We have got so used to the United States being an extremely violent danger to the rest of the world, that the prospect of it internalising its violence is fascinating as well as horrifying. I am hopeful that it is not however likely.
I have to admit I thought Trump was smarter. I expected him to fight for an election result good enough to give him some leverage, and then at a point about about 36 hours ago start to negotiating with Biden for immunity for his family and himself, no tax investigations, and perhaps some continued government boosting of his business affairs, in return for a concession in the election. One thing we know from Burisma and China is that old Joe Biden loves a bung, so I was expecting comfortable understandings to be reached between two immoral and grasping old men. I thought I possessed a fair store of worldly wisdom, but plainly I underrated how crazy Trump is.
The American political system is plainly broken. The Democrats almost managed to fail to defeat Trump, having yet again managed to ensure that the poor electorate was given the choice of two horribly unattractive candidates. The Electoral College system came within an inch of reimposing Trump against the wishes of a large majority of the popular vote.
I do know all the arguments for the electoral college system, that it gives a counterbalance to the huge populations of the cities and coasts and allows rural states to protect their interests. But what it means in the real world is that the votes of conservative white people have disproportionate effect. If Trump had won due to this system, the strain on the fabric of the American body politic would have been – rather like the strain on the UK from Scots being permanently ruled by English Tories. Californian votes in effect are worth less than other votes because they have to be discounted in electoral college representation, because there are so many Californians. Biden having squeaked it removes the acuity of this sore, but the sore is still there waiting to burst out again in 2024.
Having been wrong about Trump backing out, I am reluctant to predict further. My instincts are that Trump’s gun touting fanatics are blowhards and while I fear there may be a few fatalities and incidents, mostly this is going to fizzle out in a series of dead-end lawsuits. I don’t see widespread rioting by “deplorables”, rather long term nursing of grievance. I have no expectation at all that a Biden administration will carry our any meaningful social and economic reform to improve the lives of those whose feelings of alienation were manipulated so adroitly by Trump.
It is typical of the shallowness of the identity politics which have replaced real attempts at social progress and economic improvement for ordinary people, that we are supposed to be celebrating that Kamala Harris will be Vice President on the grounds of her gender and race, when she is a power hungry right winger of the most hardened kind.
America urgently needs a radical dose of social and economic reform as championed by Bernie Sanders. It needs the Green New Deal, and the world needs a real commitment in Washington to environmentalism. One prediction of which I am very confident is that we are not going to see any genuinely significant action on any of this. None of Trump’s poorer supporters will be changing their political minds due to an improvement in their livelihood and prospects over the next four years.
Of one thing I am sure; I am pleased for those who feel released tonight from a regime rooted in racism, and I hope they are right that Trump will now fade away into irrelevance. But as the social and economic position of middle class Americans continues to deteriorate, one thing will be plain in future. Trump was not the cause of America’s problems, he was only a symptom. The future is not bright.
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The idea is that by electing Biden, everything is back to normal. Corporate interests and oligarchs get back to their purchasable politicians. Secrets, previously exposed, can be re-hidden. The career politicians are back in charge, able to vote until they retire, then pull in the foundations and think tank posts to fund their retirement. State department can go back to running color revolutions, so the hedge fund investors can pick up cheap commodity producers.
Except, nothing will be the same. If the constitution and American institutions don’t protect the choices and ideals of Americans, what use are they? Biden coming in, on the back of a flawed election system that left the appearance of illegitimacy, even if it was all done correctly, will stand in front of 48% of Americans and will not be able to persuade them – a lame duck, who will push the corporatist’s globalist agenda and slowly raise the ire, not just of the Trumpists, who already see him as illegitimate, but also of a left that starts to understand that globalism is not in the interest of working people, and that ‘college-educated’ are selling them out on lines of ‘thought purity’.
Trump means the apathy has gone. Politicians and institutions are under scrutiny. Cosy old Congress, and pals-act Senate are under scrutiny. The backlash against the political careerists, and the interagency is not over, and nothing is now the same.
Trump for all his bluster and twitter rants, didn’t trouble the ‘Deep State’ much at all. Mike Pompeo and John Bolton are as deep state as it gets and they ended up US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser respectively. The one person who could have guided Trump, former White House strategist Steve Bannon was forced to submit his resignation in lieu of being fired, in what seems like an early fit of pique(Aug 2017), allegedly because of derogatory remarks Bannon made questioning Ivanka’s intelligence.
Aye, Boris will be rehearsing his pronunciation – Salve, Mr President Bid-on… splutter splash….Mr President Bye-don. I have always been a supporter of your… er um,strategies, yes strategies for, ….er um.
jJings, if only my… um.. parents had sent me… um… to Eton, what a chancer I could have become.
Enjoying your comments Tatyana.
Donald Trump is having a freakout. The best thing that can be said is that when a person is engaged in such behaviour they might as well enjoy it. They might as well scream themselves hoarse too. In his latest post to the Twitter website (“tweet”), he asserts simply “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT! (Picture the chin jut.) Sure, mate, ‘course you did. It’s impossible not to have just a little bit of sympathy with a fellow human being who is embarrassing himself so much – or would be, if he could experience embarrassment. Just 25th him before he hurts himself, and before he tries to fire off a nuclear warhead at California or something, hurting many more people than just himself.
