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.
The only trouble is, Trump's obsession with himself at whatever cost it may be to anyone or anything else, puts complete unpredictability in the White House. Yes, the elite is out to get him, but for the rest of us he is also a very dangerous character with no guidelines in his personal behavior that show regard to any accountability. He will do and say anything to at least preserve if not gain power, the perfect example being the incident where he held up a bible for the symbolism, but at another point could not give a single example of anything in the bible that meant anything to him. Nothing is off limits.
My point is that he is nobody's friend, not any individual or any group if his ego is offended. What a parade we had of dismissed office holders, none of whom had anything good to say about Trump when they were free to do so. Michael Cohen's book, Disloyal, is a must read.
Given the truth of your essay, what is the voter to do? When the American pubic is given a choice or there is a possibility of that, it goes nowhere. Jill Stein, no insider, got 1% of the vote. Bernie got shuffled off the stage by the Hillary machine.
The elite protect themselves in our democracy of lobbies. Biden is certainly an obedient member. We pretty much know exactly what to expect (bank bailouts, de-regulation, etc.) that are no service to we the people, but with Trump all we can expect is a carnival strongly hedged in by established power and the chance of real chaos through his unpredictability. His recent statement that any indictment would likely bring "death and destruction" shows he cares nothing for the stability of American society. He learned nothing from Jan. 6.
I don't want to vote for Biden, but I don't want to vote for a hand grenade with the pin pulled either.
The American Empire is in more trouble than most of us realize....and who knows??? Maybe that's always the way it is when empires topple......the citizenry finds themselves with absolutely no where to go.
But at some point, a lot of us better start ignoring these dumkoffs and get busy with transitioning off fossil fuels and fossil fools. That's where the real struggle needs to be. The elites America has been keeping in power likely think their gated communities will save them.
Voting in a rigged system isn’t a rational option in pursuit of a just system. For specific outcomes on specific issues, voting can mean much to many. Biden’s infrastructure package will generate income for thousands of workers, and pregnant women in blue states have options that aren’t accorded to their counterparts in red states. In the scheme of things, these are inconsequential variants for the oligarchs, but they point to how a collective will can manifest desirable outcomes.
Now if there was to be a groundswell of opposition to low taxes, because they benefit oligarchs at the expense of everyone else, that would likely be ignored, but it could be a useful tool for educating the working poor.
To me, I think a constructive use of my time and energy is to identify persons and groups that are articulating and espousing what I want. I don’t want an illegitimate government, or a fake electoral process, and I don’t want billionaires to own what no one should own. And most importantly, I don’t want half of every dollar I pay in tax being funneled into weaponry and war. I do want a legal system and a political process unaltered by monies from any and everybody.
Right now, Bernie Sanders is making a modest effort to be an option for a wide majority of Americans who are unrepresented and hungry for leadership that hears them. Unfortunately, the masses are barely whispering. Sanders is proscribed from saying and doing anything that undermines the Democrat Party, which provides him a platform to lobby for higher taxes on the oligarchs and healthcare as a right of birth.
Sanders, I think because he is in the media light, is easily portrayed as a blowhard, out of touch, boring and without a substantial following. In his heart, I think Sanders is a small-d democrat, who knows the fakery of the system of which he is part, and probably understands that the corrupted are highly unlikely to reform themselves. But, as I noted, he gets a stage and a microphone, and that’s got to roil the oligarchs and right-wing elites.
So I guess now is a good time to protest militarism, a subject that Sanders cannot address directly. If Americans can regularly protest militarism and all of the killing that out government underwrites, then I think I want to be among them.
Sanders has a bad habit of kissing the hand that slapped him. And it's not eleven dimensional chess, as he does this over and over. Less self-respect than a whipped dog.
The time for a mild-mannered, rule-following, norms-abiding incremental reformer is long past. If any politician will make change happen, it is a Huey P. Long.
You may not respect him for being transparently honest, but I find it refreshing and an affront to my cynical side. Clinton could have been Huey Long, but like Kennedy he would not have been spared. If this country is ever to have moral leadership, I think it will have to be a grass roots movement. I’m not holding my breath.
What exactly were you expecting? If he can blow the same tune repeatedly, over and over and the public yawns, what are his options? It’s one thing to turn a deaf ear, but you want to cast him as the problem? That’s some BS you’re slinging. As the country spirals into further and further economic imbalance, as billionaires grow in numbers and total control, a non-threatening voice for peaceful change is our last hope to preempt civic violence on an unprecedented scale.
His mistake was believing he had to remain loyal to the DP. Instead he should have jumped ship and declared himself free of it. At some point we have to have someone who will stand clear of both parties because they are equally protective of established 1% power. Even the Squad has bent the knee. We the people need a stimulating leader to follow who will take all risks to bring change. Bernie said the right things and has the integrity of long service following up with what attempts at legislation but in the crunch he gave in.
