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The Truth Trump Tells, by Raymond Zwarich | ODS

Dear All:
I am circulating this essay (copied below) among people whose opinions and activities I hold in high regard. Should it reach anyone not interested in it, please forgive me for disturbing you, (and if you should receive a double post, please understand that my mass mailing tools are primitive; please forgive me).

I believe that there are important lessons to be learned from what we are currently witnessing, and it is my impression that too few of us are as yet fully aware of them. If you do take the time to read my essay, you will discover that my own writing skills are limited. My purpose here is to affect the thinking of far better writers than me, as well as of influential people whose activities I admire.

I have never, in my own lifetime, seen the Power Elite Cabal that controls our nation in such a vulnerable posture. I am certain that it is only a matter of time before they will shore up their ramparts, but I think for the moment, and possibly for the duration of this election cycle, we have one of the most significant 'teaching opportunities' we have seen in a very long time, immediately before us. We need to try to take full advantage of it, in our efforts to expand the consciousness of more of our fellow citizens.

The most eloquent statement I have seen describing the rise of the naked fascism we are witnessing was in Chris Hedges' "The Revenge of the Lower Classes" ( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44370.htm ), but even he, with all his magnificent eloquence, falls short of a full perception of these circumstances we face. In his advocacy of "revolution", and "sustained civil disobedience", he does not heed the boast of the capitalist magnate, (I can't remember which one at the moment), who bragged "I can hire half the working class to kill the other half". We cannot even begin to think in the terms Hedges is so eager for us to embrace, while the largest segment of the working class is rapt under the spell of fascism. (Are any of us truly into suicide missions?).

David Stockman, of all people, (yea, Reagan's old budget director, who, much like Paul Craig Roberts, seems to have awakened spectacularly from his old delusions of trickle down sorcery), has written the only piece that I have seen thus far that even begins to cover the ground that we need to cover. ( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44365.htm ). He points out that it is the neo-Cons, which operate in, and control, both parties, who are threatened by Trump as they see their carefully crafted illusions being destroyed. (I would posit that it goes beyond even the neo-Cons, but that is not especially important here).

But like Mr. Hedges, Mr. Stockman also stops short of a full perception of our predicament. He seems to satisfy himself with expressing his brilliant perception in terms of artful cynicism. He does not appear to be searching for a 'solution'. He does not talk about our need to fashion a message that can appeal to the people who are gravitating rapidly to Trump. These tens (hundreds?) of millions are a large segment of the yeoman 'folk' of the nation.

As I point out in my essay, politics is a numbers game, and the numbers are VERY large. The object of the game is to get the most people on OUR side. We cannot win this game with such a large segment of the nation's 'folk' supporting a fascist, and likely to oppose us 'in the streets' (where Mr. Hedges wants us to rush), with great vigor.

I hope that this essay might stimulate your thinking in a direction that I have as yet seen few (any?) point. Even as we oppose Trump, in NO uncertain terms, we must SUPPORT and reinforce, the TRUTH he tells.

If you find any merit here, please feel free to share it, or post it anywhere, as you see fit. (There is no 'copyright'; involved).

Thank you,

Raymond Zwarich
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The Truth Trump Tells

I believe that Donald Trump is a disgusting individual. I also think he is an exceedingly dangerous person, an outright fascist, which he demonstrates clearly every time he thanks his followers from the podium for beating someone up in the crowd for heckling him at his rallies.

I believe that our nation is in great danger, because I believe there is a realistic possibility that this dangerous fascist could actually win this election.

I am concerned because many of us seem to be missing, by a wide margin, the most salient things that the Trump candidacy is shouting for us to learn from it. Too many of us remain smugly satisfied to ridicule him. Too many of us are satisfied to take pleasure in the distress he is causing for ‘the Republicans’. Too many of us remain fixated at this more simplistic level of ‘the Democrats’ and ‘the Republicans’. Too few of us see clearly that the events we are seeing are shaking the foundations of a Power Structure at a far higher level than these parties, which themselves are only subordinate factions of that far superior power.

Surely, as ‘progressives’, (to use a generalized term), we can all see that the US Power Elite itself has now gone into full panic mode over the Trump candidacy, after realizing that Trump presents a serious threat to THEM.

They previously have considered him a clown, (as have most of us), and have assumed that he would fade away. He has proven them (and us) wrong, at least so far, in that regard.

The Power Elite, through spokespeople like Mitt Romney, and many others, are now attempting to politically assassinate Trump before he advances any further. Thus far we don't know how effective or not their political assassination campaign will be.

They are cynically basing their campaign on Trump's obvious racism, xenophobia, and general over-the-top bigotry, and in doing so they are hiding behind a ruse of righteousness, pretending that it was not THEM who so lovingly raised and nurtured this beast of racism, xenophobia, and general bigotry, and rode it to ascend to power.

