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A Likely Way that Trump Would Be Forced Out of Office

by Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org


The overwhelming opposition to Donald Trump’s taking office on January 20th as the U.S. President — opposition on the part of the entire U.S. Establishment (America’s aristocrats and their agents in the government and media and think tanks) — has made clear that the Establishment would welcome any opportunity to replace Trump with the Democratic Party’s Establishment Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, or with any other Establishmentarian (such as Trump’s own V.P. choice, Mike Pence). First, there were the efforts to have vote-recounts in the three states where Trump’s victory over Clinton were the narrowest; then, there was the orchestrated campaign to switch to her enough Electoral College electors for her to ‘win’; then, there was the effort to portray Trump’s win as having been engineered in Moscow and thus illegitimate. (Both Clinton and Obama endorsed those efforts.) But now could come the tactic (this a Republican one) that actually has the highest likelihood of succeeding, and it would replace Trump by Pence. Here’s how it can very easily happen (with my boldfaces added, for clarity):
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution asserts:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of … the principal officers of the executive departments…transmit to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department, or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session.

The overthrow becomes immediately effective, on the say-so of solely the V.P. plus a majority of the Cabinet. They don’t have to justify their joint decision to anybody; but, “Congress shall decide the issue … within forty-eight hours”, and so it “determines by two-thirds vote of both houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Presumably, the aristocrats (with the assistance of the newsmedia they control) will buy-off any congressional stragglers whom they must, in order to meet that two-thirds requirement. (After all, these people own trillions; buying such a palace coup would be a huge bargain for them.)
If they fail, however, there is no statutory penalty for their having attempted what would then have been, in fact, a legal palace coup in the U.S. federal government. They’d all be safe — and President Trump would then need to fight his way to convincing the hostile Congress and newsmedia that they — his own enemies — had been wrong to allege that he was “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” In other words: even if the coup-attempt fails the first time around, the President will be left unable to govern, regardless of what his actual abilities are. Maybe the same process will be repeated a month later. Trump’s Presidency would probably end soon thereafter. It would be a nighmare not only for him, and not only for America, but for the entire world: a palace coup to grab control of the U.S. Executive office (they already own most of Congress), for the U.S. aristocracy.
All that’s needed in order to trigger this nightmare would be Pence plus half of Trump’s Cabinet.
Far over a majority of the people whom Trump has appointed to be “the principal officers of the executive departments” — i.e., majority of his 15-person Cabinet — are Establishment Republicans, who favor continuation of the Cold War against Russia. This continuation of that hostility on the American side had started when the Establishment Republican U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush, on 24 February 1990, confidentially instructed not only his Cabinet, but heads-of-state of America’s European allies, that NATO’s hostility toward Russia, was to continue in secret, even after the Soviet Union and its communism and its Warsaw Pact military alliance would end, which end of those Soviet entities occurred in 1991.
Under Obama, the old American “Cold War” (henceforth now against Russia on the alleged basis of both Ukraine and Syria) has been getting hotter than it had been since at least the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (which crisis actually did pose an authentic national-security danger to the U.S.). However, candidate — now President-elect — Trump has consistently been promising to stop it (because what’s happening in Ukraine and Syria don’t pose any such national-security danger to America, but are instead national-security threats to Russia (such as by America’s now possibly placing nuclear missiles in Ukraine only a five-minute flight-time to Moscow), instigated largely BY the United States. In the view of America’s aristocrats and their agents (including such firms as Lockheed Martin), Trump is now threatening them — he’s threatening to end the Cold War, on the American side, as it had already ended on Russia’s side, in 1991.
Either Trump will reverse his many public statements supporting rapprochement with Russia, or else the U.S. Establishment — which includes almost every living member and former member of Congress, and virtually all of the think tanks and newsmedia, and also the Establishmentarian Pence, whom Trump himself had appointed; and, also, the mostly Establishment Republicans whom Trump has selected for his Cabinet — will likely remove him from office and hand the Presidency to the Constitutionally assigned substitute, the U.S. V.P., Mike Pence himself.
In either case, America’s war against Russia would likely resume, as it was under Obama, and perhaps even as bad as Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton had been promising to escalate it (which would be to World War III).
The Democratic political commentator, Keith Olbermann, already on 5 January 2017, was propagandizing for this outcome; but he didn’t say that he would actually prefer Pence to be President; he instead showed that he wanted Pence to be President; he showed it by his there urging that it happen.
NOTE: Olbermann misstated there, at 7:14- in that video, the U.S. Constitution, by his saying that the overthrow would be “by the Vice President and the Speaker of the House using the 25th Amendment” — that’s not what the 25th Amendment actually authorizes; it instead authorizes “the Vice President and a majority of” the Cabinet, to overthrow the elected President, and it makes no mention there of “the Speaker of the House,” at all. Earlier, on 23 November 2016, Olbermann had gotten that matter right. Perhaps as Olbermann is ageing, he’s losing his memory (thus forgetting what he had known a month or so earlier, on November 23rd), and increasingly is just winging it (instead of rechecking his key facts), and this might be why he now thinks that such a coup can be carried out merely by the “Vice President and the Speaker of the House” — i.e., by (the two Establishmentarians) Mike Pence and Paul Ryan. It’s fortunately not true. If it were that easy, then Trump might not be able to last as the President for even a month. Getting a majority of the Cabinet to participate in the conspiracy would be far less likely than that, even though they’re part of the Establishment. Some, even of the Establishment faction (and thus inclined toward dictatorship), might have a conscience.
What’s important here, however, is that this clause of the 25th Amendment does allow the Establishment Republican V.P. Pence, plus “a majority of” the Establishment Republican Cabinet that Trump has (unfortunately) selected, to throw Trump out and make the reactionary Pence become America’s President in his place. Trump, by choosing an Establishment V.P. and an Establishment Cabinet, has virtually invited an Establishment coup, unless he buckles early to the Establishment and violates every progressive promise he had uttered during his campaign for the Presidency — especially his promise to work together with Russia’s leader, to the benefit of both countries.
What is especially remarkable here is that a putative “progressive Democrat,” Olbermann, is actually proposing this fascist takeover of the U.S. Government, which the 25th Amendment allows, and which Trump himself was stupid enough to enable, by his having chosen so many conservative Republicans for his Cabinet, and for V.P.
Unfortunately, Trump seems not to have been bright enough to have known of this feature of the U.S. Constitution, and so he might have been tragically unaware of the vital necessity for him to select anti-Establishment people for his V.P. and Cabinet; and, so, if Trump himself doesn’t rule as an Establishment President (which will become clear within two months at the most), a coup overthrowing him would actually be fairly easy, and the major question would be the coup’s timing. Presumably, the aristocracy would delay it until there is clarity that Trump is serious about reversing some of their key policies — such as NATO’s pushing Russia into a World War. Remarkably, this would be an entirely Constitutional coup — one that takes advantage of the stupid drafting of the 25th Amendment.
Stupidity might be rampant, but the American aristocracy (who are united behind GHW Bush’s 24 February 1990 plan) take advantage of every opportunity that’s available to them — and this is certainly a major one. Consequently, the next four years are remarkably likely to be a conservative rape of the U.S., and even of the world (along the lines of Hillary Clinton’s plan to finish GHW Bush’s plan, but overseen by Pence and the Republicans instead).
Up to the present moment at least, Trump is still displaying the courage to repudiate the U.S. aristocracy’s top priority, of continuing the war against Russia that GHW Bush started, and that Obama has been raising to a fever-pitch. If Trump sticks with this repudiation of the Bush-until-Obama foreign-policy thrust, and yet (somehow) survives in office, then, right there — on that one issue alone — he will be reversing the horrible U.S. history after 24 February 1990 (which the U.S. Establishment are obsessed to continue and to culminate), and finally be setting the world onto the most essential path to peace and prosperity (prosperity in all but the ‘defense’ industries), so that authentic progress can, perhaps, begin to be made on domestic issues, both inside the United States, and around the world: the widespread public hope at the end of the Cold War (the freeing-up end of the vast armanents-drain and destruction — such as the invasions of Syria and Ukraine — to spend those trillions instead constructively, upon domestic economies) will finally become reality, from which billions of people will benefit
PERSONAL NOTE: Although I expect the worst, I hope that subsequent events will prove my expectations regarding Trump’s Presidency to have been wrong.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

