What’s worrying isn’t that Trump is now getting advice about policy from fanatics like John Bolton and Lawrence Kudlow. Trump has never cared about policy.
The real worry is that – with Robert Mueller breathing down his neck, and several special elections suggesting a giant “blue wave” in November – Trump is getting ready to do whatever it takes to maintain his power, even if that requires fanatical policies.
Let us all bray that November comes soon. (Like that will truly help. We are fully into a Constitutional crisis with a certifiable master (of disaster) of ceremonies on center stage.)
Kudlow came into existence during the 1980’s as a prissy, nasal voiced idiot. He continued to deny the housing crisis that let to the 2008 crash. He’s never “correct” about anything. And by the way, I’m a gay guy–but I don’t think I could ever be as prissy as Kudlow. It’s the perfect word for him. If a fly lit on him he would scream. It has nothing to do with masculinity or femininity. Has everything to do with integrity, he’s the ideal “bunk mate” for Trump. It would come down to who murders who first and comes out with that ass crack of a smile on camera.
I really, really wish I had the funds to move out of the U.S. soon. Things are going to get really, really bad. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Any “blue wave” in November will not mitigate it. On the contrary, expect the usual “impeachment is off the table,” “reaching across the aisle,” “bipartisanship,” and all the other bullplop. There are now very, very few democratic institutions remaining that would normally serve as a check on an authoritarian Executive. We are all literally witnessing, in real time, the descent of the U.S. into authoritarianism and tyranny, daily. But like the proverbial frog in the pot, and with the mindless pablum of non-stop entertainment in one ear and state-sponsored MSM propaganda in the other, we will sit here and boil until it is too late to hop out.
I soooo wish I had the financial ability to hop the hell out. If you are a Muslim you need to get out NOW. Seriously. Things will get very, very bad for you. If you are LGBTQ or black/Latino, you are already used to being shit on and persecuted, but expect it to get even worse in the years ahead. And for those of us who don’t toe the right-wing capitalist/neo-liberal/white nationalist/duopoly official Line and are clearly on the left-hand side of the ideological spectrum, we can expect more demonization and labels of “traitor” and attacks, etc, than we normally get. And if - God forbid - Trump and his fascist supporters solidify power and start cracking down on “opponents of America,” we are all going to be in a world of shit. I don’t see that there is anyone to stop them, except perhaps the armed forces, which I have a feeling will be mostly in Trump’s back pocket by that point, if they aren’t already.
It’s hypocritical in the extreme for Democratic party apologists such as Reich to be raising the alarm about Trump playing the war card, now, not after the Democrats recently helped the Republicans pass the biggest increase in military spending, ever; not after years of Democratic party support of endless war and making a strong military a party platform plank; not after Obama by-passed Congress to fight his drone wars, extra-judicial assassinations and more, only to see such tools of war handed over to an idiot like Trump.
A madman about to begin the next world war is EXACTLY what to expect after years of a presidents conveniently by-passing the Constitution with the war-mongers in both parties of Congress more than willing to let it happen. With Trump, the proverbial chickens have come home to roost.
Mueller, we need you NOW. Trump is a reality TV personality, nothing more. He knows how to stage and he knows from history of US that war president are given a pass and criminals are not held accountable any longer.
So obvious to see but so many Americans have their heads in the sand or chest beating white men anxious to send other peoples children to war.
It really does seem hopeless when we are seeking salvation from a lawyer who helped lie the country into the Iraq war.
What will be able to call a halt to the avalanche downslide into the world dissent describes is not something to pin a lot of hopes on: environmental disasters of which global warming is only one of many major symptoms; economic collapse – the global banking and currency systems are in worse shape than the economists tracking them for their banker employers can admit even to themselves.
If the infrastructure breaks down and there is no electrical power for the pumps to move the water, or to refrigerate the perishable foodstuffs, or to pump whatever fuel that’s left in the tanks into where it’s needed to run whatever – then the current “leaders” will be called upon to “manage” an unprecedented degree of anarchic destructiveness, one that – especially when one considers that without electricity, no communication will be possible – the right wingers and conservatives and neolibersls will have a civilizationalwide mess with no tools to even try to clean it up with.
