Ship Rudderless After Trump Drops Its Pilot
“The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” Bannon said Friday, shortly after confirming his departure. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over.”
Bannon was the "Make America Great Again" guy in the White House. The strategist who had the populist ideas that brought the votes for Trump. Jobs, jobs, jobs, infrastructure investments, immigration limits, taxing globalists were his issue.
Dropping the pilot - Punch 1890
Trump is no young German Emperor and Bannon is no chancellor Bismark. (Both would probably have liked those roles.) But with Bannon leaving, the Trump presidency is losing its chief strategist, the one person which set priorities and could set an alternative course for the ship of state under Trump's command.
The racist Huffington Post headline implies that Bannon prioritized the wrong country.
Haaretz notes that his ouster was hailed by U.S. Jewish groups.
The reason is not that Bannon is anti-semite or a Nazi - he is neither. (It was the Obama administration, not Trump, which voted against the UN anti-Nazi resolution.) Bannon was anti-Islamist and anti-Iran which fitted the Zionist program. But he was also against the waste of U.S. assets and capabilities for the welfare of other countries. He was anti-empire and anti-war. Only yesterday a NYT portrait of him noted:
General McMaster has become Mr. Bannon’s nemesis in the West Wing, the leader of what Mr. Bannon has described to colleagues as the “globalist empire project” — a bipartisan foreign policy consensus that emphasizes active American engagement around the world.Mr. Bannon flatly rejects that philosophy.
...
Once Mr. Trump was in office, Mr. Bannon opposed the missile strike on Syria after President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people. He has expressed doubts about sending more troops to Syria or Iraq. He is skeptical of American military intervention in strife-torn Venezuela, a prospect raised last week by Mr. Trump, who surprised administration officials by speaking of a “military option” there.
Bannon was also against the imperial projects in Afghanistan, North Korea and elsewhere. Then the empire stroke back at him.
The White House is now under command of military hawks and interventionists. A triumvirate of war-losing Generals, Kelly, Mattis and McMaster, is in control of U.S. policy. That policy will likely be similar to the one we expected under a Hillary Clinton administration. The neocons, pushing for a dangerous crisis, are winning and the liberals are loving it.
It is not clear at all who will now set the overall political calendar for the Trump presidency. When will what policy initiative be launched? Will it collide with other initiatives? Who will coordinated this with Congress? What priorities must be given to this or that? The four star general Chief of Staff and the three National Security Advisor are neither trained nor capable to evaluate or take such political decisions. Who, after Bannon, is thinking about these issues?
Interestingly Bannon was one of the few untouched by the Russia investigations. Trump would not have been elected without him. He himself is now the only one in the White House who somewhat holds the policy views that got him the necessary votes. It is doubtful that he will be able to translate those into politics. He is (like Bannon) too inexperienced in handling the Washington ship of state to survive by himself. He is incompetent in selecting staff and disloyal to his subordinates. Only the fear of the religious craziness of Vice President Pence prevents, for now, his impeachment. Trump is not happy with his situation.
Source: White House - bigger
Bannon came in to drain the swamp but the swamp drowned him. He will now go back to Breitbart.com and will "go to war for Trump". It is the website where he, as executive chairman, first promoted his right-wing nationalist views. Bannon will surely continue to make waves. But I doubt that it will be able to help Trump to implement what Bannon and Trump himself intended to do. As a well known public person once observed:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrumpIt's almost like the United States has no President - we are a rudderless ship heading for a major disaster. Good luck everyone!
Posted by b on August 19, 2017 at 8:33 UTC | Permalink
next page »Trump hitting Syria with those missiles was the final nail in the coffin for any hope in the Trump regime. This just confirms it.
Posted by: Alexander Grimsmo | Aug 19 2017 9:03 utc | 2
Trump proves you don't have t be smart to be rich. Trump has the IQ of a corn dog. He is surrounding himself with Deep State assholes....his days are numbered.
Posted by: Realist | Aug 19 2017 9:13 utc | 3
The US has a military junta in control These are people Trump picked - they were not imposed on him. The people that got Trump elected out lived there usefulness
Not we will see more war - arms to Ukraine and escalation in Syria and against Iran and North Korea
The American public have really been led by the nose as they will see all this as a good thing.
Posted by: James lake | Aug 19 2017 9:18 utc | 4
I doubt that it will help Trump to implement what Bannon and Trump himself intended to do.
It won't. These globalists, Goldman Sachs lobbyists and MIC/Pentagon vultures are too firmly entrenched in the immediate vicinity of the Oval office to be uprooted that easily. On the other hand, the anti-war, America-First, get-the jobs-back Trump voters can be made into a whole frigging mass movement which could multiply peaceful protest actions and, as they say, « rock the boat ».
It would take brains and planning, but it can be done.
If Bannon turns out to be smarter than I credit him for, things could become interesting. Mainly with strong Bernistas on the other side (they may think they are polar opposite, but they are basically calling for the same thing – no more wars, jobs, education, etc).
Posted by: Lea | Aug 19 2017 9:33 utc | 5
The dismissal of Flynn was the first grave error.
Posted by: From The Hague | Aug 19 2017 9:55 utc | 6
The war we feared Clinton would bring is now on the horizon. Apparently it was only delayed, not prevented.
Posted by: Perimtr | Aug 19 2017 9:58 utc | 7
I wouldn't mind to see Pence taking over at some stage. The two real faces of the White power in the US for everyone in the world to contemplate. Might get their lackeys sober. Let the Titanic drowns to the bottom so the rest of the world can breathe.
Posted by: Mina | Aug 19 2017 10:06 utc | 8
Staying with the caricature you show, b., Trump will start a war.
Yeah, Bannon talked of infrastructure. Hitler built the Autobahn and got rid of unemployment, one way or the other, "economic nationalism" is a relabeling of fascism.
Quoting Likhachev via Putin
Putin recalled the words of outstanding Soviet Russian scholar Dmitry Likhachev that patriotism drastically differs from nationalism."Nationalism is hatred of other peoples, while patriotism is love for your motherland," Putin cited his words.
Duh.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 10:18 utc | 10
add to 10
This here is what Trump's presidency has been about right from the start - a capitalist raid on government
Bannon's role has been - and looking at Breitbart still is - to sell Trump to the stupid little people.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 10:36 utc | 11
At school in Australia in the 1960's our regular theme was the inevitability of 'hegemon ic ' struggle . I noticed it vanished as a theme from history and social studies, 70's onwards.
Used to think it was deliberately done to subconsciously underline the newness and completeness of the Anglo/ American empire . A product here to stay ! The old forces of struggle - of victory and defeat no longer patterns at play .
Posted by: ashley albanese | Aug 19 2017 11:06 utc | 12
somebody
Ridiculous!
You are using Hitler fallacy blasting Trump, Bannon, their policies, why dont you go to CNN instead and comment?
Whiny Trump, Bannon is nazis, fascist is the liberal propaganda fake-news, meanwhile in the real world:
Steve Bannon : white nationalists, neo-Nazis 'losers' and 'a collection of clowns'
http://businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-white-nationalists-neo-nazis-losers-clowns-2017-8?r=US&IR=T
And you talk about "stupid people"?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 11:42 utc | 13
Great analysis. This internal power struggle is not over. Yes, the generals are now in charge as I once predicted long ago when we first started seeing the decline in the polls at all levels of the state except for two major institutions: 1) the military; and 2) the police. The logical conclusion was that, eventually, these institutions would hold most of the political power since they are the most popular.