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Mihangel apYrs
Mihangel apYrs
Jan 16, 2017 10:45 AM

Interestingly, this wa raised in the Independent (15 Jan) – so it’s mainstreaming. If more such articles appear in MSM then we can infer that the “Establishment” is considering it seriously

John
John
Jan 16, 2017 5:43 AM

The comments by michaelk and cettell22 reminds me that the ultra-nationalists in Germany thought they could keep Hitler and the Nazis under control. What no one bargained for was the Reichstag Fire, which enabled Hitler and the Nazis to introduce authoritarian absolute rule, starting off with the banning of all other political parties.
What might happen under a Trump presidency if – say – Congress were to be burned down, I wonder?
Or another apparent 9/11 episode?

Wotan
Wotan
Jan 15, 2017 12:25 AM

Hmmm… All I can say is this. Try it. Civil war will be upon us…

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 14, 2017 8:07 PM

The overthrow becomes immediately effective, on the say-so of solely the V.P. plus a majority of the Cabinet. They don’t have to justify their joint decision to anybody; but, “Congress shall decide the issue … within forty-eight hours”, and so it “determines by two-thirds vote of both houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
The 25th Amendment approach would be extremely risky. In the first case, there isn’t slightest evidence that Trump is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” so the whole move would be blatantly political and would enrage Trump’s supporters, who are much more likely to be armed than Trump’s opponents. Secondly, the 25th Amendment approach, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, actually erects an even higher bar than impeachment, which only requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate and a bare majority in the House.

Jo
Jo
Jan 14, 2017 11:19 PM
Reply to  Seamus Padraig

“Secondly, the 25th Amendment approach, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, actually erects an even higher bar than impeachment, which only requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate and a bare majority in the House.”
With impeachment tho’, they’d struggle with legal arguments, wouldn’t they? Let’s face it, all we’ve heard, repeatedly, as all these screeds are being written about all Trump is alleged to have done, is that there is nothing to substantiate or verify the allegations that are being made

Alan
Alan
Jan 14, 2017 2:32 PM

Rather an over statement to claim an overwhelming opposition to Mr Trump. True there is a concerted opposition, one that has received much publicity however the ‘system’ that selected Mr Trump is that which ‘placed’ his predecessors. As those before we can only assume the electoral process has again been used to place the ‘preferred’ CEO. The question is why?