I don't cast Sanders as the problem, although he does dissipate energy that could be used for productive purposes and otherwise tells voters to fall in line.
Anyway, if violence is to be avoided, the sort of unthreatening pleas for crumbs from the master's table isn't what will accomplish that.
AN interesting perspective on what you can do down there. Makes sense to me.
As to Bernie Sanders.........he is much more popular in Canada I think. We have a history of respecting socialist ideas, even if we didn't have the chutzpah to vote for them. Tommy Douglas has some similarities to Bernie. We admire Bernie for his persistence, in the face of your free market none sense of the last few years.
Imagine not being able to afford single payer health care; but funding military bases everywhere, and regime change thuggey??? No problem.
Never mind that....imagine how much money your elites like the Kochtopus alliance, have wasted seeding campus' with Chicago School borons, creating astro turf outfits, and turning much of the msm into propaganda machines.
What good social policy could have achieved with that money should make us all weep tears of pure frustration.
I am baffled by this column, especially this claim:
"Once Nixon, like Trump, attacked the centers of power"
That claim suffers major problems:
1) it is contradicted by all the acts that Hedges lists under "Why wasn't Trump prosecuted for..." each of which is evidence that Trump served and posed absolutely no risk to the "centers of power";
2) False equivalence and revisionism: Nixon never "attacked the centers of power". Nixon may have attacked elites, but not the centers of power. Chomsky's point is that the elite are self serving and the US system of justice is two tiered: one for the powerful and one for the rest of us. But that is not an argument that Nixon attacked the centers of power; and
3) Hedges has written a superb book about White Christian Nationalists Fascists, yet somehow he continues to ignore Trump's rhetorical support for fascist culture and fascist politics and the threat of consolidation of those politics into governing power.
By using his AG and Chief of Staff to violate their allegiances which directly impacted the DP, that is a clear example of displaying contempt for the rules that they all agree to observe. It mocks the institutions that insiders revere and the masses are meant to trust. These were not any elites, they were the theatrical costars.
I certainly understand the central idea, which is that there is a glaring double-standard in Washington, but when it comes to Trump and his ilk, and their tactics, my desire for his indictment, by any prosecutor, doesn't mean I absolve the duopoly for its many crimes. In my view, Trump is of a different order because he honestly has no shame, unlike Nixon, who at least had the dignity to leave the stage for a time after being publicly humiliated. Trump is more dangerous because he has neither humility or the capacity for shame.
Perhaps he honestly believes that everyone who is against him is EVIL....part of the conspiratorial Swamp, out to get him because he serves the people.
Remember, Narcissism is a disease.....and it has infected many during the years of neoliberal individualism....living for #1 only destroys the human soul, since humans are social animals, and like termites................almost totally useless in isolation.
Not so hard to understand. Neoliberalism went the small government, low taxes, deregulate everything route......on the assumption that private entrepreneurs knew better than government what would bring prosperity....its an intensely individualistic ideology.
But if you buy into it...after a while, you can become a victim of your own success...you know, the 'self made white man' assumptions....
And if competition is what makes the world go around, than its everyone against everyone else at some point.
That is the sense in which I see right wing capitalist neoliberalism as a system that produces narcissists like the Donald.......the system game him carte blanche....no matter how many times he cheated or screwed up, he was bailed out. No wonder he thinks he's invincible....and always right without having to do any research or study.
HE IS AMERICA'S IDEAL PRODUCT. If you continue to believe in the free market, the free speech idea, and Rand type libertarianism. : Those are all concepts with narcissism built in.
As I said.......a disease of he neoliberal ideology. Especially if you take it literally, as many with little culture but a love of money and success obviously do.
I don’t think a psychological condition can be attributed to cultural mores or political beliefs. Certainly a particular environment can attract a variety of personalities and attitudes, and some of them may offend the sensibilities of many people, but there’s no scientific basis to suggest that there is a causal relationship between neoliberalism and narcissism.
Just like there's no 'scientific basis' behind the observations that Corporations attract psychopaths...lol. However, if you look at what corporations value....at how they operate.....and at the ease with which their CEO's lie under pressure...........and then you do a quick scan through the psychological list of psychopathic symptoms.........you see a correlation.
Now most CEOs would likely fail the scientific test for psychpathy.........but if they haven't completely arrived they are certainly headed in that direction.
Similarly, an economic ideology that believes in what neoliberalism continues to believe in, will to my mind inevitably produce people who'd good opinion of themselves is completely out of wack with the reality. I may be seeing this because of a great book I've read recently called WINNERS STAKE ALL, the Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
In the case of business philanthropy.........neoliberalism has produced a lot of 'do gooder', good for nothings........who sincerely believe that they change the world while enriching themselves.
And if that's not a good enough definition of neoliberal freemarket capitalist narcissism, I don't know what is.