It's fascinating how martinets who continually lose wars are still considered "heroes" (thank you for your service). So what is going on here? Trump in order to physically survive had to dig up allies in the senior military who had the guns, frankly, to keep him in office. The ouster of Bannon may be a "good" thing if we understand that the chief attribute of Washington since Obama was elected for his second term was the power struggle between various gangs within the power-elite exhibited by Ash Carter's mutiny against the Kerry-Lavrov agreement on Syria almost a year ago. So the power struggle appears to have been simplified. The permanent war state is once again in the driver's seat now we'll see where they choose to go.
Bannon didn't help things by backing Tillerson.
Bannon engineered the ascent of Rex Tillerson at State despite the fact that Tillerson’s patron and chief influence is non-other than Condoleezza Rice, the neocon former Bush NSA Director and cheerleader for the Iraq war. Documents which leaked from the Presidential transition proved that Rice was Tillerson’s advocate and that several other staffers she recommended where quickly hired at State. Perhaps this is why Politico correctly tabbed the rise of veteran Romney-ites at State. The Trump State Department has failed to excise the Soros control of a number of U.S. embassies and is currently leaning on the Hungarian government not to impede Soros toppling of that democratically elected government. Bannon delivered the Trump State Department into the hands of the Globalists.
Bannon's Time Is Up decent analysis by Roger Stone.
Recommend people follow twitter.com/ezilidanto. Trump has already re-instated Clinton's people to continue the UN occupation of Haiti.
Trump is getting blindsided when all he needs to do is up his twitter game and ignore the lame stream bilderberg media.
Posted by: Rahul Varshney | Aug 19 2017 12:33 utc | 15
Trump getting swallowed up and neutered by the Washington establishment makes a complete mockery of anyone who made the asinine claim of a populist lone hero walking into office and 'draining the swamp'.
A presidential administration requires years, even decades, to build up the people and relationships that are needed to hit the ground running on day one. The mass of experienced people who can act as the foundations of the new administration.
With Trump getting elected by the unique combination of traditional populism and the Democratic part establishment thinking they had enough power to ram a complete piece of shit candidate like Hillary Clinton down the country's throat have managed to put someone in office who completely lacks the tools to effectively operate an administration.
Trump has been effectively reduced to a who might as well just be sitting in the Oval Office jerking off to porn and watching to cat videos.
It is also laughable to see people crying about the country stumbling into a 'civil war'. The Trump base is a bunch of clowns who still believe they won a presidential election with 'meme magic'.
Their 'god emperor' has become the ultimate 'cuck' and they have nothing in response other than crying in their echo chamber forums about how they are 'winning'.
Posted by: Vannok | Aug 19 2017 12:36 utc | 16
" liberals are loving it."
Not all liberals are loving it.
The avoidance of war, was always this liberals priority.
Posted by: librul | Aug 19 2017 13:06 utc | 17
Excellent post.
I have always thought that Obama was a con artist, and Trump, a salesman.
Obama deliberately lied to us in 2008, it was all a con. I know this because the instant he was elected, he fired all his liberal economic advisors and brought in Goldman Sachs. I know this because of reports that during his campaign his agents were privately telling his wealthy patrons that he didn't mean a word of it.
Trump, however, is a salesman. He will simply tell you what you want to hear at the moment to close the deal. 'Oh yeah, that model car is great, no the seats in the other model are exactly the same..." just making it up on the fly, trying to read the customer. A salesman probably doesn't really think of it as lying. And when the deal is made, they won't deliberately stab you in the back - they just maybe won't be too concerned if it doesn't work out quite like they said.
Trumps started his presidency like he really meant to do what he promised during the campaign. THEN, after enormous pressure, even he started to bend. The inflection point was the missile strike on Syria. Now he's just sailing on, being president, and the promises of the campaign are like the promises of a car salesman...
Posted by: TG | Aug 19 2017 13:20 utc | 18
Trump lost the vote. If it weren't for the moronic Electoral College crap Trump wouldn't be president. So when Bannon tries to posture as the genius who won the presidency for Trump, Trump knows better. Everyone who talks about Trump winning the election is lying. Trump knows this, because that's the bottom line. Trump doesn't need a loser for an adviser. It's Trump who may now create a significant fascist movement by his support. It is not Bannon who will bring the fascist masses to Trump, because the masses aren't fascist.
As for delusions about Trump's non-imperialist foreign policy? The man ran as a conqueror, not a peacemaker. Trump is an owner. The US economy relies on the dollar and the dollar is backed by blood. Its role is not commensurate with the US' real economy, much less gold. The Soviets could give up their alleged empire because it wasn't an empire, it was an expense. The owners of the US rely on their empire. They can't give it up and they don't want to. Trump is one of them. He's about trashing old politics. Nazis in Charlottesville is the new politics, but he doesn't need Bannon for that.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Aug 19 2017 13:20 utc | 19
"Trump is nazi"
"Bannon is nazi"
"Trump is a fascist"
"Bannon is a fascist"
Tragic that even people here buying the fake-news liberal propaganda. Nazi? Facists? Come on please.
No wonder world is a mess or rather a brainwashed mass.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 13:38 utc | 20
Trump would not have been elected without him. -Bannon. b’s top post.
Wondered about this, probably correct... though Trump, DT - Bannon are a sort of meeting of the minds so who what? etc. DT did veer pragmatically away from Bannon-type core positions on ‘Muslims’, in the infamous Clash of Civilzations line, as DT relegated religion to the lower drawer, to use violence as a no. 1. criteria - “ISIS”, “terrorism”, etc. (Campaign.)
DT clarioned the obvious, MAGA was for all Amrikis - LGTB, muslim, black, anyone, etc. That is why he won! (Bannon would of course have understood this.) On Iran DT has also been a little more ‘tempered’ imho but who knows really, e.g.:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-iran-idUSKBN19Y226
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.780140
I posted about Trump’s VP pick at the time saying it was a terrible sign. Response, he had to pick a Rep. estab. figure. NO. That was his first capitulation that led to all the others and those to come. And it will be his downfall. He could have picked a nonenity, anybody really, a woman would have been ~+ (not S. Palin, that type or top Rep. F figures at the time), a young man of Hispanic origin, someone sympathetic with stage presence, etc. Why not, Bannon himself? The bold move would have been to offer it publically to B. Sanders as a challenge.
DT is from the biz world and his intuitions about ‘breaking molds’ are constrained by the profit motive, which operate in a regulated field, he does not understand politics where ‘anything goes.’
The 2nd bad mistake was H-ikki Haley. - Internationally. Trump had much potential support that was destroyed by this woman. He burned SO many bridges..
Posted by: Noirette | Aug 19 2017 13:38 utc | 21
20
It is a fascist road map.
Weimar street fights - check.
"Wenn das der Führer wüsste"- problems are the people around the leader, not the leader himself. The leader is a saint. - check
"We will have to crash them" ie the Röhm mob who did the street fights - check.
Infrastructure projects against unemployment, no matter the conditions of forced labor - check.
"Buy German" - check.
War against economic competitors - check.
Find an interior race to unite against - Jews, Black lives matter - check
Defeat .....
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 13:53 utc | 22
If Bannon is going back to Breitbart then I'm very confident that The Swamp will soon be in deep do-do. He can disrupt their schemes, smear them 24/7, and make them look stupider, from Breitbart, than he ever could have done from inside the White House.
Bannon knows that the Swamp believes ALL of it's own bullshit. With Bannon pointing it out, it won't be long before everyone on Earth knows too.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 19 2017 14:00 utc | 23
21
Trump would not have been elected without him.
