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
It’s not about Obama at all. The drift to the right began with Reagan, a very well-marketed personality in the 1980s. Conservative became “cool,” and loyal service to the corporate state became something of a religion. Reagan was portrayed as young and vigorous, yet at the same time, as a papa who would protect us from the shadowy figures that lurked beyond the shining light on the hill (us — the chosen ones). Many did not agree, of course, but they were brushed aside as irrelevant. One notable product of the era was the Reagan Democrats, and in the 1990s,… Read more »