Hail, Donald J. Trump, we who are about to read your latest tweet salute you! Tom Engelhardt pens an obituary for the republic.
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch.com
What dreamers they were! They imagined a kind of global power that would leave even Rome at its Augustan height in the shade. They imagined a world made for one, a planet that could be swallowed by a single great power. No, not just great, but beyond anything ever seen before — one that would build (as its National Security Strategy put it in 2002) a military “beyond challenge.” Let’s be clear on that: no future power, or even bloc of powers, would ever be allowed to challenge it again.
And, in retrospect, can you completely blame them? I mean, it seemed so obvious then that we — the United States of America — were the best and the last. We had, after all, outclassed and outlasted every imperial power since the beginning of time. Even that other menacing superpower of the Cold War era, the Soviet Union, the “Evil Empire” that refused to stand down for almost half a century, had gone up in a puff of smoke.
George W. Bush with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in middle, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Sept. 17, 2001. (DoD, Robert D. Ward)
Imagine that moment so many years later and consider the crew of neoconservatives who, under the aegis of George W. Bush, the son of the man who had “won” the Cold War, came to power in January 2001. Not surprisingly, on viewing the planet, they could see nothing — not a single damn thing —in their way. There was a desperately weakened and impoverished Russia (still with its nuclear arsenal more or less intact) that, as far as they were concerned, had been mollycoddled by President Bill Clinton’s administration. There was a Communist-gone-capitalist China focused on its own growth and little else. And there were a set of other potential enemies, “rogue powers” as they were dubbed, so pathetic that not one of them could, under any circumstances, be called “great.”
In 2002, in fact, three of them — Iraq, Iran, and North Korea — had to be cobbled together into an “axis of evil” to create a faintly adequate enemy, a minimalist excuse for the Bush administration to act preemptively. It couldn’t have been more obvious then that all three of them would go down before the unprecedented military and economic power of us (even if, as it happened, two of them didn’t).
It was as clear as glass that the world — the whole shebang — was there for the taking. And it couldn’t have been headier, even after a tiny Islamist terror outfit hijacked four American jets and took out New York’s World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. As President Bush would put it in an address at West Point in 2002, “America has, and intends to keep, military strengths beyond challenge, thereby making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.” In other words, jihadists aside, it was all over. From now on, there would be an arms race of one and it was obvious who that one would be. The National Security Strategy of that year put the same thought this way: “Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States.” Again, anywhere on the planet ever.
Look at more or less any document from the period and you’ll sense that they weren’t shy about touting the unprecedented greatness of a future global Pax Americana. Take, for instance, columnist Charles Krauthammer who, in February 2001, six months before the terror attacks of 9/11, wrote a piece swooning over the new Bush administration’s “unilateralism” to come and the “Bush Doctrine” which would go with it. In the process, he gave that administration a green light to put the pathetic Russians in their nuclear place and summed the situation up this way: “America is no mere international citizen. It is the dominant power in the world, more dominant than any since Rome. Accordingly, America is in a position to reshape norms, alter expectations, and create new realities. How? By unapologetic and implacable demonstrations of will.”
Depiction of ancient Roman decling and falling, 2010, at Seventh International Sand Sculpture Festival. (Wikimedia)
‘How Did USA’s Oil Get Under Iraq’s Sand?’
And soon enough after Sept. 11th, those unapologetic, implacable demonstrations of will did, in fact, begin — first in Afghanistan and then, a year and a half later, in Iraq. Goaded by Osama bin Laden, the new Rome went into action.
Of course, in 2019 we have the benefit of hindsight, which Charles Krauthammer, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of that crew didn’t have as they applied their Roman-style vision of an imperial America to the actual world. It should be added, however, that the millions of people who hit the streets globally to protest the coming invasion of Iraq in the winter of 2003 — “How did USA’s oil get under Iraq’s sand?” said a typical protest sign (which Donald Trump would have understood in his own way) — had a far better sense of the world than did their American rulers-to-be. Like the Soviets before them, in fact, they would grievously confuse military power with power on this planet.
More than 17 years later, the U.S. military remains stuck in Afghanistan, bedeviled in Iraq, and floundering across much of the Greater Middle East and Africa on a planet with a resurgent Russia, and an impressively rising China. One-third of the former axis of evil, Iran, is, remarkably enough, still in Washington’s gunsights, while another third (North Korea) sits uncomfortably in a presidential bear hug. It’s no exaggeration to say that none of the dreams of a new Rome were ever faintly fulfilled. In fact, if you want to think about what’s been truly exceptional in these years, it might be this: never in history has such a great power, at its height, seemed quite so incapable of effectively applying force, military or otherwise, to achieve its imperial ends or bring its targets to heel.
And yet, wrong as they may have been on such subjects, don’t sell Krauthammer and the rest of that neocon crew short. They were, in their own way, also prophets, at least domestically speaking. After all, Rome, like the United States, had been an imperial republic. That republic was replaced, as its empire grew, by autocratic rule, first by the self-anointed emperor Augustus and then by his successors. Arguably, 18 years after Krauthammer wrote that column, the American republic might be heading down the same path. After all, so many years later, the neocons, triumphantly risen yet again in Washington (both in the administration and as its critics), finally have their Caesar.
Hail, Donald J. Trump, we who are about to read your latest tweet salute you!
A Rogue State of One
Let’s note some other passing parallels between the new Rome and the old one. As a start, it’s certainly accurate to say that our new American Caesar has much gall (divided into at least three parts). Admittedly, he’s no Augustus, the first of a line of emperors, but more likely a Nero, fiddling while, in his case, the world quite literally burns. Still, he could certainly say of campaign 2016 and what followed: Veni, Vidi, Tweeti (I came, I saw, I tweeted). And don’t forget the classic line that might someday be applied to his presidency, “Et tu, Mueller?” — or depending on who turns on him, you can fill in your name of choice.
