Do We Need An Emperor?

[We  might not, but the government may.]

For years, I've been toying with notions of parallels between the late Roman Republic and our own US governmental mess. It is a mess, you understand, at nearly every level, though for the most part, its mechanisms function more or less well most of the time.

The problems are mostly at the ideological and leadership levels. The almost universal operating paradigm is what I call neoLibCon. That is to say, it is a fusion of neoliberal domestic and economic policies together with neoconservative foreign policies. There are many complexities (and surprising levels of denial) along the way. It's not a binary "this or that," it's a multiplicity of "this and that."

The government has run rogue at the top for many years, at least since the days of Clinton and Gingrich hammering away at one another. I saw it as Gingrich's attempt to reanimate and replay the English Civil War with himself as Cromwell to Clinton's Charles I.

The struggle and pageant didn't end well for either of the main characters, but it had a profound effect on government and the electorate. Lessons were learned. Primarily, the lesson was that that Leaders can get away with pretty much anything they want, so long as they keep their constituents entertained (bread and circuses), but they may not succeed in reaching their goals (for example, impeaching and removing Clinton from office.) But then, was that ever their goal? We can't be sure, can we?

Perhaps the impeachment saga took place to diminish the aura of the presidency. Or rather to diminish the aura of Democratic presidents while enhancing that of Republican presidents and legislators.

A sort of sideways statement that we are ruled by Rs no matter which party holds congressional majorities and the White House.

It's not just that they are the ruling party, they are the only legitimate party; the Ds exist merely as foils.

For as long as I've been playing on the intertubez, I've noticed a strong animus toward the Democrats, to the point of urging and working for the "utter destruction" of the Democratic Party. That's almost a core principle for the internet political junkies and denizens. Democrats delenda est! 

They are betrayers, feckless, worse than Rs, and corrupt as hell. Yes? And? Democrats must be destroyed!

Well, OK. But if they are the Washington Generals to the Republican Harlem Globetrotters, then the whole thing is just a show, a pageant, with a pre-determined outcome, meant to entertain the rubes while the real work (and money counting) goes on in the back office somewhere. It's a game, a show, a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

So if that's the case, do we need an Emperor instead of a president? Perhaps to be above the president?

Trump of course is inadequate to the role. Octavian was a masterful politician and bullshitter, however, and it was apparently easy for him to elide the roles he assumed and created (once the civil war was done). He "preserved and protected" the Republic while essentially doing away with it.

Is that what we need?

Sometimes I wonder.

The fantasy world that many Trump supporters, defenders and loyalists created around their devotion is still very strong. To some, Trump is their longed for "God-Emperor," who can never fail, he can only be failed. They actually use the term "God-Emperor" in their devotions. Their longing for... something.... is so strong, they can't see the flim-flam and fraudulence of what they're getting. Those who do see it recoil in disgust.

And yet... I'm convinced Trump won't last in office (but I've been wrong about coups and such, so we'll see.) It doesn't actually matter whether he serves out his term or not. What matters is what comes After Trump, and my sense is that a precedent is being set which will solidify the oligarchic rule we've been under for many years and enable direct rule from the palaces of our Overlords, one of whom will be periodically selected to be Emperor. We will have good Emperors and bad.

The Republic, then, having given up the ghost, will be lost forever after.

But then maybe it was inevitable.

"For the Love of God!" -- What Comes After Trump?

For all intents and purposes, Trump's power and authority was neutered toward the end of February (or March, depending on your point of view). He's simply not in charge of the government, which is in an anarchic -- but not yet chaotic-- state.

The interesting thing to me is that he has not (yet) been removed from office by subtle or overt means. So clearly he is serving a purpose on the Throne, even if he can't exercise any power from it other than having his personal Gestapo terrorize brown people in the Heartland. Why that's allowed while almost nothing else is, I'm not entirely sure. Entertainment for the crackers? I dunno.

Having this empty mechanical Thing sitting on the Throne may be entertaining enough for the rubes but it gives everybody else the willies. It's Grand Guignol at best. Walking Dead most of the time. Things are happening quite apart from anything Trump says or does, but what he says and does -- no matter how stupid or irrelevant -- dominates every news cycle, and that's probably why he's being kept on the Throne. So we don't see or recognize what's going on behind the scenes and who is directing the pageant.

