Over the Falls…
Those
who make peaceful revolution impossible
will make violent revolution inevitable.
- John F.
Kennedy - POTUS
By J.M. Hamilton (2-12-2017)
For those who have not viewed Niagara Falls, the Falls are
well worth the visit. Particularly the
Canadian side, the view of Horseshoe Falls is breathtaking and otherworldly,
providing – for me anyway –as close a case, as I care to come, to sensory
overload. The sheer power, nature’s
force and primal rage, the constant rush, the deafening roar, the mighty
Niagara reminds me of the Goddess above.
After a short period of time when viewing the Falls, I often have to
avert my eyes. In particular, the Falls
reminds me that we are an infinitesimal spec of carbon, and our life span –
relatively speaking – but a nanosecond in time’s great arc. Absolutely, humbling.
Nevertheless, our lives have purpose, and part of that
purpose is to be the earth’s stewards, and hopefully, leave something better
behind for our children and future generations.
JMH brings up Niagara Falls because it’s the closest analogy
I can provide to the news flow issuing forth from the White House. Simply amazing and not entirely reactive, but
rather, the news flow is by intelligent design and not w/out a great deal of political
strategy. One can see the strategies of
Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Sherman’s march through Georgia, and even the Reich
Minister of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda coursing through the White
House’s executive orders & POTUS proclamations barrage. (Interestingly, Machiavelli – in The Prince – recommended that a leader,
who conquered a Republic, must destroy said Republic and its citizens, before
it destroys him.)
The press appears blown away by it, and JMH is having a hard
time coming to terms with it, as well.
If, as Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “politics is the art of controlling
your environment,” and the news flow and US media are the “political environment,”
then Mr. Trump – and Mr. Bannon – are kicking serious tail and taking
names. Trump - or Bannon - seemingly, wants
to be a man of destiny, and clearly want their agenda adopted (or both want, to
at least appear, to be making progress in that direction).
The news flow is rapid fire. In no few instances, the news flow emanating from the White House
appears to be running full throttle to divert our attention away from the prior
day’s or week’s errors, or the latest public outrage. The MSM - owned and operated by the corporate and multinational establishment – often finds itself merely reacting in Mr.
Trump’s wake. Not everything Mr. Trump
has done is bad or dreadful – some of his actions are creative & positive
(albeit often conducted in a highly unorthodox manner). One would not know this, however, from the
core news organizations’ reactions, the five major media organizations
that control about 90% of the news flow & content.
So how do we pull back, and not allow Mr. Trump’s
administration to play us with a Niagara like news flow, and/or the MSM – and
its agenda - to do the same? The consolidation of the news organizations –
seen in the U.S. over the last several decades – has led to, and allowed for, a
homogenized narrative and messaging, among most of the core media outlets (that
any authoritarian or totalitarian might appreciate). Indeed, some news outlets have even been
witting instruments of the two establishment political parties, and the establishment
candidates running w/in the parties.
Makes sense, the plutocracy owns the politicians and of course, the media outlets. (Hence, Mr. Trumps
distaste for additional media mergers, such as ATT/Time Warner)
When dealing with complex issues and problems, JMH generally
finds it’s best to pull up and take a look at the macro picture. In this case what is Mr. Trump’s core
mandate, and ultimately, will he achieve said mandate? That’s exactly how the American people will
likely judge Mr. Trump over the course of his first term. "It's all about the economy, stupid." Here, it’s
instructional to look at Mr. Trump’s inaugural address, and its
fundamental themes.
…we are
transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.
The establishment protected
itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your
victories.
For many decades, we've
enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the
armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our
military. We've defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our
own.
Every decision on trade, on
taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American
workers and American families. We must protect our
borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.
We will follow two simple
rules; buy American and hire American. When
you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.
(JHM’s underline.)
Mr. Trump ran on two primary themes during his
candidacy, and this came through in his address.