anthony hall (@UptiCToc107)
anthony hall (@UptiCToc107)
Jan 14, 2017 7:09 AM

The US/UK Media have invented a new Chinese Water Torture, Drip,Drip,Drip; Trump, Trump the Antichrist, Trump the Rapist, Trump the Russian Spy, Trump, Trump,Trump. He must be doing something right.

anthony hall (@UptiCToc107)
anthony hall (@UptiCToc107)
Jan 14, 2017 7:03 AM

Trump won the Election. That`s your version of “Democracy” people! When the CIA Kill Trump will Hillary get his Scalp?

peremen
peremen
Jan 14, 2017 4:06 AM

the great problem for American democracy is the lack of a limited number of mandates for the senators
Many of them are in charge for decades and decades and they constitute the real shadow government of the country

BigB
BigB
Jan 14, 2017 1:45 AM

I think that Eric’s analysis lacks a degree of balance and and ends up being one-sided – sure, there is a coup under way that may well wish to proceed in the way suggested – but there is also a well established counter-coup to which he pays no heed.
In every way Trump was elected for and by ‘the Establishment’ and there are some very powerful forces backing him – so the real question is: which Establishment?
I’m with @JohnSchonenboom below – The Establishment is not a monolythic collective with a hive mind that acts concertedly – not any more anyway (thank goodness.) John mentions Palast’s investigation into Interstate Crosscheck that turned up Koch funding – Thom Hartmann has gone further to suggest that the Trump cabinet represents a “Koch brothers coup?” So the Kochs, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, factions of the MIC and Intelligence Community (IC): all seems pretty establishment to me. All that it indicates is that we are witnessing the factionalization of the ‘Establishment.’
What convinces me the most of a well-founded counter-coup is that I do not think that Rockerfeller One World (Fascist) Government emissary Henry Kissinger has gone rogue on the cause in his 93rd year to back a loser. F. William Engdahl has written this piece that suggests that Trump may be the ‘Back door man’ to further his policies. Indeed, when Kissinger is sharing a late night cocoa with Trump and liaising with Putin and Xi Jinping – I’d say that is not insignificant and is worth trying to second guess what they are up to.
http://journal-neo.org/2017/01/09/is-trump-the-back-door-man-for-henry-a-kissinger-co/
Another important element to take into consideration was that Trumps nominee for National Security Adviser Gen Mike Flinn Sr tweeted about Hillary’s ‘sex crimes with children’ (a ‘MUST READ’) and friendly face of the counter-coup Dr Steve Pieczenik made a video about the Clintons link to the ‘Lolita Express.’ How else could that be interpreted except as a loud and clear warning that the IC has the dirt on all the potential coup plotters, should they choose to proceed?
So there is a lot more to this than meets the eye – and whoever should put themselves forward as the focus of a soft coup against Trump had better be squeaky clean. In the theatre of American politics, no one is that squeaky clean.

BigB
BigB
Jan 14, 2017 1:56 AM
Reply to  BigB

Sorry John misspelt your name; and Flynn is spelt with a ‘y’ – names, huh?

joekano76
joekano76
Jan 14, 2017 12:26 AM

Reblogged this on Floating-voter.

Jo
Jo
Jan 14, 2017 12:25 AM
Schlüter
Schlüter
Jan 13, 2017 11:50 PM

Recommending again:
„President Elect Trump: Has His Struggle for Survival Already Begun?“: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2016/12/30/president-elect-trump-has-his-struggle-for-survival-already-begun/
Regards

Jo
Jo
Jan 13, 2017 11:02 PM
rtj1211
rtj1211
Jan 13, 2017 8:38 PM

Names of the coup plotters please?
Then everyone in the world opposed to WWIII should be calling for A Night of The Long Knives where the plotters are decapitated en masse…..
I really do not see why millions should die deferring to American fascists whose children always dodge The Draft.

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 14, 2017 7:46 PM
Reply to  rtj1211

I can guarantee that, if this hair-brained plot goes through, there will be blood on the streets. None of Trump’s supporters will accept such a parliamentary coup as legitimate. And if these jokers are assuming that the army will rush to defend them, I submit to you that they’ve got another thing coming.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 13, 2017 8:15 PM

That the removal of a newly elected President, is a topic of open discussion, BEFORE he is even inaugurated would seem to indicate that a very poorly concealed Coup D’etat is being ‘brewed’. It looks like a race to eliminate the guy who want’s to “drain the swamp”, by the Rats who live in the swamp.

Jo
Jo
Jan 13, 2017 9:32 PM

Well, yes. But the really frightening thing is that the media on both sides of the Atlantic are all for it.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 13, 2017 10:15 PM
Reply to  Jo

Yeah, the MSM’s credibility is in tatters. They are basically a conduit for Propaganda concocted by the CIA and MI5/MI6. They are actually doing the ‘hard sell’ on behalf of Washington’s ‘Swamp Rats’..

deschutesmaple
deschutesmaple
Jan 14, 2017 2:32 PM

Brian Harry your credibility is in tatters too: ever since you made the outrageous, indefensible claim that ‘Hitler never knew about the holocaust’ LOL! You even described infamous holocaust denier neo-Nazi David Irving as a “World renowned scholar of the second world war in Europe” 😀
A quick google search of David Irving definitely shows countless articles exposing him to be a falsifier of basic facts about the holocaust, making outrageously stupid claims. Here’s a linked article from Off-Gs fav website about David Irving– being jailed in Austria for his ridiculous Hitler claims-
https://www.theguardian.com/guardianweekly/story/0,,1715580,00.html
Quote from above Guardian article about the ‘world reknowned’ David Irving:
“In the two 1989 speeches he termed the Auschwitz gas chambers a “fairytale” and insisted that Adolf Hitler had protected the Jews of Europe. He referred to surviving death camp witnesses as “psychiatric cases”, and asserted that there were no extermin­ation camps in the Third Reich.”
That’s your man Brian! More on Brian Harry’s fav “historian” can be found here-
http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/irving.html?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=irving

