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Chris Travers's avatar

My sense is that Trump has bitten off more than he can chew here. He entered into office and attempted to radically shake up/dismantle the establishment state, and it is possible that people are too frightened of him to tell him what they actually think at the top.

To understand Trump's support though, I think you have to look elsewhere though. For those who have never worked at an American corporation, it is hard to understate the degree to which personality cults are the norm in American business. Every business from KFC to Microsoft mythologizes to some extent both the founder of the business and the current CEO. This sort of personality cult mentality was part of the reason Walmart couldn't break into the German market.

What Trump has done is bring in the personality cult of corporate America, which was previously distinct from the personality cults of US politics (Obama was also the subject of hero worship but not in the exact form as we see in corporate America) into the US political space. Trump is worshipped by his supporters because they do not see the man, but rather the myth.

Trump's MO before this war was entirely consistent: find a pressure point and exploit it, declare victory, hold a press conference, and oversell accomplishments in order to perpetuate the curated myth around his persona. How many of these vaunted trade deals actually existed on paper? I couldn't find any.

But what we are seeing more recently is something else. There is a movement towards larger and larger efforts at some sort of visible stamp on his "accomplishments" whether in Cuba, Venezuela, or Iran. The effort at the grandiose remains, but the effort at "declare a press conference and leave" seems to have evaporated. I used to think this was Israeli influence but I am less sure over time. I suspect he feels like the perpetuation of his mythology into perpetuity requires some grand accomplishment that so far has been evasive, and so he is going for everything at once.

Micheal C's avatar

I don't believe Trump has any real agency. He is just a narcissistic over the hill b grade reality television actor who cant remember his lines very well. His job (as was Obama's and Biden's) is to gaslight everyone. As Frank Zappa said. "Politics is just the entertainment division of the military industrial complex". The script has been written. It is helpful to think of it as a professional wrestling match (Trump actually forayed into the WWF years ago) in the political arena.

The real power is behind the throne, Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, Bessent, and so on. The US government (and all Western govs.) is completely controlled by what can only be described as organised crime. Bankers, drug runners, money launderers, human traffickers, blackmailers, armourers, oil companies, land thieves, commodity monopolists, gaming, media, and now tech oligarchs. They are united by their egomania, greed and lust (psycopathy), facilitated by the capitalist system that began as a merger between the warlords and the usurers, (or perhaps we could say it was a palace coup). There is some infighting in the groups but mostly they align to find better ways to control the herd. There are no negative feedback loops in the system to limit their power, particularly since they no longer abide by any laws, or simply rewrite them when convenient.

The military backed money racket (capitalism) is both failing and under attack. This is why they are pushing AI robotics and surveillance so hard. It promises better control of the masses and I fear, the ability to reduce the population to a point where we will never pose a threat to their power again. Gaza is the testing grounds... and we are all Palestinians now.

There is more to the attack on Iran than Trump and Netenyahoo's personal vendetta. The whole point may be to create an oil shock that collapses economic systems, enabling the Great Reset. There is always continuity of agenda. We must also take the US- European divide as theatre. This is transnational empire we are talking about.

Kojo's avatar
16hEdited

This article is little credible IMO.

To begin with, which US president from the time of the Oslo Accords and since then, has NOT taken israeli zionist "political donation" money, agreed to their crimes against humanity - and given them weapons to do it? Even Obama did it, while they spat in his face too.

Second are we to believe that a man with 8 decades on this planet, a fixture of New York City, and who strategically married his daughter into an israeli oligarch family...does not know that he is in with murderous gangsters? He's been at this his whole life, from Roy Cohn onwards.

He's not not mad. He not uninformed. He's corrupt. And has received tens of millions of votes in a country populated by brainwashed, racist, half wits. It would be bad enough if he was unknown, but these votes came was AFTER his first term, which concluded with him attempting to dismiss the election and implement a coup. That's the problem we face: 8-9 billion people on this planet are at risk of the widespread, rank corruption that the world's biggest country is knee deep in.

BTW what is the point in succumbing to the trend of accompanying all articles with the exact same generic, meaningless, dystopian AI generated images that litter the internet? Good real images are easy to find for reasonable low fees or even free.

Greg Strebel's avatar

The Jan 2020 coup story, presented as an 'insurrection' was and is, simply not credibly attributed to Trump. It was clearly a concocted drama, planned in advance to discredit both the alleged electoral fraud and Trump himself. As an interested observer from the outside, ie non-American and no fan of DJT, there was simply too much evidence to discount compromised integrity throughout the balloting process. Deficient voter ID compounded with ballot harvesting and dumps of ballots into unsecured mailboxes was evidenced by the otherwise unexplainable massive change in voter choice during the night, upsetting a reported lead and projection of Trump, accompanied by the ejection of observers and papering over of windows overlooking the counting stations so that activities could not be viewed. Vote count suspended by an alleged water leak not witnessed by any of the people monitoring the count before being ejected.

