Ukraine war — heading toward Armageddon?
NATO and even Putin himself believe that the recent Ukrainian sortie improves Zelenskyy's negotiating position for the coming ceasefire talks, if ever, the Donbas region and Crimea in exchange for the Kursk Oblast. Both sides need a respite from this war, time to lick their wounds and regroup before resuming the conflict at some future date.
But this invasion is unraveling Putin's image as the strongman, destroying the myths he so judiciously built up over the years: Russia is impregnable and invincible, owning the second-largest army in the world. Putin's credibility is called into question, subjecting him to humiliation among his allies and to the world — and to his own people.
America and NATO are taking a curious stance. They have always cautioned Zelenskyy not to go beyond Ukraine's border and imposed restrictions on the use of Western weapons to strike targets deeper into Russian territory for fear Russia will respond in kind, expanding the war and engulfing Western and Eastern Europe and beyond. Ukraine's leaders have repeatedly requested NATO for weapons that can give them the capability to hit targets inside Russia itself, which NATO was reluctant to allow. Zelenskyy has sought authorization for long-range strikes on Russian air bases and other infrastructure used to pummel Ukraine's energy facilities and other civilian targets. Ukraine was grudgingly recently granted a squadron of F16 jets — which were presumably used to accomplish air dominance during this invasion. With this, Zelenskyy has handed them a fait accompli, stating, "It is crucial that our partners remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war demands."
Implications of Ukraine invasion
This invasion has "presented a dilemma to Russia" — as Biden put it succinctly — yet NATO allies may have no choice but simply be "forced to good." Putin's saber-rattling on using tactical nuclear weapons has been silenced lately as he was warned by China against this alternative. And the immediate and total destruction of Russia in retaliation is a no-brainer.
Still, this invasion could provoke a significant backlash inside Russia as the tightly guarded press freedom and news dissemination of the massive evacuation of the population around Kursk filters the larger Russian populace, bringing the war uncomfortably close. Putin's leadership may be put to the test, undermining his authority, although no immediate change in leadership is expected as Putin has a firm grip on power. Nevertheless, Putin's hands-on involvement in the war has put the blame squarely on him, resulting in several of his generals being sacked and sent to the front and disappearing — if rumors are to be believed. This recent development reveals weaknesses in Russia's military readiness and morale. According to Ukrainian intelligence services, more and more soldiers of the Russian army want to lay down their arms; the number of Russian deserters has been higher than ever in the past weeks.
This invasion, gaining confidence for Ukraine, may lead it to seek and reclaim more territory and certainly lead to an escalation of hostilities. Putin and the Russian leadership will not tolerate Ukraine forces to be ensconced in Kursk for long. To retake the oblast, he will not spare the remaining population and its destruction as it did with the Ukraine cities around the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Overall, this temporary advantage to Ukraine will precipitate a reevaluation of NATO's support that could lead to calls for negotiations or a ceasefire. This is for the best interest particularly of the US now in the midst of a presidential election trending towards a Democratic win — a known factor to Ukraine. A Trump government with his admiration and schoolboy crush on Putin and the former's declaration to "end the war in one day" may prove to be a step towards unknown and uncharted territory.
Thus, the long-term consequences of this invasion could reshape the geopolitical landscape in Eastern Europe, leading to a reconfiguration of alliances, increased military presence of NATO in Eastern Europe, and a shift in the balance of power in the region.
Putin has threatened to get his forces in Kaliningrad to move into western Ukraine with no specifics, as Kaliningrad is Russia's enclave along the Baltic Sea and has no avenue toward Ukraine except through Lithuania and Poland — NATO countries. But it has sufficiently disturbed the three Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — that they issued a chilling warning: they're prepared to send troops into Ukraine without NATO approval. Fearing Russia's growing aggression, these Baltic nations see themselves as next in line. With historical ties to the Soviet Union and recent Russian threats, they're taking matters into their own hands — preventing Putin from mimicking his American acolyte to "Make Russia Great Again!"
Antecedents of the war
To put things in proper perspective, this development in the Ukraine-Russo war brings us to its beginnings. In my March 2022 column, I traced the seeds of this conflict from the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). "The collapse started on Premier Mikhail Gorbachev's watch when the USSR loosened its grip on the Eastern European countries (Soviets) composing the USSR, allowing them multi-party elections that began a slow process of democratization. This led to the destabilization of communist control, and the ensuing momentum caused the greatest modern symbol of communist Soviet hegemony to fall — the Berlin Wall."
America, the USSR's greatest Cold War rival, was not exactly gloating on the sidelines. Nevertheless, this was a humiliating blow to the hardline Russian communist elite — though the Russian people and the freed Soviet republics welcomed Gorbachev's reform agenda and subsequently President Boris Yeltsin's rapid economic reforms."
Around this time, too, was the rise of a despot. "One who witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall was a KGB apparatchik, an undercover spy in East Germany named Vladimir Putin. The aftermath was chaotic for Russia, which lost 15 of its Soviets and 2 million square miles of territory, including the second biggest after Russia itself — Ukraine.
This was seen as the century's greatest geopolitical disaster, ushering in political and economic chaos in part caused by the unfamiliarity of capitalist concepts introduced after decades of socialism. This tectonic shift in the economic paradigm brought to the surface the shady part of capitalism — graft and corruption pervading all levels of bureaucracy. Putin came at the right time during Russia's metamorphosis."
To be continued
Marcos vs Duterte — political dynasties collide
These incriminating extracts are the fruit of the 10-year dalliance with lover, former congressman Tony Boy Floirendo, in the corridors of power. He has been reticent through all these. And it could be the right response for a scion of one of Davao's leading families. Or the man is simply intimidated by the proverbial "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." But to be kind, Tony Boy may just be gentlemanly enough to protect his aggrieved but decent family — a famous wife and hardworking and private children.
But Binag's rendering may just be the opening salvo to the political skirmish between two political dynasties for control of political power in the coming mid-term elections that could impact the presidential election in 2028.
Inevitable collision of forces
Both the Marcos and Duterte families are the current leading political dynasties, with the other 100 or so Philippine dynasties realigning themselves for their own maximum advantage, from the oldest, the Ortegas of La Union, to the Garcias and Osmeñas of the Visayas, and the notorious Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus of Mindanao.
To put things in perspective, what precipitated the breakup of the 2022 Marcos-Duterte coalition was the ultimate question: Whose dynasty dominates and holds political power post-2028 and beyond? The Duterte patriarch was unhappy with Sara giving way to the Marcos scion for the presidency, allowing the Marcos resurrection. From this vantage point, the Marcos family sought to rehabilitate their own patriarch's image, burdened by the decades of martial law and the possibility of extending their own rule through their progeny.
