Russian Puppet rules in X-America

         There are several takeaways from this nadir of American leadership.

        Trump is over his head and without a clue to how badly he is being used by Russia's Putin. 

        History recorded his lie about the Russian invasion. This amateur hour "tough guy" routine in the Oval will now be one of histories moments of ignominy. One would be right to assume this man has little if any knowledge of American history, no understanding of the complexity of the post 1945 structure of alliances and stability. I question if he knows about Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, or any of the ensuing chapters of the cold war and containment.       

    Trump's talent is being a blow hard hustler who fancies himself a mob boss. It sickens millions of Americans this low brow miscreant has officially abandoned any sense of honor. The moment above is the absolute lowest and sleaziest point in abandoning American honor. 

    Joe and Kathy Sixpack, your President just tossed an ally and signed this X-nation onto Putin's side. Putin violated Ukraine's sovereignty and by the invasion also thumbed his nose at the world's commitment to the Westphalian System of world order which more or less has been the thread of wisdom that has been repeatedly used to end wars and try to maintain world order. It's the spine of the UN and it is the principle that recognizes national sovereignty. It's been the go to concept since 1647 and has always been enshrined since the first American President entered the flow of history after that. I'm guessing Donald J Trump has never heard of the system. He certainly doesn't recognize the principle of honor, or loyalty to a suffering ally. 

    We knew in Helsinki when he bid his faith to Putin instead of the American intelligence and national security communities. How many times did republicans have to remove the head of the evil snake since then? Let's see how they stand on this. Will they too become Russian backers.

    If those citizens who voted for Trump are not upset by this despicable, dishonorable, and dangerous show boating, then they are either more ignorant of history and decency than I previously reasoned, or they are simply Russian puppets too. Perhaps just plain stupid. You have to be a fool or stupid or both, to back Russia on the invasion of Ukraine, despite how your president lies about it. The world knows.

    Remember all of the talk about low propensity voters making a difference for trump. That is akin to wading in a swamp and thinking you can turn the leaches into shrimp. Now they are Magats. 

    In the long annals of American diplomacy and world affairs, this breaks and destroys what has been centuries of American valor, leadership and respect. Trump is akin to bringing lice and rats into the Nobel peace hall. He broke a precious commodity that has helped keep the world stable. And he doesn't care. He's oblivious to the larger play here, or the the play coming two or three moves down the board. He is, to quote his first secretary of state, a "fucking idiot."

    This is new to this nation. A President who sides with a tricky Russian adversary who has been screwing with American public opinion since the first time this foolish man, this picture of aberrant self infatuation first descended the gold escalator. While trump was calling the New York tabloid press about his love life, Vladimir Putin was an embittered but well schooled KGB officer. Tough, ruthless and with visions of grandeur. When it comes to personal delusions, the x-American con man is all gas, the Russian is a real killer. 

    Do Americans really want to turn Ukraine over to Russia? Do we want to abandon principles of alliance? I was irate the hustler was trying to force Ukraine to sign over its precious materials. In any other situation that would be extortion, a shakedown. So X-America your hustler con man just did the unthinkable and turned you into a nation kissing up to a butcher of his own nation. What's coming next in this nation of disgrace?

    Be strong. If I were a young man I'd be organizing. We need food lines and food supplies, we need places to shelter many many people. We need medicine.  We need to stock up, get tough. A general strike, stopping everything, sending a message to the market, sending a message to the world might have impact. This administration has done nothing well. Its intent is to build a loyalty to a man who has no respect for law or honor. Read the warnings. He's a nasty human who loves only himself. He's mean and mean spirited. And he just blew up two centuries of world leadership. And, the world is turning.....

    See you down the trail.

X-America- It's feeding time.

 X-AMERICA-IT’S FEEDING TIME

 

            Giving him a month to launch seemed fair, but we’ve seen enough. Seems like 6 months, doesn’t it, since the retread raised the curtain on his new reality show, an hallucinogenic cartoon tragedy. Sad, but it’s real. The USA has become X-America.

            The Presidential avatar Trumpty Dumpty, and the billionaire buddies are undertaking a chop shop take down of two centuries of federalism; congressionally written laws, regulations, balance of power-three branches of government all under threat as the MAGAt’s begin greasing the skids to write themselves fat checks. Fewer guidelines on business, no oversight of contracts and legalities and we are on the road to a fat cat capitalism that compelled Teddy Roosevelt, the 26^th President, to say enough is enough to his wealthy Republican party. 

He called it the “Square Deal” busting trusts, enacting corporate law and creating consumer protection, essentially the mirror opposite of what the 21^st Century Republicans and number 47 is doing. Let’s call Dumpty’s the “Raw Deal” with lots of red meat for the meat heads.  

The clown car cabinet is moving in to read the cue cards as they trash the government agencies they won in the “kiss his royal Hiney” audition. Tech geek teens with no security clearance are hacking government computers as unauthorized agents of a fabricated non authorized DOGE, a would-be Gestapo, screws around with finances, operating and administrative systems and sensitive data. Already government employees are noticing breaches of security in their personal information and financial records. Who’s next?. Thank you DOGE.