One day, it might also be said that, in a country in which executive power has become ever more imperial (as has the power of the Senate’s majority leader), blowback from imperial acts abroad has had a significant, if largely hidden, hand in crippling the American republic, as was once true of Rome. In fact, it seems clear enough that the first republican institution to go was the citizen’s army. In the wake of the Vietnam War, the draft was thrown out and replaced by an “all-volunteer” force, one which would, as it came to fight on ever more distant battlefields, morph into a home-grown version of an imperial police force or foreign legion. With it went the staggering sums that, in this century, would be invested — if that’s even the word for it — in what’s still called “defense,” as well as in a vast empire of bases abroad and the national security state, a rising locus of power at home. And then, of course, there were the never-ending wars across much of the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa that went with all of that. Meanwhile, so much else, domestically speaking, was put on the equivalent of austerity rations. And all of that, in turn, helped provoke the crisis that brought Donald Trump to power and might, in the end, even sink the American system as we’ve known it.
The Donald’s victory in the 2016 election was always a sign of a deep disturbance at the heart of an increasingly unequal and unfair system of wealth and power. But it was those trillions of dollars — The Donald claims it was seven trillion — that the neocons began sinking into America’s “infinite” wars, which cost Americans big time in ways they hardly tracked or noticed.
Those trillions didn’t go into shoring up American infrastructure or health care or education or job-training programs or anything else that might have mattered to most people here, even as untold tax dollars — one estimate: $15,000per middle-class family per year — went into the pockets of the rich. And some of those dollars, in turn, poured back into the American political system (with a helping hand from the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision) and, in the end, helped put the first billionaire in the Oval Office. By the 2020 election campaign, we may achieve another all-American first: two or even three of the candidates could be billionaires.
“Nero Views the Burning of Rome,” by Carl Theodor von Piloty. (Wikimedia)
All of this not only gave Americans a visibly unhinged president — think of him, in axis-of-evil terms, as a rogue state of one — but an increasingly unhinged country. You can feel so much of this in Trump’s confused and confusing attempts to both end American wars and ratchet them up, 17-and-a-half — he always claims “almost 19” — years after the invasion of Afghanistan. You can feel it in his gut-level urge to attack the “deep state” and yet fund it beyond its wildest dreams. You can feel it in his attempts to create a corps of “my generals” and then fire them all. You can feel the unhinged nature of events in a world in which, after so many years of war, America’s enemies still seem to have the formula for staying afloat, no matter what Washington does. The Taliban in Afghanistan is on the rise; al-Shabaab in Somalia, is still going strong; the Houthis in Yemen remain functional in a sea of horror and starvation; ISIS, now without its caliphate, has from Syria to the Philippines, Africa to Afghanistan, become a distinctly global brand; al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula thrives, while terror groups more generally continue to spread.
You can feel it in the president’s confused and confusing explanations for his urges to withdraw American troops in days or four months or whenever from Syria and do the same or maybe not exactly in Afghanistan. (As he said in his State of the Union address, American troops would both withdraw and “focus” on “counterterrorism” in that country.) You can feel it in the way, after so many years of visible failure, the neocons are once again riding high in Washington, ascendant both in his administration and as critics of its global and military policies.
These days, who even remembers that classic early Cold War question — who lost China? — that rattled American domestic politics for years, or later, the similar one about Vietnam? Still, if Donald Trump ever truly does withdraw American forces from Afghanistan (undoubtedly leaving this country’s allies in a Vietnam-style ditch), count on foreign policy establishmentarians in Washington and pundits around the country to ask an updated version of the same question: Did Donald Trump lose Afghanistan?
But no matter what happens, don’t make the mistake of blaming him. It’s true that he tweeted endlessly while the world burned, but he won’t be the one who “lost” Afghanistan. It was “lost” in the grisly dreams of the neocons as the century began and it’s never truly been found again.
Of course, we no more know what’s going to happen in the years ahead than the neocons did in 2001. If history has taught us anything, it’s that prediction is the diciest of human predilections. Still, think of this piece as an obituary of sorts. You know, the kind major newspapers write about those still living and then continually update until death finally occurs.
Think of it not as an obituary for a single loopy president, a man who, with his “great, great wall,” has indeed been an opiate of the masses (for his famed base, at least) in the midst of an opioid crisis hitting them hard. Yes, Donald J. Trump, reality TV star and bankruptee, he of the golden letters, was elevated to a strange version of power by a troubled republic showing signs of wear and tear. It was a republic feeling the pressure of all that money flowing into only half-noticed distant wars and into the pockets of billionaires and corporate entities in a way that turned the very idea of democracy into a bad joke.
Someday, if people ask the obvious question — not who lost Afghanistan, but who lost America? — keep all those failed imperial wars and the national security state that went with them in mind when you try to answer. Cumulatively, they had a far more disruptive role than is now imagined in toppling the dominos that sent us all careening on a path to nowhere here at home. And keep in mind that, whatever Donald Trump does, the Caesarian die was cast early in this century as the neocons crossed their own Rubicon.
Hail, Caesar, we who are about to die salute you!
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of a history of the Cold War, “The End of Victory Culture.”He runs TomDispatch.com and is a fellow of the Type Media Center. His sixth and latest book is “A Nation Unmade by War” (Dispatch Books).
Before you all get carried away, take a look at the current landscape. You have peace talks in North Korea. Peace talks in Afghanistan. No more war in Syria. And now look at the same developments repeated in Venezuela. Trump sends his bombastic messengers to appease the deep state and their minion journalists while behind the scenes, communication has already taken place with Maduro, the duly elected president.
Tom, my answer to your basic question, Who lost America? would have to include those who are incapable of telling the unvarnished truth, and even those who let important truths go unsaid.
I very much have you in mind, particularly your insistence on retailing the 9/11 lie, that it was an act of kidnappers, Muslim kidnappers. You know the truth, but anyone who didn’t could go over to bollyn.com and get a headful.
It’s not as though the question of who did 9/11 is unrelated to the horrors you point out. It was a neocon project and now here they are benefiting from it. But for some reason you must not connect the dots. Your job, maybe.
If so, I sympathize. But it does rankle to see you up there on your pulpit.