This necessitated the defanging of rival heiress and president-in-waiting VP Sara, rendering her castrated as VP and education secretary ("Two presidents: Impact on mid-term elections," TMT, May 15, 2024). The accusation of BBM being "bangag" by Duterte and sons was the Deegong's response to Marcos allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate further Duterte's vulnerabilities — his war on drugs and the deadly "Oplan Tokhang" that laid waste thousands of innocent lives, the extrajudicial killings (EJKs).
Revival of 2017-2018 illegal drug shipment
Cases against the Deegong's son, Davao City congressman Paolo, untouchable while he was vice mayor of Davao in 2017 during his father's presidency, are being revived, linking him to the $125 million narcotics bust, which he has denied. He was accused by then-senator Antonio Trillanes IV of being a member of a Chinese criminal syndicate — "complete with a 'dragon-like' tattoo with secret digits on his back."
Current House hearings by a so-called quad committee — made up of the Committees of Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts — on illegal drugs, POGOs, illegal purchases of land and the war on drugs on Aug. 16, 2024, brought in a former customs intelligence officer Jimmy Guban who named Paolo Duterte; Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara; and Michael Yang, erstwhile Duterte Chinese adviser, as the owner of the container with magnetic lifters which were part of the shipment of shabu in 2018 worth P11 billion.
Davao City councilor Nilo "Small" Abellera was dragged in as the person who asked Guban to expedite the entry of shabu shipments that belong to "Michael Yang, Pulong Duterte and Mans" — Small's business partners, he being their trusted associate.
Guban, himself convicted of drug trafficking charges and whose credibility is questionable, further named former environment undersecretary Benny Antiporda for facilitating the release of the shipment from the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
This time, the above hearings were conducted at the Villa de Bacolor Convention Center in Pampanga as an offshoot of the ongoing circus of hearings that purported to show the government's crackdown on POGO hubs operated by Chinese high-rollers through Filipino cohorts.
Which hearings involved the participation of dismissed Mayor Alice Guo, accused of being a "Chinese sleeper-spy agent" ("The spy and the paramour," TMT, Aug. 14, 2024) and whose fingers are traceable to the Chinese POGO companies' land buying and operations in Pampanga.
This convoluted mishmash of hearings, revival of old cases, and accusations of criminality proven or unproven aired during grandstanding congressional hearings given space in mass media are fodder for this election season and this type of dirty politics practiced by people holding the reins of power. It is a sad testament to the type of politics being played by all sides: throw whatever dirt can be thrown and simply work on those that will stick.
ICC probe — Deegong's 'sword of Damocles'
Late in the Deegong administration, the International Criminal Court (ICC) conducted a full investigation of President Duterte for his alleged role in crimes against humanity during his controversial war on drugs. The investigation focused on allegations of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations. But on November 21, Marcos, who was then "goody-goody" with the Deegong, acceded to the former's demand to suspend or quash the investigation as the Philippines was no longer a member of the ICC and that Marcos was already conducting its own investigations into the drug war.
However, in early 2023, the ICC decided to resume its investigation, stating that the Philippines had not genuinely investigated the alleged crimes. The Philippine government and Marcos did not object. Duterte, who has denied any wrongdoing, has been critical of the ICC and has stated that he would not cooperate with the court. Marcos, whose relations with the Dutertes have soured, allowed the ICC to continue its investigation. The Deegong, feeling BBM had crossed his red line, went ballistic. Thus began the flurry of accusations on BBM as "bangag"!
The pot calling the kettle black
If the paramour and the Dutertes are to be believed, we have a first family happily snorting together following the dictum of "a family that snorts together stays, prospers and rules together." But at whose expense, while the head honcho and the spouse together take the helm of the ship of state? It certainly brings to the fore the question of whether the president is sober enough or even fit to be president — and if not — can his responsibility be passed over to an unelected surrogate, his very powerful consort — similarly stoned!
On the other hand, we have a dysfunctional family from Davao — and if Marcos and his cohorts are to be believed, the male members are the main actors in the country's drive toward a narco-state. This puts us Filipinos between a rock and a hard place — or, for the mythologists — between Scylla and Charybdis.
God help us!
The spy and the paramour
Deep-cover spies
"The Americans," a political thriller on Netflix that ran for five seasons (2013-2018), is about two Russian spy agents posing as an average American couple complete with family embedded into an American middle-class community at the height of the Cold War. The synopsis of the movie describes "... a pair of deep-cover Soviet KGB spies masquerading as a typical suburban Washington DC couple whose children, neighbors, coworkers and friends are completely unaware of their activities. At home, they're the stereotypical parents of stereotypical kids; at work, they pose as travel agents; but at night, they weave a web of confidantes, lovers, dupes and historical figures from the Reagan-era Cold War. The startlingly realistic plot twists force the viewer to consider the real cost of an undeclared war, what it takes to protect one's beliefs, if it's worth it, and if it actually worked for either side.
Philip and Elizabeth Jennings seem like the average American couple. Married for nearly 20 years, they have two children, masking a secret double life: they were planted in the US nearly 20 years previously. It is the early 1980s and the height of the Cold War, with Philip and Elizabeth at the forefront of the USSR's attempts to gain information on US activities and weaponry. Tasked with countering espionage and tracking down Soviet spies is a special division of the FBI."
Chinese sleeper agent
In the Senate hearings conducted by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a real-life narrative is unfolding of a parallel scenario. Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, has the makings of a true-to-life Chinese-run sleeper spy agent. Guo, a young lady unknown in the political circles but with a lot of cash, burst into the scene and won as town mayor.
What caught the eye of the public and the authorities was Guo's connection to the illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), online gambling services to the Chinese market. It is illegal in China but allowed to operate from the Philippines and proliferated at the start of President Duterte's administration. This could become a source of tremendous illegal funds, with its tentacles encompassing the political infrastructure of the country, if it had remained unchecked.
Consider what was revealed at the Senate hearings: 35-year-old Guo, who doesn't remember much about her childhood, had her birth certificate registered only on Nov. 22, 2005, years after her designated birth. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) presented documents that the certificate was fraudulently acquired from a certain Alice Leal Guo, born on July 12, 1986. It is a stolen identity. Further complications ensued as another "Chinese national Guo Hua Ping matched Mayor Guo's fingerprints, establishing they were the same person." ("Guo faces more cases as probe deepens" by Javier Joe Ismael, The Manila Times, June 29, 2024)
She couldn't remember much of her past, the house where she was born, no school records and no known high school classmates as she was reportedly homeschooled by a certain teacher named Rubilyn, whose existence couldn't be established.
