of Tom Cotton.
IMMIGRATION and the NATIONAL QUESTION are the two things that will finally dislodge the nation-wrecking Neo-Conservatives and
their politician puppets from the ruling class of the American Empire.
Yet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to
Israel, you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi,
lose your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show
concern for the nation you love and are loyal to.
If you remember what happened to Rick Sanchez, the former talking head of NBC and CNN when he was pushed into calling out the
Jew in a 'gotcha' interview as he sarcastically replied that yeah Jews are underrepresented in the media. He was gone in '60 seconds'!
Re: At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be remarkable resilient, particularly as
many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable
hawks, hostile to Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel.
-- -- -- -- -
Of course. The Jewish Neocons and their "useful idiots," whether "bought and paid for" or voluntarily enlisted, are necessarily
"liberal" in relation to domestic policy because the idea is to destroy all Western and Christian norms and values by means of
cultural marxist "critical theory." And it's working very well. The mass media and the educational system have hopelessly corrupted
American and European minds with this profoundly subversive "intellectual" garbage.
And when it comes to foreign policy, of course the Neocons are globalists, like the international bankers whom they serve.
Israel first, because they are not there to defend their country's interests, but to defend Israel's, in accordance with the permanent
goal of Eretz Ysrael and world hegemony in accordance with the ultimate goal of Jewish supremacy via the money power, and
in preparation for their "messiah". It's all disguised as for the sake of American greatness and "our values."
The Neocons are nothing less than a parasitical foreign body which has us thinking in accordance with its interests; in
fact they are mortal enemies, nothing less. The Western goyim–as well as innocent Jews here and in Israel itself–will be
cheerfully sacrificed by the Zionists, who serve darker forces and interests than those of their people. Western humanity has
been rendered helpless because they are intellectually helpless and because in consequence they have been dispossessed of deep
faith and corresponding real virtues. This was noted years ago by Solzhenitsyn, among others. Ideas rule human beings for good
or ill, since we are thinking beings. But when the ideas that determine us are profoundly wrong and when intellectual chaos and
unbridled individualism reign, nothing real can be accomplished. However, in due time vincit omnia veritas –the Real has
the last word. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
North Korea's survival strategy is "If you invade us, we will blow up South Korea and maybe even Tokyo." Ruled by a vile regime
but with rational concern for survival, even if it has no moral right to survive. But then, what is the other option? South Korea
is a puppet state of US globalist empire. If NK was ruled by wiser people, its case would be made more intelligently. It would
tell the world community that it needs for defense given US record in the Middle East and North Africa. But it's ruled by some
egotistical brat-boy whose idea of culture is Dennis Rodman and Rap trash-talking.
As different as NK and Jewish Power, they have one thing in common: WGYG or We Go, You Go. The idea is that if they are destroyed,
they will take others with them.
Jewish Power pulled this off in 2008. When Lehman Brothers wasn't bailed out by the government, Wall Street pushed a 'too big
to fail' scheme and threatened Total Collapse of the Economy UNLESS it was showered with super-generous bailouts that would eventually
come to enrich the banks during a severe recession for most Americans. Bush couldn't do anything about it except go along. Obama
bailed out Wall Street. And McCain would have done the same had he won. Jewish Wall Street power held a gun to the head of
the entire US economy and said 'Give us money, OR we will take ALL OF YOU down with us.'
The system is rigged so that a major collapse of Jewish Power will trigger total collapse of the entire system. It's been wired
that way. The whole tower will collapse. So, if anyone tries to cut the wire of Jewish Power, kaboom, the whole thing blows up,
and everyone dies. Gentiles must carry Jewish Power like a crate of nitroglycerin. One false step and Kaboom.
"Tom [Cotton] is completely owned by the Israeli lobby."
" . . . [Nikki] Haley is stupid. And ambitious. And is also owned by the Israeli lobby . . .".
My knowledge of foreign policy is headline-quality only. My knowledge of some domestic policy is pretty good. I've been
on the public stump in my area. The reality of American policy, as I've seen it, is that it's bought and paid for. There is no
"public interest", no "national interest". I'm not even sure there's an America, in the sense of a people joined by some common
values. Sometimes I think of America as an agglomeration of rackets. You're goddamned right I don't like thinking this way.
There are only insider players who bankroll and blackmail their way into getting the decisions they want. I wish I could say
something high-minded, but I can't.
India and Pakistan have nukes. How would they respond to an Israeli Sampson Option?
How about China? An Izzie attack on European capitals could destroy a lot of Chinese investment. China has sufficient nuclear
capability to detach Israel from the Mediterranean littoral and create an irradiated submerged island.
Does van Crevald think Putin will sit on his hands and wait a thousand years for the dust to clear?
van Crevald says Israel can hit Rome. That's zionism's wet dream, to completely obliterate Rome.
How many Jews live a parasitical life in Rome and other European capitals?
Can Izzies reach USA? Didn't think so. What do they think would happen to hundreds of Jewish institutions, and Jewish people,
in USA if Israel destroys Europe -- again?
People need to let go of the idea that Dump is anything but a conman and a weak one at that
The office of President holds a lot of authority that Dump has not been able [or willing] to wield that speaks to his own weakness
as a leader
It's time to admit that he is not the messiah that many Lunchpail Joes wanted to believe
As to the specifics of this article yes I agree with Mr. Giraldi that the neocons are back in the driver's seat if they ever
left in the first place
Exhibit One is Jared Kushner the Clown Prince of the Shite House. This is the guy who has inflicted most of the damage on Dump
starting with his advice to dump Flynn. Dump was under zero pressure to do any such thing the
neocon Pence is the one who demanded Flynn's head. Dump could have pushed back there was nothing wrong with Flynn the
incoming National Security Adviser speaking to the Russians or anyone else and what he spoke of with the Russians was in lobbying
THEM in the US interest not the other way round
Dump's second big mistake was firing Comey again on the advice of Kushner. Which got the Mueller ball rolling. Some have
rightly drawn the
parallels of Kushner whispering in Dump's ear to the same role of Kissinger vis a vis Nixon's downfall
Then Kushner appeared to connive with his buddy KSA Clown Prince MBS to engineer the Hariri fiasco [which Tillerson managed
to "deftly undo..."]
' Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was accompanying the president during his Asia tour at the time of the Saudi-engineered
initiative, was "completely blindsided" by the move, as several senior Middle East diplomats confirmed to TAC.
While Tillerson would later be accused of being "totally disengaged" from the crisis, several former and current U.S. diplomats
have told us that just precisely the opposite was the case '
' The unlikely hero in all of this might well be Rex Tillerson, who quietly engineered a U.S. policy at odds with the
views of Donald Trump -- and his son-in-law. The exact details of how Tillerson pulled this off remain unknown ("I think
Tillerson just told Trump what he was going to do," the senior diplomat with whom we spoke speculates, "and then just did it.")
'
So that's the backstory right there about why the neocons are agitating for Tillerson's ouster. I have to strongly disagree
with Mr. Giraldi's characterization of Tillerson as
' a somewhat bumbling businessman adept at dealing in energy futures contracts who has been struggling with reducing State's
enormously bloated payroll '
That is a useless statement on many levels Tillerson deftly managed what is arguably America's most important corporation
in what is surely the most strategic and geopolitical global industry energy
The global oil trade is 14 trillion dollars even at today's prices and the petrodollar is the underpinning of the entire
US system a free ride for printing free money because every nation has to buy US dollars to buy or sell oil. In 1971
' I was informed at a White House meeting that U.S. diplomats had let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries know that they
could charge as much as they wanted for their oil, but that the United States would treat it as an act of war not to keep
their oil proceeds in U.S. dollar assets '
This whole saga surrounding Dump's readiness to tie the can to Tillerson is proof positive if any more were needed that conman
Dump has been a fake from the beginning
If the neocons are ascendant and back in the driver's seat it is no one's fault but the Dumpster
He has cast his lot with Kushner who appears to be the neocons' Trojan Horse
There can be no more sympathy or understanding anymore for Dump
If we recall his campaign rhetoric of 'draining the swamp' and rebuilding America's failing infrastructure improving relations
with Russia all good things
we must also recall that he has been vehemently anti-Iran from the get-go
One has to ask why ?
Iran is a completely Israeli-owned issue Iran has nothing to do with the interests of the US other than to benefit leading
US industries like aircraft manufacturing which were immediately rewarded with a $100 billion order of Boeing aircraft in the
aftermath of the Obama nuclear deal
That vehement anti-Iran attitude even on the campaign trail should have been a red flag to everyone
Even Hellary would have been better in that regard and as for the Russia 'issue' what could Hellary or the US to do Russia
anyway ?
Militarily nothing even in Syria the US military would certainly not go for an open war against Russia neither would the regional
players hosting US bases which would need to be on board for such an adventure
same goes for the breakaway region of eastern Ukraine
Germany and France are anyway moving closer to Russia, which has de facto established itself as an energy distribution superpower
for the continent and for China
The big picture is that the petrodollar and the free ride for US prosperity is living on borrowed time China is the world's
biggest energy importer and is not going to support the petrodollar forever
Already an alternative financial architecture is being built and the BRICS countries now outpace the combined GDP of the G7
so the writing is on the wall
Dump has shown himself to be a conman first and an incredibly weak president he deserves no sympathy or support
The neocons are of course insane they are picking fights with Iran, Venezuela and others who are going to be the first
to ditch the petrodollar and accelerate the tipping point to the new global financial order that is going to impoverish the US
overnight
The same neocons are also the ones who are undermining US demographics because their Ponzi scheme economy is based on perpetual
growth which, in turn, requires perpetual population growth which means more immigration. Also the immigration keeps the wages
low which is just extra gravy for the Plutocracy
The US will be a white-minority country by 2050 much of the Southwest already is
None of that is going to change when the party is over and the Titanic sinks the handful of necons and Plutocrats will have
their lifeboats ready
The US official religion is neoliberalism not Christianity. Christianity is in sharp decline.