There are a number truthtellers on the scene, and America owes them a huge debt. Your name might have been there, but, for reasons best known to you, it is not.
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I think the love that Trump has lost stems from the environment of both friends and foes who have come to surround and influence him in office. It’s hard to accept the warmongering policies pushed incessantly by the likes of Bolton, Pompeo and now Abrams (and before them that assortment of hard-headed generals since fired or resigned) when Donald clearly ran on a peace platform, which I think is what got him elected. Abandoning that governing philosophy to appease the worst of the neocons is what will get him defeated next year unless he changes course, even though most of the Dems are admittedly quite flawed in their own ways–most notably the rampant Russophobia which still drives them. The country, the world and also the Democrats would have fared much better if they had not embraced Hillary’s insane excuse for her loss and opted to go all in on a new cold war even worse than the first one.
This entry was meant to be a reply to Rohit below, but the site won’t allow me to attach it to that for some reason.
Stay at home mom Kelly Richards from New York after resigning from her full time job managed to average from $6000-$8000 a month from freelancing at home… This is how she done it
……. dsfds
???USA~JOB-START
Does every issue have to be reduced to an attack on Trump? Trump had some good ideas and some bad ones. But if you look at the talk it seems that he only had bad ones.
His cabinet secretaries had some awful ideas.
That would be no different than what was attributed to Bush and Obama. When you break it, you own it. No one forced Trump to bring back Bush’s administration, any more than Obama was forced to hire every financial thug there was.
An Ancient Chinese Curse has found its fulfilment in the United States of America under Caesar Trump? “May you live in interesting times”, so the saying goes? The nuttiest President in US History may very well be the last President of the former Nation called America? This idiot & conman is leading his Country to economic collapse & a World War that his Nation hasn’t a hope in hell of winning? The unipolar moment is well & truly over for the American Empire thanks to Trump, Pence, Pompeo & Bolton! The four horseman of the Apocalypse? Trump will end up like Ozymandias (Pharoah Rameses) in Shelley’s Poem?? A broken orange headed statue sticking out of the sand with the inscription, my name is Trumpymandias, king of kings, Look on my works ye mighty & despair, nothing besides remains, round the decay of that collossal wreck (called America) boundless & bare? Sounds like a good epitaph for a dying Empire & it’s psychotic President!
The demagogue demigorgon, head dotard in charge of dumbassery, whataboutery, mendacity and cupidity. His one talent is making anyone sane hate the government by association with his family of grifters.
https://opensociet.org/2019/02/21/trumps-demagoguery-goes-off-the-rails/
Unemployment is low. Trump has begun no new wars. And he is pulling out of the Middle East. But instead of appreciating these good things, you try to understand reality through your hatred of the person Trump.
Trump might not have started any new wars, but he had continued the onee that he inherited and escalated the number of innocent civilians dying in them.
He might be pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan which remains to be seen, but he’s threatening war with Iran and possibly Venezuela. He campaigned on ENDING the wars immediately, but it took him almost two years to say that he was. Plus he put more troops into Afghanistan remember?
In case you didn’t notice, most of the article was about the mistakes Bush and the neocons made. Criticism of anyone does not mean that people hate that person. Reread the article and pretend that Obama’s president and see if you see it in a different way.
You are a hopeless apologist for the most incompetent, corrupt and mentally ill president in U.S. history. Englehardt’s comments are spot on except for the fact that the Orange Pustule is NOT a billionaire or anywhere close. Just more hopelessly exaggerated BS about himself such as his other comment about being a “stable genius”. Seriously, you should look into your tolerance for this appalling jerk. “Unemployment is low” is a pathetic excuse for a country that offers up mostly crap jobs with no pensions, decent wages and more and more robots displacing people. Trumpo the Klown continues to disgrace this country before the world but go right ahead and vote for him again in 2020 and keep your fantasy alive that he gives a damn about you.
I voted for the guy. I hoped upon hope he was just crazy. Now I am convinced he is stupid and crazy. He is a typical side show barker, hawking his game of 3 card Monte to us poor saps who pulled the lever with his name on it.
The DJT cult brags he’s playing 4D chess instead. Fat Chance. He just finished the Bait and Switch game with North Korea. Then he pulls the, “Hey, look over there a Squirrel”move to distract the hopeuls.
In a word, as a country, were fucked. Next it’ll be another bleed our asses dry democrat socialist. I am still thankful I voted for the bastard because the other option was the horrible mega-hoar HRC.
TOO BAD ALL YOU GOT IS YOUR TRUMP DERANGEMENT AND ZERO CRIMES BY TRUMP. GROW UP PRINCESS. SOILING YOUR PANTIES DAILY IS EMBARRASSING FOR YOU. MUST BE GREAT TO MAKE OVER THE TOP CRAZYTOWN ALLEGATIONS AND NEVER HAVE TO EVER BACK THEM UP WITH FACTS. BEST ECONOMY IN 50 YEARS TRUMPS APPROVAL 5 POINTS HIGHER THAN OBAMAS AT THIS POINT AND SOLDIERS COMING HOME. WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICAN PROSPERITY?
W Bush was our Augustus, starting a more autocratic mode of governance. Obama was our Tiberius, confirming tzhuhe mode. Trump is our Caligula, abusing the new mode. Of course, we still have wlections, etc. So did the Romans, for centuries after Augustus. They changed nothing, as our elections change nothing.
I’m with you and Pete Dornay, so much hard evidence has been compiled and proven that for anyone to still believe the absurd official conspiracy theory about 9/11 attests to the gullibility and lack of understanding of basic physics. It shows how a narrative can be foisted upon the hysterical masses during a traumatic shock and awe event.
PNAC was formed largely because the Taliban refused to allow the CENTGAS pipelines to go through their areas of Afghanistan. There is so much readily retrievable information available that has been documented by REAL courageous and curious news sleuths that if this information was neatly packaged and presented to the public there would be a dramatic change in the way people viewed most of our “trusted” institutions.
A clear and excellent article, but if Trump is the neo-cons’ Caesar, he is also America’s Brutus.
