Trump Is NOT The Problem
There. I said it. Trump is NOT the problem.
You're likely thinking "EdG is crazy!!". After all, 95% of the media tells us 24/7 that Trump IS the problem. He's a Putin-lovin' pussy-grabbin' dimwit, and with his tiny fingers on the nuclear button, he's gonna kill us all any day now. If he's not impeached first. Or locked up. Or garroted with a pair of pantyhose.
But I stand by my pronouncement. Instead of being the problem, Trump is the natural devolution of the long-running American nightmare that started after World War II and continues to this day. What I'm talking about is our nation's blundering global imperialism fostered by our overweening sense of American exceptionalism.
Recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital? Splendid idea! What could go wrong?
Set up "de-confliction zones" inside the sovereign nation of Syria without invitation and no legal justification? No problemo! Borders are sooo 20th century.
And just in case you're still under the delusion that Donald J. Trump is the architect of all evil in the world, a reminder of who first involved the US in Syrian "red lines" and special forces ops is in order.
Oddly enough, the vast majority of punditry about Obama's handling of Syria claims that he didn't do enough war-mongering there. Yet the truth is that Syrian civilians would have been better off without the carnage wrought by murderous US-funded and enabled Al-Qaida and ISIS affiliated "anti-regime forces". Nobody could have foreseen that destabilizing Syria would produce a massive humanitarian crisis and send millions of refugees streaming toward Europe, right?
I could go on, bringing up Hillary's Excellent Libyan Adventure, Bush's Iraq disaster, Bill Clinton's Somalia and Balkan interventions, etc., but I think you get the precept behind this essay: The United States is the cause of, not the solution to, many of the world's problems.
Sadly, that's by design. To paraphrase President Calvin Coolidge, "the chief business of the American people is war". And that, my friends, is not original to Trump and will not change with the next president or any president after that.
Comments
Hear, hear!
Exactly right, our mitilary is not the solution to a dangerous and unsettled world, it is the reason we have one. Democrats and Republicans alike are on the same page. We need to turn that page for a chance for peace and harmony, assuming the American people actually want that. I am not sure that they do.
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
They don't want to win these wars...
The PTB want the crises to continue forever.
As long as there's always a crisis, the people will have something that their energy MUST go to. Corporations figured this shit out a long time ago, which is why nobody has a steady job, everybody is always competing with each other, and yet the game never ends!
The minute anybody ever suggests ending the game, you find the full force of the media and politicians arrayed against you.
Which is why I will always trust the person I'm talking to more than the media.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
HT to Today's Evening Blues
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Oddly enough...
it's Hillary and Democrats that are demonizing Russia and hurtling us toward the brink of nuclear war. It's Trump that's in trouble for trying to calm things down between the US and Russia.
Well, there is his little adventure in Korea
We still have to wait to see how that plays out. But yes, I tend to agree. In terms of nuclear war, Hillary Co. seems like the single biggest threat.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
No, he's a problem like Obama was, like Bush and Clinton,
but he's not THE problem. Had Hillary Clinton won we'd be seeing much the same things. I don't think we'd be seeing her proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but most else we would and possibly more.
But actually, outside of the Russia thing and the "appropriate" use of nukes, the corporate media has been pretty supportive of Trump and his Generals wars and imperialistic activities and provides cover for US imperialism. It continues to lie about the real reasons for the wars in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, the War OF Terror. It continues to lie about what's happening in Ukraine and Venezuela and overall all U.S. imperialism. It continues to lie about North Korea and Iran and the use of nuclear weapons, which are illegal no matter what context, even a defensive one. There is NO instance where use of a nuclear weapon is legal under international law. Most of all it continues to spread the false narratives and illusions that justify the military empire.
If we got rid of Trump, another would just keep the train rolling, but not if he was impeached for war crimes. That would change the game completely. We just need one and the rest will follow.
And admit guilt?
Neither party will impeach a sitting president for a crime that past presidents of both parties have committed.
That's the beauty of it all and another reason it won't change.
Obumer had the greatest opportunity and we will now "look forward" to the same.
*Edited to add link
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
I you mean by
They never speak of it nor are questioned by our beloved Media, then I agree.
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
asdf obviously not THE problem but that
and 2 cents gets us where?
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Perhaps it buys us the understanding
…that one must find the system that is producing the problem — and jettison that, instead.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Exactly!
