THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL

 

THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL

 

It would be awfully convenient if we could write off Trump and Company as a passing phenomenon; an end to the circus and embarrassing performances.  Four agonizing years that for most can’t pass soon enough.  The agenda unfolding in America is merely spearheaded by Trump; a smoke screen, the in your face belligerent, bellicose wizard of Oz.  The handlers (billionaire capitalists and political ideologues) behind the curtain hope and pray, fingers crossed, that the verbal barrage of outrageous remarks can somehow be contained and managed.  There is no doubt in my mind that Trump is basically fed talking points.  This is not a man who writes directives and policies, but who merely signs them.  Everything is theatre, bluster, fake anger, false accusations.  As long as he remains the main media focus all is well.  On the front page, the center of attention, feeding his ego.  Trump and Company has mired the nation in lawsuits, accusations, firings, mass confusion and distraction and its very foundation is being rocked to the core.

A very small, hardcore elite of billionaires and political extremists is hard at working undermining the nation’s constitution and democracy and turning the country into an autocracy.  America is not alone.  All over the world nations are rocked by scandals and financial insolvency, by political fracturing and an inability to provide the kind of programs and services ‘entitled’ people have become accustomed to: let’s face it, you don’t miss what you don’t have or never had.  In times of adversity the old strong-man-syndrome makes a comeback.  Democracy can be a tedious and prolonged process when it comes to advancing policies and programs.  The autocrats simply like to push things through and they deal with opposition in the harshest possible ways.  It is the dictator’s playbook playing out once more in full view.  A relentless whittling away of the judiciary, law and order and due process.  Rolling back women’s rights, getting rid of diversity programs.  Undermine educational institutions like Harvard that encourage independence, critical thought and original thinking by taking their funding away.  Do away with funding public broadcasting, the last bastion of free speech and journalism excellence.  Autocrats will attempt to undermine all the institutions that could pose a threat to their plans to control the hearts and minds of people and they will use force if they have to.

Threats, confusion, distraction, lies, distortion of facts and figures, autocrats don’t care about the methods they use.  As long as it works.  Trump and Company are increasingly withdrawing from international treaties and agreements.  The comments range from childlike to petty.  “We’re tired of footing the bill.  We have been taken advantage of for decades.  They are stealing from us.  We’re putting ourselves first.”  Then there are the dumbfounding threats of annexation to secure and protect America’s borders.  As if Canada and Greenland were ever a security risk.  As far as I know there have been no overtures or designs shown by any foreign power to seize those territories.  Between tariffs and threats of occupation, withdrawing from international bodies and fostering internal strife, ramping up fear and paranoia levels, escalating tensions between allies and belittling friends and foes alike, Trump and Company are deliberately isolating America from the international scene and setting it up for a hostile takeover from autocratic forces within.  They have already taking control of the White House.  All of America is next.

WHAT’S THE AGENDA?

What other purpose can there be?  From a political and business perspective little they do makes sense.  The mindset of autocrats is narrow minded by definition and exclusive to only their desires and solutions.  Shortcuts that benefit few and which will do an awful lot of harm to innocent parties.  Just a few examples from the past.  In 1933 Japan withdrew from the International League of Nations when their bombing of Shanghai raised international ire and condemnation.  Hitler and Mussolini followed suit, especially when their real intentions became crystal clear.  It was all about power, control and territorial expansion and conquest.  Signs galore and once more we’re shying away from the obvious.  The intent is obvious.  Every belligerent throughout history has acted upon their desires.  They all follow through.  Do you honestly expect Trump and Company to wake up on Monday morning and start to act rationally and responsibly?

Autocrats couldn’t care less about justification, morality and ethics, about due process and adhering to the law and respecting the rights of all.  It is all about power and control and not about good governance.  On top of that you brainwash the nation through indoctrination and propaganda.  In their opinion democratic debates only lead to critical examination and validation, and therefore stagnation and wasting precious time.  They will portray what is ‘right’ as wrong and it will be accompanied by abusive statements and bullying rhetoric.  Silence the opposition through intimidation, firings, and legislative degrees that sideline critics.  Everybody is kowtowed to fall in line or face the consequences.  History shows us over and over again how autocratic regimes end up wasting and destroying their own nations, and by the time they’re finished, many others.  Reflection, reason, respect, common decency, diplomacy and mutual cooperation, none of those words or concepts exist in their lexicon.  No apologies either.  Hitler in his dying days stated that if Germany lost the war then the German citizens didn’t deserve to live.

