We keep coming face-to-face with the wreckage of the Russiagate years, when the 45th president threatened the national security apparatus for, possibly, the first time since Kennedy fired Allen Dulles as C.I.A. director in 1961.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at a “rally to protect elections” in Phoenix, July 2021. (Gage Skidmore /The Star News Network, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Special to Consortium News
We happened upon a video of Donald Trump the other evening that, in its first few minutes, had our socks rolling up and down. The man who was our 45th president and who would be our 47th blasts “the entire globalist neocon establishment” and “the Deep Staters chasing monsters and phantoms overseas [and] perpetually dragging us into endless wars.” Trump tells us now he wants to see a major overhaul of the Pentagon, the national-security apparatus and the intelligence agencies.
“President Biden has brought us closer to World War III than we have ever been,” Trump asserts. “Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to immediately have a total cessation of hostilities. We need peace without delay.”
And then:
“We have to finish the process of fundamentally revaluing NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat.”
Then a pause for effect, and this:
“The greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia. It’s probably more than anything else ourselves.”
Not to simplify matters unduly, but now you know why the New York District Attorney’s office is about to issue a warrant for Trump’s arrest on felony charges. The Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, is in this case serving as a petty appendage of the Deep State. And as it was in 2016, so it is now: The Deep State does not want the man who says things such as the above-quoted to be president and commander-in-chief.
Newsweek made available a one-minute snippet of this video, which was taped last Thursday, in this piece by ILA Slisco. Breitbart, if you care to wade in, carries a slightly longer segment here. Truth Social, a Trump-owned social media platform, offers the whole of it. But accessing it requires membership in something called “Truth.” I’m not myself a joiner of organizations with names such as this.
You listen to the first few minutes of the Thursday video and you are half way to deciding to vote for Trump if he again wins the Republican Party nomination. But soon enough The Donald falls off the deep end, as is his wont. Before you know it the antiwar, anti–NATO, anti-anti–Russia candidate is on about “the collapse of the nuclear family” and other such social ills:
“It’s the Marxists who would have us become a godless nation worshipping at the altar of race, gender and the environment.”
For the record, I do not think any public figure in America who trades in this kind of paranoid rhetoric should rise above the level of under-assistant third selectman in a town of no more than 600 residents.
Clearing the Way for 2024
But the John Birchy side of Donald Trump is not the point as he awaits Bragg’s indictment and arrest warrant. The point is to get him out of the political process and maybe off the streets by the 2024 campaign season. This has been the Democratic Party leadership’s intent — chock-a-block with conniving Deep Staters as it is — since Trump declared his foreign policy positions on the campaign trail in 2016.
It is yet more urgent for the Democrats and the national security apparatus to keep Trump out of the 2024 presidential race given Joey Biden’s shocking mental deterioration even since he assumed office two years ago. Did you see the video of Biden during his meeting with Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, in the Oval Office last Thursday? Note his demeanor. Listen to him. Cue cards to remember it is St. Patrick’s day? No wonder White House operatives with wired ears frantically shooed reporters out of the room when it came time for questions. Biden’s clinically out of it at this point.
The D.A.’s case, as widely reported, has to do with a porn star named Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a hotel-room liaison with Trump back in 2006. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, seems to have paid Daniels $130,000 in keep-quiet money as the November 2016 elections approached. Trump is alleged to have paid Cohen the same amount when billed later for legal fees.
Stormy Daniels speaking at an event at Politics & Prose book store in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2018. (Victoria Pickering, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Bragg’s case rests on allegations that Trump concealed a hush-money payment that amounted to an election-law violation.
I do not know the legal merits of Bragg’s allegations, but they seem frail to me. The Federal Election Commission and the Federal Prosecutors Office in New York looked at the case earlier on and saw too little in it to bother with. The latter’s attorneys were in an uproar, you may recall, before the office ducked out.
I don’t blame them. A married man pays a blackmailing bed partner to shut up. Will you tell me something new under the sun, and then tell me how this will stand in a court of law as election interference? This case is far shabbier than it is interesting, important, or of any genuine consequence.
Let me make this point another way. I don’t give a tinker’s damn whether Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels enjoyed conjugal relations 17 years ago or whether she finagled some dough out of him, and cases of this level of “election interference” in American politics are simply too numerous to name, not least when they involve Democrats.
Whoops! I’ve tumbled into the land of whataboutism. How much election interference do you think can be justly assigned to the Democrats, the Obama White House, the Obama Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the Dems’ email was leaked in July 2016 and, with the eager cooperation of the press, all of these constituencies launched a relentless and very public campaign of disinformation, in many cases involving abuse of office, to smear Trump as some kind of Kremlin puppet?
Think of it this way. Whether or not Trump got in bed with a porn star in 2006, the Democrats certainly did a decade later. They couldn’t get enough of the wholesome Stormy as the 2016 elections neared. Now we find they’re still at it. This is what’s important about the Stormy Daniels case. This is why the D.A. is reportedly about to issue an indictment.
And this, readers, is real-time abuse of office. Who’s sleazier — Donald Trump, Stormy, or Alvin Bragg? Sorry, I ought not face readers with such a hard call. My vote: Bragg by a long way.
Facing the Wreckage
(outtacontext/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
We keep coming face-to-face with all the wreckage of the Russiagate years, when Trump’s foreign policy platform threatened the Deep State’s imperviousness to political power for, possibly, the first time since President John Kennedy fired Allen Dulles as C.I.A. director in 1961. We now find that the permanent state’s fight to defend its permanence and invisibility has destroyed a very great deal of our public space and the institutions that are meant to operate within it.
Lawlessness by way of “the law,” and we need the quotation marks now, sadly. There’s a lot of it around.
You know, we ought to have awakened to our fate way back when the C.I.A. corrupted the Italian elections in 1948, or when the coups started with the deposition of Mohammad Mossadegh as Iran’s premier five years later. These people care nothing for the democratic process or its attendant institutions, and it would inevitably be no different when they brought their circus of disorder home.