Notable quotes:
"... Where evangelicals emphasize asking God for forgiveness, Trump says, "I am not sure I have. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't." ..."
"... Compare these remarks to the more earnest faith of President George W. Bush, who claimed divine consultation before invading Iraq, or the incessant God-talk of candidates like Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin and Ben Carson ..."
"... Since then, it's hard to see what benefit America's strong leaning toward theocracy has had. Comparing 17 first-world prosperous democracies on a number of societal health measures, social scientist Gregory S. Paul found that the most religious country of them all-the United States -- had by far the worse measures on a number of criteria, including the highest rates of homicides, suicides, incarceration, STDs, teen pregnancies, abortions, divorce, alcohol consumption, corruption, poverty and income inequality. Correlation is not causation, of course. ..."
"... "Seems to me Donald has been doing a lot more God talk since taking office, " I agree 1,000% – which just validates my view that Trump is all bullsh*ter. Elmer Gantry comes to mind ..."
"... And another point – it strikes me that those saying Trump is a liar misses the point – Trump is more like a parrot in that Trump will say (parrot) whatever he believes is necessary to get the cracker (though I didn't intend "cracker" to mean racists, but merely a reward, I note one can interpret that as one wishes .). ..."
"... PAUL JAY: Under the protection of God, America, we'll use the Mother of All Bombs and fight without restraint. That's the message Donald wanted to send, and perhaps that's the message this bomb was meant to deliver in Afghanistan. ..."
"... Pointing out hypocrisy misses the point because it's never been about religious doctrine as much as trying to belong to something and have purpose. Trump can miss every question about angels dancing on heads of pins, and it won't matter. Trump in his own way embraced the evangelicals. In effect, Hillary said she wanted the non-evangelical republicans who are so smart and moderate. ..."
"... In "The Merchant of Venice" (Act 1, Scene 3), Antonio says, "even the devil can cite scripture for his own use." This is all they need because it's not about scripture and never has been. ..."
"... You and Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" ..."
This Sunday [Easter], tens of millions of American Christians will celebrate Easter, and thousands of children and their families
will descend on the White House to take part in the annual Easter Egg Roll. As the festivities spill over the grounds of 1600
Penn., I wonder if anyone will stop to note the obvious irony: That President Donald J. Trump is very likely the least religious
president to occupy the White House since Thomas Jefferson.
I'm not saying Trump is a closeted atheist, but he's no evangelical. As a self-proclaimed Protestant, or Presbyterian, or something
he describes as "a wonderful religion," Trump nominally attends the nondenominational Marble Collegiate Church in New York City.
Where evangelicals emphasize asking God for forgiveness, Trump says, "I am not sure I have. I think if I do something wrong,
I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."
Compare these remarks to the more earnest
faith of President George W. Bush, who claimed divine consultation before invading Iraq, or the incessant God-talk of candidates
like Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin and Ben Carson.
Since then, it's hard to see what benefit America's strong leaning toward theocracy has had. Comparing 17 first-world prosperous
democracies on a number of societal health measures, social scientist Gregory S. Paul found that the most religious country of
them all-the United States -- had by far the worse measures on a number of criteria, including the highest rates of homicides, suicides,
incarceration, STDs, teen pregnancies, abortions, divorce, alcohol consumption, corruption, poverty and income inequality. Correlation
is not causation, of course. But if religion is suppose to be such a powerful force for societal health, then why is America-the
most religious nation in the Western world-also the unhealthiest on all of these important social measures?***
===================================================
I almost posted this yesterday, but I thought that would be churlish.
I read Trump's "religious" remarks and find them extremely off putting. Than I read the religious remarks of other repubs, and
I find them EVEN MORE off putting .
***Teen pregnancy – so much for the solemn pledges of abstinence made by teenagers .*** ***
*** *** What is it with the US? How can anybody in hypersexualized America really believe American teens are gonna keep it in
their pants?
"Seems to me Donald has been doing a lot more God talk since taking office, "
I agree 1,000% – which just validates my view that Trump is all bullsh*ter. Elmer Gantry comes to mind.
And another point – it strikes me that those saying Trump is a liar misses the point – Trump is more like a parrot in that Trump
will say (parrot) whatever he believes is necessary to get the cracker (though I didn't intend "cracker" to mean racists, but
merely a reward, I note one can interpret that as one wishes .).
PAUL JAY: Under the protection of God, America, we'll use the Mother of All Bombs and fight without restraint. That's the message
Donald wanted to send, and perhaps that's the message this bomb was meant to deliver in Afghanistan.
From my experience with Catholic school and church, I've long since determined "god talk" isn't as relevant as "us v. them"
talk. Hillary's "deplorable" statement was just an affirmation of a view many "Christians" believe is held about them.
Pointing out hypocrisy misses the point because it's never been about religious doctrine as much as trying to belong to something
and have purpose. Trump can miss every question about angels dancing on heads of pins, and it won't matter. Trump in his own way
embraced the evangelicals. In effect, Hillary said she wanted the non-evangelical republicans who are so smart and moderate.
In "The Merchant of Venice" (Act 1, Scene 3), Antonio says, "even the devil can cite scripture for his own use." This is all
they need because it's not about scripture and never has been.
Why were enslaved Africans in the American South so religious?
Actually, they weren't all that religious. The slave owners allowed them time off on Sunday for religious services. The slaves
were savvy enough to make sure that "services" were an all-day affair. Even meals and socialization were woven into the Sunday
religious celebrations. That practice is the genesis of many AME and AME-Z all day (or most of the day) Sunday services today.
(I learned that bit of information in my Black Religion college course many years ago.)
You and Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.
It is the opium of the people"
"... Fred: It's assuming that the "professional diplomats" who gave us the Iraq War and the Maiden Demonstrations in Ukraine call Trump irresponsible! I think Trump is doing a Gulfies. Besides the Mother of Arms Deals with the Kingdom of Horrors, he's just got Bahrain to buy another batch of F-16's they don't need. ..."
"... Trump said he was going to make the Gulfies pay for our protection. And that is what he is doing. Now if he could only make the Zionists pay..... ..."
On this side of the water, my prediction that Tillerson would be gone by end of year appears
to be coming true.
Reports say Trump is going to throw Tillerson under the bus - like all his other
supporters - and replace him with CIA's Mike Pompeo. Senator Cotter - a torture and drone
advocate - will replace Pompeo at CIA
So now we'll have a CIA head in charge at State. I'm totally sure that will improve US
diplomacy with North Korea, Russia, China, etc...
Those people who kept saying Trump had some master plan to save us were right - it entails
throwing out anyone NOT advocating war with most of the nuclear powers on the planet.
Zizi controlled US media, like the NYT and CNN really want Rex Tillerson out, they are paving
the way for him to leave, and have decided who they like to replace him, both candidates for
the state and CIA are supper neocon protectors of Zionism in US, and totally anti Iran.
This is the second, or perhaps third, report of Tillerson getting "thrown under the bus".
I would say the Borg are having their policy narrative systematicly destroyed by Trump and
they are desperate to at least create, or at least maintain, an image of turmoil in the
executive branch.
Do you think that POTUS ordered CENTCOM to cut off arms supplies to the Kurds in order to
start a war with nuclear powers? It seems to me this action does the complete opposite of
that - it dramatically reduces the chance of war with Russia.
"Those people who kept saying Trump had some master plan to save us were right" Maybe not a master plan, but Trump may well be marching to a tune that you can not
hear. Take his refusal to certify the JCPOA as stipulated by Congress.
Q: Did he follow that up by tearing up the JCPOA?
A: No, he didn't. He threw the problem back to Congress, who look like a deer caught in some
headlights.
He is also expected (either this time or the next) to refuse to sign the waiver regarding
moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
Q: Will he then follow up by actually, you know, moving that embassy?
A: My guess is he won't, and he'll dare Congress to make something of it.
I really think that there is a pattern to his behaviour, and it isn't the behaviour of a
slave to "the establishment". It looks more like he is throwing that establishment off-balance by saying, in essence,
that he isn't interested in playing their silly games, and by doing so he exposes those games
as.... silly.
Certifying the JCPOA is a burden, and he simply shrugs it off.
Waiving the Embassy move is a burden, and he'll just shrug it off. Every time he does so he exposes Congressional politicking that are an irrelevance - an
instance of Congress sticking its nose where it doesn't belong - and that's no bad thing. Just my take, but I really don't think Trump is who you think he is.
Fred: It's assuming that the "professional diplomats" who gave us the Iraq War and the Maiden
Demonstrations in Ukraine call Trump irresponsible! I think Trump is doing a Gulfies. Besides the Mother of Arms Deals with the Kingdom of
Horrors, he's just got Bahrain to buy another batch of F-16's they don't need.