Staying with a German concept to describe the mood in America, one created by Trump and Company, is something the Germans call “Angst” or “Lebens Angst”.  Loosely translated it pertains to an atmosphere of fear and distrust and discomfort amongst the general population.  More of a feeling than actually based on fact.  It is mainly fueled by misinformation and outright lies and intended to sow confusion and induce compliance.  Orchestrated at the highest levels and part of the dictator’s playbook.  Their insistence on an autocratic power structure is based on the belief that it takes force to cleanse society and everything that ails it.  Cut out the cancer and the rot.  Blame minorities, those who can’t fight back and weaker nations.  It is a process of instilling within society a high degree of mass psychosis and a willingness to go along with everything proposed.

DISCRIMINATE AT RANDOM

Whatever ails society in their eyes can be rather indiscriminate and subject to change.  Whimsical.  Trump and Company have been barreling through the global theatre like a herd of elephants on the rampage.  Nothing any opposition can bring to bear on an issue—even if the facts and figures are indisputable and correct—it will be disputed as sour grapes and with the addition of: eventually they will fall in line and do as they’re told.  Trump and Company simply “state”.  End of discussion.  All the unease that has been created only serves to advance their dictatorial and expansionist agenda.  Canada and Greenland are like ripe apples ready for the picking.  Who is going to stop us?  Every dictator, past and present, has followed through on expansionist views and plans.  It is not hollow rhetoric.  They say what they mean and they mean what they say.

When a nation like America is in deep financial trouble, fracturing internally and grappling with a host of other issues that have spun out of control, they will seek to address those issues through punitive and expansionist measures.  This is what the Americans have elected!  Somehow, somebody or something will pay.  Like any other potential autocratic candidate they will seek refuge behind lies and an agenda of artificially fueled rage and paranoia.

CONFLICTS ARE FUELED BY NEGATIVE ENERGY

And this is yet another example of how energy and momentum impact the human world.  When energy bundles and releases it can be harmless and even beneficial, but energy can also bundle into a pent-up force and release with explosive and destructive power.  The negative bundling of human energy will only end in an explosive way out.  All that negativity has to go somewhere and it won’t fizzle out harmlessly!  Why have all that destructive weaponry, all that destructive potential and not use it?  Why persist with the deterrent strategy when you can use your armies to invade and occupy?  Don’t look for reason in an irrational atmosphere.  Autocrats want power and control and they will reach for it with whatever means.  Cost becomes immaterial, as will the number of casualties piling up.

Not a single autocrat has ever walked away from conflict.  None have ever deviated from what they promised they would do.  Unless they’re stopped!  Historically bad regimes have only been replaced by good regimes when a war or conflict has run its course and a return to normalcy is demanded.  Trump and Company have set America on a perilous course.  Many are counting on the mid-term elections to restore a semblance of balance and control.  I am not a pessimist and it would be absolutely grand if America could turn itself around and pursue a more rational course.  In the meantime Trump and Company will go out of their way to throw more fuel onto the fires of national discontent and anger they have unleashed, on the fear and paranoia that has gripped the nation, to drown out all the voices calling for reason.  Negativity is a powerful force and it loves to grow in intensity; it thrives on uncertainty, on discontent.  Negativity has a tendency to shutter ears and eyes and numb the mind.

Trump and Company have turned the political spectrum in the United States into an asylum run by psychopaths and they have done it in record time and there is no let-up in sight.  The bullying, the threats, the gratuitous posturing, the insults hurled at individuals and nations, the lies and fabricated insinuations, the distortion of facts.  Everything is blown out of proportions which leads to the only logical question left to be asked: are they out of their minds?  Have they taken leave of their senses?  Or, is all of it part of the greater plan to establish an autocracy and give Trump and Company the overall power to do as they please?  Are they all stupid and insensitive to the needs of others?  Or, are they following the playbook as laid out in Project 2025?  It’s the latter.  This is about autocratic rule, power and control and all be damned that stand in its way.

And . . . the plan is working.  One half of the nation—the sane part—is holding its collective breath and can’t wait to see where the madness will end up and can it be stopped in time?  The other half is being swept up in a tide of emotional, national fervor.  The leader can’t be wrong.  That sweet, little girl in the White House, the Trump and Company press secretary, tells us exactly how great the president is and that everything is moving along as planned.  One victory after the other.  Some of Hitler’s most diehard followers and acolytes stayed with the Fuhrer until the bitter end and followed him in death.  Such is the power of belief.  Of denial.  Of an abdication of critical thinking and original thought.

