CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—So while Trump leads his American flag-wrapped, cross-carrying supporters into consenting to more war, more domestic surveillance, more militarization of the police force, and more soul-crushing, world-killing neoliberal economic policy, the goons of the Democratic establishment are leading their rainbow flag-wrapped, pussyhat wearing base into consenting to the exact same thing. The noose gets ever tighter, the censorship gets more and more severe, the spectrum of acceptable debate gets smaller and smaller, the rule of the oligarchs grows ever more totalitarian, and neither the flag-wrapped cross carriers nor the rainbow flag-wrapped pussyhat wearers do anything about it. This was intended.
[premium_newsticker id=”154171″]
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
“Goodbye to all that” <>. (Chris Hedges in an interview by WSWS 10/08/17) The mean-minded media will be responsible for the second term of Donald J. Trump as will the many identity politics voices on the “left”. By constantly denigrating Trump (and there is absolutely nothing he can do right in their purblind eyes), they steer the victims of the voting myth directly again into his camp. There is one trait that the US public displays and that is fair play, which balances out many mistakes and crimes that would otherwise have consequences. It may be a one-sided attitude, but… Read more »
Take a closer look at the 2016 election. Both the D and the R candidates were strongly opposed by much of their own voting bases, for some of the same reasons. Clinton and Trump have strikingly similar ideologies — pro-war, anti-poor, pro-corporate empowerment, etc. Whatever your personal conclusions, roughly half of all US voters rejected both, and either voted third party or withheld their votes. In the end, Clinton got the most votes, but Trump got the most electoral votes (and nope, Russia still had nothing to do with any of it). Most voting choices come down to economic issues.… Read more »
Not so far in the future. Our more fortunate just seem strangely unaware of all that has happened to date. We lost millions of jobs, wiped out the “safety net,” and the overall quality of life in the US already plunged from a rating of #1 when Reagan was first elected (far from perfect, but…) down to #48 by the time Obama was elected. The US pursued the longest, most expensive war in the country’s history, and we can’t rebuild this time because our jobs are gone. Think it’s not back enough yet? We’re deeply pitted against each other, middle… Read more »
Well, don’t get me started on the American left. First of all, there is no American left—not a left that has any kind of seriousness, that understands political or revolutionary theories, that’s steeped in economic study, that understands how systems of power work, especially corporate and imperial power. The left is caught up in the same kind of cults of personality that plague the rest of society. It focuses on Trump, as if Trump is the central problem. Trump is a product, a symptom of a failed system and dysfunctional democracy, not the disease. If you attempt to debate most… Read more »
Great writing Caitlin Johnstone! Radical writers and those who protest get to the root of the rot in this system and you do that well here!
What confusion… This article confuses genuine issues that exist outside of the realm of politics such as racism, misogyny, homophobia and I would add islamophobia, by politicizing them… This insults all those who have suffered from the violence of the cruelty of the targeted groups, as it dismisses their hurt to the realm of politics. What a pity the author now claims that christianity is no longer the driving force for so much of this violence… It is easy to blame a political system, but it takes careful scrutiny to acknowledge that christianity has invaded the politics of the USA,… Read more »
All these ‘genuine’ issues as Eisenbud writes are political as they are class struggle issues. What does she mean by politicizing? It is the problem of identity politics that they divide that struggle into each separate realm and do not understand the underlying all pervasive class war (as Dr. King rightfully understood later in life). It is not at all easy to correctly blame a political system and Christianity like goodness has little to do with it. Christianity like Islam is a variation of many sects and beliefs and as such is far too diverse to be blamed for US… Read more »
PS
Eisenbud appears to confuse anti-Christianity with anti-clericalism. As for Christianity, it is apart from the Church a laudable theory that started as a slave religion inspired by the rebel Jesus, even as such recognized by Islam. One cannot blame inspired teachings for its misuse by servants and practitioners. Laudable are Eisenbud’s concerns for animals but apart from a small enlightened sect in India there is and ever has been total human unconcern for their suffering and exploitation allover the world.
PS PS As for the pussy hat controversy expressed by Johnson, it was a grand gesture by women, though ineffectual because symbolism does not mean a great deal to the flunkies for the ruling classes. As Camille Paglia (an intellectual feminist much reviled by mainstream bourgeois feminism) has pointed out, women slowly emerging from the second-class shadows they survived in, have lost the traditional solidarity of the oppressed and by asserting themselves have become solitary elements as independent acting persons. That was recognized in the pussy hat demonstrations when the women realized that they are by their opposition a significant… Read more »