Even with two smallish left feet and an inelegantly girdled midriff, Trump’s dance card is full. In spite of fears voiced by Liberals like Dennis Kucinich that the “Left” is playing into CIA plans to impeachment Trump, as well as growing complaints from those identified as Right-wing Trump supporters that the “deep state” does indeed plan to unseat their President, Trump will continue to waltz around awkwardly until his hosts play the parting “Good Night Sweetheart” song. How is it that both the “Left” and the “Right” agree there is a “deep state plan” to dethrone The Donald? Recently, Dennis Kucinich told an audience of old radicals, liberal intellectuals, and a few new young people from “Bernie’s Revolution,” at Harvard University that the thing he feared most was the “Left’s attacks on Russia.” According to Kucinich, the “intelligence community” wants to “ignite a new cold war with Russia.” Hillary was their teamplayer. Trump, they say, is an obstacle. For Kucinich the threat of the “Intelligence Community” knocking out Trump is a threat to all citizens of this democratic country, its laws, constitution, and legal institutions. As I mentioned in an earlier article, Kucinich is in fine company, with no less than Glen Greenwald who also fears that Empowering the "Deep State" to Undermine Trump is Prescription for Destroying Democracy; and Gareth Porter, who warns that “The Permanent War State” is essential for the “bottom line” of the Pentagon, the military contractors, and the CIA. Just as the fear that “Leftist” attacks on Russia would support a move to impeach the President, was at that time novel to me (I knew several “Liberals” who believed the allegations of Trump-Russia cooperation in defeating Hillary, but no “Leftists” who were preoccupied with that debate), I had also not heard any comments in my conversations with neighbors, local bus and taxi drivers, cashiers, nor on activist-discussion lists, about the “Right” also believing that a “shadow government” was out to undermine Trump. Checking this out on-line, I of course came up with plenty validation of that opinion. And Kucinich’s fears certainly seem to be validated by the comments made by journalist Marcy Wheeler on a recent “Leftist(?)” Intercepted podcast, that she hoped the “Deep State or the Generals would save us from Trump.” Even that exceptionally insightful and long-admired editor of Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford, has concluded that the “ruling class” (those necessary supporters if not actual card-carrying members of “the deep state”) are prepared to trash Trump and the entire edifice upon which our electoral process stands: “The ruling class has decided to sacrifice the credibility and legitimacy of the bourgeois state in order to effectuate regime change in Washington.” Ford, like the others mentioned above, believes that the largest military-industrial manufacturers and vendors, together with the Pentagon, the Intelligence Community, and military brass are determined to get rid of Trump. He also appears to be in good company, finding that the newly awakened Liberals/Progressives/Democrats are playing right into the deep-state conspirators’ hands. But why would the Capitalist ruling class want to get rid of Trump? If they want global expansion and dominance, Trump will go along with that. In fact, he has already increased military spending greatly to ensure the success not only of such dominance, but of the increased prosperity of the military-industrial contractors and manufacturers at home and abroad. Granted that Trump’s proposed $54 billion increase in military spending looks pretty puny next to the $1 Trillion Obama recently authorized for increased nuclear weapons as he waltzed out the White House door. But, wait! This past week Trump’s generals were authorized to send hundreds of Marines with artillery to Syria and Iraq, with assurance that many hundreds more boots on the ground with munitions would follow. Well, actually, this is fulfillment of a plan designed by Obama and his generals prior to Trumps ascendancy. As The Independent reports: “The marines’ deployment is believed to have been planned under Barack Obama’s administration, with details of a new plan to defeat Isis yet to be made public after being sent to the White House last month.” Initially, the gossip about impeachment centered on the CIA’s choice of Hillary, the hawkish advocate of expanded military occupation needed to establish a No Fly Zone in Syria and beyond. The warning that this would result in a confrontation with Russia and the risk of nuclear war only whetted the appetite of the Capitalist class and their lackeys in the US Governmental agencies who would reap the profits of that battle. The story goes that they were unhappy with a President Trump who initially talked about friendship and cooperation with the Russians, and about cutting back from some of many wars Obama and his NATO friends had been waging. One would think that Trump’s recent pledge of increased military spending and hundreds of more Marines and artillery to Syria would lessen those