Now that Trump has absconded with their beast, and is riding it to glory himself, they are suddenly projecting a cynically crafted mask of righteous regard for justice and fairness to all. (It makes one ill to witness this degree of rankly dishonest hypocrisy, but these people proved long ago that they are completely devoid of any vestige of honor or shame).

Mitt Romney, speaking to represent the ranks of the Power Elite, (who obviously have good reason for hiding their true motivations), castigates Trump for having stolen their fearsome steed, but in doing so he puts forth their ridiculous pretense that it was not THEIR beast before Trump so boldly mounted it.

Romney, and the other spokespeople of this Power Elite Cabal, are very careful, of course, to obscure the TRUE reason that Trump has put this deathly fear into them.

Surely it is easy for us all to see that Trump is so deathly fearful to them because he is a self-financed renegade. He has no fealty to the Power Elite at all. He owes them nothing. And he is openly challenging the bedrock foundation of what NY Times writer Paul Krugman has called their “con-game”.

This elaborate “con-game”, fashioned from the very appeal to people’s basest tribal motivations that Trump uses so skillfully, has been intricately fashioned, and repeatedly reinforced, over many years, to bamboozle the American citizenry into voting for the candidates of the Power Elite, (both Democrats and Republicans), who, once elected, have done everything in their power to enrich their sponsors, (this Cabal of the super-wealthy), at the expense of the thoroughly confused and heavily propagandized common citizens who voted for them.

After all these years of crafting this 'con', Trump is exposing it, and in doing so, he is threatening to destroy it.

As Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman) taught Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford), in ‘The Sting’, (for those old enough to remember it), once the ‘mark’ perceives the ‘con’, it’s over, and the mark is then going to be VERY angry, and is going to come after the con men.

When playing the “big-con” the most crucial element is that the mark MUST stay conned.

Racism, xenophobia, abortion, gun rights, gay rights, and all the other ‘red meat’ issues, have together comprised a successful 'big-con' for the US Power Elite Cabal for a very long time. Many people have stayed conned for the duration of their lifetimes. The hapless common people have been caught on the hooks of their own human foibles, their own prejudices and bigotry, which the Cabal has manipulated skillfully, and they just never have been able to figure the whole thing out. (Thomas Frank covered this quite well in his landmark work, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”).

But Donald Trump is explaining it to them, in very simple and direct terms that they understand quite well. He is exposing the con. He is pulling back the curtain, to reveal the wizard furiously pulling at his levers and dials, trying feverishly, and desperately, to maintain the illusions he has so carefully forged, over such a long time.

And THAT is what makes Trump so dangerous to the Power Elite Cabal.

Let's review some of the truths Trump tells:

The Power Elite Cabal openly lied to us to take us to war in Iraq, a war that cost at least hundreds of thousands of human lives, and has at this point cost us over $2 TRILLION dollars, and whose ultimate cost could reach $6 Trillion or more, by the time we pay off the interest on the loans we have taken out to afford this crushing expense.

There were no WMD, and they KNEW it.

While we are pouring all those trillions of dollars into the thirsty sands of the Middle East, our own nation is crumbling all around us. Our roads and bridges, our whole transportation network, and all our infrastructure, is crumbling into ruins.

Our policies in the Middle East, destroying nation after nation, leaving no credible institutions of government or authority behind when we've finished with our destruction, are what has allowed terrorism to thrive and grow. Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, and Moammar Qaddafi may have been bad guys, but they maintained control of those nations, and did not allow terrorists to thrive, or even function at all.

If we want peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, we must support Israel, sure, but we must remain neutral, and also support the aspirations of the Palestinian people.

And we should NEVER elevate the interests of Israel above our own, as we so often do now.

We should talk to the Russians to sort out our differences. Putin is NOT the demon he has been made out to be. He presents himself, and the interests of Russia, as reasonable and rational. There is no need for Russia to be our enemy. We have many common interests that we can build a mutually beneficial relationship upon.

Russia has been made into an enemy to support the Power Elite Cabal’s lust for world domination, for world rule, and to provide cover for more wasteful military spending that enriches a few at the expense of the common people. What we did in Ukraine was a naked aggression against Russia. They had no choice other than to react in defense to protect their own vital interests.

If we are going to maintain permanent military garrisons all over the world, then the countries that those garrisons protect should pay us for the protection service we are providing them.

Why should America undergo the expense of policing the entire world? Why should we police the world at all? If people in other countries acquiesce to bad governments, why should we accept that as our responsibility?

We should have the finest and most powerful military in the world, but we could have that for HALF of what it’s costing us now, or even less. If we squeezed out the corruption and stupendous amount of graft and waste, unimaginable amounts of money poured into the pockets of a few wealthy defense contractors, and their primary stockholders, (who are the charter members of the Power Elite, of course), at the expense of the rest of us, we could have a MUCH better military at a MUCH lower cost.