Trump said he was going to make the Gulfies pay for our protection. And that is what he is
doing. Now if he could only make the Zionists pay.....
"... "President Trump instructed [his generals] in a very open way that the YPG will no longer be given weapons. He openly said
that this absurdity should have ended much earlier ," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters after the phone call. ..."
"... The YPG is the Syrian sister organization of the Turkish-Kurdish terror group PKK. Some weapons the U.S. had delivered to the
YPK in Syria to fight the Islamic State have been recovered from PKK fighters in Turkey who were out to kill Turkish security personal.
Despite that, supply for the YPG continued. In total over 3,500 truckloads were provided to it by the U.S. military. Only recently the
YPK received some 120 armored Humvees , mine clearance vehicles and other equipment. ..."
"... The generals in the White House and other parts of the administration were caught flat-footed by the promise Trump has made.
The Washington Post writes : "Initially, the administration's national security team appeared surprised by the Turks' announcement and
uncertain what to say about it. The State Department referred questions to the White House, and hours passed with no confirmation from
the National Security Council." ..."
"... The U.S. military uses the YPG as proxy power in Syria to justify and support its occupation of north-east Syria, The intent
of the occupation is , for now, to press the Syrian government into agreeing to a U.S. controlled "regime change": ..."
"... When in 2014 the U.S. started to use Kurds in Syria as its foot-soldiers, it put the YPG under the mantle of the so called
Syrian Democratic Forces and paid some Syrian Arabs to join and keep up the subterfuge. This helped to counter the Turkish argument
that the U.S. was arming and supporting terrorists. But in May 2017 the U.S. announced to arm the YPG directly without the cover of
the SDF. The alleged purpose was to eliminate the Islamic State from the city of Raqqa. ..."
"... A spokesperson of the SDF, the ethnic Turkman Talaf Silo, recently defected and went over to the Turkish side. The Turkish
government is certainly well informed about the SDF and knows that its political and command structure is dominated by the YPK. The
whole concept is a sham. ..."
"... Sometimes it's hard to see if Trump actually believed what he was saying about foreign policy on the campaign trail -- but
either way it doesn't matter much as he seems incapable of navigating the labyrinth of the Deep State even if he had in independent
thought in his head. I don't expect US weapons to stop making their way into Kurdish hands as they try to extend their mini-Israel-with-oil
foothold in Syria. But it would certainly be a welcome sight if the US left Syria alone for once! ..."
"... Trump personally sent General Flynn to recruit back Erdogan and the Turks right before the election. Flynn wrote his now infamous
editorial "Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support" and published in "The Hill". http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/foreign-policy/305021-our-ally-turkey-is-in-crisis-and-needs-our-support
..."
"... But if you know the role he played for Trump in the campaign and then the post-election role as soon to be NSC advisor, you
will see that Trump was sending him to bring Turkey back into the fold after the coup attempt by CIA, Gulen and Turkey's AF and US State
Dept failed. ..."
"... Trump wanted to prevent the Turkish Stream. It was a huge rival to his LNG strategy. All these are why Flynn did what he did
for Trump. Now Trump has to battle CIA and State, as well as the CENTCOM-Israeli plans for insurgencies in Syria. It's not just the
Kurd issue or the other needs of NATO to hold the bases in Turkey. It's the whole southwest containment of Russian gas and Russian naval
power, and the reality of sharing the Mediterranean as well as MENA with the Bear. ..."
"... Furthermore, I've always been suspicious of Erdogan's 'turn' toward Russia. Many have suspected that the attempted coup was
staged by Erdogan (with CIA help?) so as to enable Erdogan to remain in office. IMO Erdogan joined the 'Assad must go!' effort not just
because he benefited from the oil trade but because he leans toward Sunnis (Surely he was aware of the thinking that: the road to Tehran
runs through Damascus .) ..."
President Trump is attempting to calm down the U.S.
conflict with Turkey . The
military junta in the White House has different
plans. It now attempts to circumvent the decision the president communicated to his Turkish counterpart. The result will be more
Turkish-U.S. acrimony.
Yesterday the Turkish foreign minister surprisingly
announced a phone call
President Trump had held with President Erdogan of Turkey.
United States President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone on Nov. 24 only days after
a Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria, with Ankara saying that Washington has pledged not to send weapons to the People's Protection
Units (YPG) any more .
"President Trump instructed [his generals] in a very open way that the YPG will no longer be given weapons. He openly said
that this absurdity should have ended much earlier ," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters after the phone call.
Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited
in the Middle East. I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!
12:04 PM - 24 Nov 2017
During the phone call Trump must have escaped his minders for a moment and promptly tried to make, as announced, peace with Erdogan.
The issue of arming the YPG is really difficult for Turkey to swallow. Ending that would probably make up for the
recent NATO blunder of presenting the founder of modern Turkey Kemal Atatürk and Erdogan himself as enemies.
The YPG is the Syrian sister organization of the Turkish-Kurdish terror group PKK. Some weapons the U.S. had delivered to
the YPK in Syria to fight the Islamic State have been
recovered from PKK fighters in Turkey who were out to kill Turkish security personal. Despite that, supply for the YPG continued.
In total over
3,500 truckloads
were provided to it by the U.S. military. Only recently the YPK received
some 120 armored Humvees ,
mine clearance vehicles and other equipment.
The generals in the White House and other parts of the administration were caught flat-footed by the promise Trump has made.
The Washington Post
writes : "Initially, the administration's national security team appeared surprised by the Turks' announcement and uncertain
what to say about it. The State Department referred questions to the White House, and hours passed with no confirmation from the
National Security Council."
The White House finally released what the Associated Presscalled :
a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed the Turk of "pending adjustments to the military support
provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."
Neither a read-out of the call nor the statement AP refers to are currently available on the White House website.
The U.S. military uses the YPG as proxy power in Syria to justify and support
its
occupation of north-east Syria, The intent of the occupation is , for now,
to press the Syrian government into agreeing to a U.S. controlled "regime change":
U.S. officials have said they plan to keep American troops in northern Syria -- and continue working with Kurdish fighters --
to pressure Assad to make concessions during peace talks brokered by the United Nations in Geneva, stalemated for three years
now. "We're not going to just walk away right now," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week.
To solidify its position the U.S. needs to further build up and strengthen its YPG mercenary forces.
When in 2014 the U.S. started to use Kurds in Syria as its foot-soldiers, it put the YPG under the mantle of the so called
Syrian Democratic Forces and paid some Syrian Arabs to join and keep up the subterfuge. This helped to counter the Turkish argument
that the U.S. was arming and supporting terrorists. But in May 2017 the U.S.
announced
to arm the YPG directly without the cover of the SDF. The alleged purpose was to eliminate the Islamic State from the city of Raqqa.
The YPG had been unwilling to fight for the Arab city unless the U.S. would provide it with more money, military supplies and
support. All were provided. The U.S. special forces, who control the YPG fighters, directed an immense amount of aerial and artillery
ammunition against the city. Any potential enemy position was destroyed by large ammunition and intense bombing before the YPG infantry
proceeded. In the end few YPG fighters died in the fight. The Islamic State was let go or eliminated from the city but
so was the city of Raqqa . The intensity
of the bombardment of the medium size city was at times ten
times greater than the bombing in all of Afghanistan. Airwarsreported :
Since June, an estimated 20,000 munitions were fired in support of Coalition operations at Raqqa . Images captured by journalists
in the final days of the assault show a city in ruins
Several thousand civilians were killed in the indiscriminate onslaught.
The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is defeated. It no longer holds any ground. There is no longer any justification to further
arm and supply the YPG or the dummy organization SDF.
But the generals want to continue to do so to further their larger plans. They are laying grounds to circumvent their president's
promise. The Wall Street Journal seems to be the only outlet to
pick up on the subterfuge:
President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to stop sending weapons directly to Kurdish militants battling Islamic State
in Syria, dealing a political blow to the U.S.'s most reliable ally in the civil war, officials said Friday.
...
The Turkish announcement came as a surprise in Washington, where military and political officials in Mr. Trump's administration
appeared to be caught off-guard. U.S. military officials said they had received no new guidance about supplying weapons to the
Kurdish forces. But they said there were no immediate plans to deliver any new weapons to the group. And the U.S. can continue
to provide the Kurdish forces with arms via the umbrella Syrian militant coalition
The "military officials" talking to the WSJ have found a way to negate Trump's promise. A spokesperson of the SDF, the ethnic
Turkman Talaf Silo, recently
defected and went over to the Turkish side. The Turkish government is certainly well informed about the SDF and knows that its
political and command structure is dominated by the YPK. The whole concept is a sham.
But the U.S. needs the YPG to keep control of north-east Syria. It has to continue to provide whatever the YPG demands, or it
will have to give up its larger scheme against Syria.
The Turkish government will soon find out that the U.S. again tried to pull wool over its eyes. Erdogan will be furious when he
discovers that the U.S. continues to supply war material to the YPG, even when those deliveries are covered up as supplies for the
SDF.
The Turkish government released
a photograph showing
Erdogan and five of his aids taking Trump's phonecall. Such a release and the announcement of the call by the Turkish foreign minister
are very unusual. Erdogan is taking prestige from the call and the public announcement is to make sure that Trump sticks to his promise.
This wide publication will also increase Erdogan's wrath when he finds out that he was again deceived.
