Posts Tagged ‘Trump’

Sonntag, 15. Oktober 2017

Falls Trump wirklich eingedämmt werden muss, dann wohl sicher nicht so

Äusserst gefährliche Tendenzen in Washington DC, meiner Meinung nach:

the national security services are apparently coping with Donald Trump in ways that circumvent the president’s constitutional role as commander in chief. […] The military and intelligence agencies are learning new habits of disregard for presidential statements and even orders that those agencies deem ignorant or reckless. By and large, those agencies’ judgments are vastly to be preferred to the president’s—but that does not make these habits any less dangerous. […] To what extent does the president remain in the military chain of command? It seems incredible that the military would outright defy a presidential order. But not hearing it? Not understanding it? Not acting on it promptly? Holding back information that might provoke an unwanted presidential reaction? […] it reveals the preferred method of managing a distrusted president: Deny him information that could have unwanted effects.

Quelle: The Problem With ‚Containing‘ Donald Trump

Wenn die Beamten wirklich der Meinung sind, dass der Typ nicht (mehr) alle Tassen im Schrank hat, verweigert oder verschlampt man nicht dessen Anweisungen und hält ihm Informationen vor, sondern enthebt ihn gemäss den existierenden Gesetzen, Regeln und Verfahren seines Amtes: Stichwort 25th Amendment.

Ansonsten ist das nur ein weiteres Indiz, dass der Deep State existiert und sowieso macht, was ihm gefällt (und dient).

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Mittwoch, 11. Januar 2017

Die Antwort eines US-Veteranen auf die „Bubble“-Theorie

Heute morgen machte auf Facebook ein Artikel zu einer Tweet-Serie eines US-Veteranen die Runde. Ich las die ersten paar Tweets, fand es dann aber zu dämlich, den in Kleinstteile aufgespaltenen Erguss zu Ende zu lesen.

Leute, wenn ihr viel zu sagen habt, verfasst einen Blog-Artikel, himmelheiland!

Der geistigen Gesundheit meiner Mitmenschen wegen habe ich den ganzen Text zu einem grossen Ganzen zusammenkopiert:

I need to rant because I’m fucking tired of this „bubble“ thing. I doubt many folks are gonna read this because it’s 3 am, but The first thing you should know about me is that I grew up in white poverty in Central Texas. My father is a lifelong car mechanic my mother has worked minimum wage jobs all her life, and my stepfather was junior enlisted in the Army. None of them have a college degree. None of them really stressed the importance of education to me, either. We were dirt poor. We lived in trailer parks all over Central Texas and were on welfare. I have been around „blue collar“ folks my whole life. Hell, „blue collar“ is a step up from my childhood experience. My family is poor and white and uneducated. Prime Trump audience. And I’m here to tell you that these folks–my people–don’t need your condescending conservative asses speaking for our „values“ because the truth is that 1) you don’t give a fuck about us and 2) we are not worthy of romanticizing. I am sick and fucking tired of impoverished white Americans being used as a political cudgel by rich Republicans against blacks against women, against Muslims, against Jews and LGBTQ folks and everyone else Republican politicians point to and say „See that? They’re to blame for your struggle. You’re hurting because of them.“ And the rhetorical device most often used for this is „the bubble“ and every buzzword that goes with it: Hollywood, elitist, liberal, communist, professor, etc. etc. fucking etc. Republicans have gotten a shit ton of mileage from impoverished and „blue collar“ white folks by claiming the people in power live in some „bubble“ in Washington and are „out of touch“ with real Americans. Tonight, @MeghanMcCain, the daughter of a U.S. senator someone who has enjoyed extraordinary privilege in her life took it upon herself to claim that, somehow, Meryl Streep’s speech is propagating some bullshit Hollywood-East Coast liberal „bubble“ and that „real Americans“ (she implied) this would vote for Trump as a backlash against elitism. Never-fucking-mind that Trump has gold-plated fixtures in every mansion he owns or that he got his start from his daddy’s seed money or that he wouldn’t piss on a poor white person if they were burning alive. Never mind all that because we’re supposed to believe that Donald fucking Trump is „one of the regular folks“. That he understands them. And you know what? They’re right. Trump understands these people because he knows they’re fucking morons. Yes, morons. These hicks and rednecks and „oh gawd, I’m just a good ole boy“ dumb-fucking morons who couldn’t differentiate between their ass and a hole in the ground who are so willfully fucking stupid that it’s a ceaseless wonder they manage to remind themselves to breathe. Trump knows these people. He knows that he can say and do and promise whatever the fuck he wants as long as he validates their insecurities and gives them a leader of „strength“ to follow, which means posturing like some silver-back gorilla at every perceived slight. He is the canvass upon which they project all their insecurities. These fucking morons who are afraid of blacks and empowered women and Latinos and receive welfare and Medicaid even while they rant against „government handouts“. And you, @MeghanMcCain, and all your conservative friends want us to believe that the „bubble“ is liberals on both coasts, not these white Americans who insulate themselves into an enormous social echo chamber, repeating the same stupid „facts“ and fears and conspiracy theories to each other and are buying into Trump only because he validates their racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and all the rest of it. You want us you, @MeghanMcCain, privileged white daughter of a U.S. senator who used her daddy’s connections to get this far ahead, want us to „step outside the bubble“ and enable this vicious hatred against our black friends, our Muslim and Jewish friends, our LGBTQ friends ..and all the women in our lives who, at this very moment, are scrambling to get IUDs because they may lose their right to privacy you want us to not act so „elitist“ and validate this bullshit? Well, I’ll you this much: there is no romance or gravitas to these people. You know what you call a bigoted moronic white person in a blue collar job? You call them a fucking bigoted moron. Because they are. And speaking as someone who is from this background–among the impoverished whites of Central Texas–you sure as hell don’t placate their violent hatred and give them any more encouragement to be hateful and violent. I seriously need to ask you this Do you have no honor, @MeghanMcCain? No integrity? Have you lost your fucking mind? Because from where I’m standing, you’re either pandering to these hateful white assholes to gain political clout–and god forbid Twitter RTs–or you really do believe all this shit. If it’s the former, you’re a fucking disgusting person for exploiting this hatred for your own gain. If it’s the latter, you’re a fucking disgusting person for perpetuating this bullshit fallacy: using hatred–vicious, deadly hatred–under the claim that liberals–not education, not the 1%, not the criminal behavior of the Republican Party–but LIBERALS are to blame for poor white misery. There are white Americans who have never known a life other than living paycheck-to-paycheck. They don’t have any friends of color. They believe women belong in the home. They think Islam is evil. They think Jews killed Jesus and will burn in hell. And you, @MeghanMcCain claim that I–a liberal on the East Coast who grew up a poor white kid in Central Texas–live in a bubble now and didn’t back then?Shame on you, @MeghanMcCain, and every Republican and journalist and pundit who makes the absurd fucking claim that the problem isn’t the guy in the White House enabling white supremacism, who pledged to have a Muslim registry, who encourages violence but that liberals aren’t being nice enough to vicious racists who would just as soon see me die for having sex with a black woman or for praying to Allah or escorting a friend to an abortion clinic. I say again, @MeghanMcCain, have you lost your fucking mind? I do not live in a bubble. Meryl Streep does not live in a bubble. And the folks of the East Coast–in which every race, religion gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. swirl around each other on a daily basis, live amongst each other, fight and love and work and play with other and challenge each other to the point where when someone’s an asshole, it isn’t because of their identity it’s because that individual is an asshole none of us live in a bubble. So, if you are, indeed, just exploiting white rage to pad your Twitter account and sell books and slots on networks, I say with all sincerity: fuck you. Or if you really do believe this may I suggest you, @MeghanMcCain, go live in these poor white areas and then tell me those aren’t „bubbles“. Until then, please keep your bullshit hot takes–borne out of your privileged, elitist, well-connected white existence–to yourself.