Why can we not see that our free trade policies only benefit China, and other low wage countries, at the expense of the American people? Why can we not see that the primary beneficiaries of these policies, which are impoverishing the American common people, are the wealthy elites, both the elites in those foreign countries, and our own?

We need to protect American jobs, and the wages of American workers, with sensible trade policies.

Why can we not see that it is unfair to tax the wealthy at lower average rates than those paid by the common people?

Trump has said ALL these things. He has said them clearly. He has said them emphatically. He has said them repeatedly.

THESE are the things he says that electrify his followers, and send the chill of death down the spines of the Power Elite Cabal.

Sure, he is a racist bigot, who, like any demagogue, is appealing to people’s basest tribal instincts and motivations, but surely, as progressives, we are not so foolish as to believe, (as Romney, with his tired old “shining city on the hill” metaphor, or US House Speaker Paul Ryan, with his ridiculous “party of Lincoln” absurdity, assert), that the primary motivation of the Power Elite is that they are concerned over racism and bigotry.

It is Trump’s clear challenge to the Elite Cabal's worldview, their policy of world domination, and their basic economic policies that benefit The Rich in America at the expense of the common people, this challenge to the overall program and belief system propagated by the US Power Elite, that makes Trump so dangerously threatening to them.

Don’t get me wrong, and let’s be very clear. In recognizing that even a dangerous fascist demagogue can speak truth to power, we cannot lose sight of the obvious fact that Trump is indeed, and quite clearly, an exceedingly dangerous demagogue, and a clear threat to our nation, and to the safety and security of each one of us, and to that of those we love.

But let’s at least understand the immense irony that the primary reason the US Power Elite Cabal is so frightened by him has nothing whatsoever to do with racism, xenophobia, and general bigotry, which the Power Elite itself has long sought to exploit to achieve its own objectives.

What makes Trump so dangerous to us all is that he is a rank fascist, which (as mentioned) he fully exposes every time he thanks his followers for beating someone up at his rallies. (Whenever he does so, it does not take an especially fertile imagination to squint one's eyes and imagine passionate goons in brown shirts with red armbands doing the violent bidding of their hero, to whom they raptly refer with the simple term “the Leader”).

But the HUGE irony here in front of us, like the proverbial huge pink elephant, which so many of us do not yet seem to want to see, is that Trump is so dangerous to the US Power Elite for the TRUTH he tells.

In focusing on Trump’s obvious foibles, and especially in being satisfied in taking pleasure in smugly ridiculing him, we are only making a superficial scratch in the surface of the full realization of the true magnitude of the events we are witnessing, and in doing so, we are squandering one of the most powerful ‘teaching opportunities’ we have ever had to expand the political consciousness of the general citizenry.

When the citizens come to understand the “big-con”, their ability to see things they have never seen before will greatly expand. Let Trump open people’s eyes, as he teaches people to see the “con”. Support what he says. Even as we point out and object to his fascism, reinforce what he is teaching the common people who are rallying around him. Undermine Trump by appealing to our traditions of democracy and freedom, which preclude violence against those who disagree with us. Appeal to their sense of Reason, and to the virtues of TRUE Democracy, under which our government works for the common good of ALL, not just for the Elite. It works for the good of all because it is a government of the people, and is controlled by the people, for the people. (Etc. Etc. Etc.)

Let Trump open their eyes. In fact, help him do so. Support the truth he tells.

When their eyes are opened, it will be up to US to help them see more. If we are skillful enough in our message, we might even be able to lead many of them to see Trump himself for exactly who and what he is.

But we must have a message that resonates with them, a message that addresses their anger, their fears, and their concerns without resorting to base hatred and bigotry. And whenever we express any contempt for them, or any hatred, or our own bigotry toward them, wed are only undermining our own position. (Hate the ‘sin’, but love the ‘sinner’).

Politics is a numbers game, and the numbers are VERY large. The object of the game is to get the most people on OUR side. Trump is leading good people astray. Those people are a large segment of the yeoman American working class, the ‘folk’ of the nation.

Are we so foolish to think we can defeat the Power Elite without the support of the largest segment of the American ‘folk’ ?

The Trump phenomenon is shaking the US Power Structure to its foundations, but it is NOT because of his repulsive personal quirks, his gargantuan narcissism, his ugly bigotry, or what appears to so many of us as his general clownishness.

Unlike any other politician we have seen in our lifetimes, Trump is presenting a clear and dangerous threat to the US Power Structure itself, which heretofore has appeared to be invincible.

He is doing this through the TRUTH he tells.

Our task is to find a way to make the truth he tells serve the larger truth WE tell.\

via shamireaders