Never let it be said that the guy isn’t truly “great” at playing the character known as “himself” to large audiences.
Yep… he’s gone feral!
http://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/communication-success/201807/8-signs-narcissistic-rage%3famp
“Like a spoiled child who throws a tantrum when not catered to, the narcissist attempts to use their “rage” to coerce their targets (victims) to give in. At the same time, the intense “drama” distracts the narcissist from the inner pain and inadequacy of not constantly worshipped on a pedestal (narcissistic supply). The narcissist falls apart, psychologically and emotionally, at the prospect of not being “special,” “unique,” or “above others.” “
” It’s impossible not to have just a little bit of sympathy with a fellow human being who is embarrassing himself so much”
Oh no it isn’t.
N
You have had plenty of freakouts yourself and I have enjoyed each and every one of them. Thankfully you do not have access to anything dangerous unlike Trump.
Britnat Labour in Scotland – 1 MP out of a possible 59 and he acts like a Tory anyway. 13% in the polls – couldn’t have happened to a more deserving party.
I may be minority, but I think the election of Biden may be the best for Britain.
1) Biden’s enthusiasm for his Irish ancestry means no playing with the Good Friday agreement.
2) Biden’s lack of contact with Johnson means lack of enthusiasm for Brexit.
3) Biden is projecting good contacts with the EU.
Frankly the project Brexit is in trouble now. How is clever clever Johnson going to resolve it?
Fairly or unfairly, Johnson risks being indelibly associated with Trump in the US.
Remember Trump saying at a rally: “Boris is good. They call him Britain’s Trump”, Johnson did nothing to distance himself from the idea the two were close, even if that’s not entirely accurate.
Precisely so. Will the new regime in Washington decide what Johnson does? Likely. I should think Johnson is in consultation, as to his future actions.
The first clue might come from watching a UK – EU Brexit deal miraculously being struck over the course of the next week. No doubt Johnson will be coy about what he’s backed down on and agreed to.
Playing hardball with the EU when the US has a more EU friendly administration suddenly makes less sense.
if you remember the old cowboy movies the Cavalry used to say: Kill the chief and his followers will surrender.
The Chief is dead ( metaphorically ) and yes the residue will have a crack at a few forts but the US is settling into business (and it’s all about business – Republican or Democrat ) AS USUAL.
The problem is Covid is not business as usual and the economies of the Neo – liberal Western world has no idea as to how to reconcile the contradiction of what is good for business is not good for the populace.
Their policies are not about investment and protection – it is just blind panic and spending with no view of the future.
In the Land of the Free Nothing will fundamenally change – and it won’t.
L,
Not Trump nor any potus can ‘play’ with the GFA – it is a international treaty guaranteed least of all by the EU. Bozo and DRC are as tied as the Reps. Good relations with the EU would entail getting the hell out of Europe after the Soviet threat disappeared decades ago. Stopping the expansion of NATO and demanding ‘fire insurance’ payments from all members. Or in letting Nordstream 3,4 5…keep the American industry and shipped LNG in a terminal downspin.
I doubt Joe/Hillary and the Ukraine nazi civil war promotors are interested in good relations with the EU. More than a restoration of the hagemony that loosened under Trumps ministrations! ( not accidentally in my opinion)
As well as the electoral college there’s the issue of having an executive president in the first place. The post is far too close to that of a monarch. Trump only lost the popular vote to Clinton by 2% and it’s easy to conceive of such a character being elected by one-person one-vote.
Executive presidencies are a potential nightmare. If ever the UK becomes a republic, it’d have to be a ceremonial presidency.
When functioning properly the US system, with its separation of powers should, in theory, act as a check on the President. The culture wars and polarisation and extreme partisan behaviour in the US is a relatively recent phenomena, and the situation whereby the House and Senate leaders were so beholden shows how much power Trump had over the Republican party – they were scared of him and his MAGA supporters.
The POTUS is far from being a monarch, as the events of the new election show.
The fact that one person is entrusted with all that power is very much monarch like. Not absolute monarch-like, as in say KSA, but with House and Senate onside with servile leaderships, and judicial branch stuffed with sympathetic judges (Supreme Court of the US), that’s an awful lot of power invested in one individual.
He’s certainly more monarch-like than a waste-of-space queen.
The only full control the potus has over any branch of government is being the CiC of the Armed Forces.
He had used that power to NOT put more boots on the ground as every turf has done since… forever!
Who says Biden won except the Mockingbird media? There is evidence that lots of dead people voted Biden, that voting machines flipped Trump votes to Biden, that USPS stamped mail in votes that came in on the 4th the 3rd so they could be counted, “Biden won” is pure gaslighting, we need to see what the courts say before anyone can be legally declared a winner.
Exactly!
It is not just the Mockingbird media who are calling it for Biden. His friends in the Murdoch Empire, including Fox News are doing the same.