The coup itself was created out of the whole cloth of FBI assets in the hundreds egging the legitimate protesters to enter the house of congress, with the Capitol police removing barricades, and Speaker Pelosi declining, in advance, to reinforce security with National Guard personnel. No full and prompt release of security camera footage, no trace of the 'pipe bomb' incident.

Layer this evidence on the track record of the DNC perpetrated 'Russiagate' hoax, complete with the evidence that the DNC server-hacking was an obvious inside job given that network traffic analyis showed that the download of data implicating the HRC plot against Senator Bernie Sanders was conducted in two batches corresponding to the use of two 16 MB thumb drives, likely by disillusioned DNC staffer Seth Rich who was subsequently 'suicided', though that crime was attributed to some never-found mugger who failed to steal anything from Rich. All a typical MO of the Clinton crime family going back to their Arkansas days, working with the CIA running drugs from South America into the Mena airport.

Apart from the reference to coup, I am completely aligned with your view on the American political establishment, at least as far back as the Oslo Accords.

Niklaus Hostettler's avatar

It is heartbreaking to see the pair ignorance and denial is so ingrained in people when it comes to the US government.

No president has ever been close to have the powers of a King.

This statement is a text book case of "I don't know anything about [ .... ] but I do know [ ...], where the know is another arrogance of a believe and opinion.

Such statements show just how much Joseph Goebbels was correct when he talked about the power of propaganda.

Such statements show just how much the people can be flocks of sheep, best example what I heard 60 years ago for the first time, from Eastern European refugees: The difference between dog USSR and dog USA is that the dog USSR goes into the direction given by the stick in back and the dog USA buy the sausage dangling in the front.

The US government is riddled with pestilence not any different the German one was in the 1930: Nazis for Germany, puppets of special interest in the US. I heard over 30 years ago from when some politicians told the Americans on main stream media:

"We no longer work for you. Once in office we have work for those who pave the way for us to get onto the ballot."

But it doesn't stop there, as some politicians also have admitted:

"Once in office, unless there is money flowing in one never gets into a position of influence."

What governor and president didn't make a deal with the devil to get campaign monies or votes?

Reagan: Religious Right - still pay the price for this today.

Clinton: Financial Institutions - the Democratic party is in bed with Banksters.

Biden: Neocons - the point of no return, the end of the US empire begun (Ukraine)

Trump second term: AIPAC - now we witness the "coup the grace" of the US

What president was not subject to blackmail by the puppet masters or had to face indirect political backlash (neocons, industrial military complex, lobbies, deep state, ...)? None!

The current executive, cabinet and top officials key government agencies, just shows just how much the government is riddled with supporter, and/or puppets, and/or slaves to special interests. Equally so, the current cabinet shows just how just truly we do have a "best congress money can buy", a congress that no longer does its job.

We have known everything about Trump, long before he entered politics. The only thing that has changed is that now we do see what psychiatrists have known all along: What a malignant narcissist truly is.

What ought to be rathe clear too is that just because what Trump is he made for the best puppet, no, better is useful idiot he is for those who run this nation.

To say Trump started this war with Iran all by himself because of some crazy dream or idea or whatever is "asylum level brain disorder." Already 30 years ago talk about a war with Iran was in the media, and plans for the entire Middle East, no only Iran, are in public domain.

God reads is this one: "Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution, Analysis paper No 20, June 2009."

Best really is this: The political goals of the radical/fanatical Zionists, both in Israel and the US.

Mohammed Elsoukkary's avatar

Well written, thoughtful and timely.

"It is safe to assume than both Russia and China probably discreetly warned the US that the use of nuclear weapons could not be tolerated. But, concretely, what would they do if Trump would not listen?"

The issue here from what I have seen based on a year's observation of the incentives and drivers, is that external pressures have lower impact than the combination of domestic political considerations and individual incentives.

Couple that with the hollwing out of many of the key agencies within the domestic apparatus which used to have dissent channels built in, like the Departments of State and Defense (War?) & the intelligence agencies, and the information ecosystem surrounding the decision making process becomes alarming to observe.

Nanabukulu21's avatar

People ended up being a more entrenched version of themselves as they get older. Think of your 80 year old parents.Trump comes from the background he is now involved in as a president . But on steroids.

But all the other countries and his own country allow him to do what he does. There are 8 billion people and he is one. And as a brit. The world does let my government off the hook. UK lies and carried out divide and rule to this day. America is the grown up son of UK. Chaim Weizman first president of israel lived for 30 years in the UK.

