Absolute Proof that Trump Is Stupid
Eric Zuesse
On June 26th, U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox Business News that, as the Washington Post immediately headlined it, “War with Iran Would Not Involve Ground Troops and Would Not Last Long”.
He said:
I’m not talking boots on the ground. … I’m just saying if something would happen, it wouldn’t last very long.”
However – even if his planned surgical missile-strikes against Iran’s (non-existent) facilities for manufacturing nuclear warheads ‘succeeded’ – how is it possible for anyone to be able to rule-out blowback that would require placing U.S. boots-on-the-ground?
Or that none of the blowback would entail Iranian-and-allied retaliatory missile-strikes against, for example, water-purification facilities in the extremely arid lands of Trump’s friends, Israel and Saudi Arabia? And maybe even against U.S. air bases and other military facilities in the region?
Of course, the answer is: There is no way for anyone to know that, and anyone who would trust Trump’s words to the contrary would be taking them on pure faith, just as religious believers believe the Bible, the Quran, or any other allegedly sacred Scripture.
Maybe Trump knew that this is so and was merely talking to his base, the people who do still trust him, but a recent event excludes such mere lying, and can be explained only by his being, actually, stupid:
One of the most important and highest quality news-reports to have appeared in the New York Times was by Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman and Thomas Gibbons-Neff on June 21st, and was titled “Urged to Launch an Attack, Trump Listened to the Skeptics Who Said It Would Be a Costly Mistake”.
It reported that Trump had called-off the planned June 20th missile-attack against Iran at the last moment because he had asked his advisors how many Iranians would be killed in it and was told that 150 would be, and because he considered that number of Iranian corpses to be too high, and so he called it off.
This same day, Trump himself tweeted that those 150 Iranians were the reason why he had called off the invasion.
….proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
In other words, even according to his own account (which he since has repeated many times), he totally ignored the millions of people that could very possibly be killed from the general conflagration in the Middle East and elsewhere, which would likely result from America’s invasion upon sovereign Iranian territory.
It’s stunningly short-sighted, but he is the person who is presenting himself this way. Maybe he’s not even intelligent enough to recognize that he is there confessing himself to be stupid. If he really doesn’t recognize it, then he’s an idiot, because that would be sub-stupid: below merely stupid.
Though Iran has no military assets which could threaten the United States, it does have sufficient military assets to defeat one of America’s two allies who are urging the U.S. to invade Iran: Saudi Arabia.
And it also possesses sufficient military assets to wreck another U.S. ally who is urging the U.S. to invade Iran: Israel.
Though it does not possess sufficient military assets to defeat Israel, because Israel is nuclear-armed and Iran isn’t, Iranians are fiercely opposed to imperialism and a great many of them would rather die than be conquered — especially if they are being conquered by invaders who aren’t even Muslims.
Furthermore, stirring the hatreds that almost all of Israel’s Jews feel toward Muslims, and also the hatreds that almost all of Iran’s Muslims feel toward Israel, would make impossible for any stooge whom either the U.S. or Israel would try to impose upon Iran to rule there; and, consequently, any government that would be imposed by either of them would fail and ultimately become overthrown — and what would follow from that would be vastly worse for the United States than when Iran in 1979 overthrew the U.S.-imposed (in 1953) dictator there.
It is obvious that if Trump hadn’t called-off the attack that all of his advisors except the Obama-appointed General Joseph Dunford were urging upon him, then the Middle East would have become destroyed, and a war between the United States and Russia would likely be resulting.
For Trump to have been concerned only about the 150 Iranians that his military advisors thought would likely be slaughtered in this planned invasion, and for him not to have been concerned at all — and especially — about the likely millions of corpses that would almost certainly have followed from such an attack, is simply amazing stupidity on the part of a nation’s leader.
It might not be as stupid as Hillary Clinton’s repeated and constant and never even moderated urgings for a “no-fly zone” to be imposed by the U.S. regime over sovereign Syrian territory, which almost certainly would have resulted quickly in World War III (a U.S.-versus-Russia war) (since Russia wouldn’t accept the U.S. shooting down Russia’s planes over Syria), but it’s close to being as stupid as that.
If America’s political Parties again choose two such incompetents as Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton, as being the final contenders for occupying the most powerful post on this planet, then what chance is there that civilization won’t be destroyed in fairly short order?
The only U.S. Presidential candidate who is campaigning upon the theme of “no more regime-change wars” is the Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, and her polling-numbers from registered Democratic Party voters are below 1%; so, anyone who in such a world as this, is willingly bringing new children into the world, has to be either uninformed or else unconcerned about the world in which that child will be living.
The likelihood of global catastrophe during the next few years is vastly higher than most people are aware. This issue is virtually ignored in American politics.
