Trump in context

28 Jul

Is Trump worse than Obama or Hillary? Many think so. But was Trump responsible for genocide in Korea and Vietnam? Regime change and systemic torture in Latin America? Of course not, but then neither were the other two just named. So what about HRC’s turning Libya into the world’s leading terrorist production line, Obama’s bombing the middle east every day for eight years? What about the semi encirclement of Russia, and years of rising tension in the South China Sea, both capable of leading us to a thermonuclear WW3 some elements within America’s ruling class – deep state if you prefer – believe they can win?

Trump’s ego is vast and childlike but, as Black Agenda Report pithily summarises, predictable and by that fact malleable.

Meanwhile in CounterPunch the always readable Gary Leupp, Tufts history professor and one of the most lucid and well informed of its contributors, says this in a piece today entitled, The Trump Revolution Devouring Its Own Children:

… I’ll be happy if the Trump regime implodes due to its internal contradictions. I suppose it would be followed by an extremely unpopular Pence administration that will have even less support, at least from youth. In the meantime a combination of factors have weakened U.S. ability or inclination to wage war on North Korea, provoke confrontation in the South China Sea, ratchet up tensions with Russia in Ukraine and Syria, provoke Iran, or determine the futures of Afghanistan and Iraq (which have diversified their partnerships). The world would be a more dangerous place had Hillary won …

My thoughts precisely, as reflected in several posts. But Leupp continues …

For the moment, let Trump be Trump.  And let him devour his movement’s children in full public view. Two, three, many Spicers!

Some will love him all the more for this. (They will reason: it shows strength to fire people, even to drive out serving military because of their sexual identity.) Caligula and Nero were, after all, both popular among the Roman masses; they gave them games in the Colosseum, with lots of bloody spectacles, and infrastructure projects like public baths.  You can be cruel and mentally ill and still maintain your political base.

But maybe more people will see his hiring and firing decisions, the bedrock of his media personality, as alarming and strange, indicating an unhinged, dangerous personality. 42% of those polled by Politico last week are already supporting impeachment, matched by 42% who oppose it. Most people respond instinctively against the abuse of power to sadistically intimidate subordinates. As the house of cards falls apart, more people will (perhaps) realize how delusional it was from the beginning.

Which takes us back to Black Agenda Report and its ‘best definition’ of President Trump …

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