Jimmy Dore made a couple of provocative points in a webcast the other day. One, when D.A. Bragg serves Trump — apparently some time this week, though there may be delays, we now read — we will know our legal system is an appendage of the oligarchy. Two, Trump will be in for a runaway victory in consequence of this travesty.
On the first point, Dore is perfectly right, though the corruption of our prosecutors, judges and courts has been evident to the paying-attention among us for years. I am less sure Trump will walk away with a victory next year, but — I’ll go this far — his campaign will get a boost once he is able to cast himself as a martyr to the Deep State’s machinations.
I do not like the thought of Donald Trump as a martyr to anything. He is not my idea of a hero, either, the sound foreign policy positions cited at the top of this column notwithstanding.
There is an interesting calculation to reckon up here.
Last Friday NBC News reported that the Biden administration had ordered local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies to prepare for protests and possible violence once the Trump indictment is announced. The network has since changed its headline and copy to delete the fact the orders came from the administration, but never mind: This is the way American media work these days. What is this called? Stealth editing?
There is full knowledge, we can surmise, that what Alvin Bragg is about to do will further divide the nation — if there is any room further to divide it. Full knowledge and apparently full indifference. A priority is now clear: In its pursuit of Donald Trump, the Deep State’s concern is not what some large proportion of Americans may think; it is with eliminating Trump as a political force regardless of how this segment of the citizenry may view the action.
So do all the Deep State’s post–1945 chickens come home to roost. Nice, huh? No matter what you may think of Donald Trump, it is not, not at all.
Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, lecturer and author, most recently of
Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. His new bookJournalists and Their Shadows, is forthcoming from Clarity Press. His Twitter account, @thefloutist, has been permanently censored. His web site is Patrick Lawrence. Support his work via his Patreon site. His web site is Patrick Lawrence. Support his work via his Patreon site.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Indeed, Patrick Lawrence, “Every elephant carries his own trunk.”
“The problem with Donald Trump is not that he is imbecilic and inept—it is that he has surrendered total power to the oligarchic and military elites. They get what they want. They do what they want.” “The Useful Idiocy of Donald Trump,” Chris Hedges/Mr. Fish, JANUARY 28, 2018 hxxps://www.truthdig.com/articles/useful-idiocy-donald-trump/
+ The incitement of Americans to commit violence has always been an essential role for American presidents in the name of exerting US power abroad. Is it any surprise that one day a US president would incite violence to exert his power at home?!? For most of the country’s history, the incitement of government violence has served to unite the political classes of the United States. FEBRUARY 12, 2021 Roaming Charges: Scene of the Crimes
The FUTURE Is HERE, “It is a road that leads to internal collapse and tyranny, and we are very far down it.”
IMO, The Democrats need to lose their obsessive compulsive disorder w/DJTrump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and talk about the jackass in the room, BIDEN-HARRIS:
— ITSA MEGA-MAGA, physical & mental, DECLINE. Joey Biden’s falling harder than he did going up AF1; and, Comma La Harris is M.I.A.
— “Did you see the video of Biden during his meeting with Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, in the Oval Office last Thursday? Note his demeanor.”
— “Listen to him. Cue cards to remember it is St. Patrick’s day? (Everywhere he goes, people wanna know, CUE CARDS?!?) Cui Bono?
— “Biden’s clinically out of it at this point.” AGREED!!!
Imo, the Biden-Harris 2024 Run for the WH will be fueled by artificial intelligence; and, promoted by The Squad & that most famous $heepdawg of all! The one & only, independent, hot-air factory from Vermont, “Well, ya say ya GOT A Revolution? Yeah, we all know!!!!” It’s all lies, lies, & more lies!
Imo, a constant will be 46 Second “Pressers,” followed by turning his/her back on the Public & shuffle the flock away! I look forward to the day they keep a shufflin’, yapp’n & yell’n, all the way to the REHABoth Bch House’s basement. Lights Out!!! Their strategy toward Russia & China has largely failed!!! POTUS doesn’t connect w/The Nation. POTUS HIDES from The Nation’s PEOPLE!!! POTUS is afraid. Literally, afraid! “NOTE His Demeanor.” Concluding, we are so ______!!!
Never Say Die! The collapse of the Biden-Harris Domestic & Foreign agenda, IS confirmation that the Democrat Party aka The Party of War, is NOT a vehicle for social reform, but in fact a graveyard.” Consequently, “WE” are looking for a LEADER!!! And, about the $130K $torm, “awh, the married men. The married men, All of that time in hell to spend? for kissin’ the married men.” A $130K $torm. The girl got thumped! Geez, the Banks cover up $250K, if, you’re a Big Donor, the $ky’s the limit.…..”Not eve good counsel can make strong a person whose character is weak.” Ciao
@ Bruce Edgar
Re: A vague feeling that “the enemy of the deep state is my friend”?
#29: “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. No more, no less.”
———
Also (possibly) pertinent:
17. The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster.
70. Failure is not an option – it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.
@ Bruce Edgar
Re: A vague feeling that “the enemy of the deep state is my friend”?
#29: “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. No more, no less.”
———
Also (possibly) pertinent:
17. The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster.
70. Failure is not an option – it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.
hxxps://schlockmercenary.fandom.com/wiki/The_Seventy_Maxims_of_Maximally_Effective_Mercenaries
“the first time since Kennedy fired Allen Dulles as C.I.A. director in 1961.” Which we should note got Kennedy assassinated. Allen Dulles continued and was even appointed to the commission investigating JFK assignation. How weird is that?
Enlightenment is not contained in most if not all of these responses. Nor a way to go forward. It sounds like a room full of men mostly, arguing about right/wrong but not about who suffers with their endless arguments. I heard most recent WEF wants us to eat our pets or get rid of them in some other way because they contribute to climate change. Can’t imagine a single pet or multiples doing the damage of all those jets to DAVOS.