“if Trump is the neo-cons’ Caesar, he is also America’s Brutus.”
Yes actors play many roles, particularly when they mistake that others are the audience.
Did any of the three guys pictured at the top have the faintest idea what VP Cheney was doing or had plans to do. I know there was the Project for the New American Century but to most of the signatories it was just a pipe dream, not based in realism, after all, the world was pretty much at peace. What would be the excuse for getting the Project started? Well, Cheney knew. I know, we shouldn’t be looking back but unless you see where you came from, you can’t even tell in what direction you’re going.
I think TomDispatch has the current situation pretty well defined but unless we acknowledge our history, we still won’t know where we’re going.
Rome didn’t fall in a day. Those plutocrat Romans held sway.
Building Hadrian’s wall didn’t quite end it all,
Waging wars helped to lead them astray!
They plundered and stole prime resources. They had chariots, soldiers and horses.
They engaged in some trade, easy money was made,
All their taxes would pay for those forces!
The forum was full of those cronies. They solemnly held ceremonies.
Their ships plied the waves, they imported more slaves,
They fooled Plebs with their false testimonies!
Gladiators the stadiums filled. It was fun watching people get killed.
While somewhat sadistic, perhaps narcissistic,
It kept all the poor people thrilled!
The empire’s borders got broader. The spectacles got even odder.
When the legions got thin, they let foreigners in-
There was need for more battlefield fodder!
Foreign wars kept the rabble impressed. Bread and circus would keep them repressed.
A TV show host could be Cicero’s ghost,
An apprentice by Nero possessed!
Just denounce any real criticism, and instead propagate populism.
Take free trade nihilism, neocon cronyism,
If it fails he could blame socialism!
They’d claim real democracy fails. We’d steal Christ and come back for the nails.
We’d want more free stuff and it’s never enough,
Without war they can’t balance the scales!
But the Empire always succeeds. It provides for the rich and their needs.
A petroleum gala awaits Venezuela,
Even Nancy Pelosi concedes!
The emperor got some new clothes. He’s got Democrats hooked by the nose-
They’ll go right along so the dollar stays strong,
There’s never a war they oppose!
Nero was just a dictator. Caligula’s evil was greater.
They killed Julius Caesar, that much loved crowd pleaser
To the plutocrats, he was a traitor!
For the moment the Empire’s stable. The emperor seems strong and able.
Maxine Waters will screech that it’s time to impeach,
But Nancy says that’s off the table!
As long as the profits boost war firms, the emperor still could get two terms.
Kamala may scheme and Warren can dream,
But both parties are neo-conned worms.
Bernie and Tulsi raise hopes. But Beto and Booker are dopes.
Those flyover regions have loyalist legions,
And they cater to Biblical tropes!
The emperor said he’d tell all. He’d explain how those towers could fall.
In the end he would blink when he got to the brink,
Ever since he’s continued to stall.
He’s in bed with those evil deep staters. He’ll install some more Latin dictators.
Venezuela will boil with regime change turmoil-
And Abrams will bribe perpetrators!
The Democrats know they will profit. They won’t lift a finger to stop it!
They’ll bank on Guaido for regime overthrow,
Both parties will make money off it!
We’re just like the Roman Empire. We believe that we’ll never expire.
We’ve got ruins galore, check downtown Baltimore,
Or Detroit if it’s proof you require!
Fantastic FG! One of your finest.
Good stuff, FG! A few lines a bit confusing, but I admire one who can rhyme and make such good sense in a few words.
I think we have passed the stage in which the wailing and mourning over Trump should be received with much sympathy.
Trump has merged with the neo cons to prop up a faltering empire and further enrich the 1 %. This discredited union has no program or policies that address the challenges facing the large majority of the US population. The leadership of the Democratic Party and their media toadies are working to undercut the Sanders led opposition to the oligarchy and seek to outdo Trump in support for regime change around the world.
Where is door #3? Let’s stop the hand wringing, woe is me, doom and gloom pronouncements about the end of the republic and rise of the new Rome. Let’s get to work, in the streets, workplaces, meeting halls, study groups, where ever we are, with our neighbors and co workers. The floor is open to positive programs and initiatives. Set aside the doom and gloom, the smear tactics and irrelevant doctrinal sectarianism. There is a wide reservoir of good sense, common interests and fairness that can be expressed coherently through legislative, economic and social movements. We can evolve once we set our minds and bodies to the task.
Caesar was pretty popular with the plebs in Rome, and frustrated his fellow aristocrats because he put his own ambitions, and willingness to associate with the non-oligarchs, above his own class. Not exactly a good guy, but to buy into the Ciceronian fantasy of the Fallen Republic is a silly trope to re-hash for a hardly analogous scenario. Plus, Trump as “Neocon’s Caesar” ignores the fact that many high profile neocons are jumping to the Dem bandwagon as new (old?) war-party.
The two, principle and underlying reasons that a second Rome exists and an enigma like Trump found his way into the Oval Office, is for one, based on a lack of congressional willingness to create true campaign finance reform. This reform would require that our so called “political leaders” reassert their constitutional powers, fashion an air tight statutory law prohibiting dark money, slush funding and enacting such legislation that revokes policies for the endless continuation of war machinery and wars (Yemen for example). This corruption of our elected officialdom is bottomless, it is clearly visible and done in exchange for payoffs, skewed corporate tax breaks, kick backs, down the road repayments, more or less linked directly to the revolving door such as high paid jobs at major MIC’s . A boardroom seat(s) for those retiring Senators, Representatives, high ranking individuals from the nations armed forces and the like.. totally corrupted persons and of no value to any of us.
I suppose I’m advocating that our citizenry at large, provoke a constitutional crisis (before the presidential debates start to roll) between two branches of our government; the Supreme Court and our legislative body by undermining the ruling that the power of money, in limitless amounts, used towards influencing what voters think and eventually do is tantamount to free speech. In summary, if your a billionaire, or can draw from billions, the seat is all yours.