An uninformed and misinformed electorate is impossible in an authentic democracy, and the future of the world is now dependent upon precisely such an electorate, in the most powerful nation on this planet.
According to the Times report, what finally swayed Trump against invading Iran was
…one of his favorite Fox News hosts: Tucker Carlson. While national security advisers were urging a military strike against Iran, Mr. Carlson in recent days had told Mr. Trump that responding to Tehran’s provocations with force was crazy. The hawks did not have the president’s best interests at heart, he said. And if Mr. Trump got into a war with Iran, he could kiss his chances of re-election goodbye.
Though that might have been, for Trump, an even bigger factor to consider than the number of only-Iranian corpses that would result immediately from the attack, it still is not denying that what Trump had asked from his advisors was only for them to estimate the likely number of deaths that would result directly from the proposed invasion.
To say that Trump’s main concern is instead his re-election (such as one might infer from that passage) is to say that he’s a psychopath; and, yet, what is even scarier than his being such, is his being so stupid as to have tasked his advisors to consider, as the possible down-sides of the planned attack, only its direct and immediate negative consequences, and not the negative consequences from those negative consequences.
Apparently, Trump’s stupidity poses, to the world, an even more enormous threat than his psychopathy does.
This impression is also supported from a different angle: that Trump is so stupid that he allows his staff to control his decisions. This argument was well put in an anonymous blog-post on June 19th titled “How John Bolton Controls The Administration And Donald Trump”.
It presents evidence to the effect that Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, stovepipes (filters) the information that gets to Mr. Trump — Trump doesn’t get to see or hear anything that doesn’t fit Bolton’s agendas.
That analysis would also explain why Tucker Carlson, who isn’t part of the U.S. Government and certainly has no power to “stovepipe” the information that Trump receives from his advisors, might have been the only way that dissenting information or analysis was able to get through to Trump regarding this issue. Bolton wasn’t able to prevent Trump from talking to Carlson or other people outside the White House.
According to that blogpost, not only does Bolton control Trump, but the Secretary of State, the equally neoconservative Mike Pompeo, now controls not only the State Department but the Defense Department.
If this is the case, then probably the team of Bolton and Pompeo is what actually will decide U.S. foreign policies and invasions (unless Trump will increasingly rely upon outsiders such as Carlson). The only possible hope for Trump, and for the world, would be if he fires, very soon, both Bolton and Pompeo, and replaces them with non-neocons.
If he doesn’t do that, he’s not only stupid, he’s evil, because he’s virtually inviting such catastrophes as he luckily avoided in the present instance.
That seems to be the path he is on: stupidity, psychopathy, and evil.
This is an exceedingly perilous situation, all-around. It is intolerable. If Trump actually did care more about an estimated 150 Iranians who might have been killed from his planned invasion than he cared about the follow-on millions-or-more corpses that could result from it, then he is not merely a psychopath, but an idiot — totally incompetent to serve as the U.S. President.
Consequently, also, one can reasonably assume that when Trump said on June 26th that, after his missile attacks against Iran, there would be no lengthy war between the U.S. and Iran, and no American troops in Iran, he really believed it. And that’s how intolerable the current situation is.
We really do have a deluded President. His V.P., Mike Pence, who would replace him if there is to be a forced removal of Trump from office, would be no better.
Originally published on The Saker
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And what exactly makes you imagine that there was ever any planned Amerikastani military strike against Iran? What apart from Amerikastani chest-thumping (from a nation that lies as a default position, where hypocrisy and mendacity is bred into the chromosomes of nearly every one of its citizens) leads you to imagine that any real strike was even contemplated, and this isn’t just posturing for the camera?
Attacks on almost everyone have most probably been planned by the Rand Corporation think tank. That’s its job, along with the Pentagon: war gaming. From what I’ve read, all outcomes lead to US defeat, thus the bellicose rhetoric and inaction. The US has shown clearly in the past that it’s capable of devastating attacks on countries, so your “just posturing for the camera” does not hold up. Rather the attack has been “gamed” and the results indicate a loss. And leave the “chromosomes of nearly every one of its citizens” out of it, unless you have proof, or your argument looks foolish, a bit “jihadi”.
It’s taken this long to conclude that Trump is an idiot? The experts must be as dim as him. I saw it as soon as the clown opened his fat mouth. A stupid, petulant coward. However, it’s irrelevant, since he’s only a front for the smart but amoral gangsters behind.
Like Martin says, they just won’t stop.
One provocation after another.