I can’t agree with you more, Mr. Lawrence on your views of Trump. He’s got his finger on the pulse, but his heart is elsewhere.
You write so well, I do hope I’ve sparsed some of my small income your way. I would love to see you talk about the Hunter laptop and Joe case as well as some of the facts being brought forward by Richard Gage and others on 9/11. I am convinced that most of what we see and hear is a white rich man’s trick. Trust in any US government institutions is impossible.
Great essay, Mr. Lawrence, one of your best!
I never understood why anyone took Russia(shmussia)Gate seriously for 5 minutes. But some people will believe anything, even that the earth is flat. Still, blaming our political and military follies on Russians is as stupid as blaming Reptoid space alens from Zete Reticuli. We Americans are responsible for what we do, no one else.
What do Democrats have going for them? What they have is the Biden administration’s dedicated work to senselessly provoke nuclear world war. The thing is, this has less popular appeal than the Democrats assumed. Second to this comes the Democrats’ war on the poor, which liberals have supported. But there are far more poor today, far less support for the ugly consequences of that class war. The only question is, who will Democrats blame?
When discussing Donald Trump’s record as US President, why is the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the Iran nuclear agreement so seldom mentioned?
…or that he blew up one of their generals in an attempt to get a new war going….
I cannot think of the last time that I have seen a perceptive and relevant article even nominally about Donald Trump. I wish I could. It is not something I have searched for, but there must be a statistic here somewhere that has some relevance to understanding media.
Beyond media, it is eerie that someone so objectionable should become so nearly the last or final national figure independent of the MICIMATT. I don’t mean to suggest that he is at all an anti-corruption figure, but he is misaligned if not opposing. Have we become a land where no tree grows straight? It appears so well beyond the Beltway.
We should at least note that the arrest, even the rumored arrest, relates to the same process that threw Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in jail. We might presume as well that many of the same individuals guide both actions. It is not less eerie that this same group applauds Lula leaving jail and re-assuming office. One wonders what sorts of political negotiation have come into play.
I see positive actors, as ever, but no longer any in any official capacity.
Much too many words in these comments. Both parties are corrupt. Trump Biden Hillary Obama are the same. Jimmy Dore may be our only hope. But he has no chance.
Oh the weird things for me on 9/11 was the lady in New Jersey calling the police about the white van and the men dancing around it and filming the debacle when the buildings imploded. Weirdly, they were Israelis, who the US let go home….so what was that about?
Then too, why did that building 7 implode hours after everything else fell down? It was those events that made me wonder exactly who and what is America, and why are they so successful in their work work which seems to diminish so much the idea of “democracy,.
I often enjoy explaining to people why I consider DJT our greatest President. He pushes on the levers and the facades of government till they break. He is opening the door to American redemption which is more important than what the founding fathers did. As programmers know, maintenance is ultimately much more difficult than the original design.
Donald is a breaker at least as talented as Elon Musk is a maker. We need both. Building on top of a rotten edifice will bring us just a pile of rubble down the road.
Patrick – serious questions:
1) Have you read the Eastman memo?
hxxps://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21066248-eastman-memo
2) Are you familiar with Legislation passed in several Republican controlled states on voting procedures?
3) Are you familiar with the Moore V. Harper case now before he US Supreme Court and the “independent State Legislature” theory?
hxxps://www.americanprogress.org/article/supreme-court-may-adopt-extreme-maga-election-theory-that-threatens-democracy/
4) Have you read about the legal filing that was submitted to the US Supreme Court by the Trump people that could have produced another Bush v. Gore (2000) decision? And that the Trump coup plotters were hoping that just one Republican lead state would revoke certification so that the case could be brought? I think Clarence Thomas’ wife has publicly confirmed this strategy and the legal filing is a matter of public record and has been reported.
5) the objective of the jan 6 riot was to create delay so the US Supreme Court could hear that legal filing.
All these FACTS (not allegations or conspiracy theories or Deep State sabotage) all suggest a conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 election results and install Trump.
You are a rational man – in light of these facts, how could you possibly focus on this legal prosecution and rely on Jimmy Dore!
Because, you “smart” man, there are actual people in the world who care more about truth than money or power. Imagine that for a moment and then question who you believe. Motive is everything. It is quite connected to “soul” or lack of.
I was given to believe that Trump’s leftish policy speech was more recent than the slow wheels of “justice,” with regard to Trump’s impending indictment relating to the Daniels lawsuit. Trump is not an ideologue, but every chance he gets he calls those whose policies he doesn’t like Marxists or socialists. Curiously, he’s brandishing anti-imperialist lingo to curry the progressive independents, and then he’s championing cops, the NRA, the Christian Right and the anti-globalists. I think this is Donald’s attempt to be all things to all people, while hoping these disparate groups only hear what he intends. His peace message will go out to everyone who wants to hear him, I think. As Patrick Lawrence has indicated, the lawsuit looks weak, and actually puts a favorable light on Trump. His peace overtures will absolutely roil the far right in the two fake parties, and I will be curious to see how the muzzled Sanders reacts, if at all. I’m getting ready for the media fawning/condemnation to suck all the oxygen out of the newsbreeders.
I’m no Biden fan, but calling him “Joey Biden” only cheapens your argument (which is otherwise a good one). It’s no different than the raving liberals who think they’re cute and clever for using “tRump” or “Drumpf”. If you have a mature argument, you don’t need juvenile nicknames.
I would call Biden many worse things.
I think it shows lack of respect, but I don’t think Biden has earned any so I’m good with Lawrence using Joey. Biden has worked against we the people his entire career in government, but if you want to ‘respect’ him go for it.
It was apt, in OMP connected to what I know about Joey.
The “deep state” has no reason to be concerned about Trump. Trump had an opportunity to take action for four years. His decisions made it clear that his rhetoric is meaningless.
