The Blowback President

Looking back at 2017, let’s think of The Donald’s accomplishments after just a short time in office.Call him "The Blowback President" because his accomplishments consistently achieve the opposite of what he says he intends, which is a good thing, given his One-Percenter mentality.

 

Winning the election in the first place.

This success put paid to the notions that:
    • money buys elections – he didn’t spend that much
    • the media matter – he ran against the media
    • there is any real difference between the two parties
    • only Two-Party candidates can win—Trump was the ultimate independent

In other words, Trump proved that a popular message counts more than ideology or party affiliation.
 
There are many ways to get the attention of the public.  TV commercials are less effective than people think.  Having the punditocracy against you is not necessarily a bad thing. Argument does not win elections -- only appeals to gut bias really work.

 

Russiagate

 

OK, Trump didn’t start this, the most amazing witch hunt in American history. 

But Trump caused  Russiagate -- which came as the consequence of  his election threats against the “Deep State”--and, of course, actually winning the election. Plus his apparent willingness to work with the Russians, confounding 100 years of American, Russophobic imperial tradition.

This reaction on the part of the Democrats proved:

• There IS a Deep State (an idea many had poo-pooed)
• The Democratic Party is corrupt and antidemocratic
• The Dems are just plain crazy
• Big Media cannot be trusted.  Fake News ‘r Us.
• The Dems are bigger morons than Trump (which is really saying something.

Grilling Jill Stein was the best news for the Green Party since they finally got in the News      

 

Trumpcare

 

    • Suddenly Single Payer was back in the spotlight.
    • All the flaws of Obamacare were exposed.
    • More damage to the Democratic Party, who have shunned single payer  and just couldn’t bring themselves to support anything but some version of Obamacare.
    • Another plus for independent candidates.  If you support single payer, you must shun both parties.

 

The Tax Bill

 

    • Refocused public attention on inequality.
    • More or less sets things up for another Crash—which will be blamed not just on Trump -- but on capitalism as an economic system since Trump's policies are not much worse than Obama's. A pox on everyone's houses since I no longer have one.
    • Drew attention to the abuses of the tax system under Obama and previous Presidents including Clinton

 

Sanctions on Russia

 

    • Putin gets stronger
    • The Russian economy gets stronger
    • Europe weakens
    • The Chinese profit
    • Draws attention to Obama’s policies, once again weakening the Dems

 

North Korea

 

    • Trump’s threats bolster the peace process between the two Koreas
    • The Japanese get nervous—somebody there must have noticed that Japan is only a potential target because of its American bases and military alliance
    • Watch for Japan moving towards military independence and dumping the Americans (not for a long while though)

 

Sanctions against Venezuela

 

A peaceful and democratic election empowers Chavismo

    • Venezuelans rally against the Gringos
    • Maduro gets stronger.
    • Venezuela gets a new constitution
    • The “opposition” is now LEFT of Maduro, not right
    • And once again the Dems lose by supporting this long standing American policy

 

Support for the Honduras Election Theft

 

How US supports democracy in the Honduras

    • Latin American fear of the US soars.
    • The Dems suffer because they were responsible for the mess in the first place.


This of course undermines the US's criticism of Venezuela and Iran.

 

Support for the Ukraine including supply of lethal weapons

 

US in Ukraine

    • Now the Russians have good reason to resupply Donbass and Lugansk with their best.
    • More credence is given to the narrative that the US is out to “get” Russia and destroy the country.
    • More credence is given to the narrative the US destabilized Ukraine in the first place.
    • The US cannot pretend to be interested in the “Peace” process
    • The Dems lose because this was their policy and they still support it.
    • Say hello to Russian Ukraine as an independent country

 

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

 

    • The US can no longer pretend to be *neutral” in the Middle East anywhere, not just in Palestine.
    • The influence of Israel in US politics is clearer.  “Israelgate” anyone?  
    • The US was embarrassed by the UN voting against its move 

This moves validates Hamas -- with ISIS now declaring against Hamas.  "The enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend"....LOL. Accusations that ISIS, the US, and Israel were in bed together seem more credible than ever.

 

US support for Saudi Arabia

 

    • US support for a genocidal, racist, sexist regime mired in 17th Century religion is not new but Trump makes the contradictions clearer.
    • MbS claims to be a populist – just like Hitler and suffers from the same problem – extreme nationalism and megalomania
    • MbS wants to redistribute wealth in the KSA from royalty to...um….himself... scine  L’etat, c’est moi. 

However, the basic concept of redistribution could catch on – especially if MbS is able to pay down the national debt.  Maybe we can do that in America too?
    • Once again there will be blowback.

 

Anti-Iranian measures

 

    • Again, this is long standing US policy-- now clearly exposed as crazy and bending to Israeli and Saudi Pressure.
    • Attempts to support protest in Iran can only undermine the protestors
    • There will be protest – but as in Venezuela it will be from the Left
    • Watch  therefore for the theocrats to promote a kind of Islamic socialism since MbS has made redistribution so popular to prove street creds.

 

Pakistan

 

    • Insulting a nuclear armed Islamic state benefits their main arms supplier – China
    • This will not help the Afghan War
    • It alienates the usually pro-American Pakistani military 
How DO you say fuckup in Arabic?

This list of blowback accomplishments goes on and on. 

As you see, Trump is a huge boon for progressives everywhere.  In the US,   he is undermining both the Dems and the GOP,  who are cooperating by committing political harakiri. Messy and bloody.  

That opens the political marketplace to independents and local politicians as the only ones who can offer the electorate real solutions, especially in the case of a Crash when everything gets a LOT worse.

\As I said, a Crash is inevitable, especially with many states moving to the PetroYuan or PetroRuble and just a thousand people manipulating Bitcoin. 

The dollar will weaken as a reserve currency.  Cryptocurrencies are clearly not yet a substitute – since, as mentioned they are play cash for the 0.01 percent.  

But if the Chinese and the Russians can incorporate them into their financial systems backed by gold – and structure them to work as more than instruments of speculation -- they will be a substitute for the Bretton Woods system that allowed the US to borrow money without ever having to think of paying it back.  

OK. Will Trump just start a war ?  Nope because that won't help.  It would just end the US of A.  And also Trump himself.