Any failure to respond by Iran just taken as evidence of weakness.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
An Iranian tanker in Spanish waters has just been seized by British forces, on US orders.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I thought the entire reason for the lack of an immediate ‘shock and awe’ attack on Iran after the downing of the drone was the downing of the drone. This wasn’t an act of a rag tag army of militants, it was a well modulated response by a modern state that has sophisticated air defense assets. Which isn’t at all surprising, when you think about it. The US’s way of warfare follows a well established pattern which starts by inventorying a nations assets followed by destroying any air defense assets which opens the door to attacks on key parts of a nation’s infrastructure (including the electricity grid and communications). A nation that wishes to stay unharmed needs to evolve a strategy to deal with this type of attack and Iran has had decades to evolve it, the goal being to survive the first strike while inflicting as much damage as possible on the attackers (because they also know the value of public relations). The US military isn’t very good at attacking people who can strike back — they know if they can’t deliver a quick victory (real or apparent) then public opinion is going to turn on the government big time (not to mention the ongoing wars have caused significant problems with recruiting and retaining staff — we can’t do ‘boots on the ground’ because a) we haven’t got enough to go around and b) the ‘boots’ are getting a bit fed up with becoming discarded, dysfunctional veterans)(or, worse still, trigger happy members of your local PD).
Iran would be smart to keep their guard up. The warhawks activated the well tried formula, right down to the ‘provocative attacks’ and it didn’t work. There will be a pause while they sort out Plan ‘B’. They just won’t stop, that’s probably the insanity that our rulers suffer from, its not just Trump.
That’s probably true. The Neocons planned to force Iran to breach the JCPOA by blocking its exports of enriched uranium and heavy water beyond agreed levels. Then this would provide a pretext for an attack on Natanz, followed by Iran caving in and surrendering its rights to any nuclear programme at all, handing over all its ballistic missiles, ending its support for Syria and Hezbollah, and allowing US/ Israeli intelligence unrestricted access to snoop around every nook and cranny in Iran as they did in Iraq. Regime change would follow in due course. These people are so delusional that they believed this to be a perfectly rational strategy.
It is quite likely that without this Iranian demonstration of resolve, Iran would have been attacked some time over the next month or so. They have shown their capabilities in the drone shootdown using a domestically produced missile (Putinyahu of Russrael playing the snake as usual and refusing to supply S300s Iran had paid for), and the electronic hijacking of a US drone several years ago. In an incredible display of arrogance, the Trump Regime even notified Tehran in advance that bombing would take place, issuing an invitation to a Palestine type Deal Of The Century afterwards. Tehran made it abundantly clear that any Syria type bombing would be the signal for all out war.
Tehran has shown similar sophisticated capabilities in cyber attacks on Aramco following the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus. This “escaped” and spread uncontrollably.
It’s difficult to see where we go from here. Neocon failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen have been compounded by setbacks in all of the Trump Regime’s more recent foreign policy misadventures. Regime change in Venezuela has stalled and degenerated into broad farce. Negotiations with DPRK have failed because absolutely nothing was offered in return by the US side. Kushner’s Deal Of The Century will inevitably prove to be yet another embarrassment. There will be no Nobel Prizes for Trump. Confrontations with China and Russia have produced no positive outcomes. Economic warfare against those countries and even former close allies is a double edged sword. Not a single mile of the Beautiful Mexican Wall has been built. Trump may well nevertheless limp off to win a second term in office given the absence of any credible Democrat opponent.
War is still a distinct possibility. Some would say it is probable or inevitable. Another Zionist provocation would provide the spark. But without a colossal protracted deployment of forces on the scale of 1991 and 2003 in Iraqs 1 and 2, this would end in failure.
Expect more protestations from Trump, Pompeo and Bolton about the “Tremendous Deal” they want to offer the “Wonderful Iranian People,” whose best interests they have at heart. But Tehran isn’t intimidated and they aren’t listening any more.
Great comment Martin, although you neglected a tiny little bit on the softening up & ‘masking’ techniques employed by both corporate & military intelligence, via weather modification & deploying HAARP, which has been a self-declared military strategy,
since December 1997.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a333462.pdf
Surely you recall the floods most recent in Iran ?
I was personally working for Sir Peter Walters CEO of B.P. with 3 others @night, preparing his breakfast briefing, from the late 80’s until the early 90’s, when they first took a great interest in HAARP & ARCO oil & gas, for whom the Plasma Physicist Bernard Eastlund worked, when applying for his patent on HAARP, finally approved in 1991. HAARP was more of a priority matter for B.P. than the first Gulf War (what a nightshift, i experienced on the first of the attacks !?) and Eastlund’s warnings to us all, should have been taken extremely seriously, back then, let alone now, today ! Is anybody listening ? ? ?
Just in case anybody is interested:-
http://thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/HAARP_Project_Gacona_Alaska.html
and here is Bernard Eastlund’s original 1985 patent application #4686605-A
http://sonmi.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/7/4/24749526/haarp_patent_classification_info.pdf
If you want a copy of the final patent approval in 1991, let me know.
