Trump as the Autographic Autocrat
Trump indulges his rage. So where is he leading us to?
“One of the sacred principles in U.S. history has been that presidents are supposed to tell the public the truth,” Brinkley said. “So this is a new kind of Republican that refuses to ever admit culpability or a mistake and is willing to destroy not just institutions but fact-based thinking, empirical thinking.” Trump? “He doesn’t care whether it’s true or not true, whether it destroys somebody or not—there’s no morality into it. It’s just a strange, weird bit of information—‘and it helps me, and I’m going to propagate it.’”— Douglas Brinkley, Rice University, presidential historian
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.“ —Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist.
“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employees—the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” —Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), American professor and the 28th President of the Unites States, (1913-1921).
Where there is no clarity there is chaos. Where there is no objective truth, there is nihilism.
It is a disturbing sign of the times when there are too many metaphors for a new presidency ranging from the flight of the Phoenix , to the legend of Icarus, the bull in the china shop, a train wreck, to a wild herd of horses charging off in ten different directions. Then there is the ostentatious autocrat who likes to showcase his signature as the word and deed of God almighty.
Where all systems are down, broken, or rusted out, history will be the final arbiter of events. A few of its dictates are that haste makes waste, too many irons in the fire leave too many ashes. The torturer ultimately become the tortured and the chickens come home to roost. The cock of the walk eventually falls off the dock, and the old man really does live in a soulless shoe.
It is astounding that in the space of a day the president has fired his ethics commissioner and disbanded the department. That Elon Musk is in contravention of US law as he holds several government contracts while serving as a cabinet minister in charge of DOGE—Department of Government Efficiency— a conflict of interest of only passing interest.
But what is really, really, astounding is Trump’s announcement that he will enter into negotiations with Russia and China to reduce nuclear arsenals by 50%. He has also promised to cut US “defense” spending in half. It seems like yesterday Barack Obama signed a trillion dollar bill for the renewal and maintenance of America’s nuclear arsenal.
These are magnanimous laudatory goals! But what is the time lag between the intent and the reality. How is it there has been a decades long effort by the empire to kill off both these countries, now its kiss and make up. Does this mean the empire is repudiating its forever wars?… its revanchist claim to absolute global hegemony?,…. that it too is going to join BRICs?
Does this mean the much anticipated war against Iran has been cancelled?
Some years ago the Rand Corporation advised the US government that it must contain China by 2025. It has failed to do so. So as Ukraine is in ruins and the war lost, over a million dead what does the renewed focus on China mean… a new cold war, more futile trade wars, a nuclear holocaust war or detente?
Its time the empire does a rigorous cost-benefit analysis in relation to its domestic and global affairs.
The recent Munich Security Conference was not an inspiring event. Washington’s arrogant arrivists strutted their stuff outing beleaguered Europe. Yes, Europe under the auspices of NATO was stupid enough to allow themselves to be coerced into the Biden’s criminal agenda and the empire’s war against Russia. Now the war is lost, their economies in ruins, and they are in recovery from being American satraps since the formation of NATO in 1947 as the agency for their colonization.
Colonization is of the mind and soul and NATO states have suffered accordingly.
No mention is made of the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines by Washington as a criminal act of war against civilian infrastructure. This was the pipeline/lifeline of Europe’s economic prosperity. It would seem appropriate that Washington pay reparations for blowing up their own ally’s standard of living?
There may be some trivial purpose for renaming the Gulf of Mexico. For me, it will always be known as the Gulf of Mexico, especially considering that America's southwestern states were "taken" from Mexico in 1848. What if Mexico retaliated by renaming the USA as the United States of Anarchy?
It appears the autographic autocrat is also the global poacher.
So much of what is happening now appears to be a recurring bout of Manifest Destiny.
Trump is completing his ludicrous iron curtain along the Mexican border. Maybe Hispanics like Palestinians are determined to reclaim their ancestral homelands.
As for humble Canada being the 51st state this betrays an ignorance of history. As Canada is in reality an American satrap. Canadian Philosopher George Grant predicted our change of status in 1965. As the eminent John Foster Dulles once said — “get control of a country’s economy and you own it”. This has been the modus operandi of US foreign policy from day one. Canada and Mexico know this too well.
Trump appears ignorant of the fact that the three countries are already bound by the USMCA free trade agreement dating back to the 1990’s which integrates the economies of all three countries. Nor does he appear aware that his tariffs are “punitive” and illegal under the agreement.
Renown economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned that Trump’s reckless agenda and contempt for the rule of law is going to result in stagflation and lack of investor confidence— at the very time trump wants it most.
So what is the state of the union in these torrid times?
Where there is no clarity there is chaos. Where there is no objective truth, there is nihilism.
I think he doesn't know himself either...displaying his German DNA...big mouth, boisterous, know-it-all, show off. Could a 'sane' person cause so much upheaval in such a short time? He loves himself at the cost of anything else. A rather steep price to pay...