The U.S. presidential returnee either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the importance of keeping a polite face on the imperial machine.
Donald Trump delivering his second inaugural address on Monday. (C-Span)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com.au
Listen to Tim Foley reading this article.
During his inaugural address, the new president of the United States was refreshingly open about the fact that Washington is the hub of a continuously expanding empire which is ruled by billionaire plutocrats.
As Joe Lauria highlighted for Consortium News, President Donald Trump’s speech included references to the “manifest destiny” of America, saying that under his presidency the U.S. will consider itself a nation that “expands our territory.”
He waxed fondly about the settler-colonialist past which established the country at the expense of the people who were already living there, and vowed to take control of the Panama Canal.
Trump gave this speech to an audience where the wealthiest people on earth sat alongside his own cabinet in the best seats in the house. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were seen together in the crowd among the more official members of the incoming administration.
Israeli-American Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson, who according to Trump helped dictate U.S. policy toward Israel during his first term, was seen sitting among former President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, and the Clintons at the inauguration.
There will reportedly be no fewer than 13 billionaires with official roles in the new Trump administration.
The U.S. isn’t suddenly ruled by billionaires now that Trump is president; it was already ruled by billionaires. The U.S. isn’t suddenly an empire bent on global domination now that Trump has been sworn in; that was already the case. But you’re not supposed to just come right out and say that.
Well, Trump comes right out and says it. He says the quiet parts out loud. He’s the only president who’ll openly boast that U.S. troops are in Syria to keep the oil or lament that they failed to take the oil from Venezuela, or just come right out and tell everyone he’s bought and owned by Zionist oligarchs.
He puts much less effort into disguising the true nature of the U.S. empire than other presidents.
That’s the only reason various factions of America’s unofficial permanent government have had objections to Trump’s presidency over the years. It’s not because he presents a threat to the establishment or because he’s trying to bring down the deep state, it’s because he is viewed as a poor custodian of the empire. He either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the importance of keeping a polite face on the imperial machine.
If I were forced to say something positive about Trump, that would be it.
The thing some U.S. empire managers dislike about him is the only thing I like about him: that he makes the U.S. empire a less effective evil because of how much less hidden he keeps the inner workings of the machine. The hood stays popped open the entire time, showing the whole world how the imperial sausage gets made.
Not that there haven’t been plenty of mask-off moments during the dementia-muddled chaos of the Biden administration as well. A new article in Time titled “Why Biden’s Ukraine Win Was Zelensky’s Loss” is a good example of this; the report cites a former member of Biden’s National Security Council saying that victory for Ukraine was never part of the Biden administration’s plan.
The opening paragraph reads as follows:
“When Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago, President Joe Biden set three objectives for the U.S. response. Ukraine’s victory was never among them. The phrase the White House used to describe its mission at the time — supporting Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ — was intentionally vague. It also raised the question: As long as it takes to do what?”
“Ukraine’s victory was never among them.”
Talk about a mask-off moment. It has long been clear that the U.S. pushed Ukraine into an unwinnable war with the goal of bleeding and preoccupying Moscow, and that it actively sabotaged peace negotiations in the early days of the war in order to pursue these goals.
Now that the job has been done and the demented meat puppet is out of office, we are finally hearing it from Biden’s own handlers in his administration.
And of course there was Gaza, where the world spent 15 months watching history’s first live-streamed genocide right in front of their faces while Western officials made nonstop excuses of less and less believability.
If there’s to be any good to come from that incomprehensibly horrific nightmare, it’s that it has shown everyone the true face of the empire.
The more glimpses people get of the true face of the empire, the less effective the imperial propaganda becomes, because propaganda only works if you believe it.
The primary obstacle to revolutionary change under the Western empire is the fact that its citizenry have been successfully propagandized into accepting the status quo.
The more people open their eyes to the fact that we are ruled by psychopaths who are driving us to our doom on multiple fronts, the closer we get to a collective movement toward a healthy world.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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It is no surprise McKinley and TR are mentioned since hust as our genocide was ending we were building the Canal and pivoting on to Hawaii and the Philippines and Guam. Guam didn’t even know they were at war and thought our ships firing on them were paying them a salute. But Cuba and the Philippines were on thee verge of freedom and we saved them for our new empire instead.
We were on our first gilded age of oligarchs then but some even signed on with the Anti-Imperialist Party.
Our demotion derby wars are just real estate investment for hedge funds and agri-business using Russian bombs. Kind of like WWII as the major 2 front war of the 20th century we appear to be trying all over again..