Trump would not have been elected without Robert Mercer. Robert Mercer is the billionaire behind Cambridge Analytica, Breitbart and Steve Bannon.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 14:01 utc | 24
somebody
Jesus, didnt I just tell you to drop?!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
1. Economy: If american voters want american companies to get ahead of globalist billionares, that is not fascist.
2. What the hell is "weimar street fights"? People protesting each other is "fascism" now?!
3. Who are "we"? There was 1 idiot in the car he didnt represent anyone else. Stop spreading nonsense!
4. No one has "united" against any race, you are making up wild stories now.
Please go ahead and make your conspiracy analysis and mail it to CNN or DW.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 14:08 utc | 25
25
A fascist roadmap is a fascist roadmap.
Add - Lügenpresse - fake news
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 14:11 utc | 26
Its hilarious to watch that idiot who calls himself "somebody" while he's ranting about the msm conning the "stupid little people" and at the same time he's constantly repeating anti-Trump talking points designed by that very same msm, talking points such as "Trump=Nazi" etc etc, which were of course specifically designed to appeal to .. . . . . . unthinking "stupid little people".
Pot, meet kettle
Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 19 2017 14:17 utc | 27
somebody
How silly are you?
You drive a car, so did Hitler = You are a nazi
You drink water, so did Hitler = You are a fascist
And now you say there is no fake-news?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 14:20 utc | 28
add to 20
1. Most billionaires world wide are US American and almost all US American billionaires are globalist. Look it up. If the American middle class want to get more of their share they have to tax them. Guess what Trump has been doing. Guess what the interest of Mercer's - Trump's backer - renaissance capital is. Guess what Bannon is talking about to the sheep but cannot implement.
3. Slogans were "Jews will not replace us". Go watch the videos of the Tiki march. This was not shouted by one idiot in a car. Same march "Blood and Soil" also not one idiot but very German fascist, translation is "Blut and Boden".
4. Uniting with the Ku Klux Klan means uniting against black people.
27. There is no substance in what you are writing I can answer to.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 14:29 utc | 29
somebody
1. They are obviously getting it back since the bankrupt companies and ghost-town is focused on again and not globalist companies that outsource its manpower. That is what you are missing, why else do you think people voted for him if not for the economic malaise that have been going on since atleast the economic crash a decade ago?
2. No again, people proesting is not nazism.
3. Again refering to some people protesting with the whole of Trump's base is pure lying. And you said there was no fake news!?
4. See #3. I see what you try to do, you try to connect any negative groups of persons with the millions voted for Trump. Whats wrong with you?
You have lost it completely now.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 14:38 utc | 30
add to 29 Steve Bannon and taxes
The White House is also getting support for its tax-cut plan from the political network of billionaire brothers Charles Koch and David Koch, who didn’t support President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign. Short and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to appear on a tax panel hosted by two Koch-funded groups Monday in Washington.
And this is Robert Mercer
Since the IRS found in 2010 that a complicated banking method used by Renaissance and about 10 other hedge funds was a tax-avoidance scheme, Mercer has gotten increasingly active in politics. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, he doled out more than $22 million to outside conservative groups seeking to influence last year’s elections, while advocating the abolition of the IRS and much of the federal government. Richard Painter, chief White House ethics adviser under President George W. Bush, said the optics surrounding the Mercers’ political connections and the IRS case “are terrible.”“The guy’s got a big case in front of the IRS,” said Painter, now a University of Minnesota law professor who is also vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He’s trying to put someone in there who’s going to drop the case. Is the president of the United States going to succumb to that or is he not?”
“Are we going to have a commissioner of the IRS who aggressively enforces the law and takes good cases to Tax Court or (somebody who) just throws away tax cases so billionaires don’t have to pay their taxes and the rest of us can pay more taxes?”
The Real News - The real story of how Trump and Bannon got to the White House
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 14:39 utc | 31
You recognize you are in the middle of a psychological war yet do not act accordingly.
The "two sides" in this war shoot their weapons in the direction of the "other side" but the aim is strictly at the boobs in the middle. You should know this but yet you insist on being the boob in the middle.
Why is that?
Printing is pretty cheap these days. Pamphlets work wonders. Go forth and publish. While you still can.
Posted by: nobody | Aug 19 2017 14:42 utc | 32
somebody
How silly are you?
You drive a car, so did Hitler = You are a nazi
You drink water, so did Hitler = You are a fascist
And now you say there is no fake-news?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19, 2017 10:20:47 AM | 28
You breath air.
Its well known that not only Hitler but all the top Nazis loved to breath air!
And you speak German!
Guess who else spoke German?
Coincidence?
I think not!
Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 19 2017 15:01 utc | 33
The US is a fascist nation. By degrees it became increasingly fascist.
The key element of fascism is collusion between government and big business. This collusion does not serve the common citizen.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Aug 19 2017 15:24 utc | 34
33
What I did say was - if you dress like a Nazi, if you shout Nazi slogans, if you act like Nazis did, if your political programme is that of Nazis, there is a strong likelihood that you are a Nazi.
Of course there is a cultural difference, these US billionaire backers of potential mass movements are after a "disruptive" tax and regulation free oligarchy, competitive advantage plus the profits of war, whilst German (and US) industrialists of the time were after an authoritarian corporate state, competitive advantage and the profits of war.
The difference between industrialists who depend on a work force and money made by speculation.
What Bannon is selling to the little people is the protection of an authoritarian corporate state.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 15:25 utc | 35
The neocon and neolib warmongers are in full control.
The US now marches in one direction: WAR.
Millions (billions?) more will suffer more death and destruction.
The US and its Anglosphere and EU vassals are nothing but vile and despicable.
All my remaining hope is in the Eastern powers standing strong.
Posted by: AriusArmenian | Aug 19 2017 15:43 utc | 36
"What I did say was - if you dress like a Nazi, if you shout Nazi slogans, if you act like Nazis did, if your political programme is that of Nazis, there is a strong likelihood that you are a Nazi."
"programme" << Not in the American tongue.
Anon is a boob. There is hope for Anon yet.
You are a dissimulator and a propaganda agent. (Per your own if it walks like a duck ...)
Posted by: nobody | Aug 19 2017 15:48 utc | 38
somebody
Nobody reject that there are nazis, I disclaim your attempt to claim that majority of voters for Trump are fascists/nazis.
As for Bannon, I already posted this:
Steve Bannon : white nationalists, neo-Nazis 'losers' and 'a collection of clowns'
http://businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-white-nationalists-neo-nazis-losers-clowns-2017-8?r=US&IR=T
That is Bannon himself ok? If you want to deny what he is saying and claim otherwhise, well go ahead, it will then be another fake-news claim.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 15:55 utc | 39
Bannon was probably the only non war mongerer in the whole Tronald team - including the boss. Altough I strongly oppose everything else he belives in his political course would have been much healtier for the rest of the world.
Posted by: Pnyx | Aug 19 2017 16:23 utc | 40
The deep state and Wall Street have long run the ship, and now Big Oil's hand is on the rudder. The personality/reality show cast changes but always diverts attention; i.e., grabs eyeballs for the mainstream media.
Posted by: Robert Beal | Aug 19 2017 16:23 utc | 41
The Hypocrites wrt Charlottesville:
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/08/charlottesville-empowered-children/
Posted by: Yul | Aug 19 2017 16:36 utc | 42
thanks b.. the usa situation looks increasingly disturbing... not sure what happens next.. trump at this point looks very weak and not in control..
