From the excellent CounterPunch article by Rob Urie:
“Two years plus of taunting Donald Trump from the right has left the left holding the baggy for untethering his steely anti-interventionist resolve from the hitchin’ post. And while it’s proper to question the metallurgical integrity of said resolve, he did ask questions in his run for President that landed like an oriole’s chide at Spring’s late arrival apropos the American military’s history of cluster-fuckery.”
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It’s a sad state of affairs when only one presidential candidate in 2016 acknowledged the existence of Washington’s second “Mujaheddin” army (created after the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq for the purpose of regime-change operations guided by the U.S.) — and it was Donald F’g Trump!
But after President Obama needlessly rescued Bush/Cheney’s radical agenda in his first term, the neocons reunited with their first love, the Democratic Party, which they have since overtaken — save for a few members of “The Squad.”
And that is why the liberal class is so lost and disoriented, right now: they’re “resisting” Donald Trump by championing the warmongering agenda of modern Nazis. While the mainstream-left slept, the worst war criminals under Bush/Cheney were rehabilitated and raised to new levels of power by President Obama. Torture, rendition, indefinite detention, mass-surveillance, domestic propaganda, and due process-free assassinations were all normalized, as was the Global (permanent) War of Terror.
The uniforms have changed, but the neocons — associated with the GOP during the Bush years — emerged from the Obama era more powerful than ever, and more closely affiliated with Democrats than Republicans. (They had, after all, had their way with Obama almost as much as Bush, instigating wars in Libya, Ukraine, and Syria; erecting siege-like sanctions regimes against Venezuela and Iran, paving the way for future confrontations; unleashing genocide in Yemen, putting millions of innocents at risk; birthing RussiaGate, inviting global war…)
Today, with the duopoly’s backing, the neocons still seek total control over Donald Trump, with varying degrees of success. But Trump, like President Obama, is not fully on board with the neocon agenda (distinguishing both presidents from Sec. Clinton and most of today’s Russia-gating “liberals”).
Ironic as it may be, Donald Trump — like Obama before him — is feebly, sporadically resisting the fascist elements who’ve largely run the U.S. since 1963, following their murder of President Kennedy.
Imagine if the “left” in 2017 had rallied around Trump’s few liberal and statesmanlike impulses — while fighting his regressive domestic policies and court appointments, tooth and nail — instead of lining up behind the modern equivalent of Nazis and pushing for WWIII over a bunch of inflated, generally risible claims (comporting themselves just like a reactionary, partisan mob of conservatives).
Donald Trump wouldn’t be poised for reelection today. And John Bolton wouldn’t be anywhere near the White House.
Talk about lost opportunities!