Understanding the Russian "hacking" meme
The election of Donald Trump as president was a (legal) coup against the military-industrial complex that has dominated the US for decades. The people who have benefited from that dominance are now staging a counter-coup.
In staging a coup like the one we have just seen, the coup leaders, even if moved by genuinely populist concerns, have to enlist the aid of many, many powerful people, in order to resist the counter-coup, or they will fail. The resistance to any such coup will be fierce: there are trillions of dollars at stake here! The leaders of the counter-coup have a multitude of resources at their disposal: they have already corrupted most of the "free press" to act as their toadies, so they can easily spread anti-coup propaganda in national media outlets. They understand psychological manipulation, so they will enlist the aid of many well-meaning but naive people by making them believe they are opposing "racism," or "sexism," or "homophobia." (The last is the most ridiculous: no GOP candidate was ever more gay-friendly than Trump!) And they have many operatives inside the government, so it is easy for them to call on government agencies to declare the recent election somehow illegitimate. After the recount ploy failed, and the electoral college revolt failed, the reigning elite were left with a conspiracy theory: the Russians did it!! (It is hilarious how anyone opposing the idea of this vast Russian conspiracy has been smeared as a "conspiracy theorist"!)
But not everyone in a position of power has been pleased with our continual warfare (benefitting arms dealers), or the looting of the American economy by Wall Street banks. There are many patriotic people, high up in industry, banking, and the military, who deeply oppose these policies.
In appointing cabinet members and other administration officials, it is important that the coup leaders enlist on their side as many sympathetic people with great power as possible. Trump could have appointed plumbers and dock workers and nurses to his cabinet, but then the forces of the counter-coup would have crushed the coup in a few weeks. But by appointing billionaires, Wall Street pros, and former generals, he has established a strong network of resistance to the counter-coup. Each of his appointees will have thousands of important people loyal to him or her who can work to resist the propaganda of the counter-coup.
And the mere fact that someone worked for a Wall Street firm, or served in the military, is no evidence that they favored the bailout of finance by the American taxpayers, or the continual use of the military in conflicts that benefit not American interests but only the arms manufacturers. In fact, finance and the military are both perfectly justifiable institutions: we need banking and defense! And it has made many good-hearted people in both fields sick to see the exploitation undertaken in their name. Hopefully, it is from among these true patriots that Trump has chosen his appointees.
I write this post because the best defense against this counter-coup is a widespread recognition that this is what is going on: the current elite are terrified about losing their privileges, and risking nuclear war with Russia seems to them a small price to pay for their staying on top.
In staging a coup like the one we have just seen, the coup leaders, even if moved by genuinely populist concerns, have to enlist the aid of many, many powerful people, in order to resist the counter-coup, or they will fail. The resistance to any such coup will be fierce: there are trillions of dollars at stake here! The leaders of the counter-coup have a multitude of resources at their disposal: they have already corrupted most of the "free press" to act as their toadies, so they can easily spread anti-coup propaganda in national media outlets. They understand psychological manipulation, so they will enlist the aid of many well-meaning but naive people by making them believe they are opposing "racism," or "sexism," or "homophobia." (The last is the most ridiculous: no GOP candidate was ever more gay-friendly than Trump!) And they have many operatives inside the government, so it is easy for them to call on government agencies to declare the recent election somehow illegitimate. After the recount ploy failed, and the electoral college revolt failed, the reigning elite were left with a conspiracy theory: the Russians did it!! (It is hilarious how anyone opposing the idea of this vast Russian conspiracy has been smeared as a "conspiracy theorist"!)
But not everyone in a position of power has been pleased with our continual warfare (benefitting arms dealers), or the looting of the American economy by Wall Street banks. There are many patriotic people, high up in industry, banking, and the military, who deeply oppose these policies.
In appointing cabinet members and other administration officials, it is important that the coup leaders enlist on their side as many sympathetic people with great power as possible. Trump could have appointed plumbers and dock workers and nurses to his cabinet, but then the forces of the counter-coup would have crushed the coup in a few weeks. But by appointing billionaires, Wall Street pros, and former generals, he has established a strong network of resistance to the counter-coup. Each of his appointees will have thousands of important people loyal to him or her who can work to resist the propaganda of the counter-coup.
And the mere fact that someone worked for a Wall Street firm, or served in the military, is no evidence that they favored the bailout of finance by the American taxpayers, or the continual use of the military in conflicts that benefit not American interests but only the arms manufacturers. In fact, finance and the military are both perfectly justifiable institutions: we need banking and defense! And it has made many good-hearted people in both fields sick to see the exploitation undertaken in their name. Hopefully, it is from among these true patriots that Trump has chosen his appointees.
I write this post because the best defense against this counter-coup is a widespread recognition that this is what is going on: the current elite are terrified about losing their privileges, and risking nuclear war with Russia seems to them a small price to pay for their staying on top.
Gene - The link below is to an article you wrote in June 2003. It used to be on Friends of Liberty. It no longer exists and I’d like to continue carrying it on my site under the heading of Timeless Articles & Video.
ReplyDeleteCan I have your permission to publish it, or do you have another site I should link to? Thanks for your assistance. Wes Alexander
http://www.freelythinking.com/morality-the-states-way/
It is ok with me if you publish it. Thanks for asking.
DeleteSeems more and more likely to be true. Thanks.
ReplyDelete