Post

Against Trump, We *Must* Draw a Hard Line (Cameron Sawyer, Russia, 01/12/21 4:30 am)

In response to Eugenio Battaglia (January 11th), I think that what Trump has done with regard to the election results, and especially with stirring up a deadly mob attack on the Capitol, is so harmful and so dangerous that it is absolutely worth "mercilessly attacking"; whether Trump is defeated or not is beside the point. We need to draw a clear line against such behavior, and doing so does not constitute "chickening out." Comparisons with Mao's Red Guards are ridiculous.

And none of this in any way contradicts objecting to Biden as a warmonger, which I do, and a representative of the "Deep State," which I do actually think is a thing. Eugenio's call for a "complete change with new leaders" is a great idea--I'm all in favor of it--but it must not be achieved through mob violence and attacks on democratic processes. We must draw a hard line against this approach, including the strongest possible condemnation of the main instigator of it, our soon to be ex-president.

JE comments:  Ironically, the goal of a "complete change with new leaders" is what got us Trump in the first place.  Biden's election reflects conservatism in the literal sense:  a return to the status quo ante of the pre-Trump era.  At least since November I've been mulling over a hypothesis:  with Trump, and except for the superficial trappings of social and religious "conservatism," the concepts of "conservative" vs "radical" have been completely reversed.  The putsch of January 6th was many things, but "conservative" is not one of them.

Cameron, when time allows, could you share the general contours of how you understand the Deep State?  Is it global capitalism and the multinational corporations, bolstered by the Coastal Elites (let's say, Davos et al.)?  The fabled Military-Industrial Complex?  Or is it something less obvious?

Visits: 163