You summed it up very well. That’s the bottom line: he had the opportunity and appointed the most neocon, warmongering coward retreads: John Bolton, Bill Barr and Pompeo. People still fall for the con from a notorious conman. Desperate people in denial
Agree. Says one thing, does another. And as a woman, he devalues me and makes me a commodity. I will never support a man or woman who does not see or acknowledge the power of the feminine. The earth I love is showing her power in protest to the male idiots of the world. Get along with her or die.
Totally on target! This nonsense that Trump is somehow some kind of “outsider from the establishment” and therefore the “deep state” is after him, does not hold up to the facts of history. Trump is, and always has been, snuggled deeply into the arms of the ruling elite. He has never done anything anywhere ever to assist the common working person. He just rants stuff that certain people want to hear and then laughs all the way to the bank behind their backs. Of course, on the other side of the duopoly coin Biden, Pelosi, Clintons, etc do the same thing. The ruling elites do not care about YOU. DNC vs Trump? It’s all just disagreements between business partners. Literally.
The idea that Trump could be arrested for a transaction with a porn star while war criminals like Kissinger, Bush, Cheney, Obama, the Clintons and Joe Biden walk free enrages me.
Yeah, it really is a stupid move. No matter how much I dislike Trump (and I completely do), I despise the Boltons, Cheneys, Kissingers Bushes, Obama and Clintons even more. They are actually evil, which I don’t think Trump is. He’s just a con man writ large who views everything as the fault of “socialists”, who are not even socialists. The Democratic neocons are far more dangerous.
Me, too. Many of us, I’m sure.
ME TOO!
You left out so many names! Don’t forget Pompeo and all the loser Generals that continue to draw salary and promote war.
Wonderful exploration of the topic. Mr Lawrence you had my full attention until you dropped in comments from Jimmy Dore. I spent MANY years down the “Jimmy Dore” rabbit hole (never missed a single video, went to see him “live”, believed he was a sincere crusader for the truth, sent him some support $$, etc) until I finally realized that he was a disingenuous opportunist grifter. His claims of being “the only REAL leftist standing” fell apart after years of his bashing everyone on the left (and I don’t mean the democrats) while largely ignoring the vile actions of Republicans. His promotion of the likes of Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson and the (non existent, but in name) Nick Brana People’s Party became tedious. His almost total ignoring of actual third parties like the Greens and Socialist Partys became highly suspicious along with his constant begging for money. His hysterical embracing of (thinly disguised) MAGA anti-vax conspiracy theories were the last straw for me. Dropping his name into your otherwise well thought-out article just gave him undeserved credibility. You could have chosen quotes from dozens of other credible voices.
Dore is fully vaccinated, was a Bernie Sanders supporter and invited Green Party candidates on his show. And few can afford to work without getting paid, including the propagandists on MSM
Good grief. It’s what Jimmy said not what you think he has done or hasn’t done. And this is a common complaint about his talking only about democrats while not saying anything bad about republicans. He says that everyone knows that republicans are bad, but democrats like to say that they are different than republicans, but then they stab you in the back every time. He has been a lifelong democrat and he has despised republicans forever so why should he have to qualify himself every time he talks about democrats?
Or are you saying that democrats should be above criticism? If so that’s why they keep doing what they’ve been doing since Clinton. Maybe if more people criticized them and quit voting for them until they start keeping their campaign promises then maybe they would.
I guess you missed the part where I clearly said; “his bashing everyone on the left (and I don’t mean the democrats)”. I watched EVERY video he posted and ALL the live programs ever since he had his YouTube channel until about 8 months ago. I am VERY well versed in everything he has talked about! I know his “I don’t need to criticize the Republicans” shtick. I know all about his “I’m vaccinated so let me spin MAGA anti-vax paranoia” rants. He constantly pushes Nick Brana’s Peoples Party scam (and I suckered sending them $$ too) and they have never ran one person for ANYTHING ANYWHERE in years! Compare how many times Brana has been given time on Dore’s show to Green Party members (a party that runs candidates and even gets some elected!) or Ms Sawant and Socialist Alternative or any other real leftist party. No comparison. All designed to steer saps away from real third partys. He started pandering to the MAGA crowd as a growing source of click$. Most of the old regular guests he used to have on all have dumped him and moved on. Tulsi (who’s campaign was obviously designed to siphon off Bernie support) ENDORSED BIDEN BEFORE Bernie dropped out and Dore NEVER uttered a word against her for it! He embraces the “low hanging fruit” topics like anti-war and medicare4all (most people agree on those) but then goes off into pandering anti progressive and MAGA stuff most of the time. Dore is on the grift. I can’t say for sure what his motive is but, for me, his credibility is gone.
While I am sure that is what you saw, as a person I know people can go thru changes, however, yes, I sometimes see him and speaking to those he has already captured and do not ask for proof of his claims. Always ask for proof of claims and follow up on those claims of proof.
This reminde me of the recent post by Gilbert Doctorow on the CIA’s role in the election of Emmanuel Macron– hxxps://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/03/18/emmanuel-macron-the-weakling-autocrat-brought-to-power-by-american-meddling/
“I refer readers to an essay entitled “Emmanuel Macron’s Speech to the Joint Session of Congress, 25 April 2018” in my collection A Belgian Perspective on International Affairs (2019). The concluding section of that lengthy essay, dealing with “How Macron came to power: US meddling in French politics,” takes the story back to the French presidential race of 2012, when the United States intelligence agencies effectively knocked out of the race the leading candidate of France’s Socialist Party, Dominique Strauss-Kahn… He was arrested in a New York hotel on charges of attempted rape of a chamber maid. There can be little doubt that this was a well-prepared case of politically-motivated entrapment… Now, to return to Mr. Macron. His election was made possible when US intelligence agencies intervened in the French presidential race of 2016-2017… Thus, it came as no surprise to those of us with an understanding of the ways and means of U.S. intelligence operatives that Fillon’s candidacy was derailed just weeks before the first round of presidential elections when he was charged with embezzlement amidst allegations that he had put his wife on the public payroll for little or no work.”