Our “gutless wonders” inside the beltway know perfectly well that by continuing to ignore a shadow government that sits on the south side of the Patomac River endangers and has gradually smothered what remains of western democracies. Further, nothing that we as a nation fought and died for can justify the continuation of the Patriot and National Defence Authorization Act(s). This beltway cowardice and inaction grows in strength when needed funds are denied to the promulgation of The Foreign Agents Registration Act especially during the entire electioneering process. Never mind the Russians my friends, that’s not what this whole thing is about ! That story is pure rubbish used to deflect from what can really offer us integrity during elections and for the better!
Until such time that our leaders do indeed lead, I will not be voting, again. It’s two minutes to midnight not just for a third world war but for a global political revolution in the West.
The political experience and intellectual where-with-all found in personages like Elizabeth Dole may have mustered over the many years of public life, the capacity to take on these antidemocratic devils I’ve just mentioned, but such individuals are very few in number and unfortunately, they are all aging rapidly
A tearful and long Farewell, to the U.S. of A. The Great!
Your reference to Elizabeth Dole. Is that what you meant to say?
To consortiumnews staff from Elmerfudzie: In response to your question, Mary Elizabeth Hanford Dole and highly experienced political leaders like her. She understands the inner workings of the war machine, do to her close proximity to, that senator from the Pentagon, LBJ and also, her association with the Administration of George H.W., who headed up our CIA for, only God really knows how long….
Pray tell, why bother to confirm anything written by this insignificant commentator ?
The “citizenry at large” is preoccupied with food & shelter. What good is voting for Joe Blow instead John Doe, if you’re 1 step from the homeless shelter in either case?
Many would be glad to hear suggestions on citizen “undermining” of the corrupt US Supreme Court “Citizens United” case that ratified economic destruction of democracy. The judiciary is utterly corrupt from top to bottom, Congress is over 99% sold, the Executive is corrupt, and the mass media are run by oligarchy. That doesn’t leave a lot of tools to restore democracy.
To Sam F from Elmerfudzie. I learned a long time ago that both the social and political ills that our nation(s) continue to endure can be traced to legislation assigning permanency to “incorporation papers” and their charters. Above all, laws that gave person-hood to the corporate entity.
Our founding fathers understood the great danger in shifting public trusts into private hands. Please visit a lecture series by Richard Grossman at https://tucradio.org/podcasts/newest-podcasts/richard-grossman-dismantling-corporations-two-two/. There you will find how it has come to pass that corporate money seduced government officialdom, worldwide and maintained a policy of impoverishment in those commodity rich second and third world nations, hint; Venezuela. We, as citizens of the world, have to start somewhere and I’m convinced it begins with tearing town the rights, powers and privileges of this “deep state” but currently legal entity. It all began in Delaware, inspired and promoted by old man Rockefeller himeslf, who now surely resides in the hottest spot in hell.
Yes, the concentration of unregulated economic power and the failure to protect the institutions of democracy therefrom, has destroyed US democracy. The cure is regulation of economic concentrations, and safeguards of our institutions therefrom, as amendments to the Constitution.
It is understandable that the US Constitutional Convention neglected to protect our federal institutions from money power, as there were no concentrations of economic power in the 18th century beyond plantations and small ships. The emerging middle class was too preoccupied to take more decisive action, and by 1947 the situation was pretty hopeless.
The stream of direct and indirect bribery to US politicians now controls the entire nation, a tiny fraction of its budget fed back through its corrupt political parties. The people are kept in ignorance of the real governing mechanisms by corporate mass media, a dictatorship of the rich.
To properly isolate government from economic force, we must require:
1. That all election funds originate in registered individual contributions, limited to the average day’s pay annually, accounted by any handler or user of such funds;
2. Strong investigation of all public officials and their relatives and associates throughout their lives, for financial influence including indirect promises and rewards;
3. Ensure felony penalties for any violation of the above, with strong investigation agencies and extreme penalties for extreme abuses, sufficient to discourage our class of political scammers, bagmen, and grifters.
To properly regulate economic concentrations, we must require:
1. Regulation of quality and truth in manufacturing, including product and service design reviews, and quality labeling, required for marketing licenses;
2. Strict truth in advertising and other services, with heavy penalties for fraud;
3. Strict reporting and investigation of political funding and influence.
This will restore sanity and remove most incentives for lying, cheating, and stealing, the belief system and principal skills of the bully class who have risen to make up our oligarchy.
Many words, little insight.
Trump’s main contribution is making a lot of US “soft power” masks come down, revealing the ugliness and dishonesty that’s characterized post WW2 US foreign relations and “news media”.
That is some of the worst political drivel I have ever read. You justly skewer Bush then jump over the pathetic presidency of Obama to attack Trump. Never has a presidency had such a full court press against them as our current president. That alone presents a sad view of our country. America falling apart is far more than the faults of Trump or the the one sided view of this article.
Agreed. Where’s the substance? A lot of words. Don’t be distracted by the shiny objects, people. The evidence? Are we at war under Trump? After reading this, one would expect us to be at war with 5 nations. Instead, all I see is peace spreading. How can that be?
The readers need to ask themselves this question. Weird attempt to justify something that isn’t happening. Bizarre.
An interesting revision of history. Gorbachev gets much of the ‘credit’ for dismantling the Soviet Union, reaching accords with Reagan (not Bush I, the Contra-Iran CIA spymaster). Clinton abrogated the Reagan-Gorbachev agreements (who would believe an American anyway?), set up a puppet government under Yeltsin to rape and pillage Russian assets, encircled Russia with NATO bases, slaughtered a few thousand Slavs with impunity, showing America had no respect for spheres of influence. Built China up into the monster it is today. Bush II was covered well, mostly a conglomeration of Reagan Bush I, with some Clinton components. Amazingly, nothing about Obama, who created the Imperium for Hillary (but Trump sits uneasily on that throne)? Ask Binney or Kiriakou or other whistleblowers who gets credit for the expansion, even perfection, of the Police State? Obama. Who took two wars and turned them into seven (not counting Ukraine and Honduras)? Obama. Who targeted and killed American citizens in Yemen? Obama; although Trump continued the planned raids after his inaugeration and likewise killed an American child; were the presidents sending a message?) If one looks at the list of Declared National Emergencies (recently made famous by Trump’s Wall, previously supported by both parties pre-Trump), one will see Obama’s signatures on “emergencies” in Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Ukraine, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Venezuela and Burundi. Evidently these, all with sanctions, serve as a pre-Declaration of War for the Empire.