"... than its (sic) everyone against everyone else..." - that refutes your earlier statement that humans are social animals.
Also, narcissism cannot be a disease of neoliberal ideology. It's named after Narcissus, a hunter from Greek mythology - the body of tales originating in Ancient Greece. Putting aside the myth aspect, there is some degree of creation through observation in these myths. Thus, Narcissus may not have been real but the concepts involved in this level of self-adoration must certainly have been around, even millennia ago.
By contrast, neoliberalism seeks to revive 19th Century economic ideas. It has its roots in the mid to late 20th Century.
Thus, you might rightly debate that narcissists are susceptible to neoliberal ideology but you cannot say that neoliberalism fosters narcissism. The historical record is far too loaded with narcissists for them to have only emerged a few decades ago.
This is a sterile argument we're having Cathy. I'm an English major, retired English teacher. I know the roots of the word.
Nor am I making a definitional statement....when I say neoliberalism encourages narcissism....I'm talking about tendencies. I'm from the western Canadian CCF...a socialist party that with the help of the Great Depression, got enough of us to understand we stand together or fall alone. We have a single payer health care system because of 'socialism' Cathy....but I don't know if we'd be able to achieve it today. Your big country certainly hasn't done so. I thank the last 40 years of neoliberalism, from Regan and Thatcher....for that failure.
Still, I wouldn't claim that our social democracy obliterated selfishness....or that claiming we are social creatures (who need each other) obliterates the pathology of extreme self love.
As to your understanding of the economics of neoliberalism, I don't disagree.....but there are consequences of totalizing economic theories that extend beyond moneygrubbing.
Although.........a love of money and a love of self tend to dance together more often than we might admit. It's likely why so many of your political representatives could stand up and vote that Socialism is an evil............inspite of all the needs Americans have that can only be achieved if people work together for the good of all. A working definition of socialism where I come from.
I could go further and suggest that Free Market Capitalism creates narcissists.......folks with no moral compass apart from their own self interests. I don't think that argument would be totally without merit. And of course, excessive self love has always existed: In the American neoliberal Empire it is encouraged and rewarded....so of course, it proliferates.
That's all I'm suggesting........to believe selfish greed is good........and automatically makes the society better.........has to be a belief of narcissists......
I think Nixon wanted people to respect him and possibly love him. Trump couldn’t care less. They’re both liars, but Nixon didn’t have Trump’s damaged psyche, and lying for Nixon was always instrumental, but for Trump it’s embedded in his warped character.
Good point....Trump is the more damaged, and I have to admit, there's a deep part of me that feels sorry for him. I always remind myself that most of the worst of us, were once little children....as sweet and open as my grand babies.
It's horrific what life does to some of us..........even the most privileged of us.
Indeed. But they are seeking something to charge him with that they can't be charged with when the goes around comes around. Thus they will say nothing about Soleimani, our illegal occupation of Iraq and Syria or any of the other imperial transgressions that the US power elite perpetrate on a regular basis.
All too true. It’s a cliche at this point, but the analogy to the Al Capone case is clear: We don’t care what he goes down for, so long as he goes down. Like Cornel West said to the clueless Bill Maher years ago, all US presidents are war criminals. The issue this column underscores is why the American people don’t mind. Just as it did when I was young and protested the Vietnam war, manufacturing consent continues to mean manufacturing murder. And the root question will haunt us: Would Ukraine have been invaded with Trump in power? Would he possibly, as Christian Parenti obliquely implied to Trump’s own boast, have been some version of a “Peace President“? We’ll never know the answer, but it’s enough to contemplate the odd notion that his boast was appealing to his base.
"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."
Exactly. And it is why I supported him and will continue to support him unless a better version of anti establishment leadership rises.
Our system is supposed to be government by the people, of the people and for the people... not government by the coastal elite ruling class, of the coastal elite ruling class and for the coastal elite ruling class. Elites should have a seat at the table... that is all.
We need changes to the system. The first should be term limits.
You sound just like Mitch McConnell. Is he your buddy?
The system is rigged so new members don't have any power and are forced to commit fealty to the establishment that is run by the long-term career politicians. The design of the system is government by the people, of the people and for the people.... not by, of and fore the ruling class. The longer a politician is in the legislature, the more he/she becomes entrenched and out of touch with the people. The more risk that the politician is involved in self-dealing.
Term limits are needed because politics is played now as a media branding game, and the sheeple vote for name recognition. Also, term limits would reduce the campaign spending as the incumbent terms out.
Well yes, but I would have liked a little less Trump bashing ( we all know he is vulgar, corrupt and inept). To be even handed Mr Hedges should at least mention Hunter Biden and his massive payments from a Ukrainian oil company for "consulting". Now the United State is at war to support Ukraine. Is there a money connection? Who knows? How revolting that such a question can be asked. But it can be.