Precedents are being set.

The world has been turned upside down and things will never be the same again.

This could be a good thing. Just as Trump or Congress or the SCOTUS might -- for once in their worthless lives -- do the right thing. It could happen. It won't. But it could.

What comes After Trump? How will the White House and the world be changed by his advent and demise?

I've said many times that his advent represents the apotheosis of the neoLibCon paradigm. Many observers -- and voters for that matter -- on the other hand, bethought themselves that Trump would smash and destroy neoLibCon - ism once and for all when that was never his idea or intent. It was a desire projected onto him. (Much the same happened with Obama, and look what it brought us: Trump and the accelerated implementation of the Program).

Many observers now claim that neoLibCon-ism will crash and burn on its own as the rise of the nationalist white right sweeps the global North and West. Somehow, nationalism and white supremacy are deemed the death knell for neoLibCon-ism and Globalism, though I can't for the life of me fathom why. It's simply a rearrangement of winners and losers, it has no effect on the paradigm at all.

The Forever Wars, the exploitation of the Rabble, the looting, the indecency of it all will continue at an accelerated pace. That's all. In other words, nothing changes -- except that scapegoating of selected minorities will become the distraction of the moment.

That's an important addition to the neoLibCon kit bag, but it ultimately changes nothing.

After Trump will we see a succession of clowns and rakes and buffoons on the Throne? Come to think of it, isn't that what we've been seeing since Reagan with few (no?) exceptions?

On the other hand, as mentally incompetent as Reagan was (we knew about it when he was governor of California, but nobody listened to us) he had a crew of wreckers come in with him who were clever and executed a program that essentially changed the nature of the federal government that was accepted by both political parties. It's a legacy that continues.

I've said that Reagan was responsible for uprooting the Progressive operating system (or paradigm of governmental operations) first in California then in the federal government, and I doubt we'll ever get it back, though strangely that's what a lot of the so-called populists are pining for.

We're actually devolving government into something closer to neoFeudalism.

I have many, many reservations about Progressivism, but most of the time it seemed to be better aligned with the public interest than its replacements.

No, a government that serves only the interests of the Highest of the Mighty, slavishly, is not in the public interest and cannot be.

Trump -- for all his lack of power and authority -- is tilting the government so far over to favor the rich and well-connected that what will emerge After Trump would be unrecognizable as a government at all.

It would be little more than a service to the rich and a disaster to everyone else.

By design, not accident.

That would truly be the apotheosis of neoLibCon rule, and it could easily become a permanent (well, long lasting) state.

The Future looks bleaker every day.

Is This Going to Be The Weekend?

The White House situation has reached a breaking point. The question is whether anything can or will be done about it, and if something is to be done, who will do it?

Some Americans have been bruiting the possibility of a coup since the election, and every time it gets close, it doesn't happen. I've suspected that it doesn't happen because those who could undertake such a thing don't agree among themselves about taking such a fateful step -- don't agree about whether it should be done at all, and don't agree on how to do it -- but I don't doubt the possibility has been gamed out and planned for long since. The potential perpetrators of a coup have the blueprint but for whatever reason, it's not being implemented.

Not yet anyway.

In the last several days, however, the coup chatter has reached a fever pitch, and one of the claims has been that Dems are all in favor of it. I wouldn't agree that's the case, but it is an article of faith among those who see their future with the gold-plated one. Dems, the Enemy, would do anything and go along with anything if it meant getting rid of him and getting their power back . But he was "duly elected," and messing with the "Will of the People" is... so wrong. Yadda yadda.

To me, that's silly. The "Will of the People" hasn't had much to do with our governing at least since 9/11, and that didn't change when Trump secured the presidency. In fact, he's just as eager to carry on the practice of governing contrary to the Will of the People as any potential replacement. We don't have the kind of government that gives much of a damn about The People any more, if it ever did.