Posted by: james | Aug 19 2017 17:01 utc | 43
Pnyx says:
Bannon was probably the only non war mongerer in the whole Tronald team
well, there you have it! the guy's gotta go!
Posted by: john | Aug 19 2017 17:25 utc | 44
Bannon's removal opens wide the door to neo-cons, war mongers and the pro-jewish lobbies that only think of "making america great" through wars.
The neo-cons are much more right-wing than Bannon.
Without Bannon, Trump is becoming another puppet just like Bush jr.
We will come to regret the last anti-Israel voice in the White House.
Posted by: virgile | Aug 19 2017 17:34 utc | 45
trump at this point looks very weak and not in control..
Posted by: james | Aug 19, 2017 1:01:13 PM | 43
That makes an assumption that Trump has some goals, program or whatever. I always had serious doubt, because he never showed some coherent program. Trump does not really think in terms of abstract ideas, but in terms of people that he knows. Bannon is a favorite of a billionaire lady that has an apartment in Trump Tower and who bankrolled recent Bannon's project. Who knows, with Rebeccah Mercer as a president, USA would have more coherent policies? But Trump hobnobbed with a lot of "good people" and his views seemed to be some incoherent mishmash.
Not that coherence is always a virtue. Probably all his acquaintances believed that "Obamacare" was a terrible idea, and none of them had any notion how to "fix it", so Trump probably projected a consensus "get rid of it, and if you can, replace it with something marvelous". And we all know that getting a "bipartisan consensus" in Congress, with 98-2 vote, requires some profoundly stupid legislation. And dinosaurs of American foreign policy may be pretty consistent.
Bannon was just another loudmouth for hire as far as Trump is concerned, something that he himself did for a living when casinos etc. were less rewarding. Trump is good at repeating stuff heard from acquaintances, but apart of letting the compatriots bask in his greateness, I am not sure if he really wants something.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 19 2017 17:39 utc | 46
What I miss in this Bannon praise is a clear picture on how the globalist neolibcons got rid of Trump's key strategist. What I see is sanctification of Bannon, a far right ghoul who used his power and influence to move the political zenit further to the right.
This article totally ignores his position on China. Like the Bush adminstration had planned to destroy 7 countries (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran), Bannon said: "We're going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years," "There’s no doubt about that. They're taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those. They come here to the United States in front of our face - and you understand how important face is - and say it's an ancient territorial sea."
Let's hope the rudderless ship hits an iceberg and sinks to the bottom of the sea.
Posted by: xor | Aug 19 2017 17:46 utc | 47
It's sad to see all the defeatism here at MoA right now. Look, I too wish Trump hadn't fired Bannon -- or Flynn. And I wish he hadn't fired missiles at Syria or signed the new sanction bill. But consider this: a mere month after firing those missiles (apparently, after warning the Russians and Syrians in advance so they had time evacuate their troops), Trump agreed to the deconfliction zones in Syria, and then a month after that, he ordered the CIA to pull the plug on their jihadi freak-show there. Two weeks ago, all my liberal friends (yes, I still have some, but it's getting harder and harder to reason with them) over his tweets on N. Korea. And then what happened? Nothing!
Trump is well south of a hundred percent, I grant; but he's definitely more than zero.
As far as Bannon is concerned: please don't fall for the MSM propaganda about Bannon having been 'Trump's brain'. No. If you'll recall, Bannon only joined Trump's campaign toward the end, in August of 2016. And yet Trump never changed his fundamental policies or campaign strategy at all. Détente with Russia was NOT Bannon's idea; it was Trump's from the start. Dropping 'régime change' in Syria was NOT Bannon's idea; it was Trump's all along.
So have some faith, people. The worst has still not happened. There's a chance -- just a chance -- that we may still avoid a nuclear war.
Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Aug 19 2017 18:22 utc | 48
OT curious to read Noirette's insiders' jokes on Bluenext and Kyoto ? (+ the Turkish bank) ref to http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/justice/20170529.OBS9978/gregory-zaoui-cerveau-ou-second-couteau-de-l-escroquerie-du-siecle.html
Posted by: Mina | Aug 19 2017 18:42 utc | 49
The US Regime has just attacked the SAA fighting on the frontline against IS:
Stick a fork in Trump. He's done.
Posted by: Vannok | Aug 19 2017 18:50 utc | 50
Trump's troubles are phoney (Russia, statues) but Trump hasn't been effective in countering them - sometimes shooting himself in the foot (suggesting that he had tapes of Comey; drip-drip-drip of the Trump Jr meeting with Russians; etc)
His response to Charlottesville is a case in point: he didn't explain what each group had done wrong so his "many mistakes on all sides" was read as a reluctance to denounce right-wing hate groups, then he flip-flopped (denounced white supremists) and flip-flopped again (returned to his earlier position) after out-cry from the right.
I call him the Republican Obama. Apologists and critics of Trump won't dont like this view.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 19 2017 19:03 utc | 51
@46 piotr... i hear what you are saying.. trump is in it for trump... the guy is all about what corporations are about - branding, logo, etc. etc.. trump inc. and making money... as i was saying to a friend earlier today, if everything is about money - the bottom line of so many - when these folks no longer have a planet, there ain't gonna be no bottom line to look after either...
if i thought exxon, goldman sachs, lockheed martin and all these corps that have a huge say on the direction of the usa today, had any other clue then their 'bottom line' or recognized at the whole game is in jeopardy of being lost, i doubt any of them would have the guts or character to say anything about it.. it is not only that the usa is rudderless at this point.. the whole planet looks in much the same point, especially the usa poodles, which would include canada, the country i live in.. no naomi klein book or anything is going to change it either..
if correct, and i haven't read the link @50 vannok post is further confirmation of it..
Posted by: james | Aug 19 2017 19:05 utc | 52
Seamus Padraig 48
Great points, although if I could add - firing Bannon mean getting rid of people that think like Trump, so this is quite bad because instead comes pure neocons filling up the WH, and then Trump will be very isolated with his ideas on detente and so on.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 19:13 utc | 53
39
I never said Trump voters were Nazis, they were anti-Hillary. Including the non-voters.
Bannon on "clowns" see
"We will have to crash them" ie the Röhm mob who did the street fights - check.
It is a fascist road map
See "Roehm putsch - night of the long knives"
He is dissociating from the Nazis in a left wing publication, why do you think that is? Because his Nazi friends have become toxic but don't read left wing publications. He did not say that in Breitbart.
Now what does Breitbart say: "CNN normalizes Antifa - Leftists seek peace through violence".
Now, again, who was violent in Charlottesville? What do the videos show?
It is obvious that Mercer/Bannon did not split with Trump. Bannon is now firing up the base whilst Trump does what he has to do to satisfy his billionaire friends ie get rid of regulations and taxes.
Whilst Bannon pretends Trump is hostage to Republican elites that have to be removed by his base.
Bannons "War with China" is not non interventionist.
Bannon is a paid tool.
Those Nazis have been filmed from all sides and are being identified online, losing their jobs because of it.
I suggest people send them Bannon's interview in the American Prospect.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 19 2017 19:21 utc | 54
The came to mind. Even gets the orange correct but it is misplaced....
......
http://hhgproject.org/entries/president.html
President of the Imperial Galactic Government
The President is very much a figurehead - he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.
An orange sash is what the President of the Galaxy traditionally wears.