One,
domestically & economically: Mr. Trump – a full fledged member and product
of the establishment – ran as an anti-establishment candidate, and flat out
told the American people that the U.S. political system is owned and operated by
the establishment/plutocracy, and our government is generally run for the
benefit of the establishment and plutocracy (aka the Davos elite). And Mr. Trump would certainly know that.
Moreover, Mr. Trump planned to turn that around
so that the economy, free trade agreements, and employment would be key
features of his domestic agenda, and in the future, the economy and government would
be run for middle America’s benefit (aka the 99%).
Two,
foreign policy: Mr. Trump acknowledged that
credit card wars and nation building (aided & abetted by the Washington
foreign policy establishment, which is embedded in both establishment political
parties) had been a tremendous disservice to: Americans; the women & men
who serve; U.S. prestige around the world; and amounted to gross fiscal
mismanagement. Along with that, there
was the mixed message of remaining engaged in the Middle East and finishing the
fight against radical Islam, and ISIS.
(That the U.S., and its so-called allies in the Middle East, spawned
ISIS seems to be beside the point.) And
finally, on foreign policy, POTUS Trump wanted to break w/ the foreign policy
establishment and not set up a new Cold War with the Russians.
And on these two core issues, JMH would argue
that many Americans, perhaps a majority (given that Senator Sanders ran on many
similar themes, and nearly beat Mrs. Clinton in the democratic primaries),
support POTUS Trump.
What the majority of Americans did not, and do
not support, is the Republican establishment’s social wars against American
women, American minorities, and the LGBTQ community.
Mr. Trump defeated the Republican establishment,
it’s what he successfully ran on. Not so surprisingly, it’s when the POTUS has adopted Mr. Pence’s (Mr. Establishment)
social views, within the barrage of executive orders and POTUS proclamations, that
Mr. Trump has found himself in a great deal of hot water, almost w/out
fail. It’s when Mr. Trump has adopted Mr.
Bannon’s alt-right views that, again, he’s found himself dealing with marching
in the streets (last seen on this scale in the ‘60s).
Mr. Bannon’s views apparently can be best summed
up w/ the slogan: Make the White American Male Great Again.
Nobody, or very few have said a word, when Mr.
Trump took on the superpredators of Big Pharma, the contractors of the MIC, cajoled
and jawboned U.S. multinationals into returning or maintaining jobs in the
United States. Very few – outside the
globalist/multinational/corporate elite (and the academics, foreign policy
establishment, and news organizations owned by same) – said a word when Mr. Trump tore up the TPP.
In short, there have been no protests in the
streets over Mr. Trump's core – economic – agenda. And outside the chattering class, little has
been said about Mr. Trump’s foreign policies, excepting the Muslim travel ban,
and Mr. Trump’s relations with Russia.
Here, it's worth noting that the Muslim travel
ban was badly botched, and had Bannon’s finger prints all over it. More
importantly, it's worth noting that not a single terrorist attack has occurred on
U.S. soil, originating from citizens from the countries on the Muslim ban list.
Per the Atlantic: "Nationals of the seven countries singled out by Trump
have killed zero people in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 1975 and
2015.” (Ironically, the same cannot be said for the Sunni – Royal Monarchies –
that the U.S. has commercial ties to and, conveniently, were left off the
list.) Word to the wise, Mr. President, discrimination based upon
race, color, creed, religion, or sexual orientation is not only Un-American,
but is probably considered backward by a majority of Americans. There
was a hundred different ways Mr. Trump could have executed upon that same
executive order, calling for greater vetting of refugees, without even
mentioning the word “Muslim.”
Now, as of this writing, the Muslim ban
executive order has ended up in a federal court’s dust bin, precisely where it
belongs.
In terms of Russia, POTUS Trump caught serious
flack when he said, in response to the observation that President Putin was a
killer:
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?”
Anybody with a rudimentary high school education
knows that America has a checkered history and suffers from a serious dichotomy
between our ideals, and the manner in which our country is actually run and
behaves, domestically and internationally.