Quelle: 11:56 PM – 8 Jan 2017

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Sonntag, 13. November 2016

Präsidentschaftswahlen USA 2016: Bissige audiovisuelle Kommentare

Mark Blyth

Der Politwissenschaftler Mark Blythe hat am Tag nach den Präsidentschaftswahlen anlässlich eines Seminars am Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs an der Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, seinen Kommentar zur angeblichen Unvorhersehbarkeit Trumps Wahl und eine Prognose auf die kommenden Monate und Jahre gegeben. Prognosethemen sind unter anderem das Verfassungsreferendum in Italien, die Front National in Frankreich, die AfD in Deutschland sowie die angespannte Lage im Baltikum. Mark erläutert auch aus wirtschaftspolitischer Geschichte, wie wir an diesem Punkt in der Geschichte angekommen sind: Eine Kritik an den Auswirkungen des ungebremsten Neoliberalismus seit 1985. Kurz:

So … They’re [losers of globalisation] a bit fed up with. So they’ve decided if they get any possible opportunity, whether this is Brexit, or the Italian constitutional referendum or anything […] to basically give the elites notice: „We’ve had enough of this!“ And that’s what this is.

Ich habe mir erlaubt, zwei von Marks Monologen zurechtzuschneiden und auf YouTube hochzuladen — ich empfinde beide Ausschnitte als äusserst sehenswert:

Quelle: Mark Blyth and Wendy Schiller – Election 2016: What Happened and Why?

Jonathan Pie

Jonathan Pie liest — analog zu Mark Blyth — der nur noch auf dem Papier „demokratischen“ Partei gehörig die Leviten:

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Sonntag, 9. August 2015

Panem et circenses

Derzeit nimmt der Präsidentschaftswahlkampf in den USA wie alle vier Jahre wieder an Fahrt auf. Die Republikaner schicken ihre besten Rösser in den Wahlkampf, unter anderem den umtriebigen Donald Trump, dessen Ego ungefähr so gross ist wie sein Milliardenvermögen (er ist Nummer 133 in der Rangliste der reichsten Amerikaner):

Im Nachgang zur ersten Fernseh-Debate gingen während eines Telefoninterviews die Pferde mit Trump nun aber vollständig durch:

Dem Beobachter in Europe kommt diesbezüglich vor allem ein Begriff in den Sinn, welcher im alten Rom seinen Ursprung hat: Brot und Spiele.

Juvenal kritisierte in seiner Satire, dass das römische Volk in der Zeit des Prinzipats, entmachtet von den Kaisern Augustus, unter dem die Wahlen der Magistrate zur bloßen Formalität verkamen, und Tiberius, der sie völlig dem Volk entzog und dem Senat übertrug, sich nicht mehr für Politik interessiert und nur noch diese beiden Dinge gewünscht habe: Brot und Spiele.

Quelle: Wikipedia: Panem et circenses

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