I despise Trump supporters almost as much as I despise capitalism.
Actually, I agree. Though no Trump supporter, I dont support Biden either. There were clearly lots of doubtful things going on here. And long before the US Elections I have always been opposed to mail-in voting because it is so clearly open to widespread abuse.
«The Electoral College system came within an inch of reimposing Trump against the wishes of a large majority of the popular vote.»
In an FPTP election especially in the USA presidential one the popular vote is a poor indicator of the will of the majority because most states are “safe” for one party or another, and therefore many voters won’t bother voting, and the effect is highly non-symmetric. Also for example in 2016 D Trump won the popular vote in every state except California, with the popular vote in California going to H Clinton with such a large margin that it was higher than the margin for D Trump in all the other states.
Democratic activists claimed that a large part of that margin in California was thanks to their organising the vote of illegal immigrants in that state…
«I do know all the arguments for the electoral college system […] the votes of conservative white people have disproportionate effect.»
What about the votes of californians overriding the popular vote in the rest of the country? Wouldn’t that be a disproportionate effect?
«If Trump had won due to this system, the strain on the fabric of the American body politic»
By giving each state two senators and by setting up a state-based electoral college and having “winner takes all” in most states the various sides of USA politics have made a pretty fundamental bargain, reneging on it might result in much bigger strains than an occasional victory by someone who won the popular votes in 49 states in 2016.
Interesting point. I didn’t realize that Trump won in 49 states in 2016. But really the idea of an election is to get the majority opinion so if such an overwhelming number of US citizens live in California then it wouldn’t be such a big issue that California trumps the rest of the country. I find it difficult to believe that illegal migrants can get the vote.
I also understand that the 2020 election was based on the 2010 US census. In 2024 it will be based on the 2020 census. I believe that there is an ongoing migration of population in the US from the middle of the country to the East and West coasts – the coasts being dominated by the Democrats.
What rank nonsense! In 2016 Clinton won the popular vote in the following 20 states: CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, IL, ME, MD, MA, MN, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, VA, and WA, for a total of 65,853,514 votes. Her electoral total was 227 versus 304 for Trump. In California Clinton won the popular vote by 8,753,792 vs. 4,483,814 for Trump yielding her its 55 electoral votes. There is no way for California voters to override the voters in the rest of the country.
As for getting rid of the electoral college, it would take 38 states to ratify a constitutional amendment to do so. There are simply too many small states who would have to give up their electoral advantage to achieve that.
So, the popular vote is not the decisive factor in electing the president; both candidates knew that from the start. The electoral college was specifically designed to prevent the popular vote electing the president.
Anyway, was Donald Trump watching them steal the election as it happened?
“Now, I have no proof of this, but here is what I think is going on: Trump had access to a PILE of classified systems that watched the election fraud in real time. He cannot mention that because those systems are classified, which means they’ll never be spoken of EVER. they will always be kept gray. But the way the left is now scrambling in panic over fear of being busted is quite telling. And it’s not the woman who’s dog voted that did it, it is not any video of fraud that did it, it is nothing of that sort that did it because that can all be swept under the rug with Roswell. However, actually being held accountable while CNN ignores it does make them fearful, CNN ignoring it won’t keep them out of trouble.”
From JimStoneFreelance dot com.
“and then at a point about about 36 hours ago start to negotiating with Biden for immunity for his family and himself, no tax investigations, and perhaps some continued government boosting of his business affairs, in return for a concession in the election. “
Blimey Craig really does believe that the Businessman who was in NY till 4 years ago is the dirty one and Biden who has been playing Washington for decades is clear. Staggering how much even Craig believes what he reads
” Staggering how much even Craig believes what he reads”
Yes, his general take on Trump and interpretation of events, seems to be mostly taken from sources he is otherwise sceptical about. We have no idea what evidence Trump might have.
Yep Donald Trump really is the bad guy and Joe Biden is the good guy. Really? This is the guy who lied about his education qualifications and counted the racist George Wallace among other racists as his mentors.
«the Businessman who was in NY till 4 years ago is the dirty one and Biden who has been playing Washington for decades is clear.»
J Biden is thoroughly compromised by being an “establishment politico” for decades, but clearly D Trump is “problematic”:
Having tried to track down as many of these ‘dirty Trump’ allegations from his business past, I kept coming up empty, surprised at how no-one had managed to even attempt a credible legal charge against him despite him operating as a big fish in a NY world that included the mob and five families, ponzi schemes, junk bonds, Eastern European oligarchs, buying a yacht from a major gun-runner, and celebrity sex and drug scandals. Everywhere I looked he came up as remarkably clean – woman chasing excepted, and even that was muted.
He’s also someone who will have been vetted multiple times by security and background checks. For instance Ronald Reagan had him at dinner with the Saudis and Gorbachevs in the 1990s. The Clintons came to his wedding to Melania. And Hillary’s dirt diggers didn’t find anything on him in 2016 except for Access Hollywood tape, so they invented the Russian story. And Mueller wasn’t able to dig out dirt on Trump directly despite 40+ full time investigators (advisors like Manafort yes – but that was easy).