The puzzle has become more complicated as it was established that before entering politics, the pig-raising private citizen Guo petitioned the Bamban municipal council to allow Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc. to operate an 8-hectare POGO hub in Barangay Anupul with 36 buildings. This company later changed its business name to Zun Yuan Technology Inc. after Philippine authorities raided the place on charges of human trafficking and serious illegal detention in February 2023.
Bambam, Tarlac became one of the biggest hubs of POGO in central Luzon, with Mayor Alice Guo as the central figure. In this still unfolding drama, Hontiveros declared the Guo to be a Chinese "asset" trained to infiltrate and influence the Philippine government. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian suspects that the assumption of Guo to political power signals that the Philippines "was entering the era of so-called POGO politics." ("Is Alice Leal Guo real?" by Tita C. Valderama, TMT, May 13, 2024)
In these coming months, Hontiveros and Gatchalian may yet establish Mayor Guo as just the tip of the iceberg of Chinese sleeper agents in the Philippines. The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of Mayor Guo.
The paramour
A few days back, a certain Cathy Binag was interviewed twice by Maharlika, a YouTube blogger whose posts about the Marcos family's alleged penchant for snorting "polvoron" — the street name for cocaine, an illegal drug — have been going viral. This was former President Duterte's bete noire that precipitated his war on drugs during his rule, which has now become the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation. Cathy Binag did not mince words, implicating Liza Marcos, BBM himself, two of their children and a coterie of advisers and childhood friends of BBM and Cathy's paramour, former Davao del Norte congressman Tony Boy Floirendo. Another of the names dropped was that of former congressman Anton Lagdameo, Tony Boy's nephew, who is now presidential special assistant to BBM.
As a backgrounder, Tony Boy and Cathy were an item as "mag-un" in Visayan parlance, although both have long been separated from their respective legal spouses for several years. Cathy disclosed that their affair started in 2011 and that they lived together up to Feb. 17, 2021 — a good 10 years. Floirendo and Binag were hobnobbing with Manila's elite but were not really that much accepted by the conservative local elite — to which Floirendo belonged by blood or affinity. Floirendo put up a premier dining restaurant in Davao City called The White House offering Chinese fusion cuisine of "the best Szechuan dishes," complete with an imported Chinese chef and a cellar of expensive wines. This was overseen by Cathy, purported to be a gourmand herself. The restaurant closed after two years.
What was egregious about all these was that Cathy's revelations of Malacañang officialdom indulging in "polvoronic parties" were never picked up by mainstream media. I quote from TMT colleague Bobi Tiglao's column:
"Yet Philippine mainstream media, mainly the six big Manila-based broadsheets and tabloids, as well as the biggest broadcast outfits and the US-funded internet-only news outfit, have totally ignored this explosive story that reveals the character not only of President Marcos but also his innermost circle of friends since his college days. Mainstream media have not published nor broadcast a single news article, not a single opinion column.
"Even self-styled guardians of press freedom, especially the US-funded media outfits like Vera Files, Rappler, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, are exposed as minions by this Binag exposé. They have been totally silent on this issue." ("PH mainstream media betrays democracy" by Rigoberto D. Tiglao, TMT, Aug 12, 2024)
Go figure!
Biden's bold bid; Kamala's entry
THE announcement of President Biden's quitting the race on the weekend after the four-day circus-like enthronement of Trump as a cult leader at the GOP convention was a stroke of genius. In one fell swoop, the afterglow turned into a chilling gloom when Biden pulled the rug from underneath the basically Biden-centric GOP campaign strategy. They didn't have a plan B. There were no issues on public policies that Trump can boast of during his four-year term comparable to Biden's, except for his false claims on how good the economy was under him and how he caused the Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade. Now, he had to backtrack on abortion and leave the issues to the states. A confusing reversal that is costing him women's votes. Thus, he had to skirt discussions on public issues, the economy, foreign relations and, more particularly, the Covid pandemic — where Trump, with his criminal incompetence, caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. The lingering image of Trump's stupidity is his suggestion to arrest and cure Covid by passing a light through the body and injecting bleaching agents defines his sad response to America's pandemic tragedy. The man is insane!
From exultation to despair
But this week, the Democrats wrested the initiative away from the Republicans and nullified their three-week euphoria — from the debacle of that debate to the Supreme Court Trump-complicit ruling on presidential immunity, the quashing of the criminal charges on the illegally acquired classified document cases; and the failed assassination attempt.
The latter was made more controversial, with a very late FBI report released 13 days after the incident. "I took a bullet and live," he bragged. Apparently, a bullet fragment or broken shard of glass from the teleprompter hit his right ear. In a tongue-in-cheek meme that went viral, a more appropriate statement should have been, "I survived an assassination attempt by a teleprompter." This is not to belittle the incident, which was despicable in American politics and unacceptable by any measure in civilized society. But given Trump's play for hyperbole, people become somewhat jaded by his overtures.
But the unprecedented declaration of Biden last Sunday caught many by surprise. The Democratic leadership, of course, anticipated Biden's move as they have in the past week been giving hints that the old man must go. The man had a glimpse of where he stood at this particular moment in American history. Biden's giving up the presidential race for the Democratic Party and, more importantly, for the American people is yet the most eloquent act he has done. It was no less than bold. It was heroic! "It's not about me. It's not about one person. It's about our country. It's about our democracy!" With that, he establishes his place among the rarified pantheon of great American presidents.
Trump in panic — terrified
Vice President Kamala Harris has been endorsed by Biden to take his place and would now be the Democratic presidential nominee. Kamala is 59 years old, and the total contrast between the two potential opponents is palpable. Kamala is an excellent and hardworking prosecutor experienced in dealing with criminals and convicted felons. In her first speech to her campaign HQ, she said: "I have been a prosecutor. I know Trump's type — a predator who abuses and preys on women. A fraudster who ripped off consumers... cheaters who broke the rules for their own gains."
For months, Trump and the GOP touted Biden as senile and old. Biden's act of taking himself away from the fray altered the equation. Trump is now the senile old candidate ever — older even than the hero of the once formidable GOP, Ronald Reagan, before MAGA perverted the Republicans, who was 73 as a presidential candidate in his second term. Trump is now 78. Aside from his senility, his campaign speeches showed a cognitively impaired individual, slurring his speeches, his thoughts wandering about, prone to recounting non-sequiturs during MAGA campaign rallies of "the battery, the shark and the swimmer... and Hannibal Lecter." But what struck fear in Trump is the creeping clamor for him to also do a Biden. The temptation to likewise replace Trump for the same reason Biden is being replaced is compelling — age and senility, plus dementia, to boot.