What I love about the French is they may or may not understand all you said, but they have slapped his face in a symbolic gesture that resonates around the world. I pray the people brave enough to do so where not terribly treated like Julian Assange.
To add to my previous post … If the ny da has a good case bring it on… Cohen did 2years for this… Trump should be held accountable as well if charged and convicted… Just because the rich and or powerful are rarely held accountable is no reason for this case to stop if it is solid
American here… our presidential races are a joke and the two choices we end up with always seem to be terrible or more terrible. And if I hear the state dept. Spout off about rule of the law or rules based intl. Order I think I might just lose it … IMO even a broken clock is right twice a day… trump’s words are spot on re: questioning NATO .. working for peace … reducing our war games all over the world… that is good stuff but I don’t believe for a second any of that would change there are still plenty of repubs in power that love the war machine and our corporate overlords wouldn’t allow much change there. trump was a terrible president in many ways and if the deep state was that invested in removing trump it would be easier to let him run in 2024 and watch him get clobbered.
Sorry, all I have is a bit of doggerel to go with the endless dog & pony show that accompanies the unending, well, you know…
Dumbshow (under the Big Toff)
With their grift & their graft, the clever & the daft cavort in the spotlit Ring.
While the mesmerized with stars in their eyes wait for the fat lady to sing.
At the end of the Show with nowhere to go they mutter & shuffle outside,
then empty their pockets for bottle rockets to buck up their wounded pride.
In the zig-zag Glare of a whistling flare at last there is something to feel,
while the Toffs secure their sinecure as they polish the same old Spiel.
The Freak Show continues.
The phony public relations “elections” will give us two “choices”: a modern Caracalla or Commodus.
Don’t worry, Trump will not go to prison, that’s just part of the freak show distraction.
Instead of mucking through the mire of the BS, we need to acknowledge that “The US has no functioning democracy” “…an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery” (Jimmy Carter, 2015). Despite this being denied by Snopes and ignored by the mass media cartel, it is the truth. The late prof Sheldon Wolin wrote about it (Democracy Inc.) Chris Hedges and others have written about it as well.
Too many are still in deep denial. Once we break out of the denial, we can boycott the sham elections and have a giant demonstration on “election day”.
“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it is just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or elected president. And the same thing applies to Governors, and U.S. senators, and congress members. So now we’ve just seen a complete subverstion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election is over.” –President Carter
The author seems to take issue with “the collapse of the nuclear family” and “It’s the Marxists who would have us become a godless nation worshipping at the altar of race, gender and the environment.” However, are these not problems? For example, hasn’t the welfare-encouraged increase in single-mother (i.e. no father) households contributed to the high crime statistics among young black men (compared to 1960 or before)? Didn’t one of our Founders say that our Constitution is only suited to a moral and religious people? Don’t the Marxists wish to destroy the nuclear family, and religion, and demoralize and defeat the people by getting them to recite and even believe in illogical insanities like the current gender nonsense? Isn’t the divisive (and racist) Critical Race Theory based on Marxism? Gotta love progressives who now, belatedly, will admit that DJT was actually right about some things, and was not a Fascist, and was attacked by the Deep State, etc., but still feel the need to preface it by, “Now, there’s nothing I like about DJT, but…”
Take the nuclear family and shove it. Take religion and shove it. I regard religion as primitive superstition. I regard the nuclear family with disdain. By the way, I am a Marxist. Also by the way, I think true Marxists are opposed to Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project that spawned it as the falsification of history and the promotion of divisiveness in the working class.
“However, are these not problems?”
Well, since you ask:
No, they’re not problems: they’re just indications that you disagree with a lot of people. Despite never having experienced any exposure to Marxism I’ve never been a believer in deities (though I occasionally make a token appeal to the old Roman house gods when a toilet gets clogged) nor in the rest of the drivel you just spewed. You sound like Joe McCarthy claiming that there’s a communist under every bed: severely logically challenged and downright paranoid. You might try to educate yourself by taking a look at voting results for parties significantly left of what our political establishments claim is ‘center’.
Many of us across the entire political spectrum believe that our government is corrupt and rotten to its core, but unfortunately more are sheep devoted to supporting one of the two dominant parties regardless of how much it stinks. Believe it or not, a non-negligible number of progressives and centrists decided that while being a rather loose cannon Trump stank less than Hillary did back in 2016 and had he been less successfully marginalized by the establishments during his term in office he might well have won a second term.
Of course Russiagate has been a loony psychological operation and so on. . Of course there is a deep state… But why isn’t the Biden administration making a big. deal about. allegations about, for instance” the Trump Organization and big financial crimes Trump seems to have been involved in? Why the emphasis on “porno stars” and all that?
Trump is not outside “the establishment”; he is part of it. He fits right in with the elite consensus, with his promotion of austerity. All the “mainstream critics” of Trump were sent as the tomb about his public policies–which were theirs…
US presidents have always criticized NATO’s sharing of expenses.
Such matters (and Trump’s war drums about China) is the real story.
Wow. Lots to parse here, and not even sure if I should try. Instead, I’ll do a sort of non sequitur.
I’m remembering the evening during the 2020 campaign primaries when the Democratic Party decided to foist Joe Biden on the voting electorate. As I watched the somewhat doddering and often disinterested looking Biden on the stage I had a foreboding. Once again, as in 2016, the populist and younger demographic energy of the Party was with Sanders and his message of political corruption and oligarchic dominance. Also, Sanders continued to pose a threat to the vampire health insurance industry if he should gain the nomination or even any support among his jaded peers.