assumptions a little. Clearly Trump, like all the elegant puppets and clowns who have gone before him, will dance with the ones what brung him, to their tune, letting them lead. If not, the real billionaires and their select club members from among the military brass, Pentagon, and the Intelligence Community would not allow him to stay at the party. He’s following their lead, if clumsily; and, in fact, the whole bunch of them are rapidly cooperating on these military goals, while the press keeps the “Liberals” distracted with the sexy soap opera details of the daily life of Trump and Family. What Trump did, what Trump twittered, what his wife and children said, is followed hourly with passionate interest by Democrats and self-professed Liberals, led by the press, 24/7! There are reports of a number of social venues frequented by Liberals that have banned discussion of politics. A local FM station report focused on several sports and fitness clubs faced with growing numbers of complaints about members’ loud and aggressive political arguments that are planning to replace the large wall-mounted TV monitors with small individualized units mounted on each exercise machine. I doubt that will deter a populace newly awakened from expressing their rage at what they now hear is happening to the democratic country they have always believed in. Where have they been for the past 8 years? How did they slumber through the congressionally unauthorized initiation of seven wars, the military overthrow of foreign governments, along with the destruction of entire populations, ancient cultures, and infrastructure? Where were they during those years that 2.5 million immigrants were deported (more than any previous administration), and the illegal incarceration of thousands of immigrant mothers and their children in for-profit jails? What did they think when their elegant and graceful Black president bragged that through his practice of selecting a human target for assassination by drone weekly, he was getting better at killing people? Did they notice Obama’s elimination of what Congress repeatedly called the most economical and efficient healthcare program (Medicare Advantage HMO for low-income elderly), in the deals he made with private insurance companies? How did Trump acquire the power to wake these aging boomers and their progeny up from a very long nap? “The animosity directed at Trump the man should be directed at the system,” says BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley. I have not been as succinct or polite in my frustrated repetition of this sentiment. [e.g., “Can someone please send me the link to that interview where the press corps asks Obama how he can sleep at night when every week he is ordering the drone assassination of a human being and innocent people near the target, including American citizens (oh, that's right; those adults and children were Muslims, not real Americans)? And also, please include the link to Billy Clinton's Oval Office tapes bragging about how easy it is to get blowjobs from White House interns.] Thanks to Monica he had to stick his plan for privatizing Social Security back into Larry Summers’ safe.” I guess there are plenty of books detailing the many sexual exploits and affairs carried on in the White House by JFK, as well as documentation describing the wiretapping of MLK during intimate moments with women other than his wife (but that can't be; the President can't order wiretapping of any American Citizen...must be Old Fake News). How are pink pussy-hatter parents going to explain to their daughters Thomas Jefferson’s “illegitimate” black children, enslaved in the master’s house along with their young mother. Or why George Washington pursued his escaped female slave for many years, until the day he died. Get off your Trump potty people, and get back to understanding US domestic/global political strategy and economic tactics. mlc] Yes, I myself am frequently distracted from the subject of economics and systemic analysis. The much easier quarrel over Trump’s behavior vs. Obama’s behavior is so seductive! Back on topic, I am in complete agreement with Glen Ford’s conclusion that Capitalism, as a system has experienced dramatic decline in recent history. Without direct government intervention and reallocation of resources the Capitalist system of labor exploitation, production and distribution has been unable to stand on its own legs for some time. Some might say that the major role of the government in re-directing production during the Great Depression and the subsequent WWII, determined its indispensable part in salvaging and sustaining our Capitalist economy. In spite of the usual cycles of expansion and depression, that system appeared to work, even though worker’s wages, and standard of living have steadily declined since the 1970’s. (Workers consumption and jobs is not the goal of Capitalism anyway!) Imperialistic policies and the steady creation of a fascist military state have been necessary to keep up the façade of “free-market” Capitalism and American Exceptionalism. However, Glen Ford