"Liars, war-mongers and politics at the apex of power"
by Gilbert Doctorow, gilbertdoctorow.com (July 20, 2024)
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2024/07/20/liars-war-mongers-and-politics-at-the-apex-of-power/

My latest interview with Nima Alkhorshid on ‘Dialogue Works’ has generated many negative comments which I enjoyed reading because their words vindicated what I have been saying for a good long time: that the Opposition to mainstream news purveyors and to the Washington narrative of the Biden administration has within it too many America-haters, most of them living in the United States, who cannot abide the idea that anything good could happen in their homeland or that, in fact, they enjoy far greater freedom of speech than I do, living in Europe, or than their northern cousins in Canada enjoy living under the authoritarian regime of Justin Trudeau.

Let me wipe away the snide remarks of those who accused me of naiveté, of falling prey to lying politicians which they believe Donald Trump and JD Vance to be. My friends, I firmly believe the old truism that America will always do the right thing….after it has tried everything else. In the speech of J.D. Vance which I praised so highly, I saw that the long awaited moment has come.

The issues surrounding the Trump candidacy are the same as back in 2016: can we focus our minds on what immediately threatens our lives and put to a side our possible disagreement with policies advocated by the candidate that do not meet our personal preferences but are not life threatening NOW, not in 30 years time, like global warming, or women’s right to control their bodies (abortion).

I say out loud that the number one threat to America’s and the world’s continued existence beyond the immediate months before us is the war in Ukraine which can blow up into a nuclear WWIII at any moment if the current U.S. policy of seeking regime change in Russia and the break-up of the Russian Federation through inflicting a humiliating military defeat on the country appears to be materializing.

Gaza is a very nasty case, an openly perpetrated genocide that needs to be stopped. The American animus towards Iran, North Korea and China are all land mines which may explode but are unlikely to explode if the first and existential threat in Ukraine is resolved shortly. This resolution at the negotiating table is what I see happening if Trump wins in November. And as I said in the interview, given the way that people and their leaders flock to the winning side, a Trump victory in November can also reverse the power balance here in Europe and drain away the power from the newly installed European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen, redirecting power to Viktor Orban and his fellow thinkers who want to restore sovereignty to the member states and whittle away at the authoritarian neo-Cons presently in control of Europe’s supranational government structures sitting in Brussels. Yes, Europe has its own home-grown neo-Cons and is not merely marching under instructions from Washington. Let us call them by their proper name – modern day Quislings, or for those whose memory does not go so far back as WWII, the Fifth Column.

Comments on my latest interview cite, with deprecation, what they call my optimism, which they believe to be misplaced. They are not listening closely: I explained in the interview why my hopes for Trump in 2016 were dashed because of his lack of proper supports within the political establishment to put together a team capable of implementing rather than frustrating his policies.. And I am convinced that he has now mastered Washington while the Democrats are presently stumbling, so that he will be able to deliver on his promises today whereas he could not in 2016. In any case, I am unapologetic about being an optimist. I spent 25 years in corporate business in the marketing departments, where optimism comes with the territory and where fools do not last long.

*****

Donald Trump is presented by his political detractors in the mainstream media as a braggart and liar. During his presidency, The Washington Post issued daily lists of the factual errors of his Tweets and public statements over the preceding 24 hours. CNN has done a “fact check” of his every word these past several days.

However unattractive boastfulness may be, outright lies fall into a different category when they are made by people in power or by those who would be in power.

The fact is that the U.S. Government lies to the people every day about the way the war in Ukraine is going, about the intentions of the Israeli government to protect civilians and about all types of issues that are very important and which are evolving under the control of Washington. These are factual errors and propaganda that could be better called ‘disinformation’ to use the lexicon of the day.

I do not wish to imply that I expect absolute transparency and truthfulness from any government. However, there are often mitigating circumstances which favor lying. I believe that Trump and Vance are using falsehoods as tactical weapons in their fight with retrograde members of their own party, not to mention the Democrats, whom they cannot fight openly. As I say in the interview, the notion that we should turn the Ukraine war over to Europe so that the USA can concentrate its forces to wage war on China is just such an example of deception for a worthy purpose. Turning support for Ukraine over to the Europeans means throwing Ukraine under the bus, as we say in modern American English. Everyone knows that without the U.S. component, Europe’s possible military aid to Ukraine is worthless. And as for China, this is just a red flag to entice the war-mongers in both parties to believe that Trump is their boy, when in fact he is not.

I look forward to continuing this discussion with any and all. I remain ‘optimistic’ that there is light at the end of the tunnel of never ending U.S-incited wars around the globe.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024