Liberal anti-Trumpers have this fixation of having to believe that Trump must be somebody's servant. For some of them it was, and remains the case, that he is the butt-bitch of Vladimir Putin. Despite the fact that "Russiagate" turned out to be a sad fabrication, and despite the fact that Trump's actions towards Russia were often antagonistic, these "progressive" shit-heads continue to clamour for nuclear war based on their stupid conspiracy theory.
With his re-election, another potential master of Trump's became Elon Musk. The crackpot, racist greedhead and his "D.O.G.E. wreaking crew were seen as the real power behind the throne.
Personally, I never believed any of that. Here is a link I already showed you. I you STILL believe that Trump is Putin's servant, then actually ARGUE for that position while incorporating the facts presented in the link. As well, Trump has no need to kow-tow to Elon Musk. Trump could destroy Musk's rickety empire anytime he feels like it, since it is based so much on public subsidies. Trump is a white-supremacist, anti-democratic, authoritarian, greed-head narcissist. To the degree he agrees with what Musk is doing, to that extent he allows him to do what he wants.
One entity that MIGHT have something on Trump is Israel's Mossad. Trump was often on Jeffrey Epstein's plane. He partied with him. Epstein had sex with adolescent girls. Epstein served up adolescent girls to wealthy men and then [likely, it seems] blackmailed them. Epstein appears to have been connected to Israeli intelligence. Trump liked to accidentally-on-purpose barge into the changing-room at the Miss Teen Universe Pageant that he sponsored.
If anyone has power over Trump it could be Israel. But Israel is a country with millions of people. So let's narrow it down a little. Is he Netanyahu's servant? I don't think so. Because if Israel's Mossad has the dirt on Trump then he is beholden to Mossad and not Netanyahu. And Netanyahu's relations with at least a few Mossad leaders are not friendly. Many of Israel's more "moderate" zionist-nazi-extremists think that Netanyahu is taking Israel into catastrophe. (They're already there but for constant US subsidies.)
Consider all that while reading this piece from Ramzy Baroud:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington was no ordinary trip. The consensus among Israeli analysts, barring a few remaining loyalists, is that Netanyahu was not invited but, rather, summoned by US President Donald Trump.
All evidence supports this assertion. Netanyahu rarely travels to the US without extensive Israeli media fanfare, leveraging his touted relationships with various US administrations as a “hasbara” opportunity to reinforce his image as Israel’s strongman.
This time, there was no room for such campaigns. Netanyahu was informed of Trump’s summons while on an official trip to Hungary.
...
The notion that Netanyahu was summoned, not invited, is corroborated by Israeli media reports that he attempted to postpone the visit under various pretexts. He failed, ultimately flying to Washington on the date determined by the White House. Initially, reports circulated that no press conference would be held, denying Netanyahu the platform to tout Washington’s unwavering support for his military actions and to expound on the “special relationship” between the two countries.
A press conference was held, though it was largely dominated by Trump’s contradictory messages and typical rhetoric. Netanyahu spoke briefly, attempting to project the same confident body language observed during his previous Washington visit, where he sat with an erect posture and spread out his legs, as if in command. But this time, his body language betrayed him; his eyes shifted nervously, and he appeared stiff and surprised, particularly when Trump announced that the US and Iran would begin direct talks in Oman soon.
Trump also mentioned the need to end the war in Gaza, but the Iran announcement clearly shocked Netanyahu. He desperately tried to align his discourse with Trump’s, referencing Libya’s disarmament under Muammar Gaddafi. But that was never part of Israel’s official regional plan. Israel had consistently advocated for US military intervention against Iran, despite the certainty that such a war would destabilize the entire region, potentially drawing the US into a conflict far more protracted and devastating than the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
...
Trump, a populist leader, is not beholden to finding political balances in Congress. Now in his second and final term, he could, in theory, abandon the US’s ingrained reliance on Israel’s approval and its aggressive lobby in Washington.
Moreover, Netanyahu’s political standing is diminished. He is perceived as a failed political leader and military strategist, unable to secure decisive victories or extract political concessions from his adversaries.
My take is that Trump is pretending to fawn over Netanyahu to prepare him for disappointment. Powerful people in Israel think that Netanyahu has bitten off more than Israel can chew. Furthermore, Trump is being made aware that Iran is far more military potent than it was twenty years ago, and at the same time, it has stronger ties than ever with Russia and China.
There's some chatter about arrogant blowhard comedian Bill Maher having dinner with Trump and reporting that he's not as out-to-lunch, stupid and obnoxious as he'd expected. Supposedly Larry David wrote a satiricial piece about a critic of Hitler having dinner with The Fuhrer and being surpised at how "human" he was.
This all makes sense to me. I think stephen harper and Dick Cheney were idiots and incompetents. People told me it was dangerous to underestimate them. But I thought the error was in believing these imbeciles were evil geniuses. That's what I was pushing back against.