I should think that what John Hudson retweeted from the Office of the Press Secretary at the White House and highlighted looks like Really Stupid:
https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1145779093348200449/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1145779093348200449&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com%2F2019%2F06%2F22%2Fits-time-for-a-serious-conversation-about-socialism%2Fcomment-page-2%2F%23comments
Someone obviously having problems with the concept of causation.
In my opinion there will be no war with Iran, too many losers, Saudi Arabia/UAE, Israel, the US fleet [in Bahrain] the US bases all over the Middle East, of course Iran and its friends could be destroyed [but at what cost?] The Strait of Hormus is bristling with Iranian anti ship missiles mines and submarines, the first sign of war would see the US fleet depart from Bahrain to safety many miles away, the shoot down of the high flying drone should cause consternation with US military brass, the lumbering giant and vulnerable B52’s based in Qatar would not get off the ground. Boots on the ground is also a no no, the Iranians could summon up millions of men of military age, many of whom would take their shrouds into battle. If oil sales were cut off from Saudi Arabia, an easy option in case of war, the Saudi leadership would have no income and be forced to leave the country, the petro dollar would be at immediate risk, and Tel Aviv could come under bombardment from missiles from Hezbollah [up to 130,000 missiles] in theory 1,000 missiles per sq Kilometre of Metropolitan Tel Aviv, then additional missiles from Iran, Syria and possibly Iraq could see Israel disappear. Of course damage to all states involved would be tremendous and involve the price of oil shooting through the roof and putting the whole world into a recession.
The US withdrawal from the JCPOA has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, rather Iran’s legal pursuit of conventional weapons and its supply to its friends in Lebanon, Israel’s iron dome and the Israeli air force cannot stop those missiles, many of which are precision guided and can hit any target in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, Dimona and Israeli ports and gas rigs. A US President who is said to baulk at 150 Iranian deaths but is quite at ease with hundreds of thousands of deaths in Yemen and Syria plus millions starving, is not to be taken seriously. No Eric you are too kind, TRUMP IS A FUCKING MORON.
However much you dislike Trump, I don’t think you can call him stupid.
Brash, vulgar, crude, hypocritical, shortsighted, mendacious, running a ramshackle, dysfunctional, chaotic, shambolic nepotistic maladministration of billionaires, neocons, war criminals, superannuated generals, religious fundamentalists, conmen, chancers, close relatives, grifters and halfwits in the pocket of Adelson and AIPAC.
All this is true, though whether Crooked Hilary would have been any better is open to question. It’s like the choice of being shot or being hanged that is given to convicted murderers in Utah.
He is personally corrupt in his business dealings (like every other New York property developer.)
The man is a chromium plated, copper bottomed bounder. He would give Terry Thomas a run for his money. Apart from his pussy grabbing and porn star antics, he even cheats at golf. He would be drummed out of any golf club he didn’t own.
But given all that, I think there is a strong argument to be made that he is a political genius.
Firstly, he wiped the floor with his 16 Republican opponents. These people, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, were serious candidates and experienced political operators. Bush had raised a campaign chest of $150 million. Trump, who never even held political office, destroyed them all in short order.
Even when he won the Republican nomination, the MSM persisted in treating him as a joke and put his chances of winning at 50-1 against.
He went on to inflict a humiliating defeat on Clinton, masterfully gaming the system to turn a lower tally of votes into a stunning electoral college victory.
This was not a fluke, nor an election stolen by the evil Putin. It was pure genius on Trump’s part. He was closer to the man in the street, for all his billions, than Clinton, the Deep State, the MSM, who were were simply detached from reality. You don’t have to like the man to grasp these basic facts.
He will probably win again as the incumbent. Who’s going to stop him? Creepy Joe? Crazy Bernie? Pocahontas? Kabbala Haaretz? Buttplug? Trump will eat them all for breakfast.
Most Americans believe they can bomb whoever they like and destroy any country they wish with complete impunity. In his more lucid moments, Trump has highlighted the futility of all the wars for Israel that have gone on for 20 years and cost the US $7 trillion. For all his bluster, he probably grasps some of the implications of a war with Iran.
It is obvious to the most casual observer that an attack on Iran would escalate uncontrollably regionally and globally. It would immediately engulf all the neighbouring countries that host US bases, and much further afield. Oil prices could IMMEDIATELY rise to $300, 400 and higher. Global recession and global conflict.
Just one element of this would be the closure of the Straits of Hormuz. This could be done quickly and easily with mines, patrol boats, submarines and special forces. Clearing the straits would require a large scale invasion and prolonged occupation of the rugged northern coastline of cliffs and caves to clear out hundreds of mobile anti ship missiles. This would be a huge complex operation.
Trump’s self serving nonsense about avoiding loss of life should be treated as just that. He has never shown any concern for human suffering in Yemen, Gaza, or elsewhere. He would have bombed Iran if he thought he could get away with it. That he chose not to do so is not evidence of stupidity, no matter how unconvincingly he attempts to spin this for domestic consumption.
