In Defense

of a bete noire

Preamble:

I have abs .NO interest in politics (believing it to be the accursed domain of power which corrupts any and all with abs. certainty), but to the extent it impinges on human affairs, one is obliged to understand it.

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I do not believe in demonization, of anyone.

Virtually every President since WW2 could be brought up on charges of War Crimes, as Chomsky pointed out a long time ago.

So, in that regard, the current incumbent is in a well established tradition, not an innovator, or a rule breaker, by any means.

Of course, some of his personal traits, which he makes no effort to hide , are far more unusual than others.

But that could also be a naivete that has him blurting out things that the wise(r) would prefer to hide?

I will not pass judgement on his mores.

Let someone else cast that first stone (btw, no shortage, in this area)?

I am focusing only on some less obvious aspects of a Presidency.

The obvious does not bear repeating.

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I wish to point out a few of his political virtues here that are unique, and for which he has suffered unjust calumny.

Most importantly, he opened up Communications with Russia ,after a long hiatus , making the world that much safer ( he had tried to do the same with North Korea in his first term, an effort sabotaged by the usual suspects )

The Biden regime, like the EU, was simply obnoxious in that regard.

That single, but vital, Policy Change bought him the wrath of the Deep State , and the Military Industrial Complex, which leeches off the tension and mistrust, to keep their gravy trains funded.

It also had him fall afoul of NATO which is but an extension of the US.

The Other Major Achievement of his, which has largely gone unrecognised, was to basically terminate much , if not all, of the non-stop Abomination visited upon Palestine for over 2 years.

And this, while the Western world , with its customary hypocrisy, simply looked away.

This does NOT validate the Plan to build a Las Vegas on Palestinian lands ; but it did stanch the stomach-turning daily , incineration of innocent Palestinians.

That is huge.

And really qualifies, as such matters go, for a Nobel far more than an Obama , or a Kissinger ,who were gifted it for absolutely Nothing at all.

Finally, by both commission and omission, he has breached, if not broken, the unholy unity of NATO (which is simply a Hegemonic Europe banded together against the World) an organization that should have been dismantled right after the Cold War was over.

A move in the right direction.

These are all stellar contributions to the global weal, that always appeared improbable to our Pundits: who should always be disregarded.

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But why so?

What makes him so different?

Let me speak here by recourse to some rather light tropes, if I may.

There are, to my mind, at least Three likely , attributable, Drives.

To make war, to make love, or , to make money.

It’s the Last that fits him the closest.

I.e., he is neither a Pacifist , nor a Warmonger.

He is driven, rather, by limpid cupidity and avarice .

As an aside, it was said that Thatcher was the First sordidly capitalist Prime Minister of Britain; well, then, he is the First such in the US. Why should that occasion any surprise? These are the world’s premier Capitalist societies.

At any rate, he scents an opportunity for business , whence profit, in all domains.

Btw, this is interesting because the Manchester Free Traders saw World Peace as resulting from expanding trade between nations.

In that sense, he is not at all a conventional Imperial.

And hence begets the condescension, and scorn, of his fellow power elites, who find him an amateur in such affairs.

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Now you know why the reigning , bipartisan, deans of empire loathe him.

He, personally, cares not for NATO, the Cold War, or any of that, upon which they have built their careers, and fortunes.

To their utter dismay.

Whence , the shabby Russiagate Hoax.

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If this philosophy had broader support within the power elite, it might have been somewhat beneficial to the US, and the world, dissolving many pre-existing , entrenched, postures and programs, within the global polity?

But it does not.

Whence he remains a maverick.

An anomaly.

And so has to yield to all manner of unscrupulous advisers , in Global Affairs (which he has no training in) who misguide him into Unwholesome Ventures.

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In sum, he is a true phenomenon.

A real rarity.

How he became Prez in that tightly rigged Leviathan remains a real mystery.

I am not sure whether his personal charisma, which is ( in quite a global sense) not inconsiderable, and his wealth, really explain it all?

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I do social theory.

The only pushback to deep-rooted Bureaucracy we know of in Modernist Society is the power of Charisma.

Max Weber understood this better than any, before or after.

It may yet be the only way that a system unavoidably headed for disaster may be averted.

This Prez has that rare gift.

Too bad he was not shaped in the likes of a Gandhi – who had it, too – to move an important nation, hence the world, toward a greater Good?

As it is, he might be remembered, in history now, only as a Charismatic Interruption of the sordid rhythms of business as usual that , much like Samson, howsoever temporarily, nearly brought the House down?

Would make for a stirring bedtime story…