On those criteria Zaphod Beeblebrox is one of the most successful Presidents the Galaxy has ever had. He spent two of his ten Presidential years in prison for fraud. Very very few people realize that the President and the Government have virtually no power at all, and of these very few people only six know whence ultimate political power is wielded. Most of the others secretly believe that the ultimate decision-making process is handled by a computer. They couldn't be more wrong.
============
cheers.
Posted by: StephenLaudig | Aug 19 2017 19:32 utc | 55
For those interlopers who claim Hillery won and that the Electoral college is evil consider the following:
Posted by: Krollchem | Aug 19 2017 19:45 utc | 56
somebody
You spread so much lies and fake news.
1. "I never said Trump voters were Nazis, they were anti-Hillary. Including the non-voters."
No they voted because of his economic policy.
2. "He is dissociating from the Nazis in a left wing publication, why do you think that is? Because his Nazi friends have become toxic but don't read left wing publications. He did not say that in Breitbart."
Lol you are making up stupid conspiracy theories, he said something about Charlottesville because he was asked to obviously.
You cant accept what Bannon is saying you are making up things in your head. If you cant accept reality, what matter is our discussion? But keep those conspiracy theories coming because those are novel.
3."Now what does Breitbart say: "CNN normalizes Antifa - Leftists seek peace through violence".
Now, again, who was violent in Charlottesville? What do the videos show?"
Yes they sure do, the videos show violence on both sides, apparently you and CNN see the world in such bad/good sides. You have become blind by the liberal MSM apparently.
As far as violence in europe,
Europol: Leftists Carried Out 27 Times More Terror Attacks Than Right-Wingers
- https://twitter.com/prisonplanet/status/877535259952328704
You believe Antifa is some kind of peace loving party. Next time they might get a lunatic behind the wheel.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 19:50 utc | 57
I highly suggest MoA barflys read Pepe Escobar's analysis of Bannon's departure, https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201708191056603401-steve-bannon-white-house-trump-war/
On other threads, the need for solidarity's been raised by myself and others. I believe what I'll call the Hate Resistance or Anti-Hate forces could provide the foundation for the required rise of a Progressive-Populist Movement, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/19/alt-right-gathers-boston-thousands-counter-rally-fight-supremacy Now, I understand that those with the money behind these counter protests are anything but Progressive or want to see Populism rise; however, the required solidarity's been generated, so all that's needed is for Direction to be supplied for a bottom->up Movement to grow and become a new political force that could even tap into some of the issues Bannon will certainly raise.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 19 2017 20:05 utc | 58
Night of the Long Knives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Night of the Long Knives (disambiguation).
Night of the Long Knives
Ernst Röhm (right) with Kurt Daluege
and Heinrich Himmler
Native name
Unternehmen Kolibri
Duration
June 30 – July 2, 1934
Location
Nazi Germany
Also known as
Operation Hummingbird, Röhm Putsch (by the Nazis), The Blood Purge
Type
Coup d'état and purge
Cause
Conflicts between Strasserist and Hitler
Organised by
Adolf Hitler
Joseph Goebbels
Heinrich Himmler
Reinhard Heydrich
Participants
Schutzstaffel (Hitler faction)
Sturmabteilung (Röhm faction)
Unorganized regime opposition
Outcome
Adolf Hitler's supremacy confirmed
Elimination of opposition to the Nazi Government
Casualties
85 officially and upwards to 150–200 total
The Night of the Long Knives (German: Nacht der langen Messer (help·info)), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: Unternehmen Kolibri) or, in Germany, the Röhm Putsch[a] (German spelling: Röhm-Putsch), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate Hitler's absolute hold on power in Germany. Many of those killed were leaders of the SA (Sturmabteilung), the Nazis' own paramilitary Brownshirts organization; the best-known victim was Ernst Röhm, the SA's leader and one of Hitler's longtime supporters and allies. Leading members of the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), along with its figurehead, Gregor Strasser, were also killed, as were establishment conservatives and anti-Nazis (such as former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Bavarian politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had suppressed Adolf Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923). The murders of Brownshirt leaders were also intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish Brownshirt tactics.
Posted by: okie farmer | Aug 19 2017 20:19 utc | 59
@somebody 22
The similarities go on and on, it's plain ridiculous, almost embarrassing to even point them out.
Bannon is a dangerous ideologue. I have no idea if Trump himself has any political beliefs, probably not - but he loves and needs popular support. And if he doesn't manage to create 'jobs, jobs, jobs', what will he do?
T. is pretty alone now, that's true. Having no political standpoints, this makes him an easy target for others to drive into a corner and manipulate - and afterwards, they'll say: "Trump is crazy, we told you so, this war was all his fault and his alone!"
Yeah, sure. And of course, the blame for WW2 lies entirely with a few 'crazy Nazis', the German (and international) capital elite had nothing to do with it, they didn't want the Nazis to destroy the Soviet Union, no no...
The parallels are plain ridiculous.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 19 2017 20:22 utc | 60
@okie farmer 59
Yes, this was the crucial moment:
Those Nazis who actually believed their own anti-elite propaganda had to be eliminated, so the rest could serve as a popular figurehead for pro-elite policies. H. had the support of the masses, but what he did served the interest of the '1%' - including the war on Soviet Russia, which they wanted. Of course, afterwards the German money elite had nothing to do with it, it was all done by those 'crazies', and that's what the history books still tell us today...
@StephenLaudig 55
lol, kudos! Last orders, please!
Posted by: smuks | Aug 19 2017 20:42 utc | 61
smuks and somebody
You consider Trump a nazi/fascists, sure then you you consider Putin a fascist/nazi too?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 20:45 utc | 62
@james 43
"trump at this point looks very weak and not in control.. "
That's exactly what I wrote more than a year ago, and why I didn't want him to be president: He may not be an 'evil person' (I have no idea), but he's weak and prone to doing 'stupid stuff' when in a difficult situation.
I do hope Russia and China understand this, and act accordingly/ offer him a face-saving way out.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 19 2017 20:49 utc | 63
@Anon 62
re-read my comments, you completely missed the point.
I don't like Putin's policies much, but he's intelligent and responsible.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 19 2017 20:51 utc | 64
smuks
Its an easy question, is Putin a fascist/nazi just like Trump as you claim?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 20:53 utc | 65
Trump Continues to Resist Pressure for Afghan Escalation
Pence, McMaster Lead Call for Escalation
- Friday’s Camp David talks on Afghanistan appear to have ended without a final decision by President Trump on troop levels, as he continues to resist pressure from top cabinet officials to sign off on a massive escalation of the 16-year-old conflict with thousands of fresh troops.
Trump had initially delegated the decision to Defense Secretary James Mattis, but Mattis found a cap limiting his maximum deployment too restrictive.
Now, Vice President Pence and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster are also taking up the cause of large-scale escalation, pushing Trump to accept the recommendations of the commanders.Pence and McMaster were at the Camp David meeting, but Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who has been pushing a “privatize the war” initiative, was blocked, apparently at the behest of McMaster.
Trump aide Steve Bannon, another skeptic of military escalation, was sacked outright.
What's the purpose of the "escalation"?
Why escalate in Afghanistan?
What has happened recently to require such an escaltion?
(Nothing, as far as I can see)
So why "escalate?
As far as I can see Trump is no longer in charge of any of the several wars the US is currebtly waging. If he ever was in charge in the first place.
As far as I can tell, the purpose of any escalation would simply be: "to escalate". With all the increase in expenditure that such an escalation would naturally require.
Throughout the Obama era troop levels in afghanistan were raised and lowered without any rhyme or reason, with no connection to events on the ground, that I could see.
