Donald Trump is not being targeted for the misdemeanors and serious felonies he appears to have committed but for discrediting and undermining the entrenched power of the ruling duopoly.
As bad as this history of is, and as much as we need to address these massive crimes one by one, I’m somehow even more disturbed by the budding hagiography of George Bush. It defeats my ability to reason. Trump derangement syndrome has brought us to a place where a mass murdering sociopath, not to mention idiot, is being sold by the NYTimes as part hero, because.... nuance. Nuance. Manufacturing consent? Or outright manufacturing heroes from the shameless depths of squalor.
As you do here, Ralph Nader listed in his latest podcast just how much worse, in nature and in scale, Bush and Obama’s crimes were than those of Trump. If you want to see heads explode, bring this up at your next liberal cocktail party. It’s astonishing.
And Lady Justice doesn’t notice a thing. That’s why she wears a blindfold.
After all the years of Evil Empire talky talk.............it must be dreadfully debilitating to wake up and realize that the mighty U.S. of A is it: The Evil Empire...run by elite men who upon taking office, have to swear an oath to become the Psychopath du Jour.....and promote said Evil Empire to all the insignificant little corners of the Earth.
I just wonder how much time we have in Canada before one of your glorious presidents comes for what's left of our Water. There's no international crime you aren't capable of.......that's for certain sure.
"He is being targeted because he is deemed dangerous for his willingness, at least rhetorically, to reject the Washington Consensus regarding neoliberal free-market and free-trade policies, as well as the idea that the U.S. should oversee a global empire."
Duh. Team D and its allies in the MSM and the alphabet agencies have made it plain that their goal is to find some pretext, any pretext on which to "get Trump". Alvin Bragg was in fact elected on a campaign platform of finding that pretext.
The only thing that surprises me is that it has taken this long, that they had to go all the way back to The Stormy Daniels Fiasco to find their case. This is not because Trump is so clean (he's probably no worse than any other developer) but because the criminal laws in the United States are far-reaching enough and broad enough in scope, that an aggressive prosecutor can always find a reason to charge anyone he wants to charge. That goes double for anyone involved in higher level business or politics. "Three felonies a day".
This is entirely intentional. That way, if people of influence and authority want someone kicked off the island, a reason can be found to do so, all perfectly legal under the law of the land.
Well, Chris, let me say this about that. Aaron Good, author of American Exception, Empire and the Deep State would agree with you. However comma it seems to me that what is happening is that individuals are being occasionally crucified but the rule of law is not being upheld. You provide a list of some of Donnie Murdo's crimes for which he is not being called to account for but the same is true of Obama/Shrub/Slick Willie/etc. I've thought for some time that the UN is as useless as tits on a boar hog (largely because of US capture of the organization) but does not the responsibility for the behavior of a country that is allegedly a democracy reside with the citizens?
The real problem is that the US is not a democracy. It is an oligarchy and has been for, like, ever. It is telling that the Captains of Industry in the '30s tried to bribe Smedley Butler to lead a coup in the US and turn us into a military dictatorship. An act of treason if I ever saw one. Did any of those conspirators pay a price? No. The guy who paid a price was Smedley Butler.
All of this is true, and we live in one of the most corrupt of countries. Many of us in our generation have never gotten over the Nixon pardon. Nor can we abide the fact that George W and the other war criminals of his administration got away with it. And what can be said about the centrist Obama who was even laudatory about the reign of the despicable Reagan? Not to mention that his policies, like those of his Democratic predecessor Clinton, helped bolster this vast, inequitable socioeconomic empire of neoliberal capitalism. But because of all of this corruption and hypocrisy, should we then just give Trump a pass as another example of the corrupt criminal elite? I too would rather he'd been impeached and now indicted for his serious crimes against democracy. So far, that hasn't happened. But I don't want to go to my grave seeing that the Teflon Don got away with everything--even if, like Capone, he's put away because of his lesser crimes. American Empire has been built upon so much of this ugliness that characterizes modern capitalism. Yet "the people" in the main cannot abide anything smeared as "socialism" while many continue to benefit from aspects of what is surely socialism-lite. Reading Hedges plunges me into despair, every time. And I don't have the means he has to rise above it all rhetorically. I've limited my subscription to this Substack and will probably eventually stop subscribing. It's bad for everyone's health, let alone our country's, if we give in to thorough despair over the country's evils. Instead, I'm hoping that the newer generations can rise above what Hedges' and my generation have endowed them with and save the planet before we destroy that too.
The Donald Trump problem: untrustworthy and subverts the crime syndicate duopoly that runs America.
United States of America problem : Lawless hegemon.
The American people problem : torporous indifference.
The Canadian problem : irrelevant but oh so theatrical in our virtue signaling.
Chris Hedges problem : reviles the application of power. Sorry Chris it was ever thus and ever will be. We need an analysis beyond and above because the hegemon will take advantage, that is baked in our dna.
The opening sentence of this piece is atrocious--- particularly coming from someone such as Hedges that was sanctioned for no reason other than publishing on RT. Why should anyone be "targeted" for offenses they "appear to have committed"? What happened to the legal precedent of being considered innocent until proven guilty? Hedges attempts to hide this basic premise by proposing we consider a fallacious choice...and assumes Trump SHOULD be targeted for one reason or another; in this case ( and in his opinion) it should be for crimes for which he has not been convicted. Very disappointing.