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 14, 2017 8:49 PM
Reply to  deschutesmaple

Stay on Subject “Douche”…..

deschutesmaple
deschutesmaple
Jan 15, 2017 9:32 AM

Usually I do stay on topic. But when you got off subject under that Vltchek Duterte article bellowing righteously about Hitler not knowing about the holocaust a week or so ago–I had to provide a community service here and let everybody know your values and beliefs. Seig Heil! Brian Harry, Seig Heil!

BigB
BigB
Jan 15, 2017 4:56 PM

That’s rich! You took the Duterte thread off-topic with a factless assertion – then used ad homs to attack those who challenged you. My initial reply was fact based, and you chose to ignore it in favour of invective.
I’m curious as to why you didn’t choose to air your views and back them up with ‘facts?’ There has been an intervening article where that would have been appropriate – the ‘Zuroff’ post – and even a convenient comment by paulcarline.
So, no more ad homs – the ‘facts’ please – or retract Mr Harry? This is a fact based community after all.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 15, 2017 8:17 PM
Reply to  BigB

Stay on subject, don’t waste your time on me, son…….

BigB
BigB
Jan 15, 2017 8:50 PM

I’m glad we cleared that up – thanks for the retraction.

michaelk
michaelk
Jan 13, 2017 7:45 PM

I think Trump is a way more complex character than, someone like Obama and far more intelligent than many people on the left and liberals, and many conservatives think. All of those groups have been demonstrably wrong about Trump from the beginning and massively underestimated abilities and appeal to the voters. So why should they do any better now, when they were so wrong before, looking forward?
Futhermore, it’s true that Trump is by nature of his background and vast wealth a member of the ruling class in the United States, but that’s not how many of them see him. They think he’s crass, ignorant, and a clown, he lacks ‘class.’ The old families don’t like him at all. He doesn’t know his place in the pecking order. He keeps barging into places he hasn’t been invited to. He’s common and vulgar. An aristocrat, but with the manners of a pig. Bush played the cowboy too, but he was a fake on his fake ranch. The aristocracy knew he was one of them so it didn’t matter. Trump on the other hand is a mystery.
If Trump is so ‘harmless’ and so obviously a member of the ruling establishment, and is going to follow policies that’ll benefit the ruling elite, why was there so much opposition to him and why are they so afraid of him, that they are prepared to push the country close to a constitutional crisis or something worse to stop him and crush him? It all seems so wasteful, risky and unecessary, if it’s just gonna be business as usual.
I think the bone is buried here. Trump isn’t a neo-con or really a neo-liberal either. He represents something else. This is typified by his desire to normalize relations to Russia. He knows there’s a vast fortune to be made in Russia. Hotels and resorts in the Crimea, casinos too. ‘Make money not war’ seems to be his motto. And that seems a pretty good trade off for everyone. Trump doesn’t want to go to war with Russia and the rest of them are afraid of him because of that, that he might be serious and derail their plans for attacking Russia. That’s why they are fearful and against him. One would think liberals and the left would understand this and suport Trump, reach out to his supporters and form an anti-war alliance. But it’s clear that the left is moribund intellectually and close to brain-dead, which is why they have so little real support. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh on them. Sander’s wasn’t left but some of his rhetoric was, only he knew and accepted his role, unlike Trump. Sanders could have broken with the Democrats far earlier when it was clear he was being shafted by the party and cheated out of the nomination. Only he didn’t have Trumps balls or his arrogance and self-entitlement, ruthlessness or brains.

Eurasia News Online
Eurasia News Online
Jan 13, 2017 8:03 PM
Reply to  michaelk

Such called “left” (from where?) intelligentsia is actually a bunch of lazy corrupt pretenders talking a lots of garbage mate.

tubularsock
tubularsock
Jan 13, 2017 10:28 PM
Reply to  michaelk

michaelk, Tubularsock feels you are on to something here. As repulsive as Donnie happens to be he is not playing by the established rules of the playground. That alone makes him dangerous to the over-class and the underclass likes him because he brags about “grabbing pussy “.
“They’ll” kill him or He’ll kill “them” and together they may kill us all. But this American soap opera is better than anything the BBC can come up with this season!

Jo
Jo
Jan 14, 2017 12:31 AM
Reply to  tubularsock

The trouble is tho’ Tubularsock, it’s not a soap opera. It’s all terrifyingly real.