And the Dems aren't the ones who had the Power in any case. Dems, just like the Rs, were and are tools of the ruling class. The idea that electing Trump changes that one iota is daft.

Elections are in most respects charades.

A coup, under the circumstances, is just as valid as a so-called election. Make of that what you will.

So, is this the weekend it will finally go down? My Magic 8 Ball says, "Maybe."

Trump has been erratic and foolish and unpresidential as all heck, but he's been that all along. Nothing new there. There were plenty of opportunities to "coup" him during the campaign and after the election but before the inauguration, opportunities not taken for whatever reason.

Now it appears that he has become or will soon become a clear and present danger to the Nation, without a doubt. You can argue all you want about how Trump is exactly the kind of president these times call for, a Hercules who will once and for all clean out the Augean Stables of our corrupt and clearly incompetent governing class, and do those other Needful Things that he was elected to do, but I say nay, those arguments fail on their merits.

He ran a con on the voters, and he never had any intention of doing most of those things he yakked about during the campaign. Most of what he's done since the inauguration has been for show, either to keep the opposition riled up but off balance, or to throw red meat to his base without actually doing anything worthwhile.

Meanwhile, behind the curtaitn, the real work grinds slowly on, and that real work appears to be an effort to incite the Apocalypse. There are way too many Believers in the White House, but not enough of them salted throughout the government to accomplish what I think these people have been setting out to do.

For all the Evil attributed to the Deep State -- and there's plenty -- their job has been to create/preserve a kind of tense but sustainable World Order, one that places the US at the top as Global Hegemon, but which ultimately operates to prevent the End of the World As We Know It.

And so, if the Apocalypse is to come via Trump, it is the job of the Deep State or whatever to prevent it -- by any means necessary.

Ergo, the long rumored coup.

Of course that has its own unintended consequences, and therefore it is not something I favor or advocate.

Yet, what else is to be done?

Uncharted territory. We don't know.

Freaks

We're pretty upset in the Ché household over what's been going on at the #NoDAPL actions in North Dakota, and we're glad that our friends who went up there on a supply run over the weekend are not only OK but appear to be stronger for their experience so far. They plan to spend the week in spirit, prayer and solidarity with their brothers and sisters and their allies fighting the good fight nonviolently against the marshaled might of the state and its corporate owners.

Freaks these paramilitaries fighting the People are.

And yet, that's America today. That's where we are, and that's where we've been for quite a long time. It's upsetting to me in part because it evokes the same sort of militarized violence used against Occupy and the Ferguson protests, and many others during the last half-decade and more. It's become a ritual, wherein the People in their multitudes rise up over this or that injustice, they discommode the powerful -- by loudly protesting, massing in large numbers or sometimes not so large, marching and carrying signs, blocking roads and highways, subjecting themselves to police brutality and mass arrest, being covered by police snipers (I've seen that too many times to count now) and being subjected to military tactics and use of military equipment designed to intimidate and to inspire fear. And always being lied about. Always.

Somehow I doubt it'll get better any time soon.

What's happening at Standing Rock is a microcosm of what's been happening to The People around the world, but particularly in the Euro-American Imperial sphere, when they confront injustice perpetrated by the global corpro-state. It's the same everywhere you look, sometimes a bit more violence by the police, sometimes with a bit more return violence from the protesters (I'm thinking specifically of the protests against Euro-austerity in Greece, but there have been others like them). It's a ritual which so far the corpro-state has been winning handily. Though their moral suasion fails every time.

Of course. They have the Power. They are still learning how to use it. I've seen the Standing Rock situation, which has been going on for months in a so-called stand off, as a practice run for use of force against the People wherever and whenever they arise for the purpose of protecting the state and the corporations that own it.

Law enforcement agencies from far and wide have been sending their personnel to North Dakota in "mutual aid" of their brothers and sisters in blue (and brown) who are engaged in "riot control" -- good god, the lies never stop -- against the tribes and their allies. They are getting on the job training in what to do and how to do it to suppress nonviolent uprisings. Out there on the cold and windy prairie beside the Great Missouri River, they confront the savage horde once again.

Protecting their white women, are they?