            That should be frightening to you. It is illegal. It is a breach of the complex eco-system of the federal government, a living experiment in self-rule. But there are a couple of other side shows that reveal how awful this administration is.

            The retread, weaving and vamping as bemuses himself, decides he wants a new beach for the next Trumpty Dumpty resort in sunny Gaza, summarily dismissing the people who own the land and who once lived there before it became the scene of war crimes committed by Hamas and the Israeli Defense forces using X-America made bombs.  I don’t think there has been a moment in history where a President declares we are “taking” a nation, sending the people fleeing so he can build  “a beautiful resort.” There’s yet another signal of how stupid they are.

            The dried out macho jive artist known as Pete the pole dancer pretending to be a Secretary of Defense brought many of us to battle stations when he pimped for Trumpty Dumpty who in turn had been pimping for Russia’s Putin.  Right there on camera, before the entire world, he played one of the weakest, self-destructive, negotiating leads ever! More disgustingly he showed X-America’s  true colors by abandoning Ukraine and ruling out NATO. Slick Pete may have thought he was truly as slick as his hair, but his entire performance and demeanor on the stage with world statesmen looked like that of junior college debater in a league of diplomats. 

#47 may have convinced TV viewers he was a mogul, but he is an amateur at statecraft. Let’s not forget what those who served him in his first debacle said, a “fucking idiot” according to his first Secretary of State. Have you noticed how world leaders are now referring to the US as the “Trump Administration.” Normally nations refer to each other as nations, using the name. Now the shorthand is the Trump administration which is diplomatic code meaning the bunko artist with the metastacized ego is back.

Are there reforms to government that are in order? Absolutely. Does the person elected by the majority of voters deserve a chance to run his own program? Absolutely. Have Democrats and the previous administration been true to our ideals and accepted the election as fair? Absolutely, unlike Dumpty who sulked and lied for 4 years, after leading an insurrection and who plotted revenge including the release of criminals who attacked police officers.  

The “raw deal” is here but there is a glimmer of hope. This nation has for almost 250 years wrestled with itself, its own spotty history, the rising and falling of our worst desires and our better angels. There have been other louts, liars, corrupt, venal and maybe even evil men in the office and in congress, Trumpty Dumpty is not the first.  All of those X-Americans who supported him and who are not surprised or shocked by his actions prove that today’s America is full of people who are not paying attention or are listening only to propaganda. Or they don’t know history or never studied civics. Or they are stupid. Some just may be venal, which is becoming epidemic.

But there is evidence some of those, who for their own reasons, voted for Dumpty are now feigning surprise or shock. What did I say about paying attention? So, to the 838 Billion dollar savant in the room. Years ago I wrote glowingly about the brilliance of Elon Musk. He is a visionary, a smart assembler of scientists, a man with a drive. In the early days he was focused on making new things happen. Since then he’s been struck by “celebrity,” has amassed a posse of sycophants and hangers on and has begun to dabble in power. Well, it’s more than dabbling now. Because of his money, his tech and communications influence, he is probably more than any other individual and group responsible for Dumpty’s election. He’s eminently more intelligent than #47 who was a TV performer, and a fraudulent and bankrupt real estate hustler. He's richer Dumpty. But Mr. Musk is out of his element in the deep history of statecraft, governance and the tricky, complex and arduous work of keeping a federal government, a democratic republic, an experiment in self-government, alive. He has no experience. No skill like that. 

It is not a business, it is the people’s business. It is not the chairman and ceo dictating policy to a board, it is the will of the people working, even painstakingly and frustratingly slow, through a time-honored process of election, legislation, compromise and a value for the greater good of all. It’s hard, does not always work smoothly, rises and falls based on the character and skill of those to whom we entrust the levers of government. Musk has a right to be frustrated. All of us are frustrated by levels of bureaucracy and pockets of inefficiency. But he has no right to turn hackers loose on ripping out systems. He has no moral claim to summarily dismiss entire levels of civil service. He is boneheaded naïve and stupid to undermine human life and increase human suffering. That is abhorrently true in the case of US AID.

Musk was not elected, has not been vetted by the advice and counsel of the legislative branch, has helped to fire or shut down the Inspector Generals who were there to make sure no one robs the people, bends government to his favor. It is a fact he does not have the power and authority to do what he is doing. Advise the president yes, he can do that, but he’s  become the puppet master. Dumpty is  again the stooge. Putin has played Dumpty as a stooge for 10 years, Musk is playing him now. We the people, are on the short end of the stick. We the people elected this retread failure. Elections have consequence. 

It's show time in X-America. Episode one is feeding time. Watch the rich get richer. Watch the consumer prices when Dumpty does his best William McKinley with tariffs. Watch the damage that petulant amateurs can do, as the right wing zealot cabal behind 2025 play their meticulously crafted evil plan to destroy the American federal government. There’s still a play by the people, for the people. But you have to pay attention. 

 

Signing off from the John Steinbeck home in Salinas. We are way east of Eden. 

See you down the trail.