The Republican strategists are panicking about the entrance of a Black woman — with an intellect far surpassing that of the Donald and an excellent debater who could eat Trump alive in any debate. Trump may have been precipitate in picking up his "mini-me" in J.D. Vance. In retrospect, Nikki Haley, the apostate turned ass-kisser, now appears to have been the better choice and could even turn out to be the perfect replacement for Trump — if Donald even had half the courage and patriotic sense of Biden. The GOP Nikki Haley-J.D. Vance tandem could be a passable Republican alternative.
America's clear choices
With Biden out of the picture, the political conversation leading toward November could now be framed more clearly. It has been the conventional thinking that America didn't have clear choices in this election. Two spent old men both attacking each other for their personal incapacities — not much on the policies and program of government that would redound to the benefit not only of their constituents but of the world — as America assumes its responsibilities as world hegemon. Biden simplified the divide by passing on the torch of political leadership to a much younger set of leaders and a totally new paradigm. Kamala Harris personified this. A black working professional woman, who paid her dues breaking glass ceilings reaching the pinnacle of political life as senator and vice president. One can just imagine the path Kamala had to navigate amidst the white male-dominated politics.
Contrast this with Trump, the convicted felon, a scam artist, and a rapist. He passed himself off as a billionaire casino owner who went bankrupt six times with more than a dozen businesses, from an airline to hotels, magazines and a university that had to close. He only paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. He is a racist adored by neo-Nazis and white nationalists. This list could go on and on. The choice is now clear between the Trump kleptocracy and chaos versus Kamala's competence.
Trump and the GOP are running out of options, reduced to attacking Kamala for her race and gender. All they can do now is dig dirt and turn the political conversation into ad hominem attacks. Trump's initial public speeches describe Kamala as "a bum," rejecting his advisers' caution against such inarticulate and puerile attacks, pinning her instead on the failures of the Biden administration. On the other hand, it's a no contest as Kamala, the prosecutor, knows precisely how to handle criminals. She has sent her fair share to the slammer.
But the end of the MAGA tandem may be in sight. The lackluster J.D. Vance is an embarrassment, a liability and there is a growing movement among the disgruntled Republicans to replace his doppelgänger. They may have to scrape the barrel for a last-minute replacement. Nikki Haley may yet see her star rise.
Biden is out! Now Democrats can win
WHILE this column is being written, Biden announced he is out of the presidential race. By this act, he alters the dynamics of American politics in favor of the Democrats. Trump, Speaker Johnson and the leaders of the GOP are in a panic. But the MAGA and the "baskets of deplorables" will fail to appreciate the ramifications of this tectonic political shift.
But I am way ahead of my narrative. Let me lay the predicate — from the viewpoint of an outsider looking into American electoral politics.
Yes, it is puzzling and impossible to digest after Trump's full three-week run of good fortune starting on June 27. From that fateful debate, where Biden's mental lapses hidden from the public have been exposed as he performed well below expectation, overshadowing Trump's lies and fraudulent claims on how good his economic record during his presidency was. The week's hot streak for Trump continued with the Supreme Court granting him near-total immunity for his official presidential acts and Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissing Trump's criminal case on charges that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club. Fate seemed to have conspired as the week culminated with Trump's surviving an assassination attempt a few days before the GOP convention that marked him "God's anointed one." It was this brush with death and his iconic photographs of him pumping fists that formed the backdrop and the lead intro to his dramatic entrance at the convention. There, in Milwaukee, the enthronement of a convicted felon was consummated. And the Republican party transformed itself into a cult of personality. The capture of the once venerable conservative political party of Lincoln, undoubtedly one of the greatest American presidents, was total.
Witness the delegates wearing bandages on their right ears as a mark of devotion to the new messiah, which can be construed too as a "stigma diabolicum" — the mark of the devil as in the days of witchcraft. The GOP four-day coven also brought in line the heretics who displayed total supplication to Trump. Nikki Haley, Trump's erstwhile primary opponent who declared earlier shefelt no need to kiss the ring, delivered a rousing speech endorsing Trump. But the prize goes to Trump's VP choice — JD Vance who was the epitome of hypocrisy. He was on record declaring that "I'm never a Trump guy, never liked him, a terrible candidate... idiot if you voted for him... might be America's Hitler... an a**hole." And he bent his knee.
The anomaly these past weeks was that after the debate, the onus fell on Biden to prove his capability for the US presidency despite his excellent record compared to Trump's failed presidency on the economy, the handling of Covid and a host of other metrics. This was exacerbated by the Democrats' penchant for committing "hara-kiri," clamoring for his replacement after a single debacle of a debate. But this could be a blessing in disguise. There was no clamor for Trump, whom the Republican Lincoln Project members have dubbed as authoritarian-prone and a dangerous man, unfit for the US presidency.
Silver lining for Democrats
Jonathan Freedland, a British journalist writing for The Guardian, opined (July 19, 2024): "Donald Trump's run of good luck could end this weekend — if Joe Biden does the right thing." And the right thing is for Biden to make the supreme sacrifice for America — by giving way to any of the leading lights in the Democratic Party. Freedland's thesis is that Trump's entire campaign has been predicated on Biden as his opponent. Trump and MAGA's strategy is Biden-specific, framing the campaign between the weak old Biden against Trump.
Now that Biden is out, the Democrats have little more than 100 days — enough time to wrest the initiative from Trump. Freedland sees three campaign-altering scenarios. First, media attention will shift to the Democrats speculating on a younger nominee, not necessarily Kamala Harris. And the limelight shifting away from Trump is hurtful to this narcissistic megalomaniac. This leads to the second consequence, negating Trump's argument of his running against a senile opponent — making Trump the oldest cognitively impaired candidate. The third scenario is this new Democratic kid in the block will take the wind out of the sails of Trump's anti-incumbency "change message" or "pagbabago" (in Filipino). And I may add a fourth element. The pressure to replace the other senile old man becomes palpable.
The polls would be upended, portraying a different voting profile. Americans have long been torn between two senile men. No longer! The choice would now shift to Trump, himself a senile old man, against any younger Democrat.
Throwing a Hail Mary
This act by Biden will be more than familiar to football-loving Americans. With 100 days to go, a newly invigorated Democratic team is throwing a Hail Mary pass. After months of the GOP/Democrats fight that showed the American people and the world how insanely competitive elections are in the United States — like a football game running out of minutes — it is coming to a deadly end. Wikipedia defines a Hail Mary pass as "a very long forward pass, typically made in desperation, with an exceptionally small chance of achieving a completion with seconds to spare. Due to the difficulty of completion with this pass, it makes reference to the Catholic "Hail Mary" prayer for strength and help."