The “die was cast” far earlier in 19th century, as economic concentrations gradually controlled US elections and mass media. By 1870 there was little hope of reversing that, and no effort was made, as the ebullient emerging middle class celebrated the economy and ignored the decline of democracy. Apart from brief reversals under TDR and FDR, all public discussion of protecting democracy from economic power was suppressed, and all hope was lost after WWII, when the loosely organized totalitarian oligarchy consolidated its power. The US foreign policy since Wilson has been destruction of socialism, monopoly of resources and nothing else.
The last stage of empire is the recognition that domestic power structure is the same, a system of exploitation by scammers and bullies. The injured nations surrounding the empire organize and strengthen against the offender. The means of its downfall vary, and some empires merely retire in defeat, but fall they must.
The US failed to lead the world because it is a scam of the selfish. Our “American Century” could have lifted half the world from poverty, ignorance, malnutrition, and disease. We could have built the roads, schools, and hospitals of the developing world, and we would have had no enemies. Instead the poor have lifted themselves as the US consistently tried to rob them. Our people were propagandized that we led an “alliance for progress” which in fact supplied at most one meal a year to the world’s poorest, and supported dictators and religious fanatics worldwide in a battle against socialism, against democracy, and against liberty and justice for all. The world knows that the US consists of lying tyrants, and bids “good riddance” to the corrupt empire of gold, may it destroy itself as soon as possible by any means.
Just a note of support for that narrative Sam F. but I must add that I totally believe if we can find a way to recognize that, we, as a Society can still realize a truly decent future…
Yes, if social, moral, and political education succeed, the US can succeed, in restoring democracy and implementing a constructive foreign policy, and we struggle on for that.
We do indeed Sam F. My hope now is that I will have the opportunity soon to directly dialogue with people like yourself and others on this Forum to help clarify the problems both past and present. Many Thanks.
Word!
Was the first Caesar just a figurehead, doing the bidding of shadowy, but definitely malicious, figures in the background because a) he had no good judgment or command of the facts and b) was threatened his every breathing moment with removal from office by allies and foes alike proposing one mechanism or another to get the job done? The first Caesar had to be murdered by the mob to remove him from the picture. This one has already eliminated any substantive role for himself in governing the country. The mob made him a deal which he didn’t refuse. Now he’s simply their yes-man, sock puppet or errand boy. Compare his words before and after the election and you’d think he’s a completely different guy. He sure ain’t no Caesar, unless the word is limited to defining one of the dramatis personae in a play. Actually, he might be a better approximation to Biggus Dickus in “The Life of Brian.”
“These days, who even remembers that classic early Cold War question — who lost China?”
Some do as an aide memoire of the opponents’ sense of direction and immersion in ideology.
As a European, what I find most remarkable about the US, is the utter squalor inside the country itself. Never mind the lavish 800 foreign bases, the navy patrolling the world’s oceans, the bombing of disobedient faraway countries, the constant threats to would be rebel countries.
Maybe it is because the vast majority of Americans apparently never travel abroad. But everywhere in the US you see decay. From the sheer awfulness of JFK airport, the crumbling, potholed highways, the creaking subway systems, terrible railways, the number of beggars and homeless people. The outrageous lack of decent and available healthcare, the ignorance that decades of poor education brings. It is amazing to see how obese so many Americans are, as they waddle along stuffing their faces with crap food. Of the TV screens on every wall, churning out America is the greatest propaganda amidst all the mindless advertising for more crapified consumerism. The sheer number of churches and other places of worship with their huge slogans and huckster, snakeoil ‘preachers’ in 3-piece suits.
On an individual level, I find Americans are no different to people from any other nation, some are kind, lovely, intelligent, interesting, others are boorish buffoons, others are somewhere inbetween.
Underneath it all, the rest of the world would love to like America, unfortunately, we avert our eyes with disgust while politely muttering, good day, and hoping the neocons don’t turn their shock and awe destruction on us.
“Underneath it all, the rest of the world would love to like America”
Assertions are often mantra to “ward off evil spirits” akin to nuclear weapons as comfort blankets.
It has been said that some don’t come to praise Caesar but to bury him.
Cadavers can act as fertilisers whilst too much fertiliser can inhibit the environment.
Consequently some encourage transcendence facilitated by the emulations/ immersions of others in the opponents’ frames.
Your assessment of usa reflects what I experienced in an 11,000 mile journey from the west coast to Maine.
Embarrassing is too polite a term.
Look to The Fed and banking, then further down to the fear~based greed of old~monied oligarchs and new~monied technocrats to find the malaise.
And the teevees are part of the education of oppression received by the masses.
Spot on appraisal, John A
What is, and has been, destroying the US was started somewhat with the Spanish-American War, was heavily boosted when the US was drawn into WW1, was set in concrete when the US was drawn into WW2 and the subsequent European occupation, was exhibited as a “habit” in Korea and Vietnam, and was made use of by the Neocons in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and so on.
You have great insight. But like dumb sheep, Americans have been led astray by the major media which has ridiculed basic Christianity, infested every institution by ridiculing God, morality and decency and flooding all media with porn, vice and degeneracy. Praying some day the “sleeping giant” awakes and votes out all representatives who own their souls to big money rather than the welfare of the citizenry. But as long as they are preoccupied with porn, circuses and drugs it is not very likely.