This seems like an order of magnitude worse than anything Trump or his tacky children ever did.
Hunter Biden is not a public official, nor has he ever been one. He is not and has never been president. However, his father is the current president and Mr Hedges does mention him, along with many others.
Brilliant article, thank you. A pox on the uniparty! The criminal state needs to be charged and convicted and banished to a small uninhabited island somewhere. We the people must take control!
Trump is a flawed Toto - self-interested and narcissistic for sure, but he did put his teeth into the curtain and pulled it open, and now honest people can’t unsee what they saw, and still see.
It's safe to say that any revelations he brought forth were purely unintentional. He's like the child menace shouting profanities at the top of his lungs in the grocery store, much to his parents' dismay.
so well said. Thank you for your analysis. I am always a little richer after reading your articles. My sense or despair remains heavy, but understanding it helps
Wow, what a stunner this is. Including that it hadn't occurred to me to deal with Presidents about the horrors of our imperialism and the insanity of war. But it makes sense that it's not on agendas of either party because they all do it, so none of them blows whistles as we scream helplessly at the horror show. I'm gettign my whistle out now!
Some say the real reason Nixon went down is because he took the US out of the gold standard. Powerful forces attacked to get even. A fantastic book "The Power Worshippers" by Katherine Stewart is an expose of Religious Nationalism that has tied their horse to MAGA. The main architects are the Koch brothers and their fellow Oligarchs. With John Birch mentality learned from father Koch who started the group in the 1950's. It morphed into the Tea Party with Right Wing Evangelicals, who are pushing for a Christian Theocracy. All the Bills that target Abortion and anti "woke" thought is rampant amongst them. They have an army of Clergy who promote Republican's with targeted messaging gleaned from sophisticated data mining, Invisible power is their most powerful weapon. The "utility of the data consists in the ability to interact selectively and individually with voters". Individual's get a point system for their views, i.e. members of conservative churches, if they homeschool, oppose marriage equality or abortion rights. Also for interests like hunting, fishing or following NASCAR. A total score of 600 points proves your worth to them. 600 pointers are targeted for voter registration. They have an army of recruiters called "champions". With dogma like. When "Gods righteous rule, the people rejoice and when the wicked rule, the people groan". The political duopoly of the past as bad as it is will seem like the good old days once they cement their power. The duopoly is impotent, the people confused, white Christian political power on the march before us, is at the point of Nuremberg Laws in Pre Holocaust Germany. The MSM in collusion never speak of, or call out the American Oligarchs behind the scene. America is sleep walking into a fascist state that will resemble Orwell's warning of a "Boot on a Human Face Forever" and remember he said "Forever" twice!
The saddest part of all this is that amerikans are gonna be confined to the same old choices in 2024, yeah maybe trump Vs an aged & incompetent neolib or a middle aged & incompetent neolib, but that is no choice, cos even if drumpf did win we already know that he lacks the support & the skill to effect a meaningful change to the 'perennially at war empire' and in fact his Sinophobic rhetoric could have him boasting his way to ww3 with China.
amerikan voters find themselves in a classic lose:lose game. If they want to create a new party free of the toxic associations of the two extant parties, the only way it can be done is via being established in most state legislatures, that is gonna take at least 3 terms including winning power in some states.
So maybe if they were very lucky the 'new' party will be 16 years old before it could be a viable challenge to the prezdency; not a new party at all but by then an old established party which after having held power in state legislatures will have developed most of the toxic aspects & connections of the existing parties.
There is simply no way for a new broom to sweep through the hill and I cannot help but think the founding fathers saw that as a feature rather than a bug.
I agree that "entrenched power of the ruling duopoly" is a big problem, but "undermining the peaceable transfer of power" is a bigger problem, even if it's "from one branch of the duopoly to the other." How are we going to get rid of the duopoly without even that vestige of democratic process?
This essay is on the mark.
The only trouble is, Trump's obsession with himself at whatever cost it may be to anyone or anything else, puts complete unpredictability in the White House. Yes, the elite is out to get him, but for the rest of us he is also a very dangerous character with no guidelines in his personal behavior that show regard to any accountability. He will do and say anything to at least preserve if not gain power, the perfect example being the incident where he held up a bible for the symbolism, but at another point could not give a single example of anything in the bible that meant anything to him. Nothing is off limits.
My point is that he is nobody's friend, not any individual or any group if his ego is offended. What a parade we had of dismissed office holders, none of whom had anything good to say about Trump when they were free to do so. Michael Cohen's book, Disloyal, is a must read.
Given the truth of your essay, what is the voter to do? When the American pubic is given a choice or there is a possibility of that, it goes nowhere. Jill Stein, no insider, got 1% of the vote. Bernie got shuffled off the stage by the Hillary machine.