"The expression goes back to the 1930s when it was used publicly by two former members of the Notre Dame team. Originally meaning any sort of desperation play, a Hail Mary pass gradually came to denote a long, low-probability pass attempted at the end of a half when a team is too far from the end zone to execute a more conventional play, implying that it would take a miracle for the play to succeed. This pass could produce the game-winning touchdown."
The term became widespread after an NFL playoff game on Dec. 28, 1975, when Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach said about his game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Pearson, "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary."
Going back to the GOP, the MAGA and the unthinking cult, how long will the euphoria of the debate, the court rulings favoring Trump and the afterglow of the failed assassination last and dominate the psyche of the American voters? It could be ephemeral for the independents, the Democrats, and the American people. These people think and vote!
Freedland's closing statement: "The stakes are too high, for the US and the world, to let Democrats cede the 2024 contest to Trump, which is what a continued Biden candidacy would do. The hope is that Biden himself reaches that conclusion... and performs what will be his last great act of public service (and he did — author's note). Because whatever the Republican faithful may say, this decision is not in the hands of the Almighty — it is in the hands of human beings who, whatever their fears and frailties, need to act and act now."
Biden, you've done great service to America. This Hail Mary pass could be the perfect strategy!
What if Trump wins?
AS this is being written, an assassination attempt on Trump failed. The bullet grazed his ear. We wish Trump a quick recovery and mourn the loss of life of an unfortunate bystander. Political violence of any kind, in any shape or form, in lieu of serious discussions on political issues, is horrific and unacceptable. Sen. Bernie Sanders, aghast at this vile deed, has this to say: "We should make politics boring again, a serious discussion of the serious issues facing this country and not the harsh rhetoric that we have heard in this country for the last number of years."
This incident, to some extent, is a product of the despicable rhetoric that has dominated American campaign politics, exacerbated by candidate Trump in 2016. But as to the political fallout, this assassination attempt may have won him the 2025 election today.
To anticipate his presidency, this column will quote heavily from "Aftermath," a four-minute video clip created by the Lincoln Project, Republicans disgruntled by Trump. The clip encapsulates a purported 900-page document produced by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative political think tank, on the MAGA plan to take over every part of the federal government, purging decades-long civil servants and replacing them with "the baskets of deplorables." The document "Project 2025" (P25), translates in detail the thoughts and intentions of Trump. Its existence, acknowledged by Trump in his "Truth Social," is internally circulated. He coyly disavowed authorship yet praised the content of the documents, wishing the authors "Good luck!"
'Aftermath: Project 2025'
The scenario starts with the oath-taking of the 47th president on Jan. 20, 2025, upon the defeat of President Biden, whose debacle has been assured by the fragmentation of the Democratic Party coalition of liberals, blacks, non-white male, women, organized labor and the college-educated, among others, after the June 27 debate, courtesy of the clamor of the Democratic Party stalwarts led by its elite to have him replaced as presidential candidate. That debate exposed Biden's natural senility and the rambling lies of Trump. Yet no similar outcry was initiated on Trump whose prevarications have been his staple since he entered public life.
On the day President Trump seizes control of a divided government, he signs hundreds of executive orders (EO) implementing P25. One calls for the replacement of 50,000 civil servants by hardline MAGA loyalists. Trump, promising retribution, orders his newly manned justice department to arrest the Jan. 6, 2020 Commission members who conducted and caused the incarceration of his cohorts in the Capitol attack. Current and former Department of Justice employees perceived to be his political opponents will be apprehended for treason and election interference conspiracy. He declares all these as official acts — counting on the protection of the Supreme Court based on their recent doctrine of total immunity for official acts of the presidency.
Migration
By EO, he ends birthright citizenship. This is one of the cornerstones of the diverse cultural infusion by immigrants, enriching America's cultural heritage. US citizenship is acquired in two situations: by virtue of a person's birth within US territory or because at least one of the parents was a US citizen at the time of the person's birth. Under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, this principle, jus soli, is enshrined.
This EO turns millions of American-born and legalized citizens legal US residents and green card holders into illegal aliens overnight. Hundreds of thousands are imprisoned in newly built camps. And mass deportation begins. Protests erupt all over, becoming more intense and violent. President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, declaring that the protest is a danger to American sovereignty. The Insurrection Act of 1807 — a federal law that empowers the president to deploy US military and federalized National Guard troops within the US in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection or rebellion — is invoked. He orders the National Guard to use deadly force and, in the wake of bloody violence, declares martial law nationwide, awarding himself new powers under a freshly signed American Sovereignty Protection Order, which defines protested immigration policies as non-protected speech and a threat to National Security.
Civil War 2.0
Governors of the states of New York, California, Illinois and other Democratic Party-dominated states declare their opposition, refuse compliance and assert the states' prerogatives. Trump orders their arrest. With the proliferation of guns in the country, pockets of resistance ensue. Trump pardons every Jan. 6, 2020 Capitol attacker, including those who assaulted the police, presenting them with presidential medals and honoring them. The Proud Boys, with a smattering of White Supremacists who bared their true nature in Charlottesville, are to be the new armed militia augmenting the US military.
Trump's defense secretary, a disgraced ex-general, fires 400 generals and admirals, leaving the military leaderless and the Pentagon in the hands of MAGA adherents. Other appointees purged the rank of the CIA, FBI and the apparatus under Homeland Security.
Values reformation
The Department of Education, renamed the Department of American Values, mandates a Christian nationalist curriculum for all schools receiving federal aid. Islamic teachings and practices may be relegated to the strict confines of madrassahs in mosques. Trump, joined by speaker Johnson and evangelical leaders, announces the Department of Health and Human Services with reclassified policies making IVF treatment impossible to legally administer.
Trump reverses one campaign promise by declaring a national abortion ban and a new federal data-sharing program so states can monitor women's periods. Thousands of American women are detained while crossing state lines on suspicion of seeking abortion.
Values reformation
The Department of Education, renamed the Department of American Values, mandates a Christian nationalist curriculum for all schools receiving federal aid. Islamic teachings and practices may be relegated to the strict confines of madrassahs in mosques. Trump, joined by speaker Johnson and evangelical leaders, announces the Department of Health and Human Services with reclassified policies making IVF treatment impossible to legally administer.
Trump reverses one campaign promise by declaring a national abortion ban and a new federal data-sharing program so states can monitor women's periods. Thousands of American women are detained while crossing state lines on suspicion of seeking abortion.
Trump 2028 and beyond
Sometime during his regime, Trump announces he will run for a third term, claiming that he was cheated in the 2020 elections. The Supreme Court ultimately agrees with his interpretation, paving the way for Trump's 2028 reelection.