Yes, the relationship which has formed between America’s power establishment and Trump is notable.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/john-chuckman-comment-americas-unmistakable-relative-economic-decline-the-hopeless-and-dangerous-assaults-of-trump-and-the-american-establishment-on-the-world-a-clear-drift-towards-fascism-im/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/john-chuckman-comment-trumps-destructiveness-to-trade-but-his-concern-may-be-politics-for-his-base-and-not-economics-how-trump-now-well-serves-americas-establishment-glimmer-of-future-world/
A great parallel between the Roman and American empires. Massively profiting from wars, yet even more massively over-extending for those wars, until the inevitable collapse.
And let’s keep in mind that “neocons” is by now a well-known euphemism for “American Israelis”. So it’s no surprise that when we follow the war profiteer money trail, we find major roles for Israel and its investors. “War Profiteer Story”
http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com
Here’s a fascinating account of the money Israel extracts from the US (from an evangelical Christian who is trying to awaken his flock). The first 50 minutes.
“Was Ilhan Omar Right About the Influence of AIPAC on US Politics?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLqN066uGQ4
Veni vidi vaycay.
I came. I saw. I watched TV and Tweeted all day wearing a bathrobe from my 24K gold toilet seat.
https://opensociet.org/2019/02/21/is-anti-intellectualism-ever-good-for-democracy/
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Or, Trump is rocking the house. Is he perfect? No, but he’s damn good. When he secured the Republican nomination, he insisted the Republican party remove from their basic platform the assistance to Ukraine, which infuriated neo cons and Democrats alike (is there a difference?). He has also kept to his promise to get us out of Syria, where HRC wanted no-fly zones. He tried valiantly to respect the Russians and improve our relationship with them, although the Republicans and Democrats alike have fought him on this. He also respects our right to protect ourselves, including from a dangerous government, by fighting for and respecting the 2nd amendment. He’s got my vote! I believe he was the first Republican I ever voted for, and he’s certainly got my vote for 2020! I initially supported Bernie in the election, and after Bernie lost the primary, I had to drink the kool aid and move over to Trump; I have since become an ardent supporter. I also like that he is improving trade deals and working on getting manufacturing back in America again. We were giving away the house! Yes, by all means, America first.
All I can say to that is: https://youtu.be/uNb54rwDQJM
But I’d much rather say: https://youtu.be/cHoShT7laCU
With Trump, it’s always Trump first. I’ll admit he’s right once in a while. Like a broken clock.
Yes, Trump won an election with policies that, if they were not Trump’s policies, most progressives would have been proud to support – Bring back manufacturing jobs back to America, stop illegal migrants from taking jobs from American workers, depressing wages and destroying unions. Negotiate fair rather than free trade agreements which move American jobs to low-wage countries. Stop replacing stable ME governments with free-for-all terrorism and corruption. Negotiate with rather than threaten Russia. He has also correctly pointed out that insurance companies and the pharma industry are the main impediments to medical care for all. These largely progressive policies are supported by American voters who are far ahead of their political representatives. Democrats are blind to this, and are distancing themselves from American workers and destroying their own credibility, not only by not supporting these policies, but by actively opposing them.
Yes, what you say is right up to a point. I’ve been voting for over half a century and never saw two such incompetent, reprehensible alternatives. For once I couldn’t vote for either and chose the Greens.
Trump does seem to be getting us out of Syria, but deeper into other places. Slowly, the MIC/CIA has gotten him into madnesses like the Venezuela coup and considering turning Afghanistan over to Erik Prince who we pay billions every year. The belligerent confrontational dealings with Iran, China, and finally even Russia are pure Deep State. Whatever his reasons, he was right that Russia should be a normal competitor and the return of the Cold War is a dramatic Deep State error. his domestic policies are a distateful, neofascistic mess and his shambles of a “team” would be worse if the CIA “disappeared” him, because they’re smarter and more extremist. Yet despite a few excellent moves, his overall policy, his disgraceful personna, and our total loss of international respect due to his overt ignorance wouldn’t allow me to vote for him in 2020.
Pitifully, the Democrats offer no improvement. The two best candidates announced so far are Sanders and Gabbard, but Hillary, Netanyahu, and Deep State still own the Democrats’ establishment and they have the means to stop these two again.
The rest are eager for the fame and fortune offered by the job. They are inexperienced, inept, unworldly and incapable of controlling our runaway bulldozer. It’s what’s between the ears, not what’s between the legs that makes a President. A loud mouth doesn’t do it, even if espousing good ideas on a few domestic needs as AOC does – or Warren. Hacks like Biden, a Gerald Ford clone, don’t cut it in these times.
I suspect the nation is barreling down an impasse with a cliff at the end. It’s Germany in the late Thirties – different, but the same.
“he insisted the Republican party remove from their basic platform the assistance to Ukraine,” but this has certainly not happened and in fact the situation is worsening with US/UK/NATO assistance.
What you say is right up to a point. In over half a century I never saw two such incompetent, reprehensible alternatives
Trump does seem to be getting us out of Syria, but deeper into other places. Slowly, the MIC/CIA has gotten him into madnesses like the Venezuela coup and considering turning Afghanistan over to Erik Prince who we pay billions every year. The belligerent dealings with Iran, China, and finally even Russia are pure Deep State. He was right that Russia should be a normal competitor and the return of the Cold War is a dramatic Deep State error. His domestic policies are a distasteful, neofascistic mess and his “team” would be worse if the CIA “disappeared” him, because they’re smarter and more extremist.
Despite a few excellent moves, his overall policy, his disgraceful persona, and our total loss of international respect due to his overt ignorance wouldn’t allow me to think of voting for him in 2020.
Pitifully, the Democrats offer no improvement. The best candidates announced so far are Sanders and Gabbard, but Hillary still owns the Democrats’ Establishment and they will stop these two again.
The rest are eager for the fame and fortune offered by the job. They’re inexperienced, inept, unworldly and incapable of controlling our runaway bulldozer. It’s what’s between the ears, not what’s between the legs that makes a President.
I suspect the nation is barreling down an impasse with a cliff at the end. It’s Germany in the late Thirties – different, yet the same.
Well, I guess when Trump , the NY Mafia boss for the Jews, starts his war with Iran , then you can go congratulate him. Maybe fly to Tel Aviv and shake Bi Bi ‘s hand too. This Summer should be the beginning of the End.