The elite protect themselves in our democracy of lobbies. Biden is certainly an obedient member. We pretty much know exactly what to expect (bank bailouts, de-regulation, etc.) that are no service to we the people, but with Trump all we can expect is a carnival strongly hedged in by established power and the chance of real chaos through his unpredictability. His recent statement that any indictment would likely bring "death and destruction" shows he cares nothing for the stability of American society. He learned nothing from Jan. 6.
I don't want to vote for Biden, but I don't want to vote for a hand grenade with the pin pulled either.
The American Empire is in more trouble than most of us realize....and who knows??? Maybe that's always the way it is when empires topple......the citizenry finds themselves with absolutely no where to go.
But at some point, a lot of us better start ignoring these dumkoffs and get busy with transitioning off fossil fuels and fossil fools. That's where the real struggle needs to be. The elites America has been keeping in power likely think their gated communities will save them.
They won't.
Voting in a rigged system isn’t a rational option in pursuit of a just system. For specific outcomes on specific issues, voting can mean much to many. Biden’s infrastructure package will generate income for thousands of workers, and pregnant women in blue states have options that aren’t accorded to their counterparts in red states. In the scheme of things, these are inconsequential variants for the oligarchs, but they point to how a collective will can manifest desirable outcomes.
Now if there was to be a groundswell of opposition to low taxes, because they benefit oligarchs at the expense of everyone else, that would likely be ignored, but it could be a useful tool for educating the working poor.
https://mronline.org/2023/03/20/peace-rallies-held-in-washington-dc-to-protest-u-s-militarism/
To me, I think a constructive use of my time and energy is to identify persons and groups that are articulating and espousing what I want. I don’t want an illegitimate government, or a fake electoral process, and I don’t want billionaires to own what no one should own. And most importantly, I don’t want half of every dollar I pay in tax being funneled into weaponry and war. I do want a legal system and a political process unaltered by monies from any and everybody.
Right now, Bernie Sanders is making a modest effort to be an option for a wide majority of Americans who are unrepresented and hungry for leadership that hears them. Unfortunately, the masses are barely whispering. Sanders is proscribed from saying and doing anything that undermines the Democrat Party, which provides him a platform to lobby for higher taxes on the oligarchs and healthcare as a right of birth.
Sanders, I think because he is in the media light, is easily portrayed as a blowhard, out of touch, boring and without a substantial following. In his heart, I think Sanders is a small-d democrat, who knows the fakery of the system of which he is part, and probably understands that the corrupted are highly unlikely to reform themselves. But, as I noted, he gets a stage and a microphone, and that’s got to roil the oligarchs and right-wing elites.
So I guess now is a good time to protest militarism, a subject that Sanders cannot address directly. If Americans can regularly protest militarism and all of the killing that out government underwrites, then I think I want to be among them.
Sanders has a bad habit of kissing the hand that slapped him. And it's not eleven dimensional chess, as he does this over and over. Less self-respect than a whipped dog.
The time for a mild-mannered, rule-following, norms-abiding incremental reformer is long past. If any politician will make change happen, it is a Huey P. Long.
You may not respect him for being transparently honest, but I find it refreshing and an affront to my cynical side. Clinton could have been Huey Long, but like Kennedy he would not have been spared. If this country is ever to have moral leadership, I think it will have to be a grass roots movement. I’m not holding my breath.
Betraying one's followers is hardly transparency or honesty.
He’s purchasing a stage and mic.
Even taking that statement as given, since Sanders refuses to do anything with this stage and mic and just meekly falls in line, it doesn't matter.
What exactly were you expecting? If he can blow the same tune repeatedly, over and over and the public yawns, what are his options? It’s one thing to turn a deaf ear, but you want to cast him as the problem? That’s some BS you’re slinging. As the country spirals into further and further economic imbalance, as billionaires grow in numbers and total control, a non-threatening voice for peaceful change is our last hope to preempt civic violence on an unprecedented scale.
His mistake was believing he had to remain loyal to the DP. Instead he should have jumped ship and declared himself free of it. At some point we have to have someone who will stand clear of both parties because they are equally protective of established 1% power. Even the Squad has bent the knee. We the people need a stimulating leader to follow who will take all risks to bring change. Bernie said the right things and has the integrity of long service following up with what attempts at legislation but in the crunch he gave in.
I don't cast Sanders as the problem, although he does dissipate energy that could be used for productive purposes and otherwise tells voters to fall in line.
Anyway, if violence is to be avoided, the sort of unthreatening pleas for crumbs from the master's table isn't what will accomplish that.
AN interesting perspective on what you can do down there. Makes sense to me.
As to Bernie Sanders.........he is much more popular in Canada I think. We have a history of respecting socialist ideas, even if we didn't have the chutzpah to vote for them. Tommy Douglas has some similarities to Bernie. We admire Bernie for his persistence, in the face of your free market none sense of the last few years.
Imagine not being able to afford single payer health care; but funding military bases everywhere, and regime change thuggey??? No problem.