At some point during the “debate” (all the then-candidate hopefuls were on the stage together) Biden seemed to wake up, as if his handlers had sent an electrical prod to make him vocal. It was then that the purpose of a Biden presidency became apparent: first, he told us all that the D Party would continue to make “health care” more affordable and accessible to all Americans while at the same time sending clear signals to the industry that their cushy gravy train to US tax dollars would not be threatened. But that wasn’t the worst of it. He delivered that message calmly and more or less by rote.
Then came what should have alerted us all to the nightmare we’re all now living through – the concocted and energetically provoked proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Joe Biden seemed to get truly animated about US exceptionalism, American righteousness, and the continued role of the US as global hegemon, thought leader, and moral exemplar. In short, he showed us his true and unwavering colors: he was and is an unabashed Cold Warrior, a throwback to a time that no longer exists, dedicated to a political/economic philosophy and world view that only continues to prevail through force of arms.
That night I was somewhat frightened by this thing that was Joe Biden but I did not at that time believe that the collective brain trust of this nation would be so stupid or power-crazed to risk world war. It was bad enough the realization that the fix was in and Biden was going to be the candidate. A complete dead end – in more ways than one – to the D Party wing of the duopoly. And then, perhaps to show their complete contempt for the sentiments of those that continue to hope without reward for the honest representation of the D Party, Kamala Harris was selected as the VP candidate. In all of the primaries she participated in Harris never finished better than third; uninspiring and with dubious or even contradictory prior history, repeatedly rejected by the voting electorate, she would nonetheless be the perfect puppet should the half-dead Biden keel over.
And it is only because Trump is so toxic – a fact directly of his own making as well as the machinations of his enemies – that Biden is President.
So Trump makes statements that seem rational and true, but then I remember all of the grifters, con men, and criminals he surrounded himself with the first time around and I know that Trump’s one true talent is to stick his little pinky into the breeze to see which way the wind is blowing and then to hoist his sails to try to catch that breeze. I don’t believe him any more than I do Joe Biden.
vinnieoh: I always assumed that the Biden candidacy was a Trojan horse to bring HRC back in, either in person or in spirit. Since what we are seeing today is, after all, her dream, I think it has turned out just that way. Trump the disruptor bought us four years. Otherwise we would have been dealing with all this starting in 2016. Not through any goodness or even intention of his own, of course. Just because of who he is and “how he rolls.” I expect that the deep state also fears his popular support. We are living in bizzaro times indeed.
Yes about Sanders. He could have been “organizer and chief.” Perhaps it would have worked. Certainly worth a good try rather than our abominable “more of the same.” I think he must be deeply disappointed that America has slipped so far into lunacy that it cannot even try to right itself.
Bernie Sanders is a charlatan posing as a socialist. Yeah, a socialist that supports imperialist war? A socialist who votes for more billions of dollars for war? A socialist that did not run for office a a socialist? Please pass the sick bag.
Well said, vinnieoh! You’ve captured my sentiments exactly. Biden was the worst candidate and clearly foisted on us along with Kamala Harris. As Rob Urie said at CounterPunch: “Political architecture where a small group of politicians, oligarchs, and corporate executives erase the lines between corporate and state interests to use state resources for their own benefit while treating the populace as rubes and marks deserving of being preyed upon 1) reasonably well describes the US at present and 2) fits the definition of Italian fascism as state corporatism. Add in unhinged militarism motivated by imperialist objectives and ‘liberal democracy’ looks and feels like fascism to those on its receiving end.”
Well said.
Let’s set priorities. IMO ending the war in Ukraine, ending NATO. ending all the war propaganda and CIA covert actions for regime changes should be the top issue. With the billions denied to the pentagon and our other warmongering agencies and advisors, including the State (War) Department , there would be money to devote to the many other problems in our society , and time for intelligent, respectful discussion of the social changes occurring in our time with emphasis on human rights and care for the general welfare.
Sally: I’m with you. Abolish NATO, the CIA, ICE, TSA, cut the “defense” budget. Hey, let’s just cut to the chase: abolish Capitalism.
I believe that BRICS and the change from Euro-Atlantic hegemony to an Eastern and Southern breakaway is a good thing. It is happening now.
“Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, seems to have paid Daniels $130,000” (for a hotel-room liaison with donald dump.)
She was robbed.
Trump is the quintessential PT Barnum.
He is a deep state wet dream. Patrick must of forgot
Donny dropping the MOAB on Syria.
Trump is a grifter and grifters gotta grift.
I heard the speech you mentioned but come on it’s Trump.
He NEVER was a threat to the deep state.
Trump is in it for the ego, power and yuans.
Yeah, naive, gullible folks fall for the BS con every time. It is sad that desperate and lazy people will cling to a notion that if they just “vote” for some conman, things will get better, or a savior will save us. He appointed John f-in Bolton for fs sake.
Rosemarie: Granted Trump is a grifter but the critical point is that he is an independent operator for his own enrichment and not an appendage of the deep state apparatus, as are Clinton, Biden, Harris, etc. I will put it this way: Trump is the lesser evil, given the corruption of the so-called two-party system. He will have to do until the revolution.
What revolution is that? The one that starts when there’s no food in the supermarkets.
Because that’s the only revolution you will see in the west.
Precisely. I am coming around to the idea that Trump is absolutely necessary at this time. BTW I voted for Bernie twice, you skeptics. My interest in his candidacy might be a variant on the idea that the enemy of the Deep State is my Friend. Trump’s importance will not be to build (though he visited NKorea, admires Putin et al, and can probably learn to respect Chinese power–unlike Biden.) And likely he will keep us out of war–something I have heard no Democrat declare recently. Perphaps almost forever. Trump’s legacy will be to use his four years to tear down. And after the tearing down, we will gladly dismiss him and set about rebuild, perhaps via a third party–honest opposition to the duopoly. I have come a long way to get here, so please don’t confuse me with a right wing Republican. Sometimes, when we want to build a home for our family we have to bring in a bulldozer to clear spaces where we can build. A bulldozer is potentially dangerous, messy and loud. But it does the job. I am thinking that this is Trump’s potential role. He will wreck a number of things–but that damage doesn’t have to be long lasting. Could be, but doesn’t have to be. And could be, only because we continue with things the way they are. As an atheist, I cannot abide his evangelical fervor and so on…so the inclusion of the statement about god fearing irks me no end. But my personal needs at this time are not the most important things. I am now almost completely deaf. That is some comfort.