Nothing has changed in that regard since Tronald took charge.
If anything this confirms Orwell's theory, espoused in his "Theory and Practice of Oligarical Collectivism", that the purpose of war is: "To wage war".
Thus filling the coffers of those who profit from waging war. And more importantly emptying the treasury of funds that could be used to improve living conditions for the proles. Proles of all different skin colours.
Nothing has changed in that regard since the Obama era.
Except: the circus has a new show on, to distract the " stupid little people". Instead of "gender wars" the show at the local theatre changed to "race wars"
But at the end of the day, it's still just a show, just like it was under Obomber, designed to distract.
Bread and Circuses.
Since nothing has changed, claims of Nazism aimed at Trump are nonsense, unless the person making the claim was making the exact same claim regarding
Obama.
Which they weren't
Which brings us back to the "stupid little people"
Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 19 2017 21:59 utc | 66
Btw.
Obama was heavily backed by the billionaire Pritzker family
One of them was put in charge of the treasury.
One of them is a gender-bender, once a he, now a she.
Hence the gender wars.
Ever feel you've been had?
Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 19 2017 22:04 utc | 67
There are a few assumptions that are driving the Trump is doomed story. The first; he is unthinking, borderline stupid. The second: he is isolated. The third; he has no plan.
I think they are wrong on all counts. I believe he is shrewd,his business dealings show that. He is not isolated as he trusts very few people and relies on his family and only his family. He has few people close to him by choice. Finally he clearly has plans and surrounding himself with military give you a glimpse into his thinking. He has just announced an upgrade to the cyber security agency and it may take over NSA responsibilities. The Pentagon has long been at war with the CIA/State Dept and the NSA. He is backing the Pentagon and with their help can decimate his and their enemies. As for congress, he has been assembling a war chest and in the 2018 elections will support those who are loyal to him. He will bury the Republicans who failed to come up with a healthcare plan, he will bury the Republicans who failed to support him. He was a leading developer worldwide, dealing with some of the world's biggest business sharks do you seriously think he can't take on Congressional sycophants?
Posted by: frances | Aug 19 2017 22:07 utc | 68
The U.S. appears ungovernable at this time, the hysterical temper whipped up on all sides, no reasoned thinking. I guess we're now getting a look at the big show Obama was able to put on for us, when in actual fact things were ungovernable all along - it's just so, so exposed now under Trump. He's being bitten by the people closest to him. Repeatedly.
There would be a way for a country to escape such internal capitulation if there were a visible rule of law, or maybe some code of ethics on show. Rule of the rich should look this way, paying for the pleasure of watching other people watch monkeys to throw shit at one another daily.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Aug 19 2017 22:27 utc | 69
One more:
Trump is probably best known, amongst the proles, as host of the show "The Apprentice". The premise of this show was that he gathered together a whole bunch of asshats and then one by one fired all of them.
Fast Forward to 2017 and the Trump presidency.
He gathered a whole bunch of asshats around him and one by one fired all of em . . . . .
Say what you like about the man, but at least he's consistent ;-)
Posted by: JustSayin' | Aug 19 2017 22:36 utc | 70
Americans who simply ignore President Trump's occasionally hints of brutality ( that police should be even rougher or more brutal in their dealings with criminal suspects), are citizens proceeding at their own peril. President Obama, in his heyday, made public statements, in which he pronounced Army private Bradley (Chelsea) Manning guilty of treason;--a young soldier who had been held in brutal detention in a military stockade,--when no trial had even begun. The law is found to be expedient when it serves political ends, and is otherwise ignored.
In preemptive violence they trust: glorification of abusive power and coersion, and demonization of the Other. It's truly a bi-partisan thing we are seeing: the last links to sanity being removed. No one is sure what the little extra nudge it might be, that could hurl us down into social chaos. Whether Trump proves himself more or less dangerous than Hillary Clinton would have been, simply shrinks into insignificance, compared to the US Congress, and the bi-partisan consensus for irrational global dominance that keeps pushing us toward destruction.
But some liberals have decided that the Day of Antifa is not such a bad thing; meaning we should duke it out in the streets with crazier right wingers, hoping that the contagion of hate will spread throughout the land. Mark Bray, a lecturer at Dartmouth College, is giving the necessity of preemptive violence his academic blessing. With the flood of adrenaline, the blood thickens and grows hot, and eventually spills out on the paving stones and the curb.
On the other hand, the inchoate lunges and political retractions, the firings and shuffling of personnel in the administration, is not at all inspiring. If Trump brings any more generals into the National Security Council, people will have even more reason to worry. Bannon's departure, in and of itself, will probably not change the trajectory that the US government is locked into. Bannon is not the pilot of Trump's soul, nor is he the Mephistopheles whispering into the ear of Trump.
What keeps me awake at night is the knowledge that the only time Congress rallies to Trump, is when they are confident that he is about to start pushing out the borders of the empire, economically strangling small countries,--or better still, when he proves his mettle by bombing and killing folks. Does this president have the grit to resist foolhardy military adventures, or improve diplomatic relations with countries that view the US with alarm, or to put people back to work and rebuild the domestic economy? It's hard to say how.
re: #71
Says the guy who back in 2008 was pimping for Obama. telling us all how he represented a change.
Seriously: why would anyone ever listen to anything you have to say about anything?
Posted by: JustSayin' | Aug 19 2017 22:43 utc | 72
@Anon 65
You seem to be rather cognitively challenged: I don't say Trump's a fascist, I say he 'probably has no political beliefs'. Go watch TV if complex arguments are too much for you.
Putin is no fascist either, but he needs extreme right-wing support so Russian fascists have a certain influence on him imo.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 19 2017 22:43 utc | 73
It's hard to say how.
Posted by: Copeland | Aug 19, 2017 6:40:47 PM | 71
even if it were easy, given your track record you'd probably fuck it up anyhow
Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 19 2017 22:47 utc | 74
Can Trump do any more to show the rest of the world what a craven puppet the US has become to the God of Mammon folks?
I believe that all this strum and drang are the prelude for war or a major shift in geo-political focus on war as an economic engine of society. The next step in the prelude is either war or economic war, both about maintaining global private finance control or away from that model. The propaganda and fear mongering escalate so that rational discussion of the paths forward are obfuscated and misdirected.
Trump may have dropped a pilot but it is foolish to think that those who have piloted global private finance for centuries have let down their guard.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 19 2017 23:13 utc | 75
72, 74
Are you one of those rare infallible gentlemen who never has made a mistake? Why are you making it personal? I can only guess that you are trolling. No one born in this world can pass through it free of error. But I guess you have pardoned yourself, given that you are an exception.
Rational Thought, reasoned thinking and discussion are not the tools of government, the military, religion or the angry mob.
Bullshit and flinging shit like monkeys offer proven and preferred methodologies.
Posted by: fast freddy | Aug 20 2017 0:02 utc | 77
@ fast freddy who didn't credit any with the tool of Rational Thought
Below is a recent quote from Lord Rothschild that you can analyze keeping in mind that his organization reduced its US holdings from 62% to 37% of it portfolio in the past 6 months....
"
The period of monetary
accommodation may well be coming to an end.
Geopolitical problems remain widespread and are proving
increasingly difficult to resolve. We therefore retain a
moderate exposure to equity markets and have
diversified our asset allocation towards equity
investments where value creation is driven by some
identifiable catalyst or which are exposed to longer-term
positive structural trends.