The Lincoln Project creators have this voice-over at the end of the video clip: "If you hear all these that it isn't possible, then ask yourself. What did you believe was impossible just eight years ago? This isn't a fantasy and is Trump's plan and his counting on you to believe, it couldn't happen."
Be a True Believer! Vote Trump! Destroy America!
Voters' sympathy coats Trump with the cloak of invincibility after that failed assassination. But will the same sentiments prevail 90 days from today?
Padilla mulls new Cha-cha bid with political, economic amendments
Padilla, chairperson of the Senate’s panel on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, earlier filed Senate Resolution of Both Houses No. 5, proposing amendments strictly on specific political provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
But after hearing the opinion of some experts, Padilla said he is now “open” to filing another resolution, this time taking into consideration the fresh suggestions of several stakeholders.
Padilla presided over a hearing on RBH5 on Wednesday. Resource speakers during the hearing include former finance chief Margarito Teves, former Budget and Management secretary Romulo Neri, and Consumer Protection Advocacy Group chair Ricardo Penson.
“Dahil sa ganda ng ating talakayan, naisip naming pag-aralan ng committee ang rekomendasyon ng bawat isa patungkol sa mode of amendment ng konstitusyon. Open tayo sa posibilidad na maglabas po tayo ng bagong resolusyon patungkol dito,” said Padilla.
(Because of how well our discussion went, our committee has decided to study each other’s recommendations regarding the mode of amending the Constitution. We are open to releasing a new resolution on this matter.)
In an ambush interview after the hearing, Padilla was asked which amendments his “new” resolution would cover. He answered this by saying: “Pati political [provisions].” (Political provisions as well.)
“Yun ang sinasabi kanina ng guest natin. Babaguhin mo ang economic provision, iiwan mo naman ang political. Kumbaga, sa riles ng tren — kapag isa lang ang riles ay hindi tatakbo. Mas magandang dalawa, may sense eh,” said Padilla, adding that he was advised by his legislative staff to just pursue Cha-cha via constitutional convention.
(That’s what our guest was saying. You’ll amend the economic provision but leave behind political provisions. Imagine a railway; if there’s only one rail, then trains wouldn’t run. So it’s better if there’s two—it makes sense.)
The senator did not give a definite date when his new resolution would be filed, but he assured that it may be out by “next week.”
Experts’ side
During the panel’s hearing on Wednesday, Neri said he is in favor of amending the Constitution, but he suggested that it be made all at once.
“Ako, if we’re gonna change the Constitution [ay] palitan na lahat. Kasi ang daming problema. When I read it, sumakit ang ulo,” he said.
(For me, if we’re going to change the Constitution, let’s change it all because there are so many problems. I got a headache when I read it.)
Meanwhile, Teves admitted that he has yet to form a sound judgment on the proposals to amend the political provisions of the Constitution. Still, based on his “intuitive feeling,” he thinks he would also agree.
“Pero intuitive feeling lang — wala pang scientific o really thoughtful time devoted to it, ‘yung 6 years pwede na pero pwedeng extendable pa rin ‘yan. Kasi ako naman convinced din ako na wala dapat term limits, no? Kung sakaling meron man lang, siguro sa mataas na posisyon na. Siguro max na siguro ang 12 years kung sa Presidente, no?” said Teves.
(But it’s just an intuitive feeling — there’s no scientific or really thoughtful time devoted to it, but I think the 6 years is fine, but it can still be extended. I’m also convinced that there shouldn’t be term limits. Maybe a 12-year maximum is okay for the President, right?)
The Senate, through Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, is currently leading talks on economic Cha-cha.
This was made according to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s request for the upper chamber to review the proposals to amend specific provisions of the Constitution.
Marcos said he saw the need to ease restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution to allow more foreign direct investment in the country.
Postscript: Democrats devouring their own
Trump, on the other hand, was perfect for this format, a reprise of "The Apprentice." He ambushed the old warrior with lies and prevarications, where the moderators allowed these to go unchecked.
Trump never did respond clearly and directly to the moderator's question of whether he will abide by the results of the 2024 elections — win or lose. Up until now he negated Biden's 2020 election that precipitated the Jan. 6, 2020, Capitol Hill riots. He instead proclaimed the participants of this mob to be patriots and freedom-loving protesters. And once elected, he will pardon all of them. And the scary prospect is Trump's sense of retribution, promising to weaponize his justice department to go after his perceived enemies and rounding up millions of undocumented immigrants, shipping them out of the country.
Democrats in a panic
The unintended consequence of the debate was panic — by definition, a sudden episode of intense fear triggering irrational behavior when there really is no real danger. Based on one lousy debate performance, the knee-jerk reaction of the Democrats is to have Biden replaced — equivalent to cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. This created a flurry of negative press.
The next day, the New York Times, in an op-ed, decreed that Biden, to serve his country, should abandon the race. This played right into the hands of Republicans ramping up calls to invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, urging Vice President Kamala Harris to use her constitutional powers to convene the Cabinet to declare Biden unable to carry out his duties as president, allowing the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet or Congress to deem the president "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." Under such circumstances, the vice president would immediately become acting president.
The Philadelphia Enquirer saw through these inanities and came up with a totally different take by its editorial board published June 29 with a banner headline: "To serve his country, Donald Trump should leave the race."
"We cannot be serious about letting such a crooked clown back in the White House. Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He's 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden, on his worst day, remains light years better than Trump on his best... There was only one person at the debate who does not deserve to be running for president. The sooner Trump exits the stage, the better off the country will be.
"Now, Trump is a convicted felon who is staring at three more criminal indictments. He is running for president to stay out of prison."
SCOTUS on presidential immunity
After weeks of dilly-dallying, the US Supreme Court came out with a ruling stating, among others, that "the nature of presidential power entitles a former president to absolute immunity from criminal prosecutions for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts."
Legal experts maintain that former President Trump is not above the law. But this Supreme Court ruling kicks back to the lower courts for verification, as predicted, the question of whether some acts are official or unofficial, buying time for Trump, moving his trial date conveniently after the November 5 elections. The six conservative members of the court, three of whom were appointed by Trump, are complicit in allowing Trump breathing space. The implications here warm the heart of the MAGA cult: if Trump wins, as president, he can direct the American justice structure to drop all charges and cases against him — and even pardon himself for any and all transgressions. And go after Biden's people.
If he loses, the Supreme Court ruling does not preclude the courts from proceeding with the prosecution of Trump on his three remaining cases: the Georgia election interference case in which Trump is charged with illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results; the criminal mishandling of classified documents taken by Trump from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence obstructing the FBI's efforts to retrieve the files; and the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York Attorney General's office cases, both on Trump's illegal financial dealings, including tax fraud, insurance fraud and other financial crimes. These three cases, if Trump is convicted, would earn him additional years in prison.