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 14, 2017 7:50 PM
Reply to  michaelk

Sander’s wasn’t left but some of his rhetoric was, only he knew and accepted his role, unlike Trump. Sanders could have broken with the Democrats far earlier when it was clear he was being shafted by the party and cheated out of the nomination. Only he didn’t have Trumps balls or his arrogance and self-entitlement, ruthlessness or brains.
Could not agree more. That’s why I gave up on Sanders and have shifted my allegiance to Trump. What we need now in the country is real fighter … and Bernie, unfortunately, is just a talker. At least Trump–so far–is willing to take these creeps on.

labrebisgalloise
labrebisgalloise
Jan 13, 2017 6:39 PM

This analysis from Nick Wright is salient:
“The purpose in promoting this document (the intelligence dossier) lies not in protecting the integrity of the US electoral process or the inviolability of the US State but in constructing a straitjacket for Donald Trump.”
https://21centurymanifesto.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/5073/

bevin
bevin
Jan 13, 2017 6:08 PM

I was glad to see Clinton beaten. And see Trump’s election as a welcome break (albeit of the hairline category) in the succession.
But, come on, anyone who expects anything much from the guy is deluding himself: he is totally on board with all the ‘confrontational’ macho posturing that is de rigeur in the States and will be until someone else does what the Vietnamese did, and administers a sound kicking.

michaelk
michaelk
Jan 13, 2017 6:04 PM

When I was last in the United States I visited some relations in an ‘interesting’ area of the country, a place that used to be an booming industrial town. My relations owed a couple of coal mines and years ago a steelworks, but got out their investments at the right time, though they still have connections to the place. This gave me the opportunity to move around unhindered. People up in those hills don’t really trust outsiders. But I was considered ‘Okay’ because I was ‘family.’ This has advantages. People down at the local taveren were remarkably open about Trump and it was then, over a year ago that I started to think he was gonna win the election. When I told people back home they thought I’d gone nuts.
I met a lot of ex-military types, marines and special forces who to a man supported Trump. These guys were kinda interesting, not great intellectuals or on the left, whatever that means these days, but interesting. They were all voting Trump, as was everyone else I met, not because they like the Republicans, they hated the Republicans, but because they thought a guy like Trump would ‘shake things up’ in Washington and the country. They said that a lot, ‘shake things up.’ Well, Trump has certainly done that already. But they didn’t expect Trump’s ride to be an easy one at all. That was why, they only half-jokingly, said folks were ‘stocking up.’ I found out this meant, guns and ammo!
Politically these guys were kind of ‘social nationalists’ or, if you like, ‘fascists’ in a sense. They were violently against centralised state intervention in their lives and at the same time really opposed to the giant corporations who they believed had sucked the country dry and they fucked off to Mexico with their jobs. They also hated the banks. These guys and others I talked to were ‘anti-capitalist’ if the capitatlists were ‘crooks’ and screwed ordinary Americans. So they were full of contradictions. Trump they thought, wasn’t ‘one of them, but, ‘like them.’ Trump’s billions made him ‘honest’ and ‘uncorruptable.’ Lots of them were of the opinion that the system was so rotten and corrupt, that Trump would ‘need some help’ in order to ‘drain the swamp.’ That can mean a lot of things I suppose. In a tight corner I’d be glad to have some of those ex-Marines on my side. I discovered that nearly all of them thought they’ed been ‘screwed’ into fighting in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. ‘Screwed’ covered a multitude of sins. They were sick of ‘helping’ people overseas and wanted the money spent at home on ‘helping America first.’
I think there’s a choice between two variants of ‘fascism’ in the US, the Obama/Clinton/Bush brand and Trump’s brand. I prefer Trump’s brand. It’s a choice between two evils, two versions of fascism. Obama’s brand is far more ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ and he’s a smooth and slick opperator, he’s clever with pop-culture and Hollywood, but foreign policy is pure fascism and it’s only marginally less destructive and bloody at home. Trump is different. He’s far less willing to go to war with Russia, which, in my book, is a big positive. This puts Trump at odds with the establishment fascists who do want open conflict with Russia and are actively pushing for it. Trump’s fascism isn’t pacifist, but he sure in hell doesn’t want to start WW3 over fucking Ukraine or Latvia. That makes him less dangerous.
What I’m staggered about is the libarasl and the left supporting the coup against Trump. The establishment doesn’t like Trump because he’s one of them, but not like them, to put it simply. They are gonna do everything to undermine him, legal or not. They will carefully watch and guage public opinion and wait for it to turn against Trump. Then they will strike him down, one way, or another. But they are playing for really high stakes here and I don’t believe they understand or appreciate the level of support Trump has or how hated they are by huge swathes of the population who see Trump as a battering-ram they hope will smash them to pieces. Attempt to crush or remove Trump too soon and their could be an almighty reaction in the country that could go anywhere.
Trump might decide to appeal directly to the American people for support. ‘I can’t do this without you, people.’ This would be Trump almost raising a standard, for war. Is he the kind of guy to do that? I dunno. He was always a cunning surfer riding a wave no one else saw out there on the horizon. They can knock the surfer off the board, but what happens to the wave?

Manda
Manda
Jan 13, 2017 8:37 PM
Reply to  michaelk

“What I’m staggered about is the libarasl and the left supporting the coup against Trump.”
I’m not, it shows how deeply the neo fascist neoliberal ideology has infected or infested the whole of political and social thought and narrative. Issues such as AGW, identity politics etc. have become political crusades which act to pull old ‘left’ -ists into the neo liberal fold and severely limit political discussion.

Jo
Jo
Jan 14, 2017 1:56 PM
Reply to  Manda

“I’m not, it shows how deeply the neo fascist neoliberal ideology has infected or infested the whole of political and social thought….”
Not to mention all those Hollywood celebrities.

cettel22
cettel22
Jan 16, 2017 2:51 AM
Reply to  michaelk

Michaelk’s comment is a fascinating article on its own. I suspect it’s entirely true, but I’ve not travelled to the places he did, so what interests me more is his theoretical analysis saying that Trump-versus-his-enemies is about a split within the U.S. aristocracy itself — two contending types of fascism, instead of anything that can be truthfully understood within the context of America’s being a democracy. I think that that’s the way America is heading. I agree.