We may think it is our empire but it is all of the western empires conspiring under our NATO command that Trump is inadvertently exposing and we are victimizing ourselves and our own planet for short term profits.
The spectacle in Washington sadly reminds me of these words by Theodor Arno, in his “Dialectic of Enlightenment’ (1947) “As naturally as the ruled always took the morality imposed upon them more seriously than did the rulers themselves, the deceived masses are today captivated by the myth of success even more than the successful are. Immovably, they insist on the very ideology which enslaves them. The misplaced love of the common people for the wrong which is done to them is a greater force than the cunning of the authorities.”
The only thing I’d disagree with in this great article is the following:
“The more glimpses people get of the true face of the empire, the less effective the imperial propaganda becomes, because propaganda only works if you believe it.”
Sadly, based on the American experience, propaganda works whether or not the people believe it … mere repetition and information saturation works wonders. For example, this is how, with absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, people’s perceptions of China shifted from almost entirely positive in 2008 (Beijing Olympics) to enemy nation (“adversary” that is sending killer spy drones to destroy our “way of life”) even though there’s absolutely no trust in the MSM that has been instrumental in people changing their views.
In other words, most people believe exactly what they are told even when they do not believe/trust the teller …
“He puts much less effort into disguising the true nature of the U.S. empire than other presidents.
That’s the only reason various factions of America’s unofficial permanent government have had objections to Trump’s presidency over the years.”
No.
They did fear him in ’15 and ’16 to a certain degree bc he used detente rhetoric pertaining to Russia when the Washington militarist ruling class was dead set on vilifying Putin to a massive degree. No insanely dangerous proxy war against Russia on its border happened on Trump’s watch.
Some of the big reasons the Zionist mainstream media and establishment ruling class are taking a softer tone against Trump this time around are bc various factions of that elite believe one of three things or a combo of the three: 1.) Trump’s admin will arm to the teeth and countenance an Israeli attack on the West Bank, 2.) Trump’s regime will attack Iran, and 3.) Trump’s admin will wage a vicious proxy war against China in the South China Sea.
Love that phrase, been thinking similar for considerable time now „ The more people open their eyes to the fact that we are ruled by psychopaths who are driving us to our doom on multiple fronts“.
I believe the state of the AnglosaxonUS empire is comparable to a mental asylum for the criminally insane in which the inmates have taken over the running of the deadly circus. Nobody seems to be willing or able to stop them yet?! Is it because the silent majority has been brainwashed and dumbed down to accept and run with the abnormal as normal?!
Trump just sank his presidency with his mention of his “exceptionalist” megalomania
I doubt he is going to last full term. There are going to be some very big dog fights on the home front.
SOS…tsunami Trump on its way.
Thanks for your efforts Caitlin
“…If you were to twist my arm and force me to say something positive about Donald Trump, this is the sort of thing I would point to. He makes the U.S. empire much more transparent and unhidden. He removes its mask and reveals the twisted face beneath it…”
Exactly! I could not agree more. I posted this comment earlier today on Ben Norton’s website:
“As disgusting and pathetic as this all is, the DT regime is more obvious and a more honest representation of the US ruling class and US govt. It is ruled by the oligarchy and the “elected” officials are merely bought-and-paid-for puppets. When you have the world’s richest and most powerful oligarch (reportedly worth half a TRILLION $$) in the WH with so much power, it should be more than obvious.
As Jimmy Carter said after the Citizen United decision by SCOTUS: “The US is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery” Elections Inc. are merely PR stunts to “legitimize” tyranny.
The DT, like the previous geriatric freak, is serially mendacious, corrupt, elitist and genocidal. The only difference is that DT is louder, and an even better example of the Ugly American (which was inherited from our cousins cross the pond): loud, obnoxious, ignorant, ethnocentric, bigoted, elitist, a fkn liar and all around asshole.
The DT is an almost perfect example of a freakish puppet emperor in the slowly decaying Empire, and a perfect example of the Ugly American.
See, I’m not always pessimistic.”
LOL to your last bit. But I am sorry that I disagree with you overall. Trump, like Obama was appeals to a certain part of society (me included if I was a Yank American), but he is just another cheek of the same *rse… spewing out rubbish like our politicians do in the UK – FROM different sides of the make believe political spectrum; hey if I was a Yank … I would be wearing a red hat with MAGA and celebrating; but WE ARE BEING _PLAYED as the end goal is set….
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-O2DgubTC0
40 elections in a year ????? – all went left to right, or a few right to left… the World is a stage; but at least Trump makes me smile… especially after what you ot have been through the last 4 years.
The next phase of the agenda is coming in… so in my mind the UN and WEF are