Posted by b on November 25, 2017 at 12:14 PM |
Permalink
Sometimes it's hard to see if Trump actually believed what he was saying about foreign policy on the campaign trail -- but
either way it doesn't matter much as he seems incapable of navigating the labyrinth of the Deep State even if he had in independent
thought in his head. I don't expect US weapons to stop making their way into Kurdish hands as they try to extend their mini-Israel-with-oil
foothold in Syria. But it would certainly be a welcome sight if the US left Syria alone for once!
Some
interpret this act on Election eve as a pecuniary fulfillment by Flynn of a lobbying contract (which existed).
But if you know the role he played for Trump in the campaign and then the post-election role as soon to be NSC advisor,
you will see that Trump was sending him to bring Turkey back into the fold after the coup attempt by CIA, Gulen and Turkey's AF
and US State Dept failed.
Flynn understood the crucial need for US and NATO to hold Turkey and prevent the Russians from getting Erdogan as an ally for
Syria and the Black Sea, the Balkans and Mediterranean as well as Iran, Qatar and Eurasia. Look at what has transpired between
Turkey and Russia since. Gas will be flowing through the Turkish Stream and Erdogan conforms to Putin's wishes.
Trump wanted to prevent the Turkish Stream. It was a huge rival to his LNG strategy. All these are why Flynn did what he
did for Trump. Now Trump has to battle CIA and State, as well as the CENTCOM-Israeli plans for insurgencies in Syria. It's not
just the Kurd issue or the other needs of NATO to hold the bases in Turkey. It's the whole southwest containment of Russian gas
and Russian naval power, and the reality of sharing the Mediterranean as well as MENA with the Bear.
Flynn was on it for Trump. And the IC and State want him prosecuted for defying their efforts to replace Erdogan with a stooge
like Gulen. It looks like Mueller is pursuing that against the General.
Its not a problem for US to drop Kurds if they are no longer needed, BUT for now they are essential for US/Israel/Saudi goals,
therefore you can bet 100% Kurds support will continue. Trump's order (he hasn't made it official either) will be easily circumvented.
The real question is, what Resistance will do with the backstabbing Kurds? It wont be easy to make a deal while Kurds
maintain absurd demands and as long as they have full Axis of Terror support.
Go Iraq's way like they reclaimed Kirkuk? US might have sitten out that one, I doubt they'll allow this to happen in Syria
as well, unless they get something in return.
While America's standard duplicity of saying one thing while doing the opposite has been known for decades, they have been able
to play games mainly because of the weakness of the other actors in the region.
The tables have turned now, but America still thinks it holds top dog position.
Wordplay, semantics and legal loopholes wont be tolerated for very long, and when hundreds of US boots return home in body bags
a choice will have to be made - escalate, or run away.
Previous behavior dictates run away, but times have changed.
A cornered enemy is the most dangerous, and the USA has painted itself into a very small corner...
Gee. While reading B's article what got to my mind is: "Turkey is testing the ground". Whatever Trump said to Erdogan on the phone,
it seems to me that the Turks are playing a card to see how the different actors in the US that seems to follow different agendas
will react. If Turkey concludes that the US will continue to back YPG, it's split from the US and will be definitive.
Erdogan is shifting away from US/NATO. He even hinted today that he might talk to Assad. That's huge! I wouldn't be surprised
if Turkey leaves NATO sooner than later. And if it's the case, it will be a major move of a tectonic amplitude.
Trump.. "Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited
in the Middle East. I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!"
Surely by now Erdogan must realise that whatever the US President says and promises will be circumvented by the State Department,
the Pentagon, the 17 US intel agencies (including the CIA and the NSA) and rogue individuals in these and other US government
departments and agencies, and in Congress as well (Insane McCain comes to mind)? Not to mention the fact that the Israeli government
and the pro-Israeli lobby on Capitol Hill exercise huge influence over sections of the US government.
If Erdogan hasn't figured out the schizoid behaviour of the US from past Turkish experience and the recent experience of Turkey's
neighbours (and the Ukraine is one such neighbour), he must not be receiving good information.
Though as Jean says, perhaps Erdogan is giving the US one last chance to demonstrate that it has a coherent and reliable policy
towards the Middle East.
Well, the US policy has been coherent and reliable in the last years. It enhanced local conflicts, supported both sides at
the same time but with different intensities. Whoever wins would be "our man". Old stuff since the Byzantine period. It always
takes a lot of time to prove the single actions that were done. In most cases we learn about it years later. The delay is so big
and unpleasant that quite a number of folks escapes to stupid narratives that explain everything in one step, and therefore nothing.
By the way: is the interest of Kurds to remain under the umbrella of the Syrian state but not be governed by Baath type of Arabic
nationalism illegitimate?
The Kurds (PKK basically) are only necessary to give a "face" to the force the US is trying to align in E. Syria. The "fighting"
against ISIS (if there really was any) is coming to a close. The Chiefs of ISIS have been airlifted to somewhere nearby, and the
foreign mercenary forces sent elsewhere by convoy. ALL the valuable personnel have now become "HTS2" with reversible vests. These,
plus the US special forces are the basis of a new armed anti-Syrian force. (Note that one general let slip that there are 5'000
US forces in E-Syria - not the 500 spoken of in the MSM).
So Trump may well be correct in saying that the Kurds (specifically) will not get any more arms - because they have other demands
and might make peace with the Syrian Government, to keep at least some part of their territorial gains. The ISIS "bretheren" and
foreign mercenaries do not want any peaceful solution because it would mean their elimination.. So The CIA and Pentagon will probably
continue arms supplies to "HTS2" - but not the Kurds.
(ex-ISIS members; Some are from Saudi Arabia, Qatar - the EU and the US, as well as parts of Russia and China. They are not
farming types but will find themselves with some of the best arable land in Syria. Which belonged to Syrian-arabs-christians-Druzes-Yadzis
etc. Who wil want their properties back.)
Note that the US forces at Tanf are deliberately not letting humanitarian help reach the nearby refugee camp. Starvation and
deprivation will force many of the younger members to become US paid terrorists.
thanks b.. i tend to agree with @4 jean and @5 jen... the way i see it, there is either a real disconnect inside the usa where
the president gets to say one thing, but another part of the establishment can do another, or trump has made his last lie to turkey
here and turkey is going to say good bye to it's involvement with the usa in any way that can be trusted.. seems like some kind
of internal usa conflict to me at this point, but maybe it is all smoke and mirrors to continue on with the same charade.. i mostly
think internal usa conflict at this point..
Odd that no one has mentioned the fact the US was behind the attempted coup, where Erdogan was on a plane with two rogue Syrian
jets that stood down rather than execute the kill shot. I have read opinion that the fighter pilots were "lit up" by Russian missile
batteries and informed by radio they would not survive unless they shut down their weapons targeting immediately. This is probably
a favour Putin reminds Erdogan of on a regular basis, whenever Erdo tries to play Sultan. The attempted coup/asassination also
shows Erdogan exactly how much he can trust the US/Zionists at any level.
And Edrogan must also know Syria was once at least partly in the US-orbit, as Syria was the destination for many well-documented
US-ordered rendition/torture cases. It is probable Mossad (or their proxy thugs) killed Assad's father and older brother, so Erdo
knows he's better relying on Putin than Trumpty Dumbdy.
Erdogan is about to make a u-turn toward Syria. He is furious at Saudi Arabia for boycotting its ally Qatar, for talking about
owning Sunni Islam and by the continuous support of Islamists and Sunni Kurds in Syria.
Erdogan is preparing the turkish public opinion to a shift away from the USA-Israeli axis. This may get him many points in the
2019 election if the war in Syria is stopped, most Syrian refugees are back, Turkish companies are involved in the reconstruction
and the YPG neutralized. Erdogan has 1 year and half to make this to happen. For that he badly needs Bashar al Assad and his army
on his side.
Therefore he is evaluating what is the next move and he needs to know where the USA is standing about Turkey and Syria. Until
now the messages from the USA are contradictory yet Erdogan keeps telling his supporters that the USA is plotting against Turkey
and against Islam. Erdogan's reputation also is been threatened by the outcome of Reza Zarrab's trial in the US where the corruption
of his party may be exposed.
That is why Erdogan is making another check about the US intentions before Erdogan he starts the irreversible shift toward
the Iran-Russia (+Qatar and Syria) axis.
missing in this analysis is oil gas ... producers, refiners, slavers, middle crooks, and the LNG crowd :Israel, Fracking, LNG
and wall street... these are the underlying directing forces that will ultimately dictate when the outsiders have had enough fight
against Assad over Assad's oil and Assad's refusal to allow outsiders to install their pipelines. Until then, gangland intelligence
agencies will continue the divide, destroy and conquer strategies sufficient to keep the profits flowing. The politicians cannot
move until the underlying corruptions resolve..
The word 'byzantine' has been used for centuries to describe the intricate and multi-leveled forms of agreement, betrayal, treachery
and achievement among the shifting power brokers in the region. The US alone has three major and another three minor players at
work - often fighting each other. If however, it thinks it can outplay people whose lives are steeped in such a living tradition,
it is sadly deluded and will one day be in for a very rude surprise. Even the Russians have had difficulty navigating that maze.
When confronted with such a 'Gordian knot' of treachery and shifting alliances, Alexander the Great drew his sword and cut
through it with a vision informed by the sage Socrates as taught by Aristotle.