I came away with the intuition that Trump was either very very clean, or was shielded most probably as a law-enforcement asset. Someone who mixed with the high-end out of reach of most FBI/police, but who could provide titbits, lures and stings against them. There’s limited public records, but it is known he provided some inside information on the Five Families for instance. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a protected source, with connections to some parts of the FBI – hence having some inside knowledge of the FBI scandal and Russia Collusion Hoax as it was brewing.
“Of one thing I am sure; I am pleased for those who feel released tonight from a regime rooted in racism” I’m no follower of either of these Pepsi/Cola political choices but what is your reason for claiming that this regime is rooted in racism? That is a lazy, dated and tired throwaround accusation that is nowdays thrown at any white people who refuse to be bullied by the insanity of modern day wokery-to equate that with racism is idiotic and, ironically, an anti white racial slur in itself
Joe Biden’s record is one of racism. He collaborated with some of the worst southern racists in the country before he became Obama’s vice president. He caucused with the likes of Strom Thurmond, and if you don’t know who Thurmond is, I suggest you look him up.
Not only did he caucus with Thurmond – he actually delivered the eulogy at Thurmond’s funeral !
So if Biden is in the white house, we have another neoliberal globalist in place the same as Trump is/was but pretended not to be. What’s new? Nothing, same old story, same old puppets
I dont understand how people think Biden and Trump represent the same view.
Trump was a America first candidate, Biden was globalist candidate.
They are not the same at all!
Alot of hatred against Trump comes from this fact: he didnt follow the elite on any topic, from, wall st. to the useless wars by army/intelligence community, to elite driven trade deals, to big-tech, to media and so on.
Over 30 executives with ties to Wall Street have raised big money for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/01/joe-biden-turned-to-over-30-executives-with-ties-to-wall-street-for-he.html
Again, that doesnt mean Trump was perfect, he was not but obviously he was no puppet as Biden clearly is.
“Trump was a America first candidate, Biden was globalist candidate.
They are not the same at all!”
Eh? I don’t follow you there.
An “America First” politician believes that the USA is the best and supreme nation, and should lead the world – or, better still, rule it. (Perhaps in a fairly discreet way).
A “Globalist” politician believes exactly the same.
Why do you think arrogant, aggressive, greedy politicians of a nation that (they think) is powerful enough to take whatever it wants would pursue a “global world”? Obviously so that they can control it.
Broadly speaking on all the important issues Biden will follow more or less the same policies as Trump did. Yet we are led to believe that the electoral contest between the Biden and Trump is a sort of struggle between Good and Evil. It is solely the extreme identity politics agenda pursued by the Democrats which allows that comparison. Without it we would see there actually isn’t much difference (apart from the fact that Biden has been connected with most of the aggressive wars the US has embarked on over the last few decades, whereas Trump didn’t start any).
Trump is/was good at cutting through the crazed wokery and power and hypcrisy of the alleged progressive media this is true-and he seems to have been one of the few presidents not to start another murderous war. But, unless Trump is playing an incredible double double bluff and is a new kennedy of sorts, it would be naive to think that he is somehow an outsider – he is funded by the same globalist financial powers as Biden at the end of the day and is as authritarian as the crazed authoritarian ‘progressive’ left and allegedly supports a mass enforced vaccines for all for example. So the illusion of choice is just that I’m afraid – an illusion and theater. You must have read up on controlled opposition, the Hegelian dialectic and how the left right paradigm is a cruel trick played on us? The system is broken and is utterly corrupt evil and guided by Luciferiansim. Direct democracy can save it. That and God and our faith in God
The hate from Craig’s pen is amusing, it just shows how even rational people who read the MSM can be influenced by what is basically click bait. I assume that Craig also thinks that Corbyn is a racist, for wanting the UK to retain its border controls? Such hate and no real substance behind it, I thought you were better thinkers than that.
Trump did not improve on Obama care, but let’s face it, Obama care was very expensive and not targetted to benefit the people, an opportunity lost. I know some middle class, ex-colleagues who now have no health insurance because Obama care was too expensive. But Obama kept himself busy killing people, while Trump tried to make changes but was obstructed at every level. That begs the question of whether Trump was genuine or controlled opposition. I don’t know the answer to that, but one thing I think I know for certain, that Joe can be bought and as such he will hurt the common man of the USA to a far greater extent than Trump’s real or pretend role would ever condone.
Take Deep Slow Breath Dude…I’m NOT Asking you to start again Though
I fully agree with your 2nd paragraph but fully disagree with the 1st. I didn’t read any hate in Mr Murray’s article.
I was subject to Obama care but chose to take the tax penalty rather than purchase a very expensive and next to useless ($5000 co-pay) Bronze health plan. Due to the financial crash I was on a very low income at the time but it certainly wasn’t ‘affordable’. I watched his presidency dissolve Into murderous business as usual and wasn’t surprised when Hillary lost on a status quo policy.
I’m a Corbyn supported opposed to Trump’s politics. But I am horrified at the vilification and the censorship of the Biden allegations by big tech and the MSM. When somebody like Glen Greenwald says that ‘the left is in bed with a CIA set on destroying Trump’, you know something is rotten.