With Hitler, there's this desire to believe that he was some demon from hell who took the form of a man to spread evil over the world. And, furthermore, he was always a ranting, unhinged maniac. In reality he was a racist. He was a German hyper-patriot, right-wing, arrogant, delusions of grandeur, artistic inclinations, semi-smart human being.
Believing that he was a genuine demon from Hell prevents us from seeing that he was just a man whose stupid delusions got a lot of people killed. The same as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Naziyahoo.
It's not that I think Trump is all that smart. He possesses a certain cunning, but he's fucked-up so many times at so many things, and it's his money that has saved him. And, politically, it's this inexplicable, but genuine sway he has over a certain portion of the populace that has fed into his narcissism and increased his power. He knows how to play the role he's found himself in.
This need of liberals to believe that he's always a stammering idiot who doesn't think about anything he says and who can't remember what he said ten minutes ago and that is why he needs to have a master like Putin or Musk or whomever, is dangerous because it distorts their perception of the threat he is for us all.
4 comments:
Pretty much this. I'd been struggling to articulate this as I'd go back over to add something else derailing my entire train of thought. Trump's too narcissistic to be anyone's servant. But he's easy to impress but also easy to disappoint and anger. He'll do as he likes at any given moment but as he's so mercurial, it's difficult to pin down what he'll do moment to moment. People can try to manipulate him but he's so petty that he resents any attempts to do so.
Pull back far enough though and there is a pattern: he's an idealogue of 20th century lassaiz-faire policies. He's also someone who's a fan of getting pay back when he feels offended, slighted, manipulated, insulted, or betrayed. And as Musk offered to fund Trump's campaign and was willing to do the hatchet work of ripping apart federal agencies, which Trump likely believed stabbed him in the back during his first term, he wasn't going to turn down the money nor the offer of someone else to take the blame.
Trump was also willing to implement Project 2025 on behalf of the Heritage Foundation as it aligned with his value of being a "strong man" in the administrative decision-making chair. Trump's corporate values aligned neatly with Project 2025's policies of installing a dictatorship into the presidency. That's it. They provided the strategy he wanted for the presidency. He dictates, and everyone else is subordinate. He won't suffer a board of directors pushing back and the law is not sovereign. It's his rules and dictates that must be followed, and to hell with the rule of law, as it was used against him for years.
But his politicial opponents while happy to use the rule of law to attack Trump never followed through on using it to end his campaign of instituting an imperial presidency. They —the Carvilles, Clintons, Bidens, Pelosi's, and Schumers in control of the Democratic Party— only wanted to discredit him as ever actually holding power to account was also anathema to them. And this failure to hold Trump accountable will probably be written about in history textbooks as the final nail in the coffin for the irreversible decline and potential collapse of the American empire.
Stephen Harper, they used to say, was the "smartest guy in the room". Which was usually true, but then Harper was very careful about who was in rooms with him. Look at all his cabinet ministers--complete and utter morons, the lot of them (except maybe Flaherty). Didn't take much to be the smartest in those rooms.
I guess there's often this belief that SURELY, SOMEONE must be running Trump because he's such a total moron. But that doesn't follow. Trump is too stupid to know he ought to be doing what someone smarter tells him. He has massive Dunning-Krueger confidence.
Unfortunately the stupidity is one of the things that make fascists so dangerous. Smarter people can be made to not do horrific things because you can explain the consequences and they can realize those consequences would be bad. Stupid fascists are able to maintain full ruthlessness, complete willingness to break everything in their way, because they cannot be made to realize the consequences.
Troy,
That's a pretty good summation of how Trump operates.
It occurs to me that some of what he is doing with Russia is "trolling" the "Russiagate" crowd.
And I say that while agreeing that for Trump, "trolling" often becomes policy.
Trump is a troll with the power to make his bullying shit-talk into reality.
I despise all these guys: Trump, Musk, and those assholes from El Salvador and Argentina. They can do almost anything, break any promise, cause any sort of disaster, ... and the sort of morons who believe in them will continue to believe in them.
Purple library guy,
Trump has been his own man for a long time. He might have had an apprenticeship under his father and that Cohen lawyer fellow. But they're gone and he's steered his own ship of corruption and privilege. Because he's a complete narcissist.
I think the comparison with Hitler is increasingly appropriate. Hitler did a lot of radical shit that surprised traditional power-holders. And, for a time, he seemed to be winning. Then, of course, it all turned to shit. Because he really didn't understand his own limitations or those of his country.
If I could edit my comment to Troy, I would.
Instead I'll add here that Ian Welsh, when referring to the Democrats lawfare against Trump, repeats the quote: "If you come at the king, you best not miss."
The imbeciles Pelosi, Schumer, et.al., thought they could wound Trump and that somehow that would put him out of action. But all it did was make his fans believe he was a victim of persecution and make Trump himself angrier.
Lastly, I never saw much intellect in Flaherty.
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