CaperAsh
CaperAsh
Jan 16, 2017 11:28 AM
Reply to  michaelk

Excellent post Michaelk. Footnote viz T’s popularity: he only got 27% of the electorate (given how many choose not to vote), which is only slightly lower than the norm, btw, but still. I found your paraphrasing of the Marine types down there fascinating and heartening because they demonstrate a general ability on the part of the people to – as I think Clinton said – ‘get it right at the end’ despite holding lots of non-PC, seldom publicly articulated and seemingly contradictory views. Doesn’t fit into Dem, Rep, Libertarian, Marxist, Simple Nationalist or anything else per se (though possibly the latter come to think of it).
Interestingly also, one of the main critiques of T which worked, related to his generally crass behaviour, was that much of his stump speech language contained ‘dog whistles’ to ‘white nationalists’, the inference being that Making America Great Again would mean going back to the 50’s and segregation – along with generally 85% white folks in the overall population – and women-in-the-home etc, because that’s when America was Great.
There was and is some truth to that, I think, but mainly in the sense that for cultures and communities to be strong and vibrant, its members have to have a sense of belonging to the same collective ‘we’, which they are born into, live in, marry in, raise children in, thrive or perish in and finally are buried in and therefore with whom they share some cultural norms (like cuisine, weekly schedule, religion, football, dress codes, whatever). This is a major part of going through a human life. It is not necessarily nostalgic or racist to yearn for a clearer sense of togetherness and solidarity with people of one’s own ilk. The urban fascist model wants to get rid of all ilks, including races, genders, political parties etc. and just create one humongous class of willing, friendly voters/sheeple. It’s a view of a population essentially forever stuck in their liberal twenties going on endless raves, essentially. That sort of polyglot babylon model – which can work beautifully in some cities for a little while from time to time – doesn’t play well in Poughkeepsie.
In any case, T’s language was a dog whistle working to summon many people similar to those you were hanging out with in what is clearly a somewhat traditional ‘local-type’ community culture with its own ways and probably most people of a similar race and background, i.e. sharing the same local culture. The left hates this because they want their polyglot babylon post-community urban jungle world.
I think one of the things that make T dangerous – apart from a huge set of balls – is that he is comfortable in both worlds. And I agree with another poster above: he is far smarter than most people realise. Doesn’t mean he might not fail or be overthrown, but he sees much further and deeper than most of his critics – and supporters – give him credit for. Time will tell.

tubularsock
tubularsock
Jan 13, 2017 5:40 PM

Tubularsock finds this way to complicated. It will only take the old fashion “CIA-heartattack” as demonstrated so well in the movie Wag The Dog. Fast, clean, effective and all that will be left are the conspiracy theories.

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 14, 2017 7:56 PM
Reply to  tubularsock

Yup. Trump better get his own beefeater … and polonium tester, too.

Eurasia News Online
Eurasia News Online
Jan 13, 2017 5:06 PM

Clap – Clap – Clap – Anglo-Saxon “democracy” completely naked and exposed. And what then? Want a war? You will get it and it will be “zero-sum” game boys. Great opportunity to free this planet of scum.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 13, 2017 8:25 PM

“Great opportunity to free this planet of scum”………Not to mention the rest of us. Oh well, the cockroaches will be happy, cleaning up the ungodly mess……….

Eurasia News Online
Eurasia News Online
Jan 14, 2017 7:27 AM

Eh, we would rather be dead than under the boots of the “five eyes” mate. It looked hopeless in 1941 and we survived and we are ready for repeat. We are not pushing anyone but be assured that nobody will push us either or there will be resistance.

John
John
Jan 13, 2017 4:52 PM

I personally consider this to be an unrealistic scenario.
As D. M. Hutchins implies, any such action to remove Mr Trump from the presidency could result in an all-out shooting civil war breaking out between Trump supporters and sections of the establishment elite.
Thanks to the failure of US administrations to control the sale and distribution of guns and ammunition, it could well mean an utter blood bath all across America.
Throw in possible truck and car bombs, and America could up becoming completely ungovernable.
Is the Establishment ready to take such a risk?
I doubt it – it isn’t good for business.
They can wait for four years – and then get rid of him permanently and constitutionally.

writerroddis
writerroddis
Jan 13, 2017 6:30 PM
Reply to  John

I agree John, but subject to qualifications expressed in my reply (below) to johnschoneboom.

Jo
Jo
Jan 13, 2017 7:13 PM
Reply to  John

I agree with you John. That was my first thought when reading the piece. I think the reaction of those who’d voted for Donald Trump should others end his presidency would be terrible indeed and I can kind of understand why. I think public order would collapse completely and all hell would break loose. People would come out with all guns blazing….literally! It’s unthinkable.
The very shocking thing , for me anyway, is the leading role the media has played in all that has come to pass since Trump’s win. The depths many publications and broadcasters, including the Guardian and the BBC, have been prepared to sink to have taken them down beyond the gutter and into the sewers. I’ve never seen any president-elect treated like this. It’s unprecedented.

cettel22
cettel22
Jan 16, 2017 2:54 AM
Reply to  John

But the method described here IS constitutional! Can’t you read?