The silver lining
My take on all of what's happening post-debate may be from an outsider looking in. My utter dislike for Trump does not translate into approbation for Biden. But this is of no consequence. I don't vote in American elections. But I see in the post-Biden-Trumpon debate and the subsequent US Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling a different angle — a personal perspective.
For one, I don't subscribe to Trump undergoing another trial after having been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Storm Daniels case. That whole trial gave him a bump in the polls, allowing a surge of sympathy contributions to his campaign coffers. The fact that he holds the ignominious record of being the first former president in US history to be criminally convicted should have been enough psychic reward until after the presidential elections.
Thus, the Supreme Court's immunity ruling moving the trials after November 5 should play right into the hands of Democrat strategists. Redirect focus on more substantial issues on the economy, the superior record of Biden's administration compared to Trump's disastrous four-year stint, while exposing the ignorance of Trump on the nuances of governance and his cognitively impaired and insane ramblings.
Trump needs to be challenged to run on issues and not to be perceived as an aggrieved white male — a victim of America's rigged justice system — which these trials will induce.
The Electoral College
Biden will not win the US presidential election by winning debates or garnering popular votes. He and the Democrats should focus on a must-win campaign for only three crucial swing states for their electoral votes: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The other Blue and Red states are already immutable, and their electoral votes are fixed for each political party. Now, instead of the stupid idea of replacing Biden, Democrats should concentrate on beating Trump on November 5.
And put him in prison after Biden wins the presidency.
A failed presidency
THIS week's column is my fifth on American politics since the Donald was enshrined in the pantheon of America's celebrated villains as a convicted felon. The equivalent notorious personalities in American history — the likes of Benedict Arnold and Charles Manson, among others, come to mind. We will also discuss in passing the first debate between two old men, representing the best or worst of US politics; on one side, a senile aging warhorse, Biden; on the other, a cognitively impaired, compulsively lying Trump. Last Thursday's encounter was a battle of perception and one-upmanship. Biden was nowhere. From the start, his gait was slow, his voice was raspy, and his gaze was frozen, reinforcing his senility. Where was the energy?
On the other hand, there was Trump, aggressively in control of the conversation, with much energy spewing out the same old lies in sound bites, playing the artful dodger, not answering the questions directly but projecting an image of a winner, not a whiner. He won this one.
But partisans have made up their minds all along. One debate will not convince them otherwise. It is the independents, undecided and the fence sitters who will be the arbiters come November 5. Meantime, the spin doctors on both sides will have their megaphones redirecting their arguments toward what, for them is really important. They will have to attempt to change the face of the issues these coming weeks.
Meantime, I quote a critic of my last week's column, a certified proud MAGA, "...I don't want to discuss the private character of Trump. As I have said in the past, the man is flawed. However, as president, his POLICIES are the best I have seen so far... that is why the TDS are not hitting the benchmark because it's all personal attacks on Trump's character."
"It Was All a Lie" (Stuart Stevens, Knopf Doubleday, 2021). This book contradicts MAGA's allegations: "President Bill Clinton's administration was the greatest modern-day economic success story. He was the only president in recent memory who was able to balance the US budget. He even presided over the first budget surplus since 1969." In retrospect, Clinton, a Democrat (1993-2001), presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history.
But Joe Biden's record is not that bad either. "The US economy reaches superstar status," bannered The Atlantic (Roge Karma, June 10, 2024); "S&P 500 breaks 5,000 for first time in history," reported Forbes (Derek Saul, May 14, 2024); "Crime on the Decline: Murders likely fell at record speed last year," wrote The New York Times (German Lopez, Jan. 11, 2024); and "Unemployment rate remains below 4% for the 27th consecutive month," MSNBC reported (Steve Benen, May 3, 2024).
But this is not a battle of statistics. It is more than that, as articulated by critic Rolly Narciso, an MBM mid-60 classmate, "Just on one factor — decency — Trump already fails miserably. Add a second key factor — integrity — he again definitely fails. He is an impulsive, non-thinking guy. Just another rabble-rouser..." Considerations of decency and integrity, litmus tests for a leader's character, trump economic data anytime.
As erroneously portrayed by MAGA, Trump's was not the economic miracle. In line with the fake news and lies that they are expert at concocting, even their statistics are always predicated on the statement, "Let's look at Trump's first two years in office" — 2017-2019, where he benefited from the residual effects of the previous US administration's policies. But to be fair, I must grant Trump's successes by his own right early, the first 24 months: high employment rate, bringing back manufacturing from China; a more than decent GDP growth, the economy was in good shape, etc. Unfortunately, the upward trajectory could have continued were it not for Covid-19 derailing the world's economy.
"I Alone Can Fix It" (Carol Leonnig/Philip Rucker, Penguin Press 2021). And here is where Narciso's arguments about a leader's decency and integrity become relevant. Other countries, with their kind of responsible leadership, surmounted the crises. But not the kind of leadership Trump exhibited. And I cite excerpts from the above-titled book.
The pandemic by end of 2019 started to ravage the world economy. But in America Trump did his part to exacerbate the devastation. Not only was he slow to appreciate the threat posed by Covid-19, but he rejected the advice of his own experts and even dismantled the National Security Council directorate at the White House, set up previously by President Obama to confront similar contingencies, to prevent America from being blindsided by pandemics.
The directorate was set up in the wake of the past outbreak of SARS — a coronavirus and H7N9 strain of the "bird flu." Experts were convinced it was a matter of time before another similar respiratory disease would erupt. But Trump, decided that "containing the virus would cause economic havoc, and the economy was his ticket to victory in the coming 2020 presidential election." Trump's pandemic response was shaped by political calculation, not science.
Dismissing all professional opinions and experts, he even suggested that injecting bleach and inserting light into the body might prevent the virus' growth. Simple precautionary protocols like wearing masks were discarded. He himself refused to wear one because masks made him look "weak." Toward the end, his administration had given up the fight against Covid. On the last full day of Trump's term in 2021, 400,000 Americans died of Covid.
