Trump’s true dismal record, for the record.

Eric Arnow

WHEREIN our colleague and friend, Eric Arnow, provides a helpful aide memoire for those who—even technically in "left" ranks—still cling to the notion that the sociopathic narcissist and con man Donald Trump and his entourage of swamp creatures represented some sort of improvement on the usual disgraceful team of oligarchic bootlickers that passes for an American executive. Alarmingly incompetent at best, and even if he had had genuine good and "patriotic intentions" toward the American hoi polloi, which we doubt very much considering his betrayals of the working class at every turn, a posture which would have roughly aligned with the disorganized effort by the lesser bourgeoisie supporting Trump to preserve some of the attributes of an American labor aristocracy and semblance of an old fashioned middle class, Trump still represents a complete and utter failure as a president. You don't have to be a brainwashed or a cynical Democrat to think that Trump was a dangerous and profoundly undemocratic and destructive leader. In that, again, we repeat, he was no different —except in style—from his predecessors or the man who now follows him as the top figurehead in the global oligarchic system. 

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Apparently, there are still some people who see some sort of silver lining in "Trump Time". Like , I guess, exposing the Deep State, and not starting any new wars. In response to one such commentator, I put together a list (incomplete?) of Trump's 'accomplishments'.

1. Broke the JCPOA,illegally instituted sanctions against Iran, depriving Iran of desperately needed things like cancer treatments
2. Broke the INF treaty
3. Broke the Open Skies Treaty
4. Wrecked Venezuela and promoted a fraud, Guaido and forced the stupid EU toadies to support that puppet (Biden's foreign policy mafia is endorsing that policy assuring further destruction and death in Venezuela).
5. Sent his "Lie cheat and steal' Secretary of State around the world to stir up trouble
6. Stole Syria's oil, and continued the illegal occupations of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan
7. Sent the USS John McCain to violate Russia's territorial water
8. Sent B-52 Bombers on nuclear bombing rehearsals right off the coast or Russia
9. Fired missiles from Romania into the Black Sea, a direct threat to Crimea and all of Russia in general
10. Tested the Intermediate range missiles that violated the INF treaty right after he broke the treaty, proving that he was violating the treaty which prohibited developing and testing of such missiles
11. Looked the other way when Saudi Arabia pulled a Jeffrey Dahmer (cutting into pieces the body) of a journalist
12. Jailed Julian Assange and as a final insult to free speech, left him to rot in the UK while
13. Pardoning murderous war criminals and other real criminals
14. Brought out the worst impulses of white supremacy and fascist ideology with his supporters
15. Broke the UN resolution regarding Jerusalem, moving the US Embassy there
16. Attempted to shove the 'Peace Deal' with the Palestinians, that finalized Zionist treatment similar to what we have done to the Native Americans and continue to do
17. Backtracked on the minimal thaw with Cuba
18. Gave Billions of tax breaks to the already super rich
19. Continued the ongoing despoiliation of the environment with his support of drilling in previously protected areas
20. Allowed oil pipelines that leaked and ruined mostly Native American water supplies
21. Elevated seriously right wing judges on to the supreme court, including Christian fanatics
22. This does not count ongoing Republican gerrymandering and obstacles to primarily poor and African America and other minority neighborhoods, thus distorting vote counts even before the votes were cast
23. Put far right people like Betsie Devos in charge of the Dept of Education and the biggest anti environmentalists since James (the world's gonna go in the rapture so we might as well ruin now) Watt in charge of environmental policy
24. Forced foreign dignitaries to pay to use Trump owned facilities, thus enriching himself, a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution
25. Created another dangerous and expensive boondoggle, the Space Force, which violates the treaties against weapons in space, more billions down the drain that the American people need
26. Failed to create a viable medical system which continues making the US healthcare system an utter disgrace, especially compared with Canada's and all the other major countries
27. First dismissed the corona virus as a non issue, and then when it became a big problem, blamed it on China, which is one of a few countries to actually deal with it effectively
28. Was the first President to fail to have greater than 50% approval in his entire term in office
29. And then insisted that he won by a landslide
30. Instigated the murder of two military leaders, of Iran and Iraq, who were negotiating peace with Saudi Arabia
31. Aided the murder of an Iranian scientist, most likely by Israel
32. Exercised the worst form of nepotism by making his utterly unqualified (and criminal) son in law an official in his administration (along with his daughter, who, rather than manufacturing her stupid vanity based consumer branded goods in the USA, had them made in China--and then criticized China for stealing US jobs!)
33. Took the CFO of Huawei hostage, in a particularly medieval way of doing diplomacy
34. Walked out of international climate accords
35. Insinuated the use of violence to over turn the election results when even his own hand picked judges couldn't approve his challenges to the voting results.
36. And after saying he would join his supporters at the Capitol, left them in the lurch....total cowardice on his part
37. Further dragging America's already dismal reputation into the gutter, according to world opinion.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post

Reader's wisdom:
Guillaume Rochat wrote:

To the rest of the world the US is a problem child, unschooled, wayward, and dangerous in its clumsy [way of] oppression. Because oppression it is, by way of baksheesh, economic blackmail, pay-offs for performed duties and simple blindness. Alain Joxe, the eminent French political strategist describes it best in his ‘Empire of disorder’ which makes it clear that the ruling country is an empire of devastated regions, not an owner of territories. The US is not in strictest analysis a traditional empire, but it demands [obedience] and bullies the world into compliance. That this is coming to an end causes the disorder to come home to roost and no country seems to be in the flux of contradictory streams like the US. The Biden effort to contain this divergence and ‘unite’ the country is from the start already displaced by his condemnation of the other side, the Trumpers, who as [Caleb] Maupin correctly calls it are the victims of Trump’s Maga promises, whereby they were lifted into relevance. Because they are the hoi polloi, severely indoctrinated and used by the ‘system’, these hordes, as Lenin said, unschooled and thus reactionary, asserted their presence by occupying the rare and forbidden territory of their own government. It shows the utter contradictions of American propaganda, that guarantees representation without power, equality without protection, while demanding a total belief in the spurious goodness of the US state. That they were cynically used in the Capitol riot by Trump and by his antagonists, results in that the country is slowly sinking into a full censorship [regime] and in an immediate return to the neo-liberal straitjacket. Exactly because its workers are no longer needed in a US economy that can use cheap labor elsewhere, these hordes as demonstrated in Trump’s rallies, show that he used their legitimate unrest as a cudgel against his bourgeois opponents (much what Mussolini did in Italy in the 1920/30’s). There is nothing [totally] new under the sun, populists are a common trend in the US political scene, and more of that kind will arise. 

Eric Arnow is an American expat and geopolitical commentator residing in Thailand.