Never mind that....imagine how much money your elites like the Kochtopus alliance, have wasted seeding campus' with Chicago School borons, creating astro turf outfits, and turning much of the msm into propaganda machines.
What good social policy could have achieved with that money should make us all weep tears of pure frustration.
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Emma GOLDMAN
Then, vote for a third party with new politicians.
"Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason." Mark Twain
Mr. Fish deserves congratulations for his very telling illustration of "Make Me Great Again"
I am baffled by this column, especially this claim:
"Once Nixon, like Trump, attacked the centers of power"
That claim suffers major problems:
1) it is contradicted by all the acts that Hedges lists under "Why wasn't Trump prosecuted for..." each of which is evidence that Trump served and posed absolutely no risk to the "centers of power";
2) False equivalence and revisionism: Nixon never "attacked the centers of power". Nixon may have attacked elites, but not the centers of power. Chomsky's point is that the elite are self serving and the US system of justice is two tiered: one for the powerful and one for the rest of us. But that is not an argument that Nixon attacked the centers of power; and
3) Hedges has written a superb book about White Christian Nationalists Fascists, yet somehow he continues to ignore Trump's rhetorical support for fascist culture and fascist politics and the threat of consolidation of those politics into governing power.
By using his AG and Chief of Staff to violate their allegiances which directly impacted the DP, that is a clear example of displaying contempt for the rules that they all agree to observe. It mocks the institutions that insiders revere and the masses are meant to trust. These were not any elites, they were the theatrical costars.
I certainly understand the central idea, which is that there is a glaring double-standard in Washington, but when it comes to Trump and his ilk, and their tactics, my desire for his indictment, by any prosecutor, doesn't mean I absolve the duopoly for its many crimes. In my view, Trump is of a different order because he honestly has no shame, unlike Nixon, who at least had the dignity to leave the stage for a time after being publicly humiliated. Trump is more dangerous because he has neither humility or the capacity for shame.
Perhaps he honestly believes that everyone who is against him is EVIL....part of the conspiratorial Swamp, out to get him because he serves the people.
Remember, Narcissism is a disease.....and it has infected many during the years of neoliberal individualism....living for #1 only destroys the human soul, since humans are social animals, and like termites................almost totally useless in isolation.
Useless, but dangerous none the less.
So narcissism is now a neoliberal contagion? Come on!
Not so hard to understand. Neoliberalism went the small government, low taxes, deregulate everything route......on the assumption that private entrepreneurs knew better than government what would bring prosperity....its an intensely individualistic ideology.
But if you buy into it...after a while, you can become a victim of your own success...you know, the 'self made white man' assumptions....
And if competition is what makes the world go around, than its everyone against everyone else at some point.
That is the sense in which I see right wing capitalist neoliberalism as a system that produces narcissists like the Donald.......the system game him carte blanche....no matter how many times he cheated or screwed up, he was bailed out. No wonder he thinks he's invincible....and always right without having to do any research or study.
HE IS AMERICA'S IDEAL PRODUCT. If you continue to believe in the free market, the free speech idea, and Rand type libertarianism. : Those are all concepts with narcissism built in.
As I said.......a disease of he neoliberal ideology. Especially if you take it literally, as many with little culture but a love of money and success obviously do.
I don’t think a psychological condition can be attributed to cultural mores or political beliefs. Certainly a particular environment can attract a variety of personalities and attitudes, and some of them may offend the sensibilities of many people, but there’s no scientific basis to suggest that there is a causal relationship between neoliberalism and narcissism.
Just like there's no 'scientific basis' behind the observations that Corporations attract psychopaths...lol. However, if you look at what corporations value....at how they operate.....and at the ease with which their CEO's lie under pressure...........and then you do a quick scan through the psychological list of psychopathic symptoms.........you see a correlation.
Now most CEOs would likely fail the scientific test for psychpathy.........but if they haven't completely arrived they are certainly headed in that direction.
Similarly, an economic ideology that believes in what neoliberalism continues to believe in, will to my mind inevitably produce people who'd good opinion of themselves is completely out of wack with the reality. I may be seeing this because of a great book I've read recently called WINNERS STAKE ALL, the Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
In the case of business philanthropy.........neoliberalism has produced a lot of 'do gooder', good for nothings........who sincerely believe that they change the world while enriching themselves.
And if that's not a good enough definition of neoliberal freemarket capitalist narcissism, I don't know what is.
I agree with your descriptions, but I can’t buy your medical diagnoses;)
"... than its (sic) everyone against everyone else..." - that refutes your earlier statement that humans are social animals.
Also, narcissism cannot be a disease of neoliberal ideology. It's named after Narcissus, a hunter from Greek mythology - the body of tales originating in Ancient Greece. Putting aside the myth aspect, there is some degree of creation through observation in these myths. Thus, Narcissus may not have been real but the concepts involved in this level of self-adoration must certainly have been around, even millennia ago.