Once upon a time, when the divine right of kings was discredited by a political “enlightenment” in which it was said that all men are created equal, there emerged in the historical timeline republican forms of government that proclaimed “unalienable rights” of individuals, yet distrusted and feared a universal franchise and democracy. Government by and for the people displaced hereditary aristocracies, yet these aristocrats refused to die and reemerged at the center of power of republican governments. They are known as the “1%” in these latter days and have betrayed the aspirations of the common man expressed in 1776 & 1789 in violent revolution with a nonviolent financial counter revolution that has turned the free and equal citizens possessing inalienable rights into debt peons. Election fraud allows then to retain power, yet the aspiration of ordinary persons ( viz: “the common man”) is as persistent as that of the anti democratic usury class and by virtue of their greater numbers these social democrats are emerging to kick the elite minority off the stage.
The thing about “unalienable rights,” or any “rights” at all (self evident or not) is the fact that if it can be taken away, it’s a privilege not a right.
” …even after a tiny Islamist terror outfit hijacked four American jets and took out New York’s World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.”
There is no evidence that supports this statement.
I agree, Jim, and frankly, I stopped reading this article at point about jets flying into the world trade centre Anyone who views the footage of the 9-11 farce and doesn’t have some doubts about 9-11, lacks any kind of credibility. The width of the hole in the Pentagon compared with the width or wing span of the jet that was supposed to have gone into it, must surely prompt even the most asinine brains to ask questions.
You are absolutely right! And David Ray Griffin’s new book (2018) “911 Unmasked” is a tour-de-force, totally based on factual evidence, as to why the world was hoodwinked by the media’s coverage of what took place. And of course the so-called “911 Commission Report” was just another “Warren Commission Report,” to keep the world from knowing the truth.
Thank you Peter Janney for referencing that book and the others for this thread…
Jim Coyle,
Thank you for saying what is absolutely necessary… Isn’t it interesting that after more than (17) years, nobody – repeat: nobody – who asserts the official 9/11 Commission Report (cover-up) is accurate has provided one stinking shred of evidence? Please, Southern District of New York, – let the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry begin their immeasurably important work – and now.
The human language is not sufficient for expressing with accuracy the magnitude of powerful emotions men and women feel while knowing the 9/11 insanity simply must end for the sake of humanity…
> There is no evidence that supports this statement
And sufficient evidence that refutes it…
History being what it has turned out to be for the USA it would have been far better if Bush had accepted Putin’s offer to go fight international terrorists together and, be none with it. Instead Bush choose a road where the very terrorist who were supposedly responsible for 9/11 would become our global reaching nation’s proxy army.
What has transpired is that the filthy rich through this age of USA wars forever transferred the redistribution of wealth upwards to upon themselves, while scaling down the average citizens civil rights to a minutiae of what those rights once were. Little is left of America’s vibrant economy while unfavorable figures are to be hid by a clever media who’s ignorance to everyday life for most Americans is unapologetic for the slight omissions as they report them. While never too be seen again hard earned tax dollars go towards manufacturing bombs and weapons of war as, there usefulness in the long run is as real as the unpaid debt these death products will leave a nation hellbent on destruction. This is the failed accomplishments of an ideology of unipolar globalist ambitions gone far beyond its competence.
All this bluster and vain glory and, for what but only for the world to watch the mighty ‘beacon on the Hill’ flash unsteadily and go see it’s light die ever dim.
The change that is needed should start with new Nuremberg trail. Although nothing may end up happening of any great good without an objectionable independent media.
The greatest wisdom of all is love & truth.
Yep, and that’s assuming the “truthers” are just conspiracy nuts. If they’re not, it’s more like living in the Matrix, The Truman Show, 1984, or some other grand charade we are unwittingly made to live in.
Well said.
Great comment Joe; I second the call for a second Nuremburg-type tribunal. Of course, some of the villains could probably make a successful claim to insufficient mental competence for standing trial…
Why do the cockroaches of the world love the American host…..Only one reason…..RESERVE CURRENCY STATUS ! They are deeply entrenched, lol!…. Do you think the neocons/Zionist would join in on “America The Beautiful” without reserve currency status ? Trump is a Zionist second and a pathological narcissist first….Trump is the savior, period…..
Intersting article to which a person can only ask:
Will “God Bless America”?
For the horrific wars that were planned
And all the killing in many lands
For destroying countries and cities too
And all the victims of its many coups
Will “God Bless America”?
For watching Syria on hellish fire
Was regime change its desire?
For selling arms to despots and dictators
And all the other evil creatures
Will “God Bless America”?
For its illegal invasion of Iraq
And all the fallout from this attack
Children contaminated with depleted uranium
Was this a “gift” from America at the millennium?
Will “God Bless America”?
For killing helpless children with drones
Decimating their countries and destroying their homes
Leaving any still alive horribly maimed
Are the assassins who do this evil and insane?
Will “God Bless America”?
For also helping to bomb Libya
And aiding Al-qaeda in Arabia
Does America really bring “democracy”?
Or has it become a powerful hypocrisy?
Will “God Bless America”?
Yemen is another country on fire
America’s “allies” is the bombing choir
Supported by Uncle Sam and others
And starving people die and smother
Will “God Bless America”?
Will war crimes with its allies go unpunished?
Is the rule of law and justice finished?
Does anyone care about crimes against humanity?
Are we in hands of a ruling insanity?
Will “God Bless America”?
Is the “land of the free” creating hell on earth?
Is world war three awaiting birth?
Or is killing, bombing, destroying, just Hysteria?
Or should it be called a hellish Amnesia?
Will “God Bless America”?
“Woe to those who call evil good” (Isaiah 5:20).
…
[more info at link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.com/2016/02/will-god-bless-america.html
I could imagine Johnny Cash singing this.
Your input Stephan J. is always right on and your links are a source of much of my personal research, thank you.
I was especially impressed by this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgig1QVU2lY&feature=youtu.be
No, God will not – and cannot – bless America.