Nakayama's avatar

People have paid too much attention to POTUS, and the role of POTUS has changed over the years. At the time of George Washington, POTUS was a respected national leader. Now POTUS is a puppet of other BIG-X interests, pick whatever, multiple X of your choice. Trump himself is certainly frustrated and exhausted. He might have thought the POTUS role was easy and powerful. Now he realizes the role of POTUS is difficult to play and there are too many directors, too many screen writers. In some cases, he even has to pay these bastards (although not using his own money).

I say the POTUS beginning from Gerald Ford has become more and more of a theater. People and media expect such a POTUS, and people who can play theatrics float to the top, including Macron in France. Biden got all the flak when people were doing the real work and making the real decisions were surely not him. I doubt he even knew he had pardoned so many people during his final days in the WH. DJT is not far from that state of mind. To save the great republic, the American people have to start from somewhere else. Just make sure all levels of governments remain small has run no deficits.

Neil Harris's avatar

People like simple solutions. Trump is anti-intellectual and loud and he also likes simple solutions. I think his supporters take him at face value because they think or want to think he is honest and that his ‘simple’ and ‘direct’ approach gets results and that he wants what they want. There are many now who admit that they were wrong and many more who will never admit this

Segovia's avatar

I join others in not being impressed by this article viewing naive Trump acting because of sudden Zionist pressure/manipulation. People who read the 'alternative' media don't need me to tell them the obvious nonsense there.

Chris Travers's avatar

I used to think it was Israeli pressure, perhaps even blackmail.

But we see a parallel transformation with regard to a starvation blockade around Cuba and it is hard to see a Zionist nexus there.

My guess is that this is far more about Trump and Rubio wanting to put their stamp on the world than just about Israel.

Greg Strebel's avatar

Yes. Brian Berletic of TheNewAtlas youtube channel provides evidence that the US has been defending and enlarging its hegemony ever since WW2. He contentions are based on the various think tank policy papers from the Brookings Institution and others (papers such as Which Path to Persia, Extending Russia, and the Plan for a New American Century, etc). The recent history conforms completely with the policy recommendations in fine detail. Indeed, the "Leaving it to Bibi" chapter outlines how Israel is to be used as America's proxy, undertaking belligerent actions on America's behalf, ie degrading all rival or noncompliant countries. Specifically this includes throttling resource (energy) flow to China at shipping choke points and at source. Outrages committed on behalf of the USA can be feigned to be 'arm's length' to deflect international criticism. https://www.youtube.com/@TheNewAtlas/posts

Mario A Leblanc's avatar

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Mario A Leblanc's avatar

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Rasmus's avatar

This is more important than peoples views on Trump. US have a major bureaucracy. Do the mullas come close to the bomb? We can just speculatd, but Evry President follow the bureaucracys ingen. Just like Bush and Obama did. The different is the Trump style, which do much to keep boots out of the battlefield. He talk like a mad man to rocket man too, and avoid what most other Presidents had done, a war. Hopefully he once again save American lives. But, more important if the consequences of a mullaregime with nukes.

Moebius Infinity's avatar

Is Felix Marquardt on substack?

Could somone please interview him on topic of Jacques Ellul and his ideas on dealing with propaganda.

I never heard of Ellul before. But a quick search tells me this one could be very interesting.

As Felix mentioned him on Neurality Studies I think it is a very nice topic to cover. Also include Edward Bernays.

But specifically zoom in to Ellul and his approach to Propaganda.

Lubica's avatar

Nice of the senator — and why no such call for Biden to be removed? — “The democrat Bernie Sanders, who had challenged Hillary Clinton in 2016 to win the right to run for president, published an appeal calling Trump “a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual”, urging the Congress to “act now” and “end this war”. “

Jed Gallagher's avatar

Your understanding of Trump is completely wrong-headed. You do not understand him or what his governments mission actually is. The Trump government are taking out the British financial empire which corruptly controls nearly every country on the planet, including the USA until Trump took over. They are taking down the City of London. Your question to all of Trumps actions should be how does hurt the City of London. Then you will understand. Trump is a social man, he likes to talk to anyone, who is a Good person. He is living his last days as he wants to - he is not worried about how people see him. Visit the Promethean Action website, and YouTube channels, to bring yourself up to date in geopolitics today. Because, quite frankly, you are way behind the curve.

Chlomo Cohen שלמה כוהן's avatar

The Mad King, eventually, gets stabbed first in the back and then frontally. I wonder who’s gonna stab him in the back first. If I were to bet, I would say probably the false Jewish clique that he hold so dear..