Excellent and all too objective analysis of the reality in which we’ve lived for way too long.
I’m sick to death of the whole bloody so-called government, MSM ad MIC in the USA – bunch of god damned fucking liars – the lot!!
Easy, Susan, easy with the Queen’s English! You mean you don’t like the choice we have in voting for the Repulsive Party candidates and the DemoRAT Party candidates? As Sick Willy Clinton would say: “I feel your pain.”
I’m with you, sister. You said it well!!!!
Hey, the Queen is dead. We now must go back to the King’s English.
Oh you feminist! LOL
Your antipathy is well warranted susan. It’s not just the USA though. As a (bloody) brit i feel the same way about the “poodle” UK government. (Who have just intimated they will be sending “depleted uranium” ammunition to the Ukraine)
“Russia condemns British plan to send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine”
Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned a British plan to send ammunition that contains depleted uranium for use in Ukraine.
Foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, wrote on her Telegram channel that this was the “Yugoslav scenario”, saying: “These shells not only kill, but infect the environment and cause cancer in people living on these lands.”
Zakharova went on to say:
By the way, it is naive to believe that only those against whom all this will be used will become victims. In Yugoslavia, Nato soldiers, in particular the Italians, were the first to suffer. Then they tried for a long time to get compensation from Nato for lost health. But their claims were denied.
When will they wake up in Ukraine? I’m not talking about addicts on Bankovaya [the street in Kyiv that houses the presidential office]. But about those who are still able to think. Their benefactors poison them.
Zakharova was responding to the answer to a written statement on Monday in the House of Lords, where crossbench hereditary peer Lord Hylton asked “whether any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium”.
In reply, Lady Goldie, minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, stated: “Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
(Guardian 21 march)
Very good, Valerie!
“To Kill A Nation,” by Dr. Michael Parenti, is about the breakup of Yugoslavia by the US led (Slick Willy Clinton and Tony Blair) North Atlantic Terrorist Organization, aka NATO.
Diana Johnstone has written articles and a book about it which is worth reading.
Aye. True that.
Donald J. Trump is Godzilla! He is a threat like no other to the Washington, DC deep state and donor classes because all weapons short of assassination have failed to stop him. To date, Godzilla Trump has endured what should have easily ended the careers of a dozen American politicians. But the monster still stands.
After four long years of a failed Russian dossier hoax instigated by the Hillary Clinton campaign in league with the FBI, two bogus impeachments a J6 House show trial worthy of Lavrentiy Beria’s NKVD, an armed raid on his Mar a Lago home, the cooperation of the MSM & Silicon Valley power elites to slander & libel him, and now a series of promised ham sandwich indictments from compromised Democratic Party elected prosecutors, yet still the beast refuses to die.
Here is the greatest irony to the combined failed efforts to finally kill Godzilla Trump. The beast’s worst enemies in their divine quest to get Trump have combined to destroy trust in America. Who left in all of America today trusts the MSM, Silicon Valley, the US State Department, the FBI, the DOJ, the Pentagon, the CDC, the SEC, the NSA, the Fed, the US Treasury, the Departments of Transportation/Energy/Education/HHS/ Homeland Security, etc? Or, more simply said, who trusts any of the above organizations more today than they did even ten years ago? Godzilla did that.
Every election is Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
Thank you. I have noticed that too. What terrifies me most is that if Biden wins a second term, he and his band of neocons in the State department have nothing to lose. It is absolutely their last chance to fulfill their fever dreams of bringing Russia down before they are out the door with their wad shot. What will they not do..? I cannot think of a single thing. Beware, if they actually start acting somewhat rational before the campaigns begin. It’s only a ruse.
I truly wish the alternatives to Biden and the Dems were not the GOP candidates. I stopped voting Democrat in 2016 and instead went Green. I hope the People’s Party will develop. I hope for any candidate outside the Republicans and Democrats both of whom have nothing to offer.
But in our distorted times, incompetence is a virtue. Better an incompetent monster than a competent and efficient monster. That is what we would have had with HRC. I believe it was our good fortune to dodge that bullet. Biden was the next choice, not nearly as competent but on board and easily managed while the neocons in State ran the show. Worse, “common man” Joe Biden gave cover to all the fascist and neocon elements that are part of the “rules based order” club. Look at the lunatics in the Poland, UK, Germany and the EU leadership. Could they have gotten their publics on board in these endeavors if Trump had been the US leader? I doubt it. Biden is a natural in his cultivated “benign leader” role.
My only goal for 2024 is that the Dems do not get in. Hopefully, I can safely vote for a third party candidate. But if there is any chance that Biden or the Democratic candidate will win, then for the first time in 60 years I will vote against him or her and vote for the stupidest, most incompetent candidate available. Why? Because, what other choice is available? I find it the most rational option in a completely irrational situation. I can just see NATO and AUKUS trying to unify over Trump. Now that would be entertaining… And we might yet survive. With Biden, Nuland, Sullilvan and Blinken, we will not. Or perhaps something will happen that changes the entire equation. Fine with me. We shall see.
Thanks mgr. Again (as with vinnieoh above), you’ve captured my sentiments precisely.
Detroit: Thank you. It’s all rather excruciating. Good quote from Rob Urie at CounterPunch.
Everything I’ve seen indicates to me that engine of the conflict lies in the racist bigotry of individuals in the Biden administration. They are driving it. They can only see a second term as their LAST chance to make it happen. And, they are mad. With them out, doors may open. But with them in, there are no brakes and no rational constraints. I think it’s a pivotal consideration.