Or, to sum up, he may be a loathsome, contemptible piece of human sewage (like all US politicians) and the world’s No.1 Shabbos Goy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s completely stupid.
Having said that, if the P8 patrol plane with its 30 man crew had been shot down, the whole world would now be on fire. War could now break out at any time. US leadership is the worst in its history. Arrogant, venal, corrupt, delusional, irredeemably ignorant and ideologically driven. All that is required is one spark. Israel and Saudi Arabia are ready, willing and eager to oblige.
You are genius – mark my word. I have also believed for a while there is method in the madness and it does make sense when you look at where he wants to take the US: Unchallenged military and monetary power as they existed in the 1950s. Unfortunately (?) the past is not recreatable.
He won the election over Clinton because he/his advisors had decided he go to the rustbelt. Clinton had thought she had that in the bag and went to Florida. Clinton would not have been an asset to the US and the world – she was Secretary of State when Libya was destroyed, with the Civil War there getting worse as we speak.
An Iranian war would unleash further millions of refugees to Europe. Europe cannot afford any more. Should a lot more refugees from Africa and Asia come to Europe, the EU would be ungovernable. Kissinger said ‘If we do not have Europe, we have nothing’ to base world power on. Not having a war on Iran was the best decision.
This tripe certainly begs the question of , “If Trump is so controlled by the neocon cabal after being fooled by the Nikki Hailey set once, how come he was smart enough to escape that and go outside the group for advice that disuaded him from making a horrendous decision with dire consequences?”
The correct decision was still made, though the problem of having insane people in important positions still stands.
I’m trying to figure out what “stupid” means for everyone? I mean, who isn’t stupid in the U.S. regime and its international sycophants this century? Bill Clinton was stupid–‘what do you mean by “is”? George Bush was stupid. Obama was stupid–he just read off a teleprompter for eight years. The Nobel Peace Committee is stupid–they gave Obama a peace prize, then Obama’s acceptance speech amounted to ‘war is peace’. May is stupid–she really believes the Skripal farce. Tony Blair was stupid, Samantha Power was stupid, Nikki Haley was stupid–seems like the U.S. finds the dumbest people to represent them at the U.N. Sarkozy was stupid, Macron and Hollande are stupid. Merkel is stupid. Netanyahu is stupid. The RNC and DNC are organized stupidity. The BBC, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc., etc., are stupid companies. The Royals from Saudi Arabia to Britain are stupid. CEOs from Enron to Facebook are stupid.
I’m unconvinced that Trump is unusually stupid. Compare him to everyone else in the elitist circles and he’s just regular stupid, he does regular corruption, he’s banally evil.
Rather than stupid, they either don’t care or simply care more about money than decency.
Power is what they care about; money is merely the currency of power.
There is a fatal flaw in Eric’s essay and most of the comments here. There is an assumption that these people and the elites that run the world through them are acting in accordance with their stated objectives, beliefs, ideologies or whatever. It has become clear to me over the last decades that this is a mistake. They certainly have beliefs and objectives but since they are most likely to the detriment of the common good and by extension, man they have absolutely no intention of ever revealing them where the public might hear and are swift to laugh off and denigrate any sources that even hint at what lie behind the curtain.
Politicians and influencers lie all the time, they say whatever is the most expedient for them at the time, even to the extent of lying when the truth would actually serve them better, so desperate are they to control the narrative. It is a fatal mistake to listen to what they say, you’ll never learn anything from it, only reduced to ranting about their stupidity, incompetence, malignancy or whatever and successfully be diverted from what will inform you; looking at what they DO in the context of what they have already done, if you can actually remember in the face of the constant repainting of history. The drawback to that is, of course, they will likely have achieved their objectives before you even realise just what they are, if not leaving you puzzled because those objectives were only small and likely unconnected steps to the greater whole.
We might have got a more grown up analysis from Dr Zeuss. Calling Trump stupid 100 hundred times hardly constitutes analysis.
Towards the end we get to the most likely scenario here – Bolton and Pompeo are running the show, and yes they appear to be genuine psychopaths. That doesn’t make Trump stupid yet again, but shows that like most recent US presidents he is but a pawn under constant control and threat of staged assassination if he doesn’t do as the warmongerers tell him.
The analysis has been done to death. Time now to spell it out in no uncertain terms. They
Calling Trump a madman demonstrates no understanding of what he is, it is just virtue signalling that you don’t like the guy.
You have no explanation for what he represents or any thought through argument for what he is. You start with a non sequitur, end in a black hole, and demonstrates nothing of intellectual value.