As bad as this history of is, and as much as we need to address these massive crimes one by one, I’m somehow even more disturbed by the budding hagiography of George Bush. It defeats my ability to reason. Trump derangement syndrome has brought us to a place where a mass murdering sociopath, not to mention idiot, is being sold by the NYTimes as part hero, because.... nuance. Nuance. Manufacturing consent? Or outright manufacturing heroes from the shameless depths of squalor.
As you do here, Ralph Nader listed in his latest podcast just how much worse, in nature and in scale, Bush and Obama’s crimes were than those of Trump. If you want to see heads explode, bring this up at your next liberal cocktail party. It’s astonishing.
And Lady Justice doesn’t notice a thing. That’s why she wears a blindfold.
After all the years of Evil Empire talky talk.............it must be dreadfully debilitating to wake up and realize that the mighty U.S. of A is it: The Evil Empire...run by elite men who upon taking office, have to swear an oath to become the Psychopath du Jour.....and promote said Evil Empire to all the insignificant little corners of the Earth.
I just wonder how much time we have in Canada before one of your glorious presidents comes for what's left of our Water. There's no international crime you aren't capable of.......that's for certain sure.
"He is being targeted because he is deemed dangerous for his willingness, at least rhetorically, to reject the Washington Consensus regarding neoliberal free-market and free-trade policies, as well as the idea that the U.S. should oversee a global empire."
Duh. Team D and its allies in the MSM and the alphabet agencies have made it plain that their goal is to find some pretext, any pretext on which to "get Trump". Alvin Bragg was in fact elected on a campaign platform of finding that pretext.
The only thing that surprises me is that it has taken this long, that they had to go all the way back to The Stormy Daniels Fiasco to find their case. This is not because Trump is so clean (he's probably no worse than any other developer) but because the criminal laws in the United States are far-reaching enough and broad enough in scope, that an aggressive prosecutor can always find a reason to charge anyone he wants to charge. That goes double for anyone involved in higher level business or politics. "Three felonies a day".
This is entirely intentional. That way, if people of influence and authority want someone kicked off the island, a reason can be found to do so, all perfectly legal under the law of the land.
Well, Chris, let me say this about that. Aaron Good, author of American Exception, Empire and the Deep State would agree with you. However comma it seems to me that what is happening is that individuals are being occasionally crucified but the rule of law is not being upheld. You provide a list of some of Donnie Murdo's crimes for which he is not being called to account for but the same is true of Obama/Shrub/Slick Willie/etc. I've thought for some time that the UN is as useless as tits on a boar hog (largely because of US capture of the organization) but does not the responsibility for the behavior of a country that is allegedly a democracy reside with the citizens?
The real problem is that the US is not a democracy. It is an oligarchy and has been for, like, ever. It is telling that the Captains of Industry in the '30s tried to bribe Smedley Butler to lead a coup in the US and turn us into a military dictatorship. An act of treason if I ever saw one. Did any of those conspirators pay a price? No. The guy who paid a price was Smedley Butler.
All of this is true, and we live in one of the most corrupt of countries. Many of us in our generation have never gotten over the Nixon pardon. Nor can we abide the fact that George W and the other war criminals of his administration got away with it. And what can be said about the centrist Obama who was even laudatory about the reign of the despicable Reagan? Not to mention that his policies, like those of his Democratic predecessor Clinton, helped bolster this vast, inequitable socioeconomic empire of neoliberal capitalism. But because of all of this corruption and hypocrisy, should we then just give Trump a pass as another example of the corrupt criminal elite? I too would rather he'd been impeached and now indicted for his serious crimes against democracy. So far, that hasn't happened. But I don't want to go to my grave seeing that the Teflon Don got away with everything--even if, like Capone, he's put away because of his lesser crimes. American Empire has been built upon so much of this ugliness that characterizes modern capitalism. Yet "the people" in the main cannot abide anything smeared as "socialism" while many continue to benefit from aspects of what is surely socialism-lite. Reading Hedges plunges me into despair, every time. And I don't have the means he has to rise above it all rhetorically. I've limited my subscription to this Substack and will probably eventually stop subscribing. It's bad for everyone's health, let alone our country's, if we give in to thorough despair over the country's evils. Instead, I'm hoping that the newer generations can rise above what Hedges' and my generation have endowed them with and save the planet before we destroy that too.
Spot on...the hypocrisy is numbing. We in Palestine are, in particular, paying a hefty price for U.S. deep state actions, all without accountability.
The Donald Trump problem: untrustworthy and subverts the crime syndicate duopoly that runs America.
United States of America problem : Lawless hegemon.
The American people problem : torporous indifference.
The Canadian problem : irrelevant but oh so theatrical in our virtue signaling.
Chris Hedges problem : reviles the application of power. Sorry Chris it was ever thus and ever will be. We need an analysis beyond and above because the hegemon will take advantage, that is baked in our dna.
Chris Hedges is fantastic .
A disappointing article.
Trump has been so massively investigated and found innocent that I, a lifelong Democrat, am concluding that he is the most innocent American.
Exactly, Chris, the duopoly parties are the camouflage for the seminal, and deadly, EMPIRE.
The opening sentence of this piece is atrocious--- particularly coming from someone such as Hedges that was sanctioned for no reason other than publishing on RT. Why should anyone be "targeted" for offenses they "appear to have committed"? What happened to the legal precedent of being considered innocent until proven guilty? Hedges attempts to hide this basic premise by proposing we consider a fallacious choice...and assumes Trump SHOULD be targeted for one reason or another; in this case ( and in his opinion) it should be for crimes for which he has not been convicted. Very disappointing.
Nicely read.