World War III - It's On

About one hundred years ago, Germany’s leaders, then at war with Russia, decided to undermine the Russian government by infecting it with the political equivalent of a dread disease. To do this, they put Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on a train and sent him off to Petrograd. According to British historian Edward Crankshaw, the Germans saw Lenin as “one more bacillus to let loose in tottering and exhausted Russia to spread infection.” The German scheme worked. Within a year Lenin took over Russia and pulled out of the war against Germany.

And now Putin, it seems, has followed the German example by helping put Trump in control of the U.S. Will Putin’s plan work as well as the Germans’ scheme worked a century ago? And, by the way, given Putin’s hatred of the U.S., why are so many Republicans loyally supporting Donald Trump, a leader whom Putin, by his own words, wanted to see in the White House? Where does your ultimate loyalty lie, Republicans – with the U.S. or with the GOP? Or are you just throwing our well-being under the bus for the sake of your personal careers?

German meddling in Russia in 1917 and Russia meddling in the U.S. today are not perfect parallels. Lenin neutralized Russia and helped Germany in World War I through his political acumen, while Trump has strengthened Russia’s hand by virtue of his incompetence and his contempt for democracy.

Evidence for Trump’s anti-democratic sentiments is everywhere, but just as an example, let’s highlight one minor clue to this point. Last June when Putin had declared that Western liberal democracy was obsolete, Trump, in a news conference in Osaka, Japan, utterly failed to defend democracy. Instead he went off on a bizarre rant about the Democratic party in California.

Here’s an excerpt from Trump’s response when he was asked about Putin’s claim that “Western-style liberalism is obsolete.”

TRUMP: Well, I mean he may feel that way. He’s sees what’s going on, I guess, if you look at what’s happening in Los Angeles, where it’s so sad to look, and what’s happening in San Francisco and a couple of other cities, which are run by an extraordinary group of liberal people.

What an idiot.

But more to the point, what a pathetic excuse for a defender of American values. He apparently doesn’t know what Putin and other authoritarians mean when they use the phrase “western liberalism.”

Note to Trump: It means democracy and you are failing to defend it.

We can think of the democratic alliance as including North American, European, and Pacific rim democracies like Japan and Australia, as well as those nations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia whose governments embody “Western-style liberalism.” Traditionally, the U.S. has played a central role in this liberal-democratic coalition, but today, with Trump in the White House, it cannot. And, consequently, the entire coalition is starting to come loose. God help us if it falls apart completely.

What we are about to face is a kind of World War III. This war will most likely not involve massive armies and navies maneuvering across oceans and continents. It will be focused on cyber warfare and a general struggle for influence through economic means and control of information. Trump, who is widely despised in the world at large, is not a positive force on the side of democracy in this struggle. Quite the opposite.

Democracy’s main adversary these days is not Putin, but rather Chinese President Xi Jinping. Like Putin, Xi Jinping hopes to see democracy decline. China’s rapid economic growth and increasingly aggressive international posture has made it the primary opposition to the worldwide spread of democracy. If the American-led coalition of democracies holds together, the anti-democratic push of Xi Jinping will fail. But if the coalition falls apart, as it has been starting to do under Trump, Chinese authoritarianism will most likely prevail.

The ideal scenario right now, as I see it, is for Trump to be replaced in January 2021 by a leader who believes in America’s traditional role as a leading defender of institutions like freedom of the press, independent judiciaries, and national leaders who are accountable to voters. With such an American leader, and, given enough time, Xi Jinping’s (and Putin’s) war against democracy will probably fail.

Since World War II, the world’s democracies have generally held the high ground, both morally and economically. I realize I have to disregard, for the sake of this brief argument, a host of bad actions by the western democracies. But I hope a brief mention of colonialism, Vietnam, and Iraq will suffice for the moment as acknowledgement of this bad behavior. But even given these sins, I believe the world will be much better served in the future if “Western-style liberalism” holds its own against the current authoritarian thrust.

A better world would be one in which China, Russia, and other governments join the established democracies on the high ground and we all find issues to argue about that do not include “whether or not individuals should be jailed or murdered for criticizing their leaders.” Such a world is not an impossibility, but it can only come into being when Donald Trump, with all his moral and intellectual failings, gets out of the way.

Creeps and Cowards

Trump is not a drinker. In fact, he’s a teetotaler. This makes it doubly weird that his tweets sound like the crapulous drivel of a drunken buffoon.

But not always.
 

The racist rant that appeared on his twitter feed Sunday was grammatically correct and thoroughly coherent. Because of this, commentators have been speculating that it may well have been composed not by Trump, but by one of his henchmen. 