Now with the voter fraud allegations and like with Assange hearings, the MSM seem comfortable with ditching truth and democracy to achieve their aims. As Greenwald says (I paraphrase) at least the actions of the MSM and big tech have created ‘clarity’. We now know where they stand and who they stand for.
«Glen Greenwald says that ‘the left is in bed with a CIA set on destroying Trump’»
My usual correction: that is not the left, it is the “whig” wing of the right, which was opposing the “tory” wing of the right represented by D Trump.
One of the great tricks of right-wing propaganda is to label the “whig” wing of the right as the “left”, as if the social-democrat, socialist, etc. opinions were “extremist left”.
Note: actually historically in the parliament in which “left” and “right” become common terms, the “left” were indeed the “whigs”, which at the time were even revolutionaries. But things have changed in nearly 200 years.
That’s a very good point. Thank you.
You are quite right, Craig, about Kamala Harris. I live in San Francisco and know her history well. She has always been a right-wing, “law and order” politician from her days as a prosecutor in SF, through her terms as State Attorney General, and through her (short) career in the Senate. She is an absolute believer in identity politics and a great many people in SF today were celebrating and treating her like she was some kind of feminist saint to save them, solely because she is a mixed race female.
Biden’s career is known to serious people to be a right-wing, war mongering, racist and a tool of Wall Street and the Banks. Lots of people in the U.S. have amnesia, but not all of us by any means.
It’s the same in the UK. Centre-right politicians have wholly embraced woke positions (because virtue signalling doesn’t cost anything or change anything fundamentally). It’s just a means of gaining support from those who’d otherwise reject their wider neoliberal & neoconservative approach, a distraction
Amazing how easily so many progressives are duped by these political charlatans.
The interesting thing about Kamala Harris is that she corners the “identity politics” market in triple helpings ! Her gender, but also black and Indian. The problem with identity politics is that ultimately if you insist on all human beings only having significance as the bearers of an identity the biggest “identity” will come out on top, i.e. whites. After all, not just the Democrats were playing identity politics, Trump was too.
it’s going to be sad watching sleepy joe & co screw his voter base and them blame it on the donald
” The Donald ” How Fucking Dare you….And the Corporate ,Propaganda Evil Cnts Use a Scottish phrase …To describe a monster… YEMEN .. SYRIA .PALESTINE… Venezuela ECT.
mrjohn
I am not so sure Biden would screw his own voter base, if anything Biden will keep dividing the US even more by strengthen his side, in part because compared with Trump, Biden have all the media to get this message out.
Prepare for 4 years of hailing Biden in the media, not only in the US but in europe too.
Personally I am worried what this mean for foreign policy, will see new stronger US led alliances against Iran, Syria, Russia, Venezuela now?
‘President-Elect’ Joe Biden Pledges to ‘Make America Respected Around the World Again’
https://sptnkne.ws/EpN2
The interesting thing to watch may be the measures taken by a political establishment seeking to make it impossible for Trump to run again. He emerged as a joke candidate who no one, in either party, gave a hope of winning. By the time he went from joke candidate to favourite, it was too late.
I have a “visceral dislike” of Trump. In fact, I loathe him. In four short years, at the behest of his contributors, he has killed all hope for the Palestinians. It is gut wrenching. And not to mention the vengeful prosecution of Julian Assange, again for the same contributors.
When I read that Trump had secretly signed an executive order (under cover of the election fracas) to pledge taxpayers’ money for scientific research in the illegal settlements, I was left seething. The cruelty of it is too painful to bear.
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/10/in-pre-election-rush-trump-oks-u-s-funding-of-science-projects-in-illegal-israeli-settlements/
However, I believe the election process and the outcome was fraudulent. When Big Tech came out against Trump, with the banning of dozens of videos and websites, the extraordinarily brazen censorship of the contents of Hunter’s laptop, and shuttering the Twitter account of the New York Post for 14 days, I knew the ‘fix’ was in.
I loathe the man. But I equally believe it is dangerous and intellectually dishonest to think that the “ends justify the means” or that the “means” were not corrupt. The one good thing that Trump exposed was the fraudulence and corruption in American politics. Let us not ignore or waste that knowledge.
It amazes me how easily people are prepared to buy into the narrative when it suits them, when it comforts us.
Entertaining the idea that a democratic election just took place and that the result is somehow legitimate, whichever way it swings, seems like nothing but moralistic masturbation.
The blue candidate & his entourage are monstrous:
https://youtu.be/vhcuei8_UJM
The red candidate is a dangerous pillock, an overly privileged and pompous cretin.
What’s to celebrate?
Palast has, since the 2000 election, proved quite conclusively that the US elections are simply exercises in manipulation, a pantomime for the disenfranchised.
Go back to LBJ’s fraudulent Senate election and the illusion is further dispelled, showing a tradition of disdain for the very idea that us Plebs have a say.