There's nothing keeping us from electing the same-old same-old except us.
That's why my current "path forward" is focused on education
The people in my family do not even acknowledge a problem exists much less what it is. Despite being liberal they are quite fine with continuous war, war crimes, illegal domestic surveillance (and that which ought to be illegal but isn't), etc. etc.... so long as a Democrat does it then there is ALWAYS a reason for it.
Somehow they fail to connect the dots that things like continuous war are substantial contributors to the problems they allegedly care about.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
It's just a more insidious level of brainwashing.
Is it not possible that they have been completely terrorized? Perhaps they now support such depravities BECAUSE a Democrat told them it was the only way he could protect them. He would never resort to war crimes unless it was a matter of life and death. It could be they are totally motivated by naked fear, even though they sound normal enough.
When Bush turned to war crimes the Democrats turned to politics. But Democrats were secretly relieved, at the time, when their Democratic representatives voted for that obvious Neocon bullshit war in Iraq. No one who voted for that war would ever be elected President. And Obama swore he wouldn't have done it. Then, when Obama instantly viewed the war with Neocon eyes and enacted war crimes and started more wars, it scared them so bad it damaged their brains.
The Deep State propaganda machine ran steady for 16 years. But once the war got buy-in from both flavors of President, Americans were like putty in Deep State hands. For at least half the people, there's a biochemical fusing with the propaganda. Education can't reach them.
It's very frustrating. But they are very deeply and permanently scared. That's what I have seen. And that is what America is dealing with, politically. It is why there is no Left in US politics. When there is a war, being Left is an act of treason. That means there is no political solution that can come from inside the US.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Scared doesn't apply to them
It may others but my family is not one to react in that way. My best analysis is that it has more to do with the overall gestalt that the propaganda machine has created. I feel their thoughts are so embedded in it that they are, at this point, trapped within it.
That's why I call it "the matrix". In order to get out of it you need a bit of luck and a lot of desire. They lack the desire. They like the nice juicy steak.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Of course you know them completely.
I really find that explanation authentic. I can see how people get embedded in the narrative. People who stand outside of it don't fare much better. It's isolating. Hope you are doing okay with it.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Heh... Truth > Family
Reality is like that. I long ago found out that no matter how stubborn I was, reality was more stubborn. So nowadays I try to deal with reality as it is rather than as I want it to be.
The fact that they do not wish to engage in reality is, admittedly, surprising to me. In general they are an intellectual bunch. It doesn't really hurt me though. It's more like looking at a bunch of crazy people and feeling sorry for them. Their gibbering isn't rooted in reality. It's hard to take it seriously enough to let it bother me.
The surprising part shows up in things like this: Every single one of them knows better and yet they are all willing to accept "anonymous sources" from WaPo as if it was graven on stone tablets. Actual externally verifiable evidence is rejected because it's not in WaPo (et.al.) Even when the source is the freakin' British Parliament it is still "crackpot stuff" to them. How closed their gestalts have become is really surprising. I thought I knew them better.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Agreement BA.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Heh.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
As my old man used to say of Nixon,
"What's horrifying is not that Trump is President, what's horrifying is that he was elected President."
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Indeed.
And equally or more horrifying is that the best the Democratic Party could come up with was to anoint the execrable Hillary Clinton as the Chosen One to run against Trump.
People tend to lose track of just what an
awful and loathsome candidate Humphrey was in '68. Instead, the revisionists focus on the '72 McGovern debacle to "demonstrate" the folly of nominating from the left.
Hunter Thompson despised HHH almost as much as he hated Nixon. And BTW, HHH was maneuvering throughout the '72 primary to somehow elbow McGovern out of the way. That primary had some very interesting parallels to 2016 -- except that in the aftermath of 1972, the party bosses instituted the superdelegate system, precisely to ensure that they would never again be shut out of the convention by an upstart non-estabishment candidate. In other words, the mechanisms they put in place to prevent a replay of '72 worked exactly as intended.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
If you are ever moved to write about Humphry
…and the political dynamic of the 1968 election from your POV, I would be very interested to read it.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
When the media doesn't do its job
then there is no democracy. Its sole purpose is to keep the citizenry informed on what the government is doing. Especially when it comes to wars. The media is now owned by the same defense companies that are getting rich off the never ending wars so of course they aren't going to tell us the truth.