"
Hey, he is being "upfront" about it........I wonder when the music stops?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 20 2017 0:21 utc | 78
StephenLaudig 55
Thanks for the HHG reference. Sometimes we need some comedy to temper our outrage.
Yes, I agree Trump is now surrounded by Goldman Sachs, military types, and pro-Israel Jared. Nothing good can come of this. SecDef Gates resisted the warmongering of Team Obama but ultimately he went along with it. So even if there is some common sense among the generals, that doesn't mean they can prevent another warmongering misadventure. Tillerson has shown some restraint but it's hard to trust anyone in govt anymore.
Posted by: Curtis | Aug 20 2017 0:40 utc | 79
somebody | Aug 19, 2017 10:01:52 AM | 24
Trump would not have been elected without Robert Mercer. Robert Mercer is the billionaire behind Cambridge Analytica, Breitbart and Steve Bannon.
Who financed Adolf Hitler?
Bingo! Finally, some one got the Mercers; both the father and the daughter.
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19811:The-Real-Story-of-How-Bannon-and-Trump-Got-to-The-White-House
Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 20 2017 0:50 utc | 80
We Americans have a problem: the USA is not performing as it should. We Americans have not solved the problem of how to satisfactorily staff a two man team capable to manage the white household, nor have we Americans done any better seating old 100 gents to rule the Senate, worse among us we seem unable to supply 425 jugglers, dancers, and actors the house of dancing confusion needs to sell its show time tickets. This staffing problem is an American problem, not a USA problem. Its time Americans set their minds to solving it.
Its disappointing to see that Trump may have a problem supporting people that pledge their reputations, futures, and positions to help Trump. In business I have seen many persons with this psychological problem, its not about the hired person, its about imperfection: even the slightest non-conforming misstep by the supportive employee is sufficient to bring about a vilification, a firing, and the like. It nows seems possible that the surround sound family in the white house was a defensive move designed to overcome a known-to-Trump problem that probably has plagued Trump his entire life. I put a short-run fantastic performing employee in charge of a significant managerial position; within a year he had fired nearly everyone in the place, some fired had 20 years of relevant experience. Five years later the same person repeated the performance, within a year everyone in the new place had been fired. Later, another person, this time an expert with 20 years experience in a particular line of business was bathed in venture capital and tasked to establish a new business within his expertise; he fired nearly everyone that he hired; some made it a year, but that was it. He ended up trying to run the business all by himself.
Posted by: fudmier | Aug 20 2017 1:04 utc | 81
This will likely only hasten the inevitable:
either the liquidation of cucks and neocons as the GOP becomes the implicit party of white nationalism, or
the liquidation of the GOP as such at the hand of white nationalists.
The sooner either of these occur, the better it is going to be for the majority white population in the US. Probably for the black and brown populations, too.
Posted by: Gorgar Tilts | Aug 20 2017 1:12 utc | 82
Is it just me, or is Trump's team becoming more and more reminiscent of the Soviet politburo c. 1986 ?
@psycho 75
In other words, we either overcome capitalism or face war...unless, of course, we miraculously stumble upon the driver of a new Kondratieff. Without completely destroying the planet, that is.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 20 2017 1:17 utc | 83
@ fudmier who posits that Americans have a problem.
I dare say that the problem Americans have is shared by the rest of the species. Society is stuck in feudal mode at its core with its fealty to the powers of global private finance and those who own it and have for centuries. The model of a few, unaccountable people, perpetuating the God of Mammon religion of private property, inheritance to insure continuation and that some humans are better than others inherently is a sick measure of what we think of as civilization.
All this shit going on is proxy manipulations like have been pursued by the elite for centuries. Humanity needs to lose its private finance pilot and set sail with a commonly piloted future.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 20 2017 1:21 utc | 84
@ smuks who chimed in
Let me expand my thought.
I think our solution is as simple or complicated as we want to make it.....its all about a collective meme.
I have posited before here that the sewage treatment plants and water systems of the world are not the problem. Those things represent social advances that have been built to support towns and cities by governments.
I posit that government, by definition, is socialistic in purpose....and I further posit that we have forgotten this and/or this definition has been twisted by others. I grew up in Tacoma, Washington and had an uncle who was an engineer for the regional water/power SOCIALIST organization that is still in existence today.
The reason I make that point is that I believe that by "simply" evolving the private finance/property/inheritance component of our form of social organization we will immensely improve the incentives we live by.
We need to kill the God of Mammon. Who believes in this religion? Will humanity evolve past fealty to this god?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 20 2017 1:43 utc | 85
@58 karlof1
Thanks for the Escobar link. The story makes great sense. It's good to know about Mercer and to see that Trump and Bannon are tight. Oddly, it did seem that with all the jackals circling around Trump's neck, in this one case, Bannon is more use outside the tent pissing in than inside pissing out. And Breitbart has now received a massive profile lift, it'll become a national player in the narrative, one would expect.
By the way, I was pondering lately this whole aspect of a grass roots movement. Funny you should bring it up. The only question here about the US is, will the people actually get a voice in this society? If the electoral system keeps bringing liars and betraying promises, then it's time to Occupy the Ballot and have new movements. This is happening I think, with Trump actually being one of the precursor litmus tests.
~~
As for the generals, what does a ruler need except the people and the army? Trump has them both. It makes him harder to take down with all those generals around. Of course, Caesar will have to accord with his praetorian guard or the guard will get a new Caesar. But the US is a banana republic now, this is how it's done - and I'm serious about this, these are real dynamics I think.
Surely the generals will end up being more conservative in action than in rhetoric? And if they get a little giddy and actually send their soldiers out into the real world, they'll quickly receive more of those globally public humiliations that are lowering the empire to the ground so effectively. What can go wrong, that couldn't always go wrong anyway, regardless of who's in charge, or thinks they're in charge?
Posted by: Grieved | Aug 20 2017 2:06 utc | 86
Reflecting that b's post is actually about who's steering the ship.
Personally, I don't know - or give much weight to - whether Trump is driving his own train here. The man shows an extraordinary plasticity, which is useful in the whirlwind that buffets him. He can afford to entertain a million ideas, players and plans. He will outlive them all, I suspect. Despite enormous gaffes, he stays afloat. It's not a Teflon thing, it's a buoyancy thing, or something. Maybe it lies in the country being seen as so crazy and screwed up right now that no one can claim the high ground, and meanwhile he is, after all the elected president, and keeps showing up for work every day as if he's in charge.
I don't see the country as broken, unless the people accept this false narrative concocted by the media about sides split by division. Admittedly, from all the arguing and attacking going on in this thread, one could guess that maybe the false narrative will win.
But we could draw much comfort from the words of this young black woman, Red Pill Black, in a 5 minute YouTube essay that has a quarter million views so far in the last 2 days. She makes stunningly good sense - it's worth 5 minutes or your money back:
I Don't Care About Charlottesville, the KKK, or White Supremacy
And I have some respect for the tide of history, and would challenge the notion that anyone was ever really in charge anyway. And this is the great promise that I think Trump still holds. I believe he will bend with the prevailing winds, within his belief system - and there are winds stirring that no one controls, I think. History again. I can't prove it, or even point to it at this stage, but I'm happy enough to wait.
Posted by: Grieved | Aug 20 2017 2:14 utc | 87
Given that Trump's Inauguration speech included a promise to challenge the abusive power of the Swamp/Deep State, anyone who expected something other than a Magical Mystery Tour, or imagined that he would behave predictably, is utterly clueless about Leadership, Power, and the predictable consequences of "throwing down the gauntlet."