Despite claiming to represent such a western heritage, the US has no such Socratic wisdom, no Aristotelian logic, and no visionary
leadership that could enable it to do what Alexander did. Lacking this, it is destined to get lost in its' own hubris, and be
consumed by our current version of that region's gordian knot.
'...By the way: is the interest of Kurds to remain under the umbrella of the Syrian state but not be governed by Baath type
of Arabic nationalism illegitimate?..'
...showing that he either knows only the crap spouted by wikipedia...or nothing at all about the Baath party...
...which happens to be a socialist and secular party interested in pan-Arab unity...not nationalism...[an obvious oxymoron
to be pan-national and 'nationalist' at the same time...]
Of course there is always a 'better way'...right Hausmaus...?
The Baath socialism under Saddam in Iraq was no good for anyone we recall...especially women, students, sick people etc...
A 'better way' has since been installed and it is working beautifully...all can agree...
Same thing in Libya...where the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was no good for anyone...
Of course everyone wanted the 'Better Way'...all those doctoral graduates with free education and guaranteed jobs...a standard
of living better than some European countries...etc...
Again...removing the 'socialist' Kadafi has worked out wonderfully...
We now have black African slaves sold in open air markets...where before they did all the broom pushing that was beneath the
dignity of the Libyan Arabs...
...and were quite happy to stay there and have a job and paycheck...instead of now flooding the shores of Italy in anything
that can float...
Oh yes...why would anyone in Syria want to be governed by the socialist Baath party...?
...especially the Kurds...who just over the border in Turkey are not even recognized as humans...never mind speaking their
own language...
I'd really hoped that Donald Trump® would be the "outsider" that both the MSM and he have been insisting he is for the past couple
of years. Other than the Reality TV Show faux conflicts with which the MSM entertains us nightly, I see no such "rogue" Administration.
This say one thing, and do the other has been US foreign policy forever.
Recall, for instance that on February 21, 2014, Obama's State Department issued a statement hailing Ukrainian President Yanukovych
for signing an agreement with the "pro-democracy Maidan Protest" leaders in which he acquiesced to all of their demands.
Then, on February 22, 2014, the US State Department cheered the "peaceful and Constitutional" coup after neo-nazis stormed
the Parliament.
A few months later, Secretary of State Kerry hailed the Minsk Treaty to end the war in Ukraine. Later that day, Vickie Nuland
said there was no way her Ukies would stop shelling civilians, and sure enough they didn't (until they'd been on the retreat for
weeks, and came whimpering back to the negotiations table).
A couple years later, Kerry announced that the US and Russia would coordinate aerial assaults in Syria. The next day, "Defense"
Secretary Carter said, "no way," and within a week or so, we "accidentally" bombed Syrian forces at Deir ez Zoir for over an hour.
From my perspective, they keep us chasing the next squirrel, while bickering amongst each other about each squirrel. But the
wolves are still devouring the lambs, with only the Bear preventing a complete extinction.
What we know with at least some level of confidence...
Dump is not the 'decider'...the junta is...he's just a cardboard cutout sitting behind the oval office desk...
And he's got no one to blame but himself...he came in talking a big game about cleaning house and got himself cleaned out of
being an actual president...
This was inevitable from the moment he caved on Flynn...the only person he didn't need to vet with the senate...and a position
that wields a lot of power...
This was his undoing on many levels...not only because he faced a hostile deep state and even his own party in congress with
no one by his side [other than Flynn]...
...but because it showed that he had no balls and would not stand by his man...
This is not the stuff leaders are made of...
The same BS we see with Turkey is playing out with Russia on the Ukraine issue...
Now the junta and their enablers in congress want to start sending offensive arms to Ukraine...Dump and his platitudes to Putin...no
matter how much he may mean it...mean nothing...he's not in charge...
I think that Jean @4 has the best take on this: Erdoğan went very public on Trump's "promise" in a classic put-up-or-shut-up challenge
to the USA.
Either the word of a POTUS means something or it doesn't, and if it doesn't then Turkey is going to join Russia in concluding
that the USA as simply not-agreement-capable.
Erdoğan will then say "enough!!!", give the USA the two-finger-salute, and then take Turkey out of NATO.
And the best thing about it will be that McMaster, Kelly and Mathis will be so obsessed with playing their petty little games
that they won't see it coming.
It's hard to tell what Erdoğan is doing or intending other than that he is navigating something - objective TBD. It'll be interesting
to see if he constrains the use of Incirlik airbase should the US keep arming the YPG/PKK forces. Airpower is the enabler (sole
enabler, IMO) of the/any Kurdish overreach inside Syria. Seems like Erdoğan holds the ace card in this muddle but has yet to play
it.
Seems like Turkey has more than one card to play. A commenter on another site mentioned recently that the US really doesn't
want Erdogan to have that S-400 system from Russia. Got me thinking, could Russia have deliberately loaded Erdogan's hand with
that additional card to help him negotiate with the US?
Turkey may well leave NATO and as others have pointed out, this would be a game changer far beyond the matter of the US's illegal
presence in NE Syria. This possibility brings immense existential gravitas to Erdogan's position right now. He could ask
for many concessions at this point, not to leave. And from the Eurasian point of view, it doesn't matter if he leaves or stays,
while from the western view, it matters greatly.
Would the US give up Syria, in order to keep Turkey in NATO? It's a western dichotomy, not one that affects Asia. It would
be simple to throw S-400 at that dynamic to watch it squirm.
The plays the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.
- Hamlet
As the endgame plays out, Erdogan's conscience may be revealed.
b has made the point that the partition that US-led proxy forces have carved out is unsustainable. But it would be sustainable
if Erdogan can be convinced to allow trade via Turkey.
For that reason, I thought Trump's ceasing direct military aid to the Kurds made sense as it provided Erdogan with an excuse
to allow land routes for trade/supply. Erdogan can argue that he wants to encourage such good behavior and doesn't want to make
US an enemy (Turkey is still a NATO country).
Furthermore, I've always been suspicious of Erdogan's 'turn' toward Russia. Many have suspected that the attempted coup
was staged by Erdogan (with CIA help?) so as to enable Erdogan to remain in office. IMO Erdogan joined the 'Assad must go!' effort
not just because he benefited from the oil trade but because he leans toward Sunnis (Surely he was aware of the thinking that:
the road to Tehran runs through Damascus .)
Hasn't Erdogan's vehement anti-Kurdish stance done R+6 a disservice? It seems to me that it has helped USA to convince
Kurds to fight for them and has also been a convenient excuse for Erdogan to hold onto Idlib where al Queda forces have refuge.
If Erdogan was really soooo angry with Washington, and soooo dependent on Moscow, then why not relax his anti-Kurdish
stance so as to bring Kurds back into the Syrian orbit?
Jackrabbit @20:
Erdogan may feel that if he relaxed his stance against the Syrian Kurds, it could embolden Turkish Kurds to further pursue their
agenda. It would also make him appear weak towards his supporters.
Erdogan is NOT going to leave NATO. Why should he? It would be the stupidest chess move ever? He's in the club and they can't
kick him out. He can cause all the trouble he wants and hobble that huge machine that is the western alliance. He will not get
EU membership, but he has his NATO ID CARD and that ain't bad. Erdo now knows that the poor bastard Trumps is WORTHLESS that he
is a toothless executive in name only. This is a wake up call, if I were Erdo, I would be very afraid of the USA and it's Syria,
MENA policy. It is being run by LUNATICS and is a slow moving train wreak. So for now, Erdo must be looking at Moscow, admiring
Putin for this is a man who has his shit together and truly knows how to run a country. Maybe even a sense of admiration and more
respect for Putin is even present. If I were Erdo, I'd double down in my support for Russia's Syria policy.
You do not get it:
„...which happens to be a socialist and secular party interested in pan-Arab unity...not nationalism..."
According to this ideology the coherence of a society comes from where? And who is excluded if one applies it?
So your contribution is just a rant using rancidic rhetoric tools. But I will not call you „flunkerbandit". My advice is to move
to this area and have a look into such a society from a more close position. Armchair type of vocal leadership does not help.
@23 "Erdogan is NOT going to leave NATO. Why should he?"
I guess one possible reason would be this: as long as Turkey remains in NATO then he is obliged to allow a US military presence
in his country, and that's just asking for another attempt at a military coup.
After all, wasn't Incirlik airbase a hotbed of coup-plotters during the last coup attempt?
"when the Syrian settlement is achieved, Syria's democratic forces will join the Syrian army." "When the Syrian state stabilizes, we can say that the Americans did what they said, then withdraw as they did in Iraq and
set a date for their departure and leave."
Nothing new here, nothing good either. Kurds so far are keeping up their demands of de-facto independence under fig-leaf of
"we are part of federalised Syria" with weak central government and autonomous Kurds. Thats how US plan to castrate Syria. Russia
offered cultural autonomy, Kurds rejected.
As for Americans "withdrawing" willfully, it never happened. Iraq had to kick them out, and then US used ISIS and Kurds to
get back in.
As for Syria's stabilization part, US is doing everything in its power to prevent it.
@Yeah Right #26
Turkey is not obliged to keep foreign troops in their country to remain in NATO. De Gaulle invited the US to leave France in 1967
but is still a member of NATO
@31 France actually withdrew from NATO in 1966. It remained "committed" to the collective defence of western Europe, without being,
you know, "committed" to it.