Good for America? Good for Britain?? We live in an intricately connected world and the only question that seems relevant is “how many foreigners will this or that candidate murder?” On which question, tragically, the decrepit orange clown possibly comes out on top (although it chokes me to even type that suggestion).
All the broken treaties and perverse legislation can ultimately be reversed or corrected but the dead simply become much forgotten & dismissed memories, inconsequential and unmentioned in our prevaricating over what’s best for Us.
As long as the debate is continually framed in terms of nationalist tribalism, we’ll be endlessly wringing our hands and tutting into the ether as the militaries and corporate behemoths, who are not constrained by these imaginary lines in the sand, continue to eat their way through our communities and precious Earth.
And we perhaps deserve no better, softies that we often are.
Those who talk of alternatives & social justice, those who operate outside the established clique, are viciously attacked and undermined by popular medias, intelligence juggernauts and every side of the so called political spectrum. Whether that be those attempting peaceful, democratic transitions to socialist democracy in South America or the Corbyns and Bernies of the West, they’re all mercilessly maligned and even the most ‘informed & critical’ amongst us stand idly by, blithely entertaining the lies & awaiting the next issue on which we can feel a little less ineffectual.
The system is so broke and corrupt it’s almost impossible to count the bodies or the attacks on civil liberty.
It’s conveniently effortless to rally to the flag of a blue team or a red team, swallow their hollow platitudes every 4 or 5 years, only to exclaim surprise and indignation whilst berating the ruling lunatics on our virtual faces as they invariably continue with their heartless & mindless consolidation.
But if the system is fkd, you’re only going to get fkrs.
Whilst there are innumerable alternatives, tweaks and additions to our systems of representational democracies, rolling back the corruptions of the past 20 to 80 years alone would put us all in a much more favourable position.
War IS illegal – enforce it! Essential industries DO require regulation – enforce it! Businesses and individuals ARE required to contribute taxes for the upkeep of communities – enforce it! Greedy and malicious people WILL gravitate to positions of power that lack accountability and transparency – fix it!
The fact that we are healthy, secure and free enough to have this conversation is down to legions of Common folk who came before us and fought much harder battles than those which face us. And fight they did, with effort and conviction, not simply with sighs and the repetitive tap tapping of a digital keyboard (like me!).
Maybe a firm “ya basta” is all that’s needed, “enough!”, “no more!”, a generation of belligerent & peaceful revolutionaries prepared to make a nuisance of themselves, to literally close down the war machines, to inconvenience the preening profiteers, to stay at it 24/7, feet on the street come rain or shine, to resist the state enforcers and suffer the blows, the kidnapping and the caging, to fill up the jails and then replace those dragged from the frontlines, to risk their livelihoods and sense of comfort. To fulfill our obligation & responsibility to ourselves, our children, our neighbours and to future generations.
Because the skeletal Yemenis, the bombed & beheaded Syrians, the dispossessed farmers and tribal peoples don’t have that luxury. They are too far from the centres of inhumanity, too reliant on the merest scraps from the privileged dinner tables, they are the fodder on which are merest semblance of comfort are built but, perversely, were we to engage in such a struggle, they are the very people who would embrace, support and feed us. They, who cannot retreat to a comfy sofa, a hearty meal and the latest soporific exercise in manufactured empathy on the telly.
All sounds a bit melodramatic, I know, but as we increasingly embrace the comforting distraction & illusory security of our growing digital prison, as the world becomes increasingly despoiled and inhospitable to the very idea of life or liberty, and as the wealth of the Commons disappears into the pockets of Trump, Biden & their ilk, we might not be able to put off till tomorrow what can feasibly be done today. There are & have always been innumerable people at this struggle, it’s as old as the hills – to rein in those who would seek to be master of us all,,,,, the cheeky bastards!!
“Yet what you need is not demonstrations, rallies or wide associations, all of them are important. What you need is direct action. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we’ll begin to change things.”
Arthur Scargill
p.s Sorry Craig, for highjacking so much of your web space again.
America has never really been a functioning democracy as pointed out by a previous poster on this site.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/11/american-presidents/comment-page-2/#comment-963600
But many Americans choose to ignore this. Its an example of doublethink.
The kind of thing Trump is going to complain about is just buisness as usual in the USA and oponents might think he is just being unreasonable by complaining since he is a player himself. I am unable to spot a lesser evil here.
Josh
I am in agreement with you, everyone talks about individuals, Biden or Trump, and now in UK Johnson or Starmer, not much of a choice, merely a toss of the same two sided coin. It is the SYSTEM that needs to change and this is not going to happen anytime soon. People like Corbyn and Saunders unfortunately may be too honest to get to the top. The system is so dominant and so pervasive and powerful that it is difficult to see how it can be replaced. Maybe only natural forces, like Covid-19 or climate change will lead to the necessary evolutionary changes to bring us back to our senses.
