Month: March 2023

After the indictment of Donald Trump for paying hush money to a porn star so as not to damage his reputation with his evangelical base before the 2016 election, the Young Republicans put out a statement that illustrates perfectly the moral bankruptcy of current Republicanism.  Trump, it proclaimed, “can be said to be our psyche from id to super-ego—as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions.” Yes, indeed, their values are totally bonded with Trump’s. Who could say it better?

This is, unfortunately, no laughing matter given their threat to wage “total war.” We may want to call it the “hush money war” – a truly noble cause. But a threatened war, nonetheless.

 

Statement on President Trump’s Indictment

March 30, 2023

Today, our nation careens toward tyranny at an unprecedented pace. An impudent cabal of radical figures abandons all propriety in their dogged attacks on President Donald J. Trump. We have taken a decisive step away from the values that define our national character.

Every utterance that has escaped these monsters’ lips since President Trump first came down the escalator has built toward this moment; each falsehood, each misdirection, each deliberate misportrayal found its culmination in Alvin Bragg’s desperate action today.

Radical leftist interests, beholden to an elite, internationalist cabal have taken the unprecedented step of indicting President Donald J. Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

Every American feels today the solid grasp of the Fifth Column on his throat; henceforth, we must openly acknowledge what so many have long known: that control of our nation’s fate has long been prised from our grasp. Let anyone who celebrates this downfall of our republic be forever branded a traitor to our nation. No one who mocks the people’s will can claim the title of an American.

President Trump embodies the American people—our psyche from id to super-ego—as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions, and he is our total and indisputable champion. This tremendous connection threatens the established order.

The fix has always been “in” against our President, but his motivation and love for the American people drove him to pursue the national excellence that his unique vision perceived lay within our reach. In doing so, he opened so many eyes to reality.

Last summer, in Tampa Florida, addressing a crowd of thousands of youths, President Trump stated that if he backed down from challenging the regime, he would have been left alone. That the regime now sheds the mask of “democracy” and unveils its true and hideous face shows how committed President Trump is to standing with the people. Every American owes him thanks.

Despite our tremendous success holding marquee protests in Manhattan for critical rightwing causes, today we remain at home. Let our silence be a condemnation of the captivity of our nation; a polemic on the state of our republic. We will not allow another Fedsurrection; we will not be pawns in the Deep State’s perpetual effort to delegitimize Americans’ fundamental right of assembly.

President Trump assured us that he was our retribution. Now we must return the rejoinder: our victory will be the joint vindication that our great President Donald J. Trump and our American people both deserve. This is Total War. 

 

The US appears increasingly faced with an unwanted coalition of opponent states. The question is how to deal with that situation. Daniel Drezner of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy has just published some helpful thoughts on the matter.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/19/us-china-russia-relations-00087633

Drezner is surely right in arguing that the US should seek to prevent the emerging coalition of China, Russia, and Iran (plus, potentially North Korea) from hardening into a solid political, economic, and military alliance of hostile forces. He concludes that “given the unsteady state of the world, repairing the Sino-American relationship is the option that offers the most promise.”  This is, undoubtedly, a reasonable proposal. but is it a realistic one? Drezner understands that it is an option that both President Joe Biden and his Republican opponents are unlikely to embrace in the current unstable state of American politics.

But it is not only the condition of American politics that makes a rapprochement with China difficult to achieve. For it is far from clear that China’s president Xi Jinping would allow his coalition-building with Russia and Iran to be interrupted.  For economic reasons, it would certainly be in the interest of China to keep its relations with the US and its allies on course. But are economic considerations first and foremost in Xi’s mind? Xi’s words may suggest that they are, but the evidence of his actions speaks differently. They reveal, instead, a great deal of belligerence on Xi’s part driven by his ideological commitments rather than utilitarian calculations.

This new collection contains my piece on “Facts, Possibilities, and the World: Three Lessons from the Tractatus”