Just the fact that someone like Trump could be president is so beyond mind boggling. And what most people are focusing on is his personality, not his actions. His pussy tape comments and the stupid Russian conspiracy theory. His cabinet member's actions are not being discussed. We have no idea where our military is or why they are being sent. Or that civilian deaths in countries that we are involved in has gone up after the rules of engagement were changed. These are the issues that a media in a functioning democracy would be telling us.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
The media is very happy with Trump.
They get readers and viewers whenever they put Trump and Russia in the same sentence or when they run breathless stories about pussy grabbing. The deaths of 1,000s of civilians in the M.E. from US bombing? Boooring.
Well said, edg.
Political maturity is such a great platform.
I would be intellectually dishonest not to proactively point out here that Vladimir Putin may be the most politically mature leader on the world stage.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
If D. Johnovich Trumpsky were in charge of Russia now
we would all indeed be glowing crispy critters.
As he sells weapons of mass destruction to Saudi Arabia
and any other country with money and maintains the government of a country with even worse wealth inequality that the US?
He's better than ours but he's still an ultra capitalist imperialist warmonger.
She didn't say he is a nice man.
She said he is politically mature.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
I asked Google what you are talking about
...and I got only this back and nothing else:
I hope you have a better answer.
What's up with the war mongering?
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Ummm, nope. n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
All Trump' done is expose
this country very bluntly for what it truly is. Not like the rest of the world isn't well aware of just who the biggest threat to peace is. Sure the US lost credibility by electing Trump but really, how much did "we" have anyway? He's the symptom, not the disease.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Right on.
I'm sadly amused by "La Resistance" and the corporate media's disdain for Trump. The only difference between him and Obama or Bush the Lesser is that he blurts out what's on his mind instead of hiding behind sugar-coated lies and flowery speechifying.
The US is the disease
our presidents are just carriers.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
This is why Flynn spoke with Russia
He did this on Jarad Kushner's orders. The reason why he reached out was to try to get Russia to not vote against Israel. This has been known for over a week, yet I haven't seen the media covering it. Nor anyone on ToP. They still believe that Trump and Putin are BFFs when it's really Trump and Bibi who are.
If the real story gets told it might upset the march for regime change in Russia.
Trump Team Didn’t Just Collude with Israel, Kushner was Acting as Foreign Agent for Tel Aviv
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Just copy and paste that comment into a new Essay.
We both know that this is the key forbidden topic that holds all the answers.
It is the topic that will destroy your career. Your reputation. Your voice. And your life, if necessary.
Discussing this topic is also the only way that Americans will find the freedom and justice and economic security that they are seeking.
Identity politics is the enemy of that which is good for all humankind.
(Or, don't. It was just a thought.)
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
it is fraught with peril.
for centuries "The Jews" have been blamed for every bad thing imaginable. how then to advance a claim that the interests and designs of TPTB in a "modern" (grossly anachronistic, actually) Jewish state are responsible for anything at all, nevermind are driving the foreign policy of the most powerful nation ever known to humanity, without sounding like a racist lunatic? i am personally uncomfortable just entertaining such arguments in my own head, nevermind trying speak them aloud.
Without Israel, RFK would have been President, Nixon would have been forgotten, Cheney would have vanished without a trace before ever having any power at all. We cannot fathom the cost paid by the USA (and in consequence, all of the victims of US foreign policy) for supporting without reservation Israel's "right to exist", more accurately understood as Israel's right to stomp all over the rights and dignity of anybody who happens to stand in the way of the long-term geographic objective -- an objective trivially obvious to anyone watching.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Like I said
…change can't come from inside the United States.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Trump is much worse
Yesterday I listened to Rising Up With Sonali on KPFA where they're currently doing a fundraiser. Sonali played excerpts from a new French movie called Trumping Democracy which talks about the very evil Robert Mercer and his Cambridge Analytica which was hired by the Trump campaign. People are being f**cked with and riled up to benefit Trump at the expense of everybody else. Listen to the program or get a hold of the movie. Trump is very evil.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Sadly, no.
Trump is just more of the same except without the filters. Obama killed 100s of thousands of civilians in the Middle East. But he was a good liar and was able to couch his murderous ways in flowery terms.
Cambridge Analytica is a non-entity. They got lucky a couple of times, but so could anybody with a big database and a few run-of-the-mill algorithms.