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 20 2017 3:05 utc | 88
All this shit going on is proxy manipulations like have been pursued by the elite for centuries. Humanity needs to lose its private finance pilot and set sail with a commonly piloted future.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 19, 2017 9:21:41 PM | 84
Ever heard of the enclosure acts? Do you know which wealthy propaganda artist and lobbyist placed Art. I, Sec. 8, (8) in the US constitution? The Congress shall have the power ...to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries..." ?
Any idea how the patent and copyright clause has been used to force on the people of the world the crime of kill and take, lie and steal everything from whomever capitalism? Imagine the monopoly power the Wall Street Bandits can insert into corporations by raising enough money to enable the corporation to acquire monopoly rights in any & all great ideas [THEY CAN OWN the marketing rights and make the profits from ANYTHING ANYONES MIND CAN THINK UP]that can be reduced to objects than can make money.
MONOPOLY POWER is a requirement of SUCCESSFUL CAPITALISM?
Patents and copyrights produce a great portion of the faults we are all so upset about. Americans have a problem, the USA is not performing satisfactorily because those in charge of the USA respond only to the global capitalist who have sufficient funds to purchase what they USA is selling.
Most Americans cannot afford to buy what the USA is selling?
Posted by: fudmier | Aug 20 2017 3:48 utc | 89
Dropping the pilot is indeed apt as Bismarck seems to have been interested in Germany developing Russia in some way or another, possibly German capital and German technicians exploiting the vast wealth and massive resources of the Russian Empire instead of the Kaiser's blundering Ostpolitik or Hitler's abattoir plans for the Russian Empire and its successor states.
I am no fan of Trump or Bannon, but like most followers of this site I see that there is much more to be gained from cooperation of the new powers in the emerging multipolar world than there is to be gained or taken from a disastrous war between those powers and yet nevertheless the NeoCons, irrationally still intoxicated on dreams of Shumpeter, Leo Strauss and Paul Wolfowitz would risk the gamble of a third world war rather than allow cooperation and coordinated development between the leaders of a multipolar world. Indeed, Trump's promise of cooperation with Russia (despite his banter about getting tough on Iran or China) was about the only redeeming quality the man possessed in the year when Hitlery was promising to "get tough with Russia over Syria."
Posted by: Doug_Diggler | Aug 20 2017 4:03 utc | 90
re Monopoly power and capitalism @ 89
Such is the actual nature of capitalism by actual demonstration and history.
E.G., IIRC, the 1st radio-telephone was US-patented and immediately assigned, under threat of murder of its author and family, to reps of The Mob. [ref: War Radio And Me/George Sweigert]
Posted by: chu teh | Aug 20 2017 4:21 utc | 91
smuks
You just claimed the the "The parallels (with nazis in Gemany) are plain ridiculous."
but now you claim otherwhise. Keep your comprehension insults for yourself next time.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 20 2017 6:39 utc | 92
Is b really interested in truth? I wonder. Despite bringing it to his attention numerous times he still has not corrected the blatant falsehood in the Reuters-Yemen piece that states the Shi'ite Zaidi sect is "Sunni". That's like saying Lutherans are Catholic but apparently he or the people who run this place don't have a problem with spreading misinformation.
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Aug 20 2017 7:11 utc | 93
Americans are literally brainwashed when it comes to capitalism. Even as it impoverishes them, decimates the middle-class and forces them to surrender their liberty and dignity to the rich and powerful many STILL hold out for some mythical "pure" capitalism that does not generate poverty and misery as collateral damage.
Who knew masochism and a desire for extreme depravity and degradation is at the core of the US national psyche. Fascinating!
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Aug 20 2017 7:20 utc | 94
@63 smuks.. i am not sure how russia or china are processing trump and all this at this moment in time, but i share your hope!
@68 frances.. good comment and i think you are correct in some of the analysis on trump and what he might be willing to put up with and deal with.
@71 copeland.. i enjoyed reading your post.. i agree it is hard to see how trump is going to move forward in a positive way here.. the observation of so many people being fired or leaving in such a short amount of time doesn't exactly instil confidence in what is happening in the trump admin..
@90 doug_d... yeah, the choices for us presidency were not pretty... h. clinton sure seemed like a warmonger of the first order.. for anyone looking for an alternative, trump seemed a better choice on that front... we'll see how this plays out..
Posted by: james | Aug 20 2017 7:32 utc | 95
#66
What's the purpose of the "escalation"?Why escalate in Afghanistan?
What has happened recently to require such an escaltion?
The US doesn't like Russia.
So it doesn't like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Afghanistan is at the border of this giant Eurasian political, economic, and security organisation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation#/media/File:SCO_(orthographic_projection).svg
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Posted by: From The Hague | Aug 20 2017 7:55 utc | 96
92
"Ridiculous parallels" don't mean "Trump is a fascist".
It just means some people use history as a recipe.
Posted by: somebody | Aug 20 2017 7:58 utc | 97
The Bannon - McMaster war can be very easily explained
McMaster made sure the US remains in the Iran deal
This is not what Sheldon Adelson or the Mercers paid for.
This is not what right wing Israelis want.
Stability is not what the Mercers thrive on.
Hedge fund insiders say that quant funds, whose trading profits typically depend on volatility, have been hurt by what has been a surprisingly steady market environment in the second quarter, most notably in June, when the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX which reflects investors views of expected stock market volatility gained between 10 percent and 12 percent, half of its 52-week highs. The Republicans failure to pass a health care bill, a steady drumbeat of news about the Russia-Trump investigation, and nuclear missile tests of North Korea did little to jar investor confidence in the stock market. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent during the month, putting it up 9.3 percent this year
Posted by: somebody | Aug 20 2017 9:49 utc | 98
If I were still living in the U.S., I would be frantically searching for a way out. Any way that got me out.
Good luck ya'all...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 20 2017 11:31 utc | 99
@james 95
Not sure either. They probably see him as easily manipulable and strategically not very clever...at least for now, there's no guarantee it will stay that way.
@Anon 92
I'll try once more, not so much for you but for others who might be reading:
My impression is that T. does not have strong political beliefs, a firm ideology - so I wouldn't call him personally a 'Nazi' or 'fascist'. Whatever motivates him, it's not this imo. Is he nihilist? Maybe.
However, there are important structural similarities surrounding his presidency: The campaign promises and what his 'movement' supporters expect on the one hand, the pro-elite/ pro-inequality policies (and the need to conceal them) on the other, making the 'boss' little more than a populist figurehead for capital/ business interests.
This doesn't say anything about the future course of events, of course - history doesn't repeat itself, and there are many possible outcomes, both positive and negative. But knowing the past can help to understand the present, and maybe even to prevent certain outcomes at an early stage.
If I didn't make this clear enough, I apologize. If you still don't get it, I can't help you.
Posted by: smuks | Aug 20 2017 12:04 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Good post,
Trump making more and more room for neocons, deepstate, warmongers with these completely irrational moves kicking out he's closest friends and advisors!
Now MSM, deepstate will be even stronger, I wouldnt be surpised if Trump step down himself eventually and hand over the presidency to Pence, either that or Trump will more and more tone done his views, policy and go along what msm/deep state wants.
These moves clearly show how isolated he really is, he could have been strong instead he backs off ASAP it seems.
We could throw away that improvement of Russia/US relationsship, we will see more Nato supporting Trump, more wars and covert ops. in the middle east and elsehwere. Very tragic and bad situation.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19 2017 8:44 utc | 1