So, yeah, France kicked all the foreign troops out of France in 1967, precisely because its withdrawal from NATO's Integrated
Military Command meant that the French were no longer under any obligation to allow NATO troops on its soil.
But France had to formally withdraw from that Command first, and the reason that de Gaulle gave for withdrawing were exactly
that: remaining meant ceding sovereignty to a supra-national organization i.e. NATO Integrated Military Command.
That France retained "membership" of NATO's political organizations even after that withdrawal was little more than a fig-leaf.
After all, NATO's purpose isn't "political", it is "military".
"The Decider" is Trump's apparent self image. He can't be enjoying the Presidency and the controls exerted upon him by others
among the "Deep State" (whom I suppose have effectively cowed him into behaving via serious threats).
If he already had money and power, as it appears that he had, he gained little by taking the crown. He has less power because
he is now controlled by a number of forces (CIA, NSA, Media, MIC and etc.) as he remains under constant assault by his natural
opposition.
Big mistake dumping Flynn.
Now you take another kind of asshole in the person of Obama - a guy that had nothing - you have a malleable character who enjoys
the pomp and circumstance. Really didn't need any persuading to do anything required of him.
Here is a recent report from the Turkish Prime Minister supporting Trump's "lie" about ending support for the Kurds....what will
history show occured?
ISTANBUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday that his country is expecting the United
States to end its partnership with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection
Units (YPG).
"Since the very beginning, we have said that it is wrong for the U.S. to partner with PKK's cousin PYD and YPG in the fight
against Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist group," Yildirim told the press in Istanbul prior to his departure for Britain.
Ankara sees the Kurdish groups as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting against the Turkish government
for over 30 years, while Washington regards them as a reliable ground force against the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday spoke to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the phone, pledging not to
provide weapons to the YPG any more, an irritant that has hurt bilateral ties, according to the Turkish side.
Yildirim noted that Washington has described it as an obligation rather than an option to support the Kurdish groups on the
ground. "But since Daesh (IS) is now eliminated then this obligation has disappeared," he added.
It would be nice if Erdogan when withdrawing from NATO (Assuming he does this in the next 12-18 months) would say something like.
"We really like President Trump - and we trust his word implicitly. The problem is, although we trust his word, we know
he is not in control so his word is useless and best ignored. Though of course - we still trust he means well."
That would be a nice backhander to hear from Erdopig.
Speculation about Turkey leaving NATO seems farfetched. Turkey has NATO over a barrel. It has been a member for decades and what
would it gain by leaving? Nothing. By staying it continues to influence and needle at the same time. Turkey will only leave when
NATO throws it out, which isn't going to happen.
Perestroika and Trump_vs_deep_state has one important thing in common -- they arose out of deep crisis of the
Soviet Society and the US neoliberal society, correspondingly
Notable quotes:
"... The reasoning of Gorbachev's program of perestroika -- as an attempt to both transcend tired Soviet orthodoxies while remaining loyal to the underlying assumptions of the regime -- also explains the attraction of Trump_vs_deep_state to many conservative intellectuals, voters, and activists. Trump_vs_deep_state gives its followers the allure of reckoning with the conservative movement's inadequacies while remaining faithful to its underlying assumptions about economics and the role of the state. ..."
"... For all its recklessness, it is this faction of Right that has indeed grappled with a nation whose poor- and lower-middle class face the erosion of both wages and a formerly rich institutional fabric ..."
"... When Bannon calls for Americans to understand themselves as citizens with "certain responsibilities and obligations," it's a subtle -- if incomplete and disingenuous -- recognition that the vocabulary of "liquid modernity" cannot rescue us from the very fruits it created. ..."
"... The Hayekian claim that any language of social justice commences a perilous journey towards serfdom was perhaps necessary to combat midcentury sirens of collectivism. But today it is more often representative of an age fearful of placing demanding claims upon our lives ..."
"... Someone else at TAC asked a similar question, and the answer is, no: Trump is no Gorbachev. If anything he is our Boris Yeltsin. And no, that is not intended as a compliment. MEOW , says: November 15, 2017 at 12:07 am Good points. Gorby was a realist like the Chinese. They could not depress a people's living standards with an inferior system of exchange, production, and distribution. The word was out about living standard differences. The one-world movement is very different. It means to disable all our traditions and differences (Happy Holidays for Merry Christmas – rewriting history etc) in order to allow a different cabal to prevail in this artificially created vacuum. Mac61 , says: November 15, 2017 at 6:46 am Gorbachev said we must set aside all ideology and look at all things through the light of morality. Trump is not capable of that. Bannon tried to ally Trump_vs_deep_state with Judeo-Christian morality. That project seems incomplete at the moment. Egypt Steve , says: November 15, 2017 at 9:26 am I suppose if you compare any two things, you can find some points of similarity somewhere. M1798 , says: November 15, 2017 at 9:32 am You ask for a more expansive welfare state, but didn't Make the case that our current welfare state does any public good. Food stamps and disability payments subsidize mothers to not keep the father around and fathers to not work to provide for their families. We have job training programs, yet you fail to make the case that they serve any long term good. And even our most popular welfare programs, social security and Medicare, are financially unsustainable. You wrote this article as if the GOP has legislated in the same way as their rhetoric, yet the we saw the failure to repeal Obamacare as proof that this isn't true. Dan Green , says: November 15, 2017 at 9:39 am I subscribe to what Hayek coined, the road to serfdom. Once The Social Democratic Welfare State is fully implemented , as we witness today, the state cannot make it work. Currently the model is subsidized with debt. John , says: November 15, 2017 at 10:49 am If there were an award in journalism for the hottest of takes, this might be a strong finalist for this year's. Otherwise LOL. vern , says: November 15, 2017 at 11:38 am Trump is none of the above. His only purpose in government was for his own ego gratification and to increase his wealth. He is a puppet for whoever is close enough for him to pull his strings. His favorite world leaders all happen to be autocrats who care little about civil liberties or human rights. He cares about wins and losses (ego) He is not religious, it is just a smoke screen he has put up so he can hide his worse tendencies and use it to block criticism. spite , says: November 15, 2017 at 11:57 am People that write these kind of articles just never get it (actually they probably do but cannot say these things openly). It has to do with race, whether you like this reason or not – this is the underlying fundamental issue at play here. Being replaced by another people is not going to sit well with some, one would think this is stating the obvious but it seems that the fear to broach this topic makes people come up with all kinds of reasonings that simply do not admit the truth of this. I know that anything to do with race causes so called conservatives to have abject fear (even this comment has a high chance of being censored), but you simply cannot ignore this anymore. Alex , says: November 15, 2017 at 11:59 am Oh, please. I am from the former Soviet Union. I know who Gorbachev was. He was a democrat, Trump is a dictator. Gorbachev was able to talk and listen to people, Trump is very good in insulting and blaming people. I can continue forever. They have nothing in common as human beings. connecticut farmer , says: November 15, 2017 at 12:34 pm " in which the state is again recognized as a limited but essential expression of our shared life together, where we are members not just of a market but a "great common enterprise" in which solidarity and justice are indeed tangible things." This phrase unfortunately constitutes a blemish on an otherwise fine and thoughtful article. Exactly what does the phrase "limited but essential expression of our shared life together" mean? "Limited" by what? What "great common enterprise"? What "solidarity"? Ours is a country where commonality of purpose–to the extent that it has ever existed in the first place– appears to be vanishing at an exponential level. Lots of questions. No answers. polistra , says: November 15, 2017 at 1:10 pm Obama is more like Gorbachev. The last attempt to rebrand the old system, hoping to make it more palatable. Trump may turn out to be more like Yeltsin if he starts doing SOMETHING. So far the fake image of "Trump" is causing all sorts of reactions and changes, but the actual Trump has done nothing at all. He just emits meaningless noises, handing his enemies free ammunition. ..."
TAC'
s own Rod Dreher recently
highlighted an American professor's exchange with an African diplomat, who compared Donald
Trump to Mikhail Gorbachev. Just as the last Soviet premier unwittingly became "the man who
destroyed a superpower," Trump in this view is recklessly squandering the United States' global
position. But upon reflection, the analogy holds for another reason: Whatever Trump's own
mixture of "irritable mental gestures," Trump_vs_deep_state -- as articulated by Steve Bannon, Laura
Ingraham, Michael Anton & Company -- can be read as a sort of perestroika for the
American Right.
A reader may naturally look warily at the comparison. Can one discern a link between the
rhetoric of Breitbart and Gorbachev's exhortation, "to reject obedience to any dogma, to think
independently, to submit one's thoughts and plans of action to the test of morality"? However
reaching, the comparison may allow us to discern why debates over immigration and trade now
capture the conservative imagination in a way not reducible to "white identity politics" or
reflexive loyalty to the president.
The reasoning of Gorbachev's program of perestroika -- as an attempt to both
transcend tired Soviet orthodoxies while remaining loyal to the underlying assumptions of the
regime -- also explains the attraction of Trump_vs_deep_state to many conservative intellectuals, voters,
and activists. Trump_vs_deep_state gives its followers the allure of reckoning with the conservative
movement's inadequacies while remaining faithful to its underlying assumptions about economics
and the role of the state. The appeal of nationalist rhetoric is not reducible to
nativism, though it might be for some. Instead, Bannon's program offers conservatives a safe
exit ramp from self-critical thinking, allowing them to both grapple with an erosion of work
and community among America's economic losers, while maintaining most of an existing right-wing
economic program.