concludes that “A consensus has emerged among international capital that there is no escape from the crisis except to quickly complete the task of global conquest,” I agree, in as much as this refers to those cooperative interests of the USA, its NATO friends, and more recently acquired assets in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, there is clearly still considerable competition among international Capitalists (including Russia’s attempts to assert itself as a top contender, and China’s growing State-Capitalist global successes). This economic battle to the death is not destined to end in a global Kumbaya embrace. Glen Ford writes that “the consolidated ruling class…have decided to sacrifice the credibility and legitimacy of the bourgeois state in order to effectuate regime change in Washington -- or, at least, to neuter the Trump presidency until the next election. What is amazing about this crisis is that the ruling class, itself, is undermining the institutions that have served the rich so well since the birth of the Republic. The destabilization of the U.S. bourgeois state is a project, not of the Kremlin, but of multinational and finance capital headquartered in the U.S.” (Echos again of Kucinich, Porter, and Greenwald, et al.) But here is where I part ways with the much-esteemed BAR Senior editor, intellectually at least. Trump is a wealthy member of the ruling class (so he says, although we have not seen his tax returns yet). He brought his “Generals” into his cabinet, along with the very wealthy and heads of leading corporations. He has proposed increasing military spending on ships and planes and bases around the globe. He wants tax cuts for the corporations and the rich while cutting spending on public programs, agencies and services. What’s not to like here for your everyday global Capitalist and their “deep state?” Ford admits that one can see immediately from Trump’s cabinet that “Trump has no problem at all with the global movement of capital.” Ford, a real Leftist, predicts what Kucinich, Porter, and Greenwald fear: that those of this “consolidated ruling class” are set on turning their “covert operations dogs on a sitting president of the United States.” And in the process they will “sacrifice the credibility and legitimacy of the bourgeois state,” and destroy all our democratic institutions in the process. Note that the lack of democratic institutions is not a fear shared by the Capitalists and select friends. Ford is well aware that the majority of citizens of the USA, particularly the low-income workers, poor, Blacks, single women, elderly (and other “minorities” who make up the 70% of the population who have experienced declining income and standard of living in recent decades) seldom experience equal treatment under the law or democracy (including access to the polling booth). I see a less dramatic playing out of the continual eroding of our “democratic” institutions: Trump will continue to do (not necessarily “say”) whatever he is told to do. In this he is no different from Obama, or Bush, or Clinton or any of the others who have survived to tell the tale. And, it is difficult to believe that he would be the one among these past Presidents who did not understand his role in the continuing process of increased military production, sales, and global expansion as crippled Capitalism assumes its necessary shape for survival: fascism at home and imperialism abroad. As Norman Pollock so nicely puts it: “Fascism can be many-layered, and, as in Nazi Germany, seemingly less bottomless in depravity, but as I’ve noted elsewhere, it doesn’t require the concentration camp or gas chamber, and primarily, in historical form, it is based ultimately on the close alignment (co-partnership) of capitalism and the state, or more concretely, business and government. In that structural context, the impetus of the first to the second (although a reverse influence is also manifest) is the creation and reinforcement of hierarchy as the organizing principle of the social order. The capitalist class system, already in place, is then superimposed on what becomes a class-state, to defend and replenish of which the military factor springs forth as though by necessity.” Hitler and Mussolini were not what I would call “handsome men.” So it is that to many---“Liberal” or “Conservative”---Trump is much less attractive than the graceful, slow-talking, charmer who preceded him. Trump’s moves are not as smooth, but he can and will dance! Mary Lynn Cramer, MA, MSW, LICSW has degrees in the history of economic thought and clinical social work, as well as over two decades of experience as a bilingual clinical social worker. For the past ten years, she has been deeply involved in “economic field research” among elderly women and men dependent upon social security, Medicare, and food stamps, living in Section 8 HUD housing projects. She can be reached at: mllynn2@yahoo.com © Copyright 2017 by AxisofLogic.com This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article in its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you! |