He is a phenomenon that did not come from the political class, he hates the political class. The House of Clinton’s venal representative was smashed in the election, and the political class humiliated. All his business life he would have been greasing the pork barrels to get what he wanted from that political class, he knows their weak spots, he exploited that in the election. Now he has ended up cutting out the fixers and deal makers.
I reckon all the neocons he is surrounded by will be livid that they can’t break him, or even bend him to their will. They must now realise that he regards his time on “The Apprentice” as some kind of live fire training exercise for the job he does now. Now there’s a thought to make you smile, Bolton and Pompeo kept in their place by a ‘madman’, oh the irony of it all…_
> They must now realise that he regards his time on “The Apprentice” as some kind of live
> fire training exercise for the job he does now.
Reminds me of what Reagan said about how being an actor had prepared him surprisingly well to be President.
I agree. Actually, I remember Eric’s post on this site before the presidential election explaining why he was voting for Trump. That was surprising to read at the time. Neither the Guardian nor Counterpunch would have dared publish such heresy!
I prefer believing that Trump really does want to avoid killing people, actually. I remember when he launched both of the tomahawk missile attacks on Syria for their highly suspect sarin attacks ‘on their own people’, he warned the Russians and the Syrians before the missile landed in the first case, and announced it live in the second case, again given people in the targeted areas time flee, so in both cases, no casualties. Strangely, I remember reading FB posts of a friend, who was presumably peace loving, outraged that he had done that (warned people)!
There is a strange disconnect to reality with people’s reaction to Trump, as with his efforts to finally resolve the S/N Korea conflict. One would think that would be popular but people just turn it around to say, ‘how dare he mend fences with a ruthless dictator?’ Strange times we are living in!
Of course the supreme irony for those of us who live here in the belly of the beast, is that our media and political leaders love to explain to the citizenry that Iran is a “theocracy” run by religious zealots and therefore can’t be trusted to be “rational.” Meanwhile of course here in America we have a cadre of literally bat-shit crazy apocalypse-awaiting right-wing evangelical Christian nut jobs like Pompeo and Spence in the highest positions of power, dedicated to the proposition that when they finally instigate armageddon in the Middle East (involving Israel of course) that they are going to be magically whisked up into heaven by their invisible vengeful all-powerful violent patriarchal sky god while the rest of humanity suffers unspeakably and collectively dies in a global nuclear inferno. Religious “zealots” indeed – though of a much more dangerous variety to human survival than any of their Iranian counterparts could ever be.
Which is, I suppose, an excellent summary of why it’s really a rather serious matter not to have made the transition from the Old Testament to the New. (“Let’s just skip that”, sort of thing . . .)
At any rate, using scriptures that date from a time when people thought very differently, and having unremarkable men forcing the undoubtedly time-relevant wisdom of those ancient documents – along with their vengeful god – upon 21st Century humanity has created a delusional power structure in western society which would make Satan himself overjoyed.
As Youtube comedian & satirist – (“Betty Bowers – the world’s best Christian”) – puts it when discussing the the hypocritical militarist uber-violence of much of America’s evangelical community –
(“as far as we know, the only – ‘military strategy’ – Jesus offered was – ‘turning the other cheek.'”)
That’s a smart woman.
But far too smart for most of her audience . . .
They want a simpler message: “Go out there and do whatever the hell you want. God loves you.”
Just a few intriguing thoughts on that, W.
The Old Testament makes up about 75% of the Bible.
The New Testament almost comes across as something of an afterthought.
And they balance each other out in an interdependent way.
Jesus himself referred to the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark in a literal, not figurative sense.
And the ransom sacrifice of Jesus was required as atonement or compensation for human disobedience in the Garden of Eden, to give mankind a second chance.
Taken separately, they wouldn’t make much sense.
Of course for some people they don’t make much sense anyway.
I agree with you about the necessary perpective involving both Testaments, and that for many people none of this makes any sense anyway.
That said, we don’t really know how “literal” Jesus’s references to the Garden and Noah were.
To my mind at least, legend, myth and parable were probably much more common as inspirational and educational tools in His time than they are now, and of course Jesus was, first and foremost, a teacher.
in any case I feel that a description I once read of the Bible as a library is a more accurate image for modern man.
I don’t think Christ regarded His teachings as something of an afterthought, whatever subsequent authorities might have decreed.
After all, He said he came to fulfill the Scriptures, not to change them – no small claim – and I believe the designation, “New Testament” was His own, in keeping with His idea of a new covenant between Man and God.
Percentages aside, I think the New Testament has a crucial message for human evolution, and for me the essential thing is the realization that our consciousness also has its own evolutionary path, while materialism – which is linked exclusively to the needs of our body – seems to be in a death spiral.
We all know that we are not taking any of our material world with us when we die, yet so many of us who consider ourselves fairly smart – and even religious – live as if that was the only thing of any importance.