CaperAsh
CaperAsh
Jan 16, 2017 11:38 AM
Reply to  John

Unless the goal now is to tear down the house with ‘the chaos candidate’. He might be the Fall Guy who presides over a financial collapse and war that necessitates a major intervention which sweeps away the old Two Party Duopoly and give us the new Purple Party (red and blue merged), a form of American Single Party Democratic Nationalism assured of a plurality by eliminating the Electoral College making the urban areas filled with immigrants forever dominant, thus assuring Single Party rule, a rule by Experts essentially, sort of like China (which is doing a pretty good job btw!). I don’t trust the election results, myself and predicted a few months out he would win simply because Clinton wasn’t up to snuff – too tainted, too boring and being female wasn’t enough of a change especially at her grandmotherly age. But he is dangerous to many factions. And he could be useful to really blow everything up, as many are hoping. It’s just that the same old ‘Them’ will be there to reorder things after the explosion. They cannot be seen to be taking him out, though, unless things are so bad that this is perceived as really necessary. But if that happens, then the mechanism described in this piece looks pretty darn good. Legal and relatively straightforward. I had no idea it was possible and thought impeachment was the only way.

jimsresearchnotes
jimsresearchnotes
Jan 13, 2017 4:32 PM

Reblogged this on EU: Ramshackle Empire.

Edwin Vieira
Edwin Vieira
Jan 13, 2017 4:11 PM

And what would be the “inability” which was charged? The term “unable” obviously applies to physical or mental incapacity to function in the office, not (for instance) that the President refuses to accede to policies promoted by his cabinet (all of whom he could fire), or by the Pentagon (over which he holds authority as Commander in Chief), or the CFR, the “mainstream media”, and so on. If, notwithstanding this obvious problem, Trump feared an attempt at a “palace coup”, he would be wise to think about using 10 U.S.C. secs. 332 and 333 to protect himself.

TJ
TJ
Jan 13, 2017 3:48 PM

Remember under the NDAA The President can have anyone, anywhere in the world killed, including Americans on American soil and he has the whole NSA to spy on everyone so the 25th Amendment means nothing because anyone who would try it would be known and dead before they could actually set things in motion.

Ray Ross, Jr.
Ray Ross, Jr.
Jan 13, 2017 4:17 PM
Reply to  TJ

Let us hope that is the case. The Oligarchy has wanted Russian oil, gas and minerals for some time. Their quest for take over is guided by pure evil.

Brian Harry, Australia
Brian Harry, Australia
Jan 13, 2017 8:07 PM
Reply to  Ray Ross, Jr.

They want Venezuela’s oil and gas as well. Their current President, Mr Maduro is currently being ‘Demonized’ by the MSM which is usually a precurser to the installation of an American “Stooge” government.

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 14, 2017 8:00 PM
Reply to  TJ

Could Trump label congressional opponents ‘illegal combatants’ and have them droned? That would be something to see!

labrebisgalloise
labrebisgalloise
Jan 13, 2017 2:59 PM

Since when has Trump not been a part of the US “Establishment?’ Trump’s picks for cabinet bear all the hallmarks of the oligarchy with a significant nod to oil and banking interests and contain enough generals to merit the title “junta” for this particular US regime. Trump is not a friend of the people, neither is he there to rescue them from the “ruthless, steel-haired troll doll” Clinton. I agree, he will be eliminated if he shows the slightest sign of deviating from ruling class interests but he is not a fool and he didn’t get this far by being one either. The last thing he needs from readers of this blog is sympathy. Below is an analysis which, in my opinion, chimes more with what we are seeing – and whatever, we will not have long to wait.
http://www.cpusa.org/article/what-do-fascists-do-before-fascist-dictatorship/

labrebisgalloise
labrebisgalloise
Jan 13, 2017 5:33 PM

…and here’s a view from Paul Craig Roberts looking at the reasons for the divergence of ruling class strategies, if not aims:
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/12/28/what-is-henry-kissinger-up-to-paul-craig-roberts/

Greg Bacon
Greg Bacon
Jan 13, 2017 2:57 PM

VP Pence is another of those ChristianZionist war mongers who can repeat verbatim sections of the Bible’s OT, but is clueless about the NT, like the beautiful Sermon on the Mount, where we are urged to feed the hungry, tend to the sick and shelter the homeless.
A Pence presidency would actually increase the number of homeless, in homes lost to war. And definitely increase the number of sick/wounded.
But hey, war is Big Money and that kind of money talks in a loud, forceful voice.

D. M. Hutchins
D. M. Hutchins
Jan 13, 2017 2:52 PM

Reblogged this on D. M. Hutchins and commented:
As far as I am concerned, all of this technical document nonsense is a bunch of wordplay engineered so as to ‘lawyer’ someone out of a position of power if they don’t play-ball with the system gover-crooks have established. They all fear Trump because ALL he has ever said is that he will not put up with the criminals and fake news attempting to envelop him and his campaign. This video only serves to demonstrate that they are already planning to get rid of him any way they can. I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I hope Trump rules with an iron fist and changes all the laws, becoming the next Hitler and killing the shit out of this stupid fag-feminist-hate-white-people culture America has become. All he’d have to do is call on the Three Percenters, and we’d be right there to make it happen.