By contrast, neoliberalism seeks to revive 19th Century economic ideas. It has its roots in the mid to late 20th Century.
Thus, you might rightly debate that narcissists are susceptible to neoliberal ideology but you cannot say that neoliberalism fosters narcissism. The historical record is far too loaded with narcissists for them to have only emerged a few decades ago.
This is a sterile argument we're having Cathy. I'm an English major, retired English teacher. I know the roots of the word.
Nor am I making a definitional statement....when I say neoliberalism encourages narcissism....I'm talking about tendencies. I'm from the western Canadian CCF...a socialist party that with the help of the Great Depression, got enough of us to understand we stand together or fall alone. We have a single payer health care system because of 'socialism' Cathy....but I don't know if we'd be able to achieve it today. Your big country certainly hasn't done so. I thank the last 40 years of neoliberalism, from Regan and Thatcher....for that failure.
Still, I wouldn't claim that our social democracy obliterated selfishness....or that claiming we are social creatures (who need each other) obliterates the pathology of extreme self love.
As to your understanding of the economics of neoliberalism, I don't disagree.....but there are consequences of totalizing economic theories that extend beyond moneygrubbing.
Although.........a love of money and a love of self tend to dance together more often than we might admit. It's likely why so many of your political representatives could stand up and vote that Socialism is an evil............inspite of all the needs Americans have that can only be achieved if people work together for the good of all. A working definition of socialism where I come from.
I could go further and suggest that Free Market Capitalism creates narcissists.......folks with no moral compass apart from their own self interests. I don't think that argument would be totally without merit. And of course, excessive self love has always existed: In the American neoliberal Empire it is encouraged and rewarded....so of course, it proliferates.
That's all I'm suggesting........to believe selfish greed is good........and automatically makes the society better.........has to be a belief of narcissists......
Or Morons.
I think Nixon wanted people to respect him and possibly love him. Trump couldn’t care less. They’re both liars, but Nixon didn’t have Trump’s damaged psyche, and lying for Nixon was always instrumental, but for Trump it’s embedded in his warped character.
Good point....Trump is the more damaged, and I have to admit, there's a deep part of me that feels sorry for him. I always remind myself that most of the worst of us, were once little children....as sweet and open as my grand babies.
It's horrific what life does to some of us..........even the most privileged of us.
To hear his niece who is a judge, his upbringing was emotional abuse. And abusers abuse if they are left untreated.
Yes....he fits the bill in many ways.
Of course.
I detest Trump, but it is obvious that his enemies are seeking any pretext on which to charge him.
Indeed. But they are seeking something to charge him with that they can't be charged with when the goes around comes around. Thus they will say nothing about Soleimani, our illegal occupation of Iraq and Syria or any of the other imperial transgressions that the US power elite perpetrate on a regular basis.
All too true. It’s a cliche at this point, but the analogy to the Al Capone case is clear: We don’t care what he goes down for, so long as he goes down. Like Cornel West said to the clueless Bill Maher years ago, all US presidents are war criminals. The issue this column underscores is why the American people don’t mind. Just as it did when I was young and protested the Vietnam war, manufacturing consent continues to mean manufacturing murder. And the root question will haunt us: Would Ukraine have been invaded with Trump in power? Would he possibly, as Christian Parenti obliquely implied to Trump’s own boast, have been some version of a “Peace President“? We’ll never know the answer, but it’s enough to contemplate the odd notion that his boast was appealing to his base.
Thanks for the Cornel West quote. I love it.
The truth can be so enlivening!!
"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."
Exactly. And it is why I supported him and will continue to support him unless a better version of anti establishment leadership rises.
Our system is supposed to be government by the people, of the people and for the people... not government by the coastal elite ruling class, of the coastal elite ruling class and for the coastal elite ruling class. Elites should have a seat at the table... that is all.
We need changes to the system. The first should be term limits.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is considering a run for President 😁
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/03/26/will-we-see-another-kennedy-in-the-white-house.aspx
I think he could win!
Yeah!
Stephanie,
VP?
Nope!
I was asking if you have any ideas of a running mate for Robert F Kennedy Jr? Hispanic? Female?
If term limits are your thing, Trump may not be your guy.
To get rid of Trump next time we would have to drag him from the White House pulling his ear while he screams and kicks.
Violence seems to be a left thing.
Huh?
We have term limits. It's called our vote
You sound just like Mitch McConnell. Is he your buddy?
The system is rigged so new members don't have any power and are forced to commit fealty to the establishment that is run by the long-term career politicians. The design of the system is government by the people, of the people and for the people.... not by, of and fore the ruling class. The longer a politician is in the legislature, the more he/she becomes entrenched and out of touch with the people. The more risk that the politician is involved in self-dealing.