Imagining themselves getting revenge for Custer? Who knows. They're simply freaks. Mercenary freaks for the corpro-state against the People and against their own better nature.

I've heard tell that dozens of these freaks have woken up to the wrong they're doing and have turned in their badges saying, "No, we won't hurt these people any more." Good for them, but there are said to be thousands of other freaks, goons, and badge carriers on scene. More arrive all the time. On the other hand, some of the mutual aid paramilitaries have been withdrawn because the people of the states and cities they come from say "No! No more. We did not approve and we do not approve of what you are doing." Well. That's brave.

It's practice, though. These situations keep arising, and the People require beat downs if they don't obey. That's America as it has been for most of its history. It's hardwired.

And so now a cabal of White Supremacist and White Nationalist freaks is set to grab the levers of power concentrated in Washington DC, the national corprostate, and run it for their own profit, pleasure and amusement. Ah, the mighty-mighty! Some individual corpro-states of the nation are contemplating secession, much as Texas and some of the rest of the Old Confederacy did when That Nigra was put in the White House as president and not shoe shine boy. Which is about all a Nigra is good for in the White Supremacist conception of what's right and what's not.

"America" did not choose this fate, "America" did not elect these freaks. It's happening as a fluke, not  an inevitable consequence of Hillary's bad campaign or whatever.

It's happening because it can, not because it must.

And what of the resistance? The resistance is focused on Standing Rock because these are our Braves, standing up and in some ways standing in for all of us who confront the corpro-state.

They are the focus of world wide attention, world wide support, too, because the People of the world see the Standing Rock activists as standing up for them. And so it is. The actions at Standing Rock are not that large compared to many others. They're taking place on the open prairie in the middle of nowhere, but they are having an emotional and spiritual effect that resonates around the world.

In the now immortal words of Assata Shakur:

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and support each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

That goes for everyone who stands up to the Power.

There's been a tendency to dismiss and denounce the protests that arise against injustice at home and abroad. At the same time, we are being assured by not-so-radical observers and thinkers that we have entered the Twilight period of neoLibCon rule, ie: the corprostate is shuddering and shall soon -- how soon? -- collapse. According to them, what we're facing is something like the end of the British Empire, perhaps c. 1913. We could see the signs long ago, but now the end is in sight.

Himself, the New Boss, is supposed to be the harbinger of the coming disintegration of neoLibCon authority and rule.

Well, maybe.

Personally, I don't see it. He is surrounding himself with some of the freakiest of neoLibCon freaks and they seem more than interested in pursuing their goals to the max, come what may, full speed ahead.

The Power is there to fulfill practically any dream the freaks have had for decades; the freakiest freaks are being assembled as we read and write and wonder, and there is really very little, maybe nothing, to stand in their way. They will be able to use the Power as they see fit; why shouldn't they use it to fulfill their mad dreams of glory?

No moral suasion works in the face of these madmen and freaks. They see no reason to consider the interests of those who are not loyal and do not obey. Their ideal is simply to crush disobedience and punish disloyalty. It's been done before, but it hasn't been done nearly enough since That Nigra got into the White House --- where he obviously doesn't belong, at least not as President.

I've wondered, of course, about Obama's apparent pledges of loyalty and offers of help and guidance for the New Boss. Oh dear, what fuckery is this? It's not a surprise, no, but it is nevertheless disconcerting. One can maintain the dignity and integrity of the Office without becoming complicit in the fuckery to come, but it  seems that Obama has some other idea in mind, I don't know what. He's got a bolt hole or two on tap, so it is not as if he would necessarily be at risk if he didn't pledge loyalty but remained above the fray as it were. But then he's a careful and calculated player. He's always aware of which side of his bread is buttered.

The Clintons on the other hand had better watch their backs. The long knives are out, and I wouldn't be surprised if they become the political sacrifices to the gods of chaos let loose by events.

They've already been scapegoated for everything under the sun, and there is no sign of their scapegoaters relenting. "Clintoooooons!!!!!!1111" Feh.

Freaks. All of them freaks. And we need to point that out, without let up.

Strength and Solidarity.