In a 1987 message to the Communist Party's Central Committee, Gorbachev flaunted the Soviet
order for its "conservative inclinations, inertia, and desire to brush aside everything that
didn't fit into habitual patterns." This is the same critique offered by the Jacksonian Right
of the conservative establishment. "The whole enterprise of Conservative Inc.," wrote
Michael Anton in his famous "Flight 93 Election" essay, "reeks of failure. Its sole recent and
ongoing success is its own self-preservation."
For all its recklessness, it is this faction of Right that has indeed grappled with a
nation whose poor- and lower-middle class face the erosion of both wages and a
formerly rich institutional fabric Laura Ingraham's description of "a working class hammered by
globalization" would not seem foreign to readers of Our Kids, Hillbilly Elegy, or
Janesville . At its most tone-deaf, the Right responds with incantations to
"rekindle the rugged individualism of America's founding, frontiers, and Constitution." But
even those on the center-right with sincere empathy frequently offer only small-ball politics.
For all their merits ,
a modest increase of the Child Tax Credit, repeal of occupational licensing, vouchers for
improved geographic mobility, and moral exhortations for coastal elites to escape their bubble
do not match the gravity of the moment. In a certain way, the Bannonite call for the wall and
ripping up trade agreements is a rebellion against a purely technocratic politics without
boldness of purpose. When Bannon calls for Americans to understand themselves as citizens
with "certain responsibilities and obligations," it's a subtle -- if incomplete and
disingenuous -- recognition that the vocabulary of "liquid modernity"
cannot rescue us from the very fruits it created.
Trade and immigration are becoming the signature benchmarks for this new movement. Yet the
Jacksonian shift allows conservatives to still maintain their aversion to a strong, active
welfare state, an institution all other Western center-right parties have come to terms with.
Limiting the fluid movement of goods and people, in this view, will accomplish the same goals
as a state modeled on social or Christian-democratic purposes: We do not need to expand child
tax credits or pursue ambitious investments of retraining and vocational education. All our
struggling labor markets
demand is "stopping the importation of cheap labor." At the same time, we can press ahead
to repeal Obamacare and the tentacles of the administrative state, for economic nationalism can
ameliorate our social problems far better than any program arising out of the Washington
cesspool. Perhaps this strategy explains why, according to
Pew Research , the president maintains far more support among "Core Conservatives" than
"Country First" and "Market Skeptic" Republicans. The Trump revolution is ultimately not a
decisive schism from old-time William F. Buckley-style fusionism, no matter what both
supporters and Never Trumpers allege.
Systematic free-marketers may point out accurately how Trump_vs_deep_state can be just as economically
redistributive as any welfare program. This is all true, but to most conservative activists,
all this subtle redistribution and subsidizing looks far more hidden than paid-family leave or
public investments in early childhood or prenatal care. In other words, Trump_vs_deep_state's attraction
derives not from its wholesale rejection of traditional American conservatism, but its
potential to keep its core tenets of the right alive -- even as neoliberalism's inadequacies
suggest what is needed is a more vigorous discussion of what conservatism means in the public
sphere.
If Trump_vs_deep_state's fundamental attraction to most conservative writers and activists derives from
its ability to revise but sustain their movement, it is difficult to see how it will be to
evolve into a credible governing program. This is not because a more hawkish line on
immigration and trade is a fundamental betrayal of the "liberal world order." Indeed, one need
only read
Paul CollierGeorge BorjasMichael
Lind ,
Peter Skerry , or Dani
Rodrik to find sustained, reasonable critiques of the establishment consensus on these
matters.
But none of these authors would present their heterodox dissents as singular solutions for
restoring the American (or Western) social contract. Just as Gorbachev's ambition was not to
revitalize Russia but the Soviet Union, so is Trump_vs_deep_state not a program to save the Republic, or
even a more narrow "Middle America." Despite the Jacobin rhetoric, the Trump_vs_deep_state of Bannon,
Anton, and Ingraham is ultimately a rearguard maneuver to preserve a conservative movement
whose even devoted partisans recognize has not aged gracefully since 1989. To keep it alive,
wrecking the "globalist" consensus on immigration and trade must be pursued, regardless of the
absence of any discernible benefit for the white working class.
What would a true revolution for American conservatism look like? It should start with the
(early) thought of George Will, who wrote in the New Republic that, "if conservatism is to engage itself with the way we live now, it
must address government's graver purposes with an affirmative doctrine of the welfare state."
Conservatives must "come to terms with a social reality more complex than their slogans," where
equality of opportunity is assumed as given. The Hayekian claim that any language of social
justice commences a perilous journey towards serfdom was perhaps necessary to combat midcentury
sirens of collectivism. But today it is more often representative of an age fearful of placing
demanding claims upon our lives .
The Right must again recover the
wisdom held by Disraeli, Churchill, and the (early) domestic neoconservatives, in which the
state is again recognized as a limited but essential expression of our shared life together,
where we are members not just of a market but a "great common enterprise" in which solidarity
and justice are indeed tangible things. Accepting this truth will be a harder project than
tightening the border and combating Chinese mercantilism, worthy though such things may be. But
it will be far more revolutionary, even historic, than anything the present Trumpian revolution
offers.
David Jimenez, a recent graduate of Bowdoin College and a Fulbright Scholar in Romania,
works on campus outreach at a Washington think-tank.
Good points. Gorby was a realist like the Chinese. They could not depress a people's living
standards with an inferior system of exchange, production, and distribution. The word was out
about living standard differences. The one-world movement is very different. It means to
disable all our traditions and differences (Happy Holidays for Merry Christmas –
rewriting history etc) in order to allow a different cabal to prevail in this artificially
created vacuum.
Gorbachev said we must set aside all ideology and look at all things through the light of
morality. Trump is not capable of that. Bannon tried to ally Trump_vs_deep_state with Judeo-Christian
morality. That project seems incomplete at the moment.
You ask for a more expansive welfare state, but didn't Make the case that our current
welfare state does any public good. Food stamps and disability payments subsidize mothers to
not keep the father around and fathers to not work to provide for their families. We have job
training programs, yet you fail to make the case that they serve any long term good. And even
our most popular welfare programs, social security and Medicare, are financially
unsustainable. You wrote this article as if the GOP has legislated in the same way as their
rhetoric, yet the we saw the failure to repeal Obamacare as proof that this isn't true.
I subscribe to what Hayek coined, the road to serfdom. Once The Social Democratic Welfare
State is fully implemented , as we witness today, the state cannot make it work. Currently
the model is subsidized with debt.
Trump is none of the above. His only purpose in government was for his own ego gratification
and to increase his wealth.
He is a puppet for whoever is close enough for him to pull his strings. His favorite world
leaders all happen to be autocrats who care little about civil liberties or human rights.
He cares about wins and losses (ego) He is not religious, it is just a smoke screen he has
put up so he can hide his worse tendencies and use it to block criticism.
People that write these kind of articles just never get it (actually they probably do but
cannot say these things openly). It has to do with race, whether you like this reason or not
– this is the underlying fundamental issue at play here. Being replaced by another
people is not going to sit well with some, one would think this is stating the obvious but it
seems that the fear to broach this topic makes people come up with all kinds of reasonings
that simply do not admit the truth of this. I know that anything to do with race causes so
called conservatives to have abject fear (even this comment has a high chance of being
censored), but you simply cannot ignore this anymore.
Oh, please. I am from the former Soviet Union. I know who Gorbachev was. He was a democrat,
Trump is a dictator. Gorbachev was able to talk and listen to people, Trump is very good in
insulting and blaming people. I can continue forever. They have nothing in common as human
beings.
" in which the state is again recognized as a limited but essential expression of our shared
life together, where we are members not just of a market but a "great common enterprise" in
which solidarity and justice are indeed tangible things."
This phrase unfortunately constitutes a blemish on an otherwise fine and thoughtful
article. Exactly what does the phrase "limited but essential expression of our shared life
together" mean? "Limited" by what? What "great common enterprise"? What "solidarity"? Ours is
a country where commonality of purpose–to the extent that it has ever existed in the
first place– appears to be vanishing at an exponential level.
Obama is more like Gorbachev. The last attempt to rebrand the old system, hoping to make it
more palatable.
Trump may turn out to be more like Yeltsin if he starts doing SOMETHING. So far the fake
image of "Trump" is causing all sorts of reactions and changes, but the actual Trump has done
nothing at all. He just emits meaningless noises, handing his enemies free ammunition.
"For all its recklessness, it is this faction of Right that has indeed grappled with a nation
whose poor- and lower-middle class face the erosion of both wages and a formerly rich
institutional fabric."
But Trump might already be betraying it, as this article on banking (de)regulation
suggests. It doesn't bode will for what the tax reform bill would mean for the 80% in the
bottom quintiles of the population.
Unfortunately the entrenched social democratic welfare state will not lead to serfdom but to
a dysfunctional society. This is the lesson from independent india which has no political
party representing individualistic policies. The current Hindu nationalist party in power
caters to Hindu sentiments but a redistributive economic policy. As an outsider i see USA
following the same path with islands of functionality sustaining barely, the rest. Hopefully
the author would join in a length discussion with me on this
"... So should Mr Azar be confirmed as Secretary of DHHS, the fox guarding the hen house appears to be a reasonable analogy. ..."