Nobody emerged from World War II as a winner.  An end to the war was obtained at a huge cost in human sacrifice and suffering and a level of destruction that was horrendous in scope.  New countries were formed, borders drawn and changed, and the world itself divided into new alliances and spheres of influence.  Definitely not the groundwork for a lasting and enduring peace.  Nobody wants to revisit wartime scenarios as something incredibly stupid and inhumane.  We turn battles into victories and not into a defeat of our humanity.  We have an uncomfortable habit of abandoning our humanity when it is needed the most.  It is part of our human nature and how energy and momentum play out in our daily lives.  In times of crisis the gentle, breezy human side is easily pushed aside by the worst human characteristics that bring out the worst.

SIGNS GALORE

Look at what Trump and Company have accomplished in their first three months in office, all of it designed to instill fear, conflict and confusion.  This is not good governance.  Instead it is about establishing control through fear and intimidation.

--Turning back the clock on women’s issues and reproductive rights and access to the kind of healthcare they need and deserve.  Rights they have fought for, for decades.

--Getting rid of diversity programs that provided inclusivity and equal access.

--Attacking and getting rid of elements in the judiciary that were critical of Trump and Company and the tactics they use range from embarrassing to outright hateful.

--Allowing DOGE to willy-nilly cut programs, services and employees.

--Encouraging the hiring of pro-Trump people only.

--Threatening to cut the funding of Universities and Colleges that pursue their own independent agenda and that are refusing to cave in to Trump and Company’s demand of how education should be run (pro Trump that is).

--Then there is the international debacle on trade and tariffs.  The threats issued, the demands and the yoyo-like responses.  Yes to tariffs, no to tariffs, tariffs up and tariffs down.  To invade or not to invade, to insult today and appease tomorrow.  Not a single government in my lifetime has ever acted this irrational and beyond the pale.

--Getting rid of people in all levels of government and the military that voice criticism or who refuse to break the law and the nation’s constitution.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL

It is all about establishing absolute power.  A wealthy and small elite calling the shots.  This small cabal firmly believes that democracy is a failing system, wasteful and compromised by ineptitude and that they, and they alone, can fix it.  It is the old fashioned fixation with strongman rule.

Democracy is about inclusion and fairness.  It advocates a judiciary that is kept at arm’s length from government to ensure that justice is not compromised or unduly influenced.  Justice for all.  No exceptions!  An inclusive model of governance takes longer to make decisions because it involves dialogue, study, reflection, scrutiny and showing respect for minorities and diversity.  No short cuts.

Like it or not, in the end it boils down to the people’s choice.  Do you want to maintain an environment of inclusion, of safety and a respect for the rule of law and due process or do you abolish democracy in favor of autocratic rule that historically devolves into an exclusive society driven by fear, paranoia and even hate?  In an autocracy people fear their government and they become reluctant participants.  In an autocracy the government decides, not the people.  And look at Trump and Company and how they follow the dictator’s playbook to a T.  Openly hating and spreading disinformation and distorting facts.  Mass firings and only hiring people who openly support the new agenda.  Turning back the clock on human rights and things like diversity and gender equality.  Threats of tariffs and trade boycotts.  Jailing or deporting people deemed to be a threat to society (in their opinion).  Giving the department of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement near unlimited powers to detain and deport people.  It is all about power, control and submission.  Turning citizens into slaves and placing the pursuit of freedom and happiness into shackles tied to the government’s demands and wishes.

WHERE WILL THE PUSHBACK COME FROM?

There is a well-established segment within America that is educated and smart and who value freedom of choice and independence.  A lot of American businesses have a global reach and a global customer base and they value international relationships.  In other words, they have moved on with the times and changes that benefit the global community as a whole.  People working together rather than pulling away or apart.  America is also bursting with cultural talent and they have spread their arms and influence all across the globe.  Talent and vision.  I sincerely hope that the pushback will come from some of the brightest people America has produced and continues to produce.  I don’t think that any of them will want to travel backwards and embrace the bleak and vindictive pages of autocratic rule, of fascism and totalitarian governments.  Trump and Company are trying to move America into a warped and isolationist vacuum, blinded by self-importance and outdated notions of imperial might and glory.  It is time for the Trump and Company circus to fold its tent and move on, to put an end to the theatre of the insane.