Schizophrenia is bound to result from the cognitive dissonance inherent in that paradox, when our own experience protests, and we ignore it.
I never expected being a regular reader of OffG to involve religious discussion, by the way, but I am pleasantly surprised!
You could make out a good case for saying that the Bible is true, like Shakespeare’s plays or Orwell’s 1984 or Kafka are true, for what they tell us about the human condition. It seems to me that most of the content, from the beginning through Exodus, certainly till at least the reigns of David and Solomon, are largely allegory, myth, legend and fable, like the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood. The events described being wholly or largely fictitious, yet retaining their value for the lessons they teach us.
We knew it when the first photos of him appeared in the media.
But this isn’t the first time a fool has sat in the White House.
The only thing of importance is how far the Deep State can make use of such fools, and my guess is that they can do so to an unlimited extent.
It would be a miracle if it’s not already too late to do anything about this, since a decades-long procedure has been in place of filling all the most influential economic, educational and political positions with people whose mesmerizing amorality was evident from the start – all done while we weren’t looking.
Unravelling that gigantic tangled ball of wool would also be a decades-long task, but nobody who wants to do the unravelling can get anywhere near the tangled ball, because it has security guards and body guards to ensure that it stays tangled.
But I’m only adding to the infinite number of descriptions of the human race’s current problems.
I’m running out of ideas when it comes to the answer.
As Fair dinkum said “Did we need proof?”
Trump et al. are clearly INSANE, it is not a matter of ideology or political anything. They all are f**** NUTS. The disease being “Malignant Egophrenia” as Paul Levy calls it.
These people have been consumed by their Ego and everything from them (action, words and thoughts) is subservient to their superinflated EGO and they will resort to violence in order to keep the system going.
Having lost touch with their humanity they are unable to see humanity in others.
“The way the (…) system has been crafted primarily serves the interests of the very few. Machine-like, “the system” relentlessly, and increasingly, sucks, drains and redistributes wealth from the majority of the populace—who more and more become impoverished and practically enslaved—into the hands of the already unthinkably wealthy. The powers-that-be then use coercive power to not only deny people the means to make even a subsistence living, but even denies them the basic human right to life on massive scales.”
(Paul Levy, ‘Are We Humans Terminally Insane or Just Waking Up?’)
What is even more dangerous is that we are still waiting to see some sign of political acumen and even wisdom from political representatives. Seems as we are still in awe and can not come to terms with the fact that these people (and ALL the political class in US-rael and beyond) is not and will not serve the people, they’ll only serve their personal interests wich happen to be Money and Power (political/financial) and we, the people have neither one nor the other.
If they are stupid, we certainly beat them if we keep believing that the solution lies within the very system, the same thought paradigm that brought us to this point.
Unlikely the US president’s intelligence forms a part of the equation when deciding on war.
The Zio influence would have much more influence by order of magnitude.
Yes, Obama refrained from bombing Iran, but he authorised bombing in at least 6 other countries (all Muslim?).
There is a deparment for decides on these issues, it’s called ‘department of war’ or Pentagon.
What is the likelihood that one of the Pentagon’s scenarios includes, in one way or another, bombing the White House into oblivion, should a recalcitrant president inhabit the place?
Frankly, I don’t think you ever get to be president unless your shaky scruples are obvious from the start.
You have to be useable.
So I reckon the White House is probably safe.
“So, I reckon the White House is probably safe.”
Kennedy got bullets in his head. So, there are different ways to get rid of the president without bombing the White House.
I meant the building : )
I believe he is stupid. But perhaps no more so than May, the UK Parliament, Macron and the warmongering “liberal classes. At least Trump is fed the incorrect information in his briefings so has an excuse for being clueless. May and the rest should by and large receive the correct information but still keep on pushing and escalating. Either their behaviour is recklessly stupid in the extreme, they are pyschopathic or they would rather the world blows up than be widely exposed for war crimes, terrorism and mass murder – or both. I guess there are then degrees of stupidity for people not waking up to it.
The chances of a nuclear conflict in the next three years have to be over 80% all things considered. Eric is right the prospect of oblivion is widely underestimated.
I’d go for psychopathic.
Psychoidopathy?
The place in Israel named after him (Trump) could end up in ruins and that to a narcissist is
the biggest evil of all.
A vilage called Bolton in Israel would be useless as one already exists in the North West of England.
Psychidiopathy- Chicken Hawk Syndrome abounds.
Even better!
If only Washington knew the contempt in which it was held, but I imagine some of the best-paid bureaucrats in the world are hired to work day and night to make sure our “representatives” never get to see what the public thinks of them.