johnschoneboom
johnschoneboom
Jan 13, 2017 2:42 PM

Without disagreeing with this analysis, I think there’s a tendency to make Establishment opposition to Trump sound too monolithic. It’s clear enough there are major players against him. No argument there. But as Greg Palast’s investigation has shown, it also seems true that through Interstate Crosscheck and other measures, there were also major players manipulating the election to Trump’s benefit: likely Democratic voters-of-color removed from voter registration lists by the hundreds of thousands; pro-Trump outcomes that defied exit polls in areas exclusively in districts where electronic voting machines were used; etc.
I can only think of two explanations:
1) There’s a division within the elite over Trump; or
2) The election manipulation was done primarily to favor the down-ticket GOP candidates, in spite of Trump, not to help him, perhaps in the secure knowledge that there were other ways of dealing with him later.
Of those two explanations I don’t know how to determine (empirically) which one is more plausible. Anyone have any other ideas?

writerroddis
writerroddis
Jan 13, 2017 4:01 PM
Reply to  johnschoneboom

I agree with your point one. These are times of inter imperial rivalry worsened by the economic decline of the world’s prime military power – one whose $10 trillion for-profit arms sector, while not the only driver of anti-Russian hysteria, is in and of itself a powerful incentiviser of cold and hot war both. At such times there will be a sharpening of divisions within its ruling class, some elements of which believe, chillingly, that America can win a limited nuclear war.
I’m not qualified to comment on your point two, but am interested in its final phrase – “other ways of dealing with [Trump] later”. My guess is that a blatant subversion of democratic will along the lines Eric suggests can’t be ruled out, but is a dangerous move, a last resort. Safer to create a climate that makes it near impossible for DT to do things the dominant wing of that ruling class fear: a neoMacarthyist climate to discourage rapprochement with Putin. The two approaches aren’t mutually exclusive, so throwing Trump out might follow if shackling him doesn’t work and/or lowers his opularity to the point where he could be so ousted without risk of blood on Elm Street America

CaperAsh
CaperAsh
Jan 16, 2017 11:55 AM
Reply to  johnschoneboom

Division within elite. The model that keeps popping up for me is the old Hindu-Buddhist cosmology which postulates ‘six realms of samsaric existence’, namely gods, jealous gods, humans, animals, ghosts, hell beings. The ones in question here are the jealous gods (‘asuras’, or titans). They are always trampling on those beneath them (humans or fellow asuras) in order to get the prize of godhood, and are traditionally depicted as being on the ground shooting arrows at the gods above in their towers. Asuras are in a constant state of struggle and paranoia, their main motivation being to keep as many people as possible beneath them, both those already below and by dragging those above down and keeping them down. So in terms of the elite, there are always factions and struggles. Always. And those not in those elite circles (humans and animals like most of us) will never really know what is going on in those battles. Asuras are extremely intelligent, usually highly successful, driven, creative and determined. Personally, I believe the single most important function of any type of State or Government involves how to engage these people who will always rise to the top. Can you get them to benefit most of Society or not? Because if not, they will bring it down with their constant warfare, both to keep most of us down, but also to tear each other apart in their endless struggle for the prize of being #1.
Of course a real god realm person doesn’t have to struggle for anything at all, so the more an asura achieves and struggles, the further they get from the prize, but that’s another story.
In any case, clearly there are factions. Trump could not have run, let alone endured the slings and arrows thrown at him during the campaign (and after) without extremely strong backing. My guess is that in Israel there are now two main factions: globalists and nationalists. The globalists are getting ready to let go of it – too messy, too small, too complicated, too boring, and now with Eurasia awakening, they’ve got bigger fish to fry. The Nationalists want to make Israel work and have it a regional power or whatever. Something like that. And there are related factions in the West along nationalist vs globalist lines. Putin is a nationalist preaching ‘multi-polarity’, the poles being various definable cultural and geographical zones (like China, Europe, Russia-Central Eurasia, the Islamic zone, the Americas etc.) The globalists want increasingly centralised streams of law, governance, commerce which take place at levels far removed from local communities, or even small national communities. Something like that.
T is clearly of the more nationalist type – America First, American Workers First. He believes it. And he has backing, the sort of backing that will ensure his children and grandchildren cannot easily be assassinated. That means he is part of the Establishment but that the Establishment has bifurcated, at least at some level. Things are going to get messy.

CaperAsh
CaperAsh
Jan 16, 2017 12:33 PM
Reply to  CaperAsh

PS The above global-nationalist was just one example. Another: Producers vs Financiers. Often people rail against ‘corporate culture’ – for good reason, but many of those same people in low employment areas would be much happier if the factories opened up again and people had better paying, stable jobs. Whereas the pure financier class doesn’t create much of anything nowadays except more derivatives, aka paper products not even made of paper any more.
So one faction is wanting to return to a more ‘real’ economy; another wants to keep going with some sort of virtual one, perhaps moving towards a Basic Living Income for all at some point which makes people entirely dependent on the State, so much so that they won’t revolt. The problem with this approach is that they don’t make enough to spend enough to make businesses which makes stuff interesting, but it’s fantastic on the command and control front. Meanwhile they can party in Fiji and Davos far away from the Walmart and Tesco riff-raff.
It is possible, for example, that many in Trump’s cabinet, though part of the Business Elite, are in the Producers (vs Financiers) camp, yes even in the Goldman types (including Bannon who also worked there). You need people who know the System from the inside to fix it or break it. Possible. And all those Generals might not be as Establishment as they seem if they are the type who believe that the country has been sold down the river by the globalist financier types. His Cabinet might be stronger than it appears that way. We’ll soon find out in any case.