From slavery, to manifest destiny, to overthrowing foreign governments throughout the 20th & 21st centuries to further
multinational interests, Mr. Trump is right, and deserves credit for speaking
the truth. America has plenty of killers, and America has special forces in 70% of the globe’s countries. These U.S. special forces aren't abroad on Boy Scout jamborees.
Some American killers have well-trimmed
fingernails and wear white-collar shirts, bespoke suits, and silk neckties. We can generally, find this special breed of
killer near the corner of Wall & Broad in Manhattan, or operating America’s
private equity firms.
And the American press, here in particular,
should know better. It's on foreign
policy in particular, where the MSM and the foreign policy establishment are
most incensed about the Trump administration, and his abandonment – at least so far – of: a Pax-Americana foreign policy & the high priests of endless war.
The foreign policy establishment and the
military industrial complex’s financial statements were very much counting on a
new – credit card financed – Cold War (at the American people’s expense). And the MSM is still upset over Mrs. Clinton's loss in the election, not through her own machinations or the DNC’s duplicity,
but, allegedly, because Russia hacked the election and published DNC/Podesta
correspondence. Mr. Podesta’s
correspondence, of course, has been discredited by no one. In short, the truth found its the way to the
surface, possibly with Russian involvement, and reflected poorly upon Mrs. C, the DNC, and her establishment base.
Hence, the liberal McCarthyism that has been
unleashed upon the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, hypocrisy is on full display.
Where is the liberal, and GOP’s, attack on Red China, and the
totalitarian-communist thugs who run the slave labor kingdom? Answer: Nowhere to be found. U.S. multinationals make a killing off
indentured Chinese labor, who often live and work in appalling conditions.
Mr. Putin is a killer, but anybody who has read
Gulag Archipelago, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, knows that Mr. Putin is
no Joseph Stalin, or Adolph Hitler for that matter. Mr. Trump’s and his staff’s conflicts of
interest & machinations aside, along w/ Russia’s own modest empire expanding
tendencies (spawned by the humiliation of the USSR’s collapse), this
administration deserves credit for not landing the U.S. is a new Cold War (a
new war this bankrupt nation can ill afford).
Yes, the news flow emanating from the White
House is incredible, and so is the MSM’ response to it. It’s pretty wild when the “liberal” media,
such as Vanity Fair, takes the side of C-Suite/Multinational plutocrats over
Mr. Trump. In the Vanity Fair piece, Mr. Trump was merely taking on the CEOs –
who have grown wealthy beyond measure, via financial engineering and killing
jobs and opportunity in America.
Role reversal?
No.
Limousine liberals, Dems (see the Clinton Foundation), and establishment GOP have
been on the side of the plutocrats for a long time, which allowed POTUS Trump to come to power.
How dare Mr. Trump attempt to fulfill his
campaign pledge and keep multinationals from exporting U.S. jobs offshore.
POTUS Trump’s biggest shortcoming? In his effort to appear decisive, he often takes liberties w/ the truth, which give the news media plenty of fodder to
denigrate, or ignore, Mr. Trump’s more nobler efforts.
Mr. Trump should also stay away from Messrs. Bannon & Pence… their extremist social ideology is not a part of your mandate, Mr. President. Their fascist beliefs & ideas may make for red
meat to toss to some members of the GOP’s ever shrinking base, but they’ll do
nothing to land your administration a second term.
Best to go Rockefeller Republican on social issues, Mr. President.
Best to go Rockefeller Republican on social issues, Mr. President.
MSM, pull up… don’t let a Niagara like flow of
information emanating from the White House dictate the news flow or your
reactions to same. Hold Mr. Trump and
his administration accountable to his mandate, and continue to speak truth to
power. And to the extent possible, MSM, ignore your corporate overlords' globalist – free trade – ambitions, and desire for endless warfare. Yes, there’s a
bogeyman around every corner, but none of them are a threat to the world’s last
standing superpower. If you can, MSM, stop spreading a fear based message.
That’s the establishment GOP's, and Democratic Party's, job.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing
2017
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