"... In this post, I'd like to add two additional factors to our consideration of Azar. The first: Democrat credentialism makes it hard for them to oppose Azar. The second: The real ..."
Clearly, Alex Azar, nominated yesterday for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services by the Trump Administration,
exemplifies the case of the "revolving door," through which
Flexians slither on their way to (or from) positions of public trust. Roy Poses (
cross-posted at NC ) wrote, when Azar was only Acting Secretary:
Last week we noted that Mr Trump famously promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Last week, despite his previous
pledges to not appoint lobbyists to powerful positions, he appointed a lobbyist to be acting DHHS Secretary. This week he is apparently
strongly considering Mr Alex Azar, a pharmaceutical executive to be permanent DHHS Secretary, even though the FDA, part of DHHS,
has direct regulatory authority over the pharmaceutical industry, and many other DHHS policies strongly affect the pharmaceutical
industry. (By the way, Mr Azar was also in charge of one lobbying effort.)
So should Mr Azar be confirmed as Secretary of DHHS, the fox guarding the hen house appears to be a reasonable analogy.
Moreover, several serious legal cases involving bad behavior by his company, and multiple other instances of apparently unethical
behavior occurred on Mr Azar’s watch at Eli Lilly. So the fox might be not the most reputable member of the species.
The literature makes clear that the revolving door process is a source of valuable political connections for private firms.
But it generates corruption risks and has strong distortionary effects on the economy , especially when this power is
concentrated within a few firms.
The ongoing parade of people transiting the revolving door from industry to the Trump administration once again suggests how
the revolving door may enable certain of those with private vested interests to have excess influence, way beyond that of ordinary
citizens, on how the government works, and that the country is still increasingly being run by a cozy group of insiders with ties
to both government and industry. This has been termed crony capitalism.
In this post, I'd like to add two additional factors to our consideration of Azar.
The first: Democrat credentialism makes it hard for them to oppose Azar. The second: The real damage Azar could do is on
the regulatory side.[1]
"I am glad to hear that you have worked hard, and brought fair-minded legal analysis to the department," Democratic
Sen. Max Baucus said at Azar's last confirmation hearing.
And:
Andy Slavitt, who ran the Affordable Care Act and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the Obama administration,
said he has reason to hope Azar would be a good secretary.
"He is familiar with the high quality of the HHS staff, has real-world experience enough to be pragmatic, and will hopefully
avoid repeating the mistakes of his predecessor," Slavitt said.
So, if Democrats are saying Azar is "fair-minded" and "pragmatic" -- and heaven forfend that the word "corruption"[2] even be
mentioned -- how do they oppose him, even he's viscerally opposed to everything Democrats supposedly stand for? (Democrats do this
with judicial nominations, too.) Azar may be a fox, alright, but the chickens he's supposedly guarding are all clucking about how
impeccable his qualifications are!
Second, let's briefly look at Azar's bio. Let me excerpt salient detail from
USA Today :
1. Azar clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia .
2. Azar went to work for his mentor, Ken Starr , who was heading the independent counsel investigation into Bill
and Hillary Clinton's Whitewater land deal.
3. Azar had a significant role in another major political controversy when the outcome of the 2000 presidential election
hinged on a recount in Florida . Azar was on the Bush team of lawyers whose side ultimately prevailed [3]
For any Democrat with a memory, that bio provokes one of those "You shall know them by the trail of the dead" moments. And then
there's this:
When Leavitt replaced Thompson in 2005 and Azar became his deputy, Leavitt delegated a lot of the rule-making process to Azar.
So, a liberal Democrat might classify Azar as a smooth-talking reactionary thug with a terrible record and the most vile mentors
imaginable, and on top of it all, he's an effective bureaucratic fixer. What could the Trump Administration possibly see in such
a person? Former (Republican) HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt explains:
"Understanding the administrative rule process in the circumstance we're in today could be extraordinarily important because
a lot of the change in the health care system, given the fact that they've not succeeded legislatively, could come administratively."
1) Administratively, send ObamaCare into a death spiral by sabotaging it
2) Legislatively, gut Medicaid as part of the "tax refom" package in Congress
3) Through executive order, eliminate "essential health benefits" through "association health plans"
As a sidebar, it's interesting to see that although this do-list is strategically and ideologically coherent -- basically,
your ability to access health care will be directly dependent on your ability to pay -- it's institutionally incoherent, a bizarre
contraption screwed together out of legislation, regulations, and an Executive order. Of course, this incoherence mirrors to Rube
Goldberg structure of ObamaCare itself, itself a bizarre contraption, especially when compared to the simple, rugged, and proven
single payer system. ( Everything Obama did with regulations and executive orders, Trump can undo, with new regulations and
new executive orders . We might compare ObamaCare to a child born with no immune system, that could only have survived within
the liberal bubble within which it was created; in the real world, it's not surprising that it's succumbing to opportunistic infections.[2])
On #1, The administration has, despite its best efforts, not achieved a controlled flight into terrain with ObamaCare; enrollment
is up. On #2, the administration and its Congressional allies are still dickering with tax reform. And on #3 . That looks looks like
a job for Alex Azar, since both essential health benefits and association health plans are significantly affected by regulation.
So, yes, there are worse scenarios than the revolving door; it's what you leave behind you as the door revolves that matters.
It would be lovely if there were a good old-fashioned confirmation battle over Azar, but, as I've pointed out, the Democrats have
tied their own hands. Ideally, the Democrats would junk the Rube Goldberg device that is ObamaCare, rendering all of Azar's regulatory
expertise null and void, but that doesn't seem likely, given that they seem to be doing everything possible to avoid serious discussion
of policy in 2018 and 2020.
NOTES
[1] I'm leaving aside what will no doubt be the 2018 or even 2020 issue of drug prices, since for me that's subsumed under the
issue of single payer. If we look only at Azar's history in business, real price decreases seem unlikely.
Business Insider :
Over the 10-year period when Azar was at Lilly, the price of insulin notched a three-fold increase. It wasn't just Lilly's
insulin product, called Humalog. The price of a rival made by Novo Nordisk has also climbed, with the two rising in such lockstep
that you can barely see both trend lines below.
The gains came despite the fact that the insulin, which as a medication has an almost-century-long history, hasn't really changed
since it was first approved.
Nice business to be in, eh? Here's that chart:
It's almost like Lilly (Azar's firm) and Novo Nordisk are working together, isn't it?
[2] Anyhow,
as of the 2016 Clinton campaign , the Democrat standard -- not that of Poses,
nor
mine -- is that if there's no quid pro quo, there's no corruption.
[3] And, curiously, "[HHS head Tommy] Thompson said HHS was in the eye of the storm after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and Azar
had an important role in responding to the resulting public health challenges, as well as the subsequent anthrax attacks "
Oh please, stop quoting Andy Slavitt, the United Healthcare Ingenix algo man. That guy is the biggest crook that made his money
early on with RX discounts with his company that he and Senator Warren's daughter, Amelia sold to United Healthcare. He's out
there trying to do his own reputation restore routine. Go back to 2009 and read about the short paying of MDs by Ingenix, which
is now Optum Insights, he was the CEO and remember it was just around 3 years ago or so he sat there quarterly with United CEO
Hemsley at those quarterly meetings. Look him up, wants 40k to speak and he puts the perception out there he does this for free,
not so.
I think you're missing the context. Lambert is quoting him by way of showing that the sleazy establishment types are just fine
with him. Thanks for the extra background on that particular swamp-dweller, though.
Alex Azar is a Dartmouth grad (Gov't & Economics '88) just like Jeff Immelt (Applied Math & Economics '78). So much damage
to society from such a small department!
Since 2014, Ross has been the vice-chairman of the board of Bank of Cyprus PCL, the largest bank in Cyprus.
He served under U.S. President Bill Clinton on the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund. Later, under New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, Ross served as the Mayor's privatization advisor.
I don't believe that the President's "swamp" ever consisted of crooked officials, lobbyists, and cronies I think it has always
consisted of those regulators who tried sincerely to defend public interests.
It was in the sticky work of those good bureaucrats
that the projects of capitalists and speculators bogged down. It is against their efforts that the pickup-driving cohort of Trump_vs_deep_state
(with their Gadsden flag decals) relentlessly rails.
Trump has made much progress in draining the regulatory swamp (if indeed
that is the right way to identify it), and no doubt will make considerably more as time wears on, leaving America high and dry.
The kind of prevaricator Trump is may simply be the one who fails to define his terms.
I think we've moved past the revolving door. We hear members of the United States Senate publicly voice their concerns about
what will happen if they fail to do their employers' bidding (and I'm not talking about "the public" here). In the bureaucracy,
political appointees keep accruing more and more power even as they make it clearer and clearer that they work for "the donors"
and not the people. Nowhere is this more true than the locus through which passes most of the money: the Pentagon. The fact that
these beribboned heroes are, in fact, setting war policy on their own makes the knowledge that they serve Raytheon and Exxon rather
than Americans very, very troubling.
I suspect Azar's perception is that he is just moving from one post to another within the same company.
Big pharma indeed has so much defense from the supposed left. It combines their faith in technological progress, elite institutions,
and tugs on the heart strings with technology that can save people from a fate of ill health or premature death. Of course, the
aspect of the laws being written to line the pockets of corrupt executives is glossed over. While drug prices and medical costs
spiral ever higher, our overall longevity and national health in the US declines. That speaks volumes about what Democrats really
care about.