Craig I respect you very much and agree with you on most things you write but we shouldn’t be too happy now
Because with Biden things will get a lot worse
I think in 4 years we all want the terrible Trump back…
Hopefully in 4 years there will be a better candidate
but the moneylenders are the real thing anyway in the US
And untill they have the control we are all doomed
“we are supposed to be celebrating that Kamala Harris will be Vice President on the grounds of her gender and race, when she is a power hungry right winger of the most hardened kind…”
Sorry Craig. As the support for Clinton showed, for the vast majority of faux-progressives in the Western world, “But vagina!” trumps everything that appears in that sentence after the word “when”…
Dear Donald,
Just like the great scholar and intellectual, Kanye West, I too have great admiration for you.
I admire your honesty as exemplified by your tax returns; your courage as displayed – but for the fact that your bone spur- served well to assist you in avoiding military service; your leadership and diplomatic skills as demonstrated when you referred to the leader of North Korea as ‘little rocket man’. On the world stage you cut a fine figure when you referred to certain nations as “shithole countries”.
In seeing you go, like me as for several millions people around the world, we grieve at the loss to America of the greatest President in her history.
Your greatness was honoured and respected when those protesters in Charlottesville Virginia shouted “Heil Hitler” followed by “Heil Trump”. I happened to be watching the news that day and I was so touched by the way in which you responded to those words of adoration that I documented your response. In the old days one would say that I put pen to paper; in these modern times I put fingers to the typepad ( see my observations at the link below).
So, with quite sincere concern, on behalf of all those who admire and love you so dearly, in America and around the world, we wish that you do not find yourself in a ‘shithole’ situation once you depart the White House.
Farewell Donald Trump.
Sincerely,
Courtenay
Link: https://www.pambazuka.org/democracy-governance/president-trump-and-past-and-present-cognitive-dissonance
Not defending Trump
Joe Biden’s Wikipedia page…
“At the Archmere Academy in Claymont,[7]:27, 32 Biden was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team;[13][16] he also played baseball”
His Wikipedia Page was recently edited to omit that he received a Vietnam deferment for asthma. I quoted the entry, with citations, on the guardian comment section but it was moderated and removed.
Graham,
Point taken – some people get asthma and some have a bone spur.
Six of one and half a dozen of the other.
Courtenay
So long as the President is black and has a vagina I couldn’t give a damn!
With Biden, the military-industrial complex have re-captured the flag.
MOD Chief of Defence Staff just this morning warning that the world should expect more conflicts. (In contrast Trump was chasing peace deals – warmongers such as the Lincoln Project hated him)
Ironically, the Left have just given victory to the neoliberal conglomeration of corporations, mass media, career politicians and billionaire funders and their foundations, with a potential reversion to the color revolution strategy of the US Interagency to ‘flip’ countries towards US hegemony, and reversion to job offshoring and capital outflows of the last twenty years.
Twitterati getting all excited because Biden mentioned trans people in his speech.
For some, you could be the biggest war criminal on the planet, but show your wokeness and it’s a case of..
Don’t worry about a thing
‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright
There’s been quite a lot written about how Israel uses ‘pinkwashing’ tio cover its persecution of the Palestinians. I.e ., using it’s relatively progressive attitudes – certainly by ME standards – to same sex relationships to win support of western liberals.
Very amusing to see Starmer saying that Labour needs to learn from ‘broad coalition’ approach of Biden when he and his minions have done their best to purge the party of any remnants that are a tad left of centre-right. Does he really believe people are that stupid?
Everything about Starmer’s piece in the guardian is either plain wrong or otherwise obnoxious.
He draws parallels between US voters and those who live in UK ‘red wall’ seats – the red wall collapsed because of HIS Brexit policy – that of forcing another referendum on those heavily Leave voting areas.
His dream of the US and UK once again ‘leading on the world stage’ sidesteps all the catastrophes & destruction that partnership has wrought : Afghanistan, Iraq , Libya, Syria – hardly a great legacy.
And worst of all, he misses the central aspect of why Biden actually won. Polling carried out shows, of those who voted for Biden only 34% were inspired to do so by the man himself . 54% reported they voted for Biden to get rid of Trump. Hardly a ringing endorsement.
Biden won the battle, but the GOP is winning the war.
Old-line GOP considers Trump a liability now. He crashed their Party in 2016, ridiculed all their “serious” candidates, broke all their rules, and harnessed the Tea Party Monster they had created as his personal pet. But once he won the nomination, GOP state machinery helped him win; and as President, they got what they wanted from him: more Tax Cuts for the Rich, and more Federalist Society puppets on the Supreme Court.
But Trump is too much of a risk for them now. Few have openly defied him, but they are now making conciliatory noises, “for the good of the country” of course, and the Party will not support Trump’s frenetic Hail Mary lawsuits. They have not – and will not – resort to the shenanigans by which they stole the 2000 election from Gore, not because they can’t, but because they don’t want to. (They still control the government of Georgia, so they will be able to ensure that the Runoff elections for Senate there do not produce a Democratic majority in our upper house).
They will be able to prevent the Democrats from doing anything useful to fix the underlying problems of the US (capitalism metastasizing into Oligarchy), so they’re happy to play defense for a few years. Lack of progress will discourage poor & progressive voters, opening the door for “nice” Republicans with “reasonable” policies to win.