People will be trapped in their rubbleized cities and towns. Maybe it won’t get that bad all at once, but don’t tell me that it can’t. Not even the most well prepared hard core survivalists with a stash of canned food and rain catch water tanks (the rain will be chemically poisoned) and ammunition and guns to protect their precious stash of supplies for a while will be able to last long in constantly worsening conditions.
I hope I’m completely wrong about all this, I really do. But that’s the future on see on our event horizon.
Out of curiosity, where would you move to ?
The reach of the United States is global, is it not ?
“Global reach”, indeed !
After global corporations realized that owning the US Congress provides higher return on investment (ROI) than any other investment, they started buying gubmits in other nations and will continue to do so until they create a global neofeudal paradise for themselves.
Impeachment was off the table because the views from Nancy’s Marin vineyard need a good “presentation.” How could any of us be so silly as to think anything would stop Gilded Age II?
I’m here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but really, we are in large measure just a client state of the US - effectively owned outright as far as mainstream business goes - including of course the ‘tar sands’, (which is actually the more correct name than ‘oil sands’).
Slightly off topic, but relating to the above, there is now a consortium of volunteers rebuilding a 60% version of the late 1950’s Avro Arrow, a Canadian designed, engineered supersonic fighter plane, which was mysteriously cancelled even as planes were rolling off the assembly lines. It was apparently the most advanced fighter in the world.
Apparently that cannot be in United States hegemonic terms, and not only was the program cancelled outright, the design engineers underwent a lemming like mass migration to - the United States weapons industry - Surpise Surprise, as Gomer Pyle was want to say !
I am a pilot as well as a mountaineer, and I would really like to see this scale version fly. In fact, a helicopter mechanic of my acquaintance is considering volunteering to rebuild this icon, which would fly out of Springbank Airport, just west of me in sight of the front range of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
PS: ETA ~ Five years
When the kids in Parkland graduate soon, if they really want to promote “Gun Control” on an even grander scale, a massive Antiwar demonstration in Washington DC as well as in front of the Statehouses of every state all across this country and the subsequent Movement towards Peace, would derail the Trump, Pompeo, Bolton Axis of Evil March Towards War.
#POW (Peace Over War)
We all hope Reich is wrong here. It seems logical and likely, but it also doesn’t. Most likely it would be a complete disaster, worse or on par with Iraq, so why would Trump pursue it? It’s important to note that Iraq wasn’t looked at primarily as a great disaster until later, so maybe Trump might gain at first from a huge conflagration. Hard to say. Whatever happens, these appointments and other developments are very dangerous to human life.
I know what you are saying. You are correct. But there are still some places that are remote enough or “insignificant” enough that they are beneath the notice and most of the effects of the US and its servant states. Costa Rica, a few other central American locations; Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, etc. Remote and sparsely populated and in “unattractive” locations due to weather, lack of access to “civilization,” infrastructure, etc. Yet still habitable and beautiful, if one has the funds.
Doesn’t matter anyway, just a pipe dream for me…
So many people have pinned all their hopes on the Mueller investigation. As if Mueller will someday just make a major announcement that he has massive troves of evidence of criminal acts committed by Trump and his cohorts. And if he does do that - what then? These same people then imagine some kind of trial, and then Trump being dragged off in chains to prison, or at the very, very least, removed from office, in shame.
None of that is ever going to happen, even if the Democrats take control of both houses in the fall. Don’t believe me? Copy this post of mine and then revisit it again in the fall. Or a year from now. Or two years from now.
You have my solemn promise I won’t say “I told you so.”
Who would Trump want to go to war against? Would Congress support it? Would US allies support it? What is Trump’s strategy for winning this war? Can he get public support? I can see war talk being a distraction and benefiting Trump but I can’t see at this point a new war. He already is engaged in fighting to some extent in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen and in fighting the war on terror in a number of countries. If Trump goes to war the military could have a serious moral problem to deal with. After Iraq, Trump is going to have a hard time selling another war.
Oh I believe you Greg as I remember only Clinton kind of been held accountable. He was impeached but did not mean anything. Corruption runs ramptant because of no accountability. Business just budget for fines and
politicians mostly get little slaps on the wrist. Yes a few go to jail for short periods. I am forever hoping things will change.