This is a clear case of selective enforcement for political purposes. Many serious crimes have been ignored by the establishment for the benefit of the chosen ones: the Bidens, the Clintons, and the Bushes. But when they identify a political enemy like Donald Trump then the full force of the law must be applied. Arresting Donald Trump would make him hugely popular. Voting for him would be an act of rebellion against a corrupt and hypocritical political system.
Forgive me. Wilbur Mills and the blonde bombshell. I’m sorry but Donnie Murdo and Stormy Daniels have nothing on Wilbur Mills, Fanne Foxe, and the Washington Tidal Basin.
What a refreshing change from the typical back-and-forth propaganda of our politics over the past half-century or more. The point is not which path of two awfuls to choose but whether to demand a different path altogether simply because the one we’ve been on for so long is utterly unacceptable (‘the more effective evil’ to borrow the late Glen Ford’s characterization of the Democratic – and duopoly – establishment).
Sure, it would be nice to have a sane option of someone like Bernie Sanders if the Democratic establishment weren’t so implacably opposed to allowing its reliable sheep to choose such a course, but it’s long past “enough is enough” time. And who knows? Perhaps The Donald learned enough during his first term to be able to deal with the Deep State Swamp more effectively during a second term. Worth a shot IMO.
This is nothing but a Distraction using Trump as the bunny because the Democratic Party is running cover for the corrupt behaviour of Joe Biden & the Biden Crime Family whose had their Bank records subpoenaed with revelations of impropriety & all sorts of dodgy payments made from China, Ukraine & other places into the Biden’s Bank accounts, it’s all coming out, these are millions of dollars in kickbacks to Biden & his Family? The wrong man is appearing in Court & in the Dock, it shouldn’t be Trump, it should be Joe & Hunter Biden & Biden’s brother! Trump better be careful because powerful forces are at play here? Chuck Schumer gloated, that Trump is really dumb to take on the Intelligence community because if you take on the Deepstate, they have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you? if the Deepstate can’t destroy Trumps reputation & force the outcome they desire, which is Trumps withdrawal from the Presidential race, they may take the JFK option, which is the permanent option, a one way ticket to Heaven via assassination?
Whether Trump has a chance of winning is not the issue. The timing of Trump’s indictment is to prevent Americans from hearing his antiwar anti NATO campaign speeches on TV screens in every living room across America. The neocon-lib uniparty have narrative control and won’t permit a peace platform in the 2024 POTUS race.
I wonder where all this “peace and good will to all men” suddenly came from. Who convinced him to take this approach for his campaign. Clever, nontheless. But as you say Willow, that can never see the light of day.
Unfortunately for Trump, he’s a Man of contradictions, although he talks up a big game of dismantling the Deep State & Washington Swamp, he did nothing to rein in their power while he was in Office when he was President! In fact his first act as POTUS was to visit the CIA HQ, then he hired Deepstate Swamp monsters & war pigs like John Bolton & Mike Pompeo & put them in prominent positions of power! I like Trumps reading of the Geopolitical situation, he never started any Wars in his watch but he never negotiated a end to any as well! Trump is looking at the reality of what’s happening in Ukraine & the disastrous actions of the inept & incompetent Biden Administration, the most catastrophic Administration in US History that is ending the rein of the USD as World’s Reserve Currency, that’ll be the death knell of US Hegemony! But Trump still believes China stole American jobs which is a blatant lie& he believes America is the exceptional Nation, which it isn’t, Trump believes the US has the God given right to go anywhere, do anything to dominate & control, bully & threaten every other Nation in the World but the World has had enough of America & it’s threats, looting & Warmongering, the Multipolar World its turning its back on the US leaving it isolated! Trump needs to get with the program, the US Empire is finished!
I do not like Trump, the man but I agree with what you are saying is the purpose of targeting trump now. I do think this is what this article by one of my most favorite writers is saying.
Another reason the Deep State might want Trump off the stage is that on 9/11 he said in a TV interview that he did not believe a plane could have brought down the WTC tower. He believed explosives would have been needed. He described the engineering of the towers, and explained his conclusion quite convincingly.
Donald Trump Calls Into WWOR/UPN 9 News on 9/11
hXXps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcKlPhFIE7w
Of course, many people have since pointed out numerous anomalies in the whole situation, such as the fact that the official report did not mention that a third building also collapsed that day. A reasonable person might wonder if the Deep State had a hand in such an omission.
I am more convinced about a lengthy article in MIT magazine by MIT professors. In simple terms, energy is destructive if released at certain pace, and while explosion may magnify the effect, the sheer amount of energy contained in tens of tons of jet fuel spilled into the building and set in flames is enormous. Once the temperature raises much above 1000 C, concrete sheathing metal structure turns to dust and metal gets soft. And this triggers “pancaking”. Mind you, what we have seen is fire smoke, and after long time, collapse devoid of any symptoms of explosion going to the sides of the buildings.
@ Piotr Berman
Asymetrical and random impact damage/structural weakening by heat has never before produced nearly perfect vertical collapse into own footprint of tall buildings.
I blow stuff up for a living. I can attest from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: It is DAMNED HARD to get the kind of vertical collapse clearly visible in the many videos, even WITH full access to a building, lots of explosives and sophisticated firing systems.
If YOU, PERSONALLY have the physics, structural engineering, materials science and chemistry knowledge to parse a report stating that the official scenario is realistic, you might have rational grounds to believe. Are you such a polymath?
Myself, I know how to cause what I saw happen and that it does not occur by happenstance, especially 3X on the same day in the same city.
The small matter of the building’s lease holder (Larry Silverstein) insurance policies and his (AND Roger & Lisa, his two children) exhibiting “atypical” behavior (no breakfast at the top, not @ work) on the day of the collapses quite aside.