The one thing they fear is the possibility of Trump starting a new 3rd Party. It would fail, spectacularly, of course, but it would rip the GOP apart. The GOP has spent decades convincing millions of voters here that they should vote for Tax Cuts for the Rich as the only way to avoid feeling inferior to people who are brown and/or female. Trump never cared about the policy part; he just told those people what they want to hear, so they love him. They will hate whoever takes him down; the GOP was careful to help that happen, but even more careful to make sure that Democrats take the blame.
Joe Biden is a Dixiecrat, isn’t he? The Republican old guard are probably quite content at the prospect of making deals with him.
Reading that Biden is a close friend of Dick Cheney, and the hawkish Susan Rice is being tipped for a post in his administration. Looks like his main opposition is likely to be from within the party and from ‘the Squad’ ,and of course from those who voted for him purely to remove Trump.
So I see that Biden has announced he wants his new Cabinet to “look like the country.”
Imagine what that would mean, if he were serious. Of the fifteen Cabinet members:
-at least two would be unemployed, one for so long that he’s unlikely to ever fully re-enter the workforce.
-six would be months behind on mortgage or rent payments and would be facing eviction when the moratorium expires
-five, along with their children, would have experienced “food insecurity” in the last year
-three would depend on Medicaid for their health care, one would be struggling with an unaffordable Obamacare policy, one would be uninsured altogether
Imagine Biden trying to tell his Secretary of Defense, a 70-year-old woman trying to get by on a $1000/month Social Security check, that there isn’t enough money to do anything about unaffordable Medicare copays right after he’s had her sign off on $400 billion for an F-35 that won’t even fly.
But of course he doesn’t mean that at all. “Look just like the country” means half of them will be Democrat retreads from the Obama administration and half will be Republicans who were in Bush’s.
I’ll post my sermon written for the Oo77th-Gee crowd – not published from this morning yet. Free and sacred It is not.
…
“We lie , cheat and steal”
The election in a nutshell.
Declaring one self elected and having the controlled media shouting it as settled – WHEN all the votes haven’t been counted and any recounts aren’t held is – STEALING
stuffing Postal Votes is CHEATING
Declaring a result before a verified count is LYING.
These people don’t ever plan to ACTUALLY have a fair plebiscite- they just plan to cheat lie and steal.
As they did to the UK a year ago in the GE to depose the only real resistance they have had since 1983.
As they did with the PV fraud that tipped the BrexShit referendum in 2016 and the Scottish Indy ref before that.
Trump had a chance to fire the Pompus arse when he declared a interference on another country’s election, by unleashing his GAUNTLET to stop Corbyn!
That was the major failure of the Trump team to curtail these praetorians because they too are beholden to these who have real control on defining National Interests, the gods of big Money, Men and Women who live in the hidden heights in the Pathocracy of Oz. Where they dangle the reward of a seat at their table – to encourage their sociopathic CEO’s who they install in Power to deliver their ends.
It has never been as obvious as it is today – yet the deluded still believe the media and think something has CHANGED!
Like they believed Obama was the Change. He was just passed a baton in a illusion of democracy and reality of controlled oppositions. he dropped more bombs and destroyed Libya and damned near destroyed Syria and would have passed the trigger to Hillary to do more and destroy Iran and Venezuela.
If Harris is inaugurated in January – nato will be putting boots in on the ground within months.
We will be killing civilians by their tens of thousands and our ‘boys & heroes’ will be coming back in bits in body bags and trauma wards daily.
Yeah them chickens have come home, for the Yanks, maybe grassroots politics will be the winner?
I’ll predict a futile anti-war protest sometime in London if Biden becomes president.
Keir ’10 pledges’ Starmer must be dreading a US military intervention.
Pledge 4. Promote peace and human rights
No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy. Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and justice.
He’s already showed he has scant regard for human rights. Labour backing military action, with Labour’s left opposing, would reveal him fully to the membership.
Independent: “Where is Mike Pence?” Good question. He is probably weighing his options. If I were him, I’d set up a meeting with vice president-elect Kamala Harris, as a big “f*** you” to Trump. Resignation would be difficult for Pence, given the nature of his post and that he was elected to it, not appointed, and is not sackable by Trump. He should prepare a meeting with Nancy Pelosi too, for after the next orange freakout.
Craig Murray you don’t seem to have a clue about Trump.
Delighted that Trump has been evicted, but I do wonder how many weeks Old Sleepy Joe has left to live. The million dollar question for me is whether he realises that he is the Trojan horse delivering Nerve Agent KH1 to an unsuspecting population! Craig’s description of Harris is spot on.
Joe Biden the anti-apartheid warrior in 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_v00iGJCLY
‘and I hope they are right that Trump will now fade away into irrelevance.’ It should be added that the USA are also going to fade into irrelevance, as the Chinese, with their partners in the BRI, are becoming the real centre of a new order.
“It is strange to observe the fight for ‘democracy’ currently playing out on our screens while the underlying disease — money-driven policy outcomes — goes mostly unspoken.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/11/the-2020-election-as-a-triumph-for-democracy-hold-the-hosannas/