There was a time when I gave Trump some slack to see what he was made of .I have come to the same conclusion as the author of this article .Trump is not fit to be in control of such majorly armed country .I used to wonder if he was just playing the part of being stupid but no longer .My concern for world affairs is not so much for myself as I am already over 70 , but my children and grandchildren how will they survive and what kind of a world will they live in if they do , with such an ignorant rampaging sanctioner in our midst turning the world upside down and creating animosities between nations. If they can’t impeach him then the only solution would/should be for the rest of world , Europe especially , to call him out . The US would then stand alone ,with the exception of their bestest of friends Israel .
https://theduran.com/pentagon-takes-over-g20-will-push-for-middle-east-peace-and-world-federation/
Don’t be so sure you have Trump’s measure. Take a look at the recent Tucker Carlson interview of Trump. Take a good hard look. On the surface you might come away from that interview thinking Trump is a moron. But notice what he has to say about Zuck and Brinn and Bezos. Take good notice of that and read the linked article above and tell me you can spot any inconsistency. Yes it seems Trump has no answer to the homeless problem and street defecation. But set aside your sniggering. Understand what he is implying. He is implying their is malign control of that phenomena.
A Fish Called Wanda. Jamie Lee Curtis to Kevin Klein:
“Calling you stupid is an insult to stupid people!”
https://theduran.com/pentagon-takes-over-g20-will-push-for-middle-east-peace-and-world-federation/
Don’t be so sure you have Trump’s measure. Take a look at the recent Tucker Carlson interview of Trump. Take a good hard look. On the surface you might come away from that interview thinking Trump is a moron. But notice what he has to say about Zuck and Brinn and Bezos. Take good notice of that and read the linked article above and tell me you can spot any inconsistency. Yes it seems Trump has no answer to the homeless problem and street defecation. But set aside your sniggering. Understand what he is implying. He is implying their is malign control of that phenomena.
There is a reason Trump calls Pelosi nervous Nancy. Obama, Pelosi, and Merkel attempted to off Trump earlier this year. With Pelosi an hour from flying out to her planned ascension her plane was grounded on the tarmack. An active shooter was taken out in the WH grounds. Nervous Nancy is not the half of it.
Merkel is frightened of air travel. Her planes keep being hit by EW resulting in turnbacks and hair raising landings. So frightened is Frau Merkel (nee Cosimir) Lufthansa flys two planes in parallel everywhere she goes to ward off an easily covered up attack on one plane. With two in the sky and each electrically tight the only way to bring her down is for both to be sacrificed.
Take a look at the link above and be prepared to be surprised.
You can forget about the deal of the century . It is a canard .The Israelis do not want peace, they want more land .The Oded Yinon plan to be realized and that will not happen if Palestinians are given their own state and they will not accept shekels for what has already been stolen from them.Too little in the deal and too late .I read the article yesterday and the rest / most of it is wishful thinking on the part of the writer IMHO.
They still want everything from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Maybe her “Parkinson’s” or whatever it is, is linked to this.
When Trump boasts that a war with Iran would be “a short lived affair” he (unwittingly) speaks the truth, for such a war would invite support for Iran from Russia and China. Europe, United Kingdom and Australia, who are vassals of the Neo-con Deep State would supinely allow themselves to be sucked into the vortex of a global conflict, the likes of which would never be seen again – for there would not be a living being on this planet remaining. What these psychopathic warmongers refuse to recognise is the fact that this bonfire of vanities would also consume the USA, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Pompeo, Bolton along with the rest of this spiritually incapacitated cabal of narcissists are so mentally retarded in their lust for glory, that they are blind to the potential consequences that could arise from the stupidity of their imperial delusion. The future security and prosperity of this world rests in the hands of the electorate who, alone, have the power to vote these people out, once and for all. Trump may be regarded as stupid, however, should he summon the slightest jot of wisdom to remove these madmen from the State Department and appoint people of the calibre, experience and insight of Tulsi Gabbard, then his prospects of re-election would be guaranteed. I say this because our people, our world have had enough of this slaughter, carnage and destruction – all conducted in the selfish interests of those whose greed and vanity appears to know no bounds.
You don’t sound like an idiot savant to me .Well said.
Cheers.
Great comment, but I honestly don’t think the neocons are going to let a little thing like “the electorate” stand in their way.
The electorate doesn’t have big enough guns.
I’m sure the war criminals around Bush said the same about Afghanistan. No army, no airforce, still trying to defeat them eighteen years later.
It used to be said if you really want to know something about cultural values then take a look at how those at the bottom of the pile at treated: prisoners, the homeless, asylum seekers, etc.
But surely a corollary is the type of of leader produced?
In this respect the problem is not so much Trump, even though Trump is a grade-A asshole, but rather the political and economic system that produces such men (or women), and the inner circle surrounding high office.
Put another way, don’t we get the leaders we deserve?
We needed proof ?
Stupid is dangerous.
The psychopaths that surround him are DEADLY.