 Here is what the tweets said:

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

....it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!

                                       -    -    -

Except for a missing question mark, that tweet series was quite coherent - albeit ignorant and racist.

So, who do they think they're kidding? Nobody who tweets about the “Prince of Whales,” as Trump recently did, could compose those lines. If Trump himself had authored these tweets, they would have come across something like this:

Those four Black, Muslim and Mexican girls are DUM and DISGUSTING! They shuold go BACK to the SHITHOLE countries they CAME FROM!

So, who authored the racist tweets? The prime suspect is Stephen Miller. You remember him, right? He’s that creepy, skinny guy who slithered into the inner sanctum of the Oval Office alongside Steve Bannon when Trump first took office.

           Secretary of Bigotry Stephen Miller

The other big question raised by these White House tweets is, “Why don’t Republicans loudly denounce them?” Other world leaders have done so, some with gusto. British Prime Minister Theresa May criticized them sharply and so has her probable successor (and Trump friend), Boris Johnson, who said they were “totally unacceptable.” Johnson went on, “If you're the leader of a great multiracial, multicultural society you simply cannot use that kind of language about sending people back to where they came from…I simply can't understand how a leader of that country could come to say it.” [Editor’s note: I can.]
 

Even George Conway has spoken truth to power. (His wife is, after all, Kellyanne). Conway declared, “That’s racist to the core. It doesn’t matter what these representatives are for or against — and there’s plenty to criticize them for — it’s beyond the bounds of human decency. For anyone, not least a president.”
 

Conway was also scornful of Republican leaders in general for not condemning Trump’s remarks. And well he should be. Their lack of outrage is disgraceful.

I, for one, would like to know what my own senators have to say, especially the Honorable Marco Rubio. Is he, like the other Republicans in Congress cowering in the shadows of Capitol Hill like a fearful mouse? Or is he just playing a soulless, political game.
 

What’s the story, Senator Rubio – are you not the child of immigrants? More to the point, have you no courage?

¿No eres valiente?

If you still see yourself as presidential timber, Senator, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Donald Trump, Meet President Harris

Two big stories dominate the news today. One is Donald Trump hanging out with his “Thug of the Month Club” pal, Vladimir Putin. When asked if he would tell Putin not to meddle in our elections, Trump turned to his thug-buddy and jokingly said, “Don’t meddle in our election.” Putin smiled.

And now, let us wait with bated breath for Mitch McConnell and all those other honorable Republicans to denounce Trump for his treason…

Okay, never mind.

The other big story is the Democratic debates and the rise of Kamala Harris. It’s pronounced  KAH-muh-luh. 

The good news is it’s not as hard to say as Buttigieg! I suggest we start practicing now, cuz we don’t want to mispronounce our next president’s name and Kamala might well be it.

There has been a lot of talk about Joe Biden’s lead in the polls and, like most everyone else, I like Joe. But he would not be my first choice to be president from among the 24 Democrats now vying for the post. Nor would he be my second choice, nor…okay, you know what I mean. He’s a good guy, but, in last night’s debate he said at one point, “My time is up,” and I think that may be the case. But, truth to tell, any of the Democratic candidates would make a far better president than the lying liar we have now, even Marianne California-Dreamin’ Williamson.

But Kamala Harris has been my favorite for a while now, and last night she really showed everyone how it’s done. Strong, smart, and smoldering with the killer instinct. Who wouldn’t love to see her up against that mendacious blowhard that the GOP has made its centerpiece?

I realize that the election is about 16 months away and a lot can happen between now and then. But nevertheless, I am going to put forward, with reckless disregard for the capriciousness of the fates, my suggested personnel for a President Harris administration.

Vice President: Mitch Landrieu – because he’s great - not because his New Orleans accent makes me homesick for the Crescent City, but that’s also a positive

Secretary of State: Julián Castro – his Marshall Plan for Central America – yes!

Secretary of Defense: James Stavridis – a veteran of the best kind

Attorney General – Stacey Abrams – to go after the voting irregularities that now plague us

Treasury Secretary - Amy Klobuchar - I trust her

Labor Secretary – Andrew Yang -  he is so right about the automation threat

HUD Secretary – Cory Booker – his world and he knows it well

Ambassador to the UN – Pete Buttigieg – Yes, Putin, cool gay couples are here to stay

EPA Director Philip Levine - he defended Miami Beach from the rising seas brought on by the climate crisis

Anyway, go for it, Democrats. You are reminding us all what debates in a genuinely democratic society should be like - intelligent, respectful, and issues-focused.