A summer of deadly protest
Trump's obsession with his self-image, a disastrous flaw in his character, shaped his responses to subsequent crises. In Minneapolis, 46-year-old George Floyd, a Black man, died under police custody when an officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes despite Floyd's pleading — "I can't breathe," more than 20 times. Floyd's name was the latest in a long list of Black Americans who posed no threat to law enforcement and were killed anyway. This incident and others precipitated bigger protests all over the country. The "Black Lives Matter" movement took off. When these protests became intense, Trump's response was no less than a reflection of his racist tendencies. Calling these legitimate protesters thugs, he was inflammatory: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Laying predicate of 2020 elections
By this time, Trump's poll ratings were in a free fall. It was around September 2022 that the first sign that Trump was brewing up an unprecedented constitutional crisis came up. When asked by a journalist if he'd commit to a peaceful transfer of power, Trump later tweeted that the coming election in November would be the "most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history." And Joe Biden was "the worst candidate in history." If Biden beat Trump, it could only mean one thing: the election had been rigged.
True enough, because all votes coming in show Biden leading the electoral college, Trump declared victory in the presidential election before all the votes had been counted. Trump's efforts to retain the presidency led to a final showdown culminating in the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His last stand!
To be continued
A castrated Republican Party
Today's column will shed light on these conjectures as we further delve not only into the flawed character of this man making a comeback, but a cursory review on how he progressed from a business career of bankruptcies, failures, and scams, punctuated by a 15-season run of his reality TV series "The Apprentice," parlaying this into a launching pad for his political career. Several books written during this period will be excerpted here: "The Making of Donald Trump" by a New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, (David Cay Johnston, 2016); "American Carnage" (Tim Alberta, New York Times Bestseller, 2019); and "A Very Stable Genius" (Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, Penguin Press, 2020).
David Cay Johnston describes Trump's rise to political power, using the tools he perfected as a private businessman and a professional scammer. The second book is a cursory review of what Tim Alberta describes as "the Republican Civil War," presaging the rise of Trump within its ranks. The third book starts with the perversion of the GOP designating him as its presidential nominee after the primaries and over the carcasses of the traditional GOP old guard.
The making of Donald Trump
Trump's sordid reputation when he threw his hat into the ring was not a deterrent but in a bizarre way, contributed to his mystique. True, he was a political outsider and a tyro but his brash and "no-holds-barred-the-devil-takes-the-hindmost" approach to capture the nomination fired the imagination of the GOP fringe, already wary of the establishment in the wake of a series of past governments. This movement metamorphosed into a cult-like assemblage with the slogan Make America Great Again (MAGA). Not an original one, this was lifted from Ronald Reagan, the icon of the American conservative right and the GOP's quintessential guru.
His stint at "The Apprentice" was a precursor to his insidious manipulation of media, helping him create a fictionalized version of himself as the "can-do-no-nonsense" executive. Keenly aware of the weaknesses of American media working under constant stress for headlines and deadlines — premium is given to sound bites in lieu of deep-research as de rigueur. This served him well as a candidate and later as president, who spends hours not at his Oval Office but binge-watching tv news and instantly texting replies on Twitter. He has no qualms about bullying journalists in his regular press conferences with his "alternative facts" when confronted with news and realities not in consonance with his own narrative. Those he labeled as "fake news." The book's author, Johnston, posits that "... Trump tries to hide the considerable gaps in his knowledge by making up his own facts, projecting a façade of superior intellect..."
Johnston further concludes that in Trump's dealings with his detractors, he uses the instruments of the law as plaintiff — monetarily burdening and intimidating the defendants with his financial clout. This ominous streak reveals the Donald himself to be "... a petty, immoral and vengeful man who will break the law and risk the lives of others to... get even."
The American carnage
Writing in 2019, Trump's second year in office, Tim Alberta gives us an interesting glimpse of the ideological deterioration of the GOP from a party of prudent conservatives, affluent suburbanites and champion of American values to that of one advocating the emerging right-wing voices on the fringes, replete with hints of racism and white supremacy. After a two-term GOP-led government of President "Dubya" Bush, who precipitated the Afghan war as a consequence of September 11 and the Iraq war — an alibi for the fake "weapons of mass destruction" — America had to undergo the subprime mortgage crisis. Added to this was, surprisingly, the heated issue of immigration, which many American's blamed for job losses and economic dislocation.
With these issues, John McCain, the American war hero, was trounced in the elections of 2008 by the first black American president, Barack Obama. The GOP and the political right were consumed by ideological zealotry and racism. And for Obama's two terms, the GOP seethed — paving the way in 2016 for Trump's takeover of the discredited GOP with his "baskets of deplorables." The GOP, once the bastion of American values, has transformed itself into what Tim Alberta dubbed as "... the home of laid-off steelworkers and angry white nationalists."
Can Sara Duterte reinvent herself?
Trump's bursting into the scene was timely. Addressing one of the cores of America's despondency — immigration — he said "... we will build a wall, and Mexico will pay for it...;" a scarier manifestations of what Americans are really being confronted with all along, using immigrants as scapegoats, "... feelings of instability that de-industrialization and free-market policies had brought to large swaths of the US over the last thirty years."
Tim Alberta's final take: "The Republican Party has been a battleground for ideological conflict over the last decade. The party's more moderate establishment, along with its policy platform of globalization and free trade, has been overthrown by the ideological right, in the shape of Donald Trump, who has brought a far more nativist and divisive agenda to the party. As Trump's presidency continues, the GOP is set to change even more."
A Very Stable Genius
Written in the third year of Trump's disastrous presidency, authors Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig gave a running account exploring the controversies and defining moments of Trump's failing presidency behind the scenes while things are volatile and in a dangerous flux.
Foremost of these was the Donald's disdain for expertise, demonstrating ignorance of subjects presidents have traditionally been expected to know; alienating the US military hierarchy itself when, from the very start, he declared at a high-level meeting at the Pentagon that he knows more than the admirals and generals, who are losers and "... he would not go to war with them."
In foreign affairs, Trump was enamored with Putin and practically realigned the US with Russia, its traditional enemy. More disastrously, the NATO leaders were denigrated by Trump, threatening to leave the alliance, abandoning them to the whims of their common enemy — if they don't pay up.
Rucker and Leonnig segued over to the damning Mueller report investigating the interference of Russia in the US elections. It contained a catalog of misconduct where, despite insufficient evidence proving Trump colluded with the Russian government, the report was unequivocal in claiming Trump and his aides hampered Mueller's investigation. Trump was obstructing justice! Yet because Trump controls the levers of power — the FBI and the DoJ which refused to exonerate him — he fired the FBI director unceremoniously. It wasn't the report itself, but its interpretation that mattered. "Here, the loudest voice won out — Trump's," the book's authors declared.
Mueller had the last say: "... he had neither concluded that the president had committed a crime, nor exonerated him." The Donald got away that time.
Not this time. Today, he is a convicted felon!
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This is really interesting, You're a very skilled blogger. I've…
Written by Merrill
on Thursday, 24 March 2016 12:35
Incompetence Kills
(LML Polettiques)
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