Term limits are needed because politics is played now as a media branding game, and the sheeple vote for name recognition. Also, term limits would reduce the campaign spending as the incumbent terms out.
Well yes, but I would have liked a little less Trump bashing ( we all know he is vulgar, corrupt and inept). To be even handed Mr Hedges should at least mention Hunter Biden and his massive payments from a Ukrainian oil company for "consulting". Now the United State is at war to support Ukraine. Is there a money connection? Who knows? How revolting that such a question can be asked. But it can be.
This seems like an order of magnitude worse than anything Trump or his tacky children ever did.
Hunter Biden is not a public official, nor has he ever been one. He is not and has never been president. However, his father is the current president and Mr Hedges does mention him, along with many others.
This^^
Brilliant article, thank you. A pox on the uniparty! The criminal state needs to be charged and convicted and banished to a small uninhabited island somewhere. We the people must take control!
Perhaps it is not the state, per sae that is useless, but the corporate Useless operators who have seized it???
A complex country needs governance; it doesn't need self serving elites working for Big Corporations.
We'll know things are getting better when there's a vote in your Congress to acknowledge the mistake they made recently, calling Socialism evil.
Not Socialism, privileged ones........but Corporatism. Outlaw what's killing people, not what might bring them together.
Trump is a flawed Toto - self-interested and narcissistic for sure, but he did put his teeth into the curtain and pulled it open, and now honest people can’t unsee what they saw, and still see.
It's safe to say that any revelations he brought forth were purely unintentional. He's like the child menace shouting profanities at the top of his lungs in the grocery store, much to his parents' dismay.
so well said. Thank you for your analysis. I am always a little richer after reading your articles. My sense or despair remains heavy, but understanding it helps
Uh Oh Chris, Blue Maga is gonna go crazy on you now!
Mr Hedges, have you catalogued Biden’s crimes, yet? They are as myriad as Trump’s.
Wow, what a stunner this is. Including that it hadn't occurred to me to deal with Presidents about the horrors of our imperialism and the insanity of war. But it makes sense that it's not on agendas of either party because they all do it, so none of them blows whistles as we scream helplessly at the horror show. I'm gettign my whistle out now!
Some say the real reason Nixon went down is because he took the US out of the gold standard. Powerful forces attacked to get even. A fantastic book "The Power Worshippers" by Katherine Stewart is an expose of Religious Nationalism that has tied their horse to MAGA. The main architects are the Koch brothers and their fellow Oligarchs. With John Birch mentality learned from father Koch who started the group in the 1950's. It morphed into the Tea Party with Right Wing Evangelicals, who are pushing for a Christian Theocracy. All the Bills that target Abortion and anti "woke" thought is rampant amongst them. They have an army of Clergy who promote Republican's with targeted messaging gleaned from sophisticated data mining, Invisible power is their most powerful weapon. The "utility of the data consists in the ability to interact selectively and individually with voters". Individual's get a point system for their views, i.e. members of conservative churches, if they homeschool, oppose marriage equality or abortion rights. Also for interests like hunting, fishing or following NASCAR. A total score of 600 points proves your worth to them. 600 pointers are targeted for voter registration. They have an army of recruiters called "champions". With dogma like. When "Gods righteous rule, the people rejoice and when the wicked rule, the people groan". The political duopoly of the past as bad as it is will seem like the good old days once they cement their power. The duopoly is impotent, the people confused, white Christian political power on the march before us, is at the point of Nuremberg Laws in Pre Holocaust Germany. The MSM in collusion never speak of, or call out the American Oligarchs behind the scene. America is sleep walking into a fascist state that will resemble Orwell's warning of a "Boot on a Human Face Forever" and remember he said "Forever" twice!
The saddest part of all this is that amerikans are gonna be confined to the same old choices in 2024, yeah maybe trump Vs an aged & incompetent neolib or a middle aged & incompetent neolib, but that is no choice, cos even if drumpf did win we already know that he lacks the support & the skill to effect a meaningful change to the 'perennially at war empire' and in fact his Sinophobic rhetoric could have him boasting his way to ww3 with China.
amerikan voters find themselves in a classic lose:lose game. If they want to create a new party free of the toxic associations of the two extant parties, the only way it can be done is via being established in most state legislatures, that is gonna take at least 3 terms including winning power in some states.
So maybe if they were very lucky the 'new' party will be 16 years old before it could be a viable challenge to the prezdency; not a new party at all but by then an old established party which after having held power in state legislatures will have developed most of the toxic aspects & connections of the existing parties.
There is simply no way for a new broom to sweep through the hill and I cannot help but think the founding fathers saw that as a feature rather than a bug.
I agree that "entrenched power of the ruling duopoly" is a big problem, but "undermining the peaceable transfer of power" is a bigger problem, even if it's "from one branch of the duopoly to the other." How are we going to get rid of the duopoly without even that vestige of democratic process?