Some Essential But Obvious Points Worth Keeping In Mind About Trump's State Of Mind--

Some Essential But Obvious Points Worth Keeping In Mind About Trump's State Of Mind-

A Strategic assessment of where Trump's ongoing mental breakdown might lead--

What Trump has done in most instances were very conscious decisions, not always ad hoc or the product of "winging it," in spite of appearances otherwise. He more or less decided to run in late 2014 with two intentions. To further build the Trump brand, and to overturn the legacy of Barack Obama's actual accomplishments as president for reasons of his deep committment to racism. Remember that his earliest political "toe in the water" issue was the fabricated "birther" campaign, questioning the constitutional legality of Obama's presidency.  That should have been the "five-alarm fire" warning of Trump's relationship to democratic elections right there.  Although he had flirted with running for years, in actuality his trigger was the US Obama-Biden administration's reaction to Putin's military move into Ukraine in that year. 

His idea was to build and manipulate a populist movement of racist anti-government ideologues to take over the GOP, disable the Democratic Party and align the US with Putin and his US based oligarchs. His purpose was simply to expand his business here and there and feed his ego, to see the Trump brand on buildings throughout Russia. And yes, there was always a factor of financial desperation due to his continuous difficulties with bankruptcy, debt, taxes, and borrowing. 

But make no mistake, his financial incentive to succeed in Russia was very much tied to his narcissistic porno-fantasy world involving his alleged sex addiction to young Russian girls, and his particular pathological form of mid-life crisis. Many people have suspected something along these lines, but don't necessarily make the connection because they mainly focus on the financial grift side of things. We know enough about him and his history with beauty pageants to form the conclusion that this is what was and is operating with him, in equal measure to his greed.  

So, the Russia deals were his obsession, his personal "Moby Dick," not just a money-making deal. The Obama administration measures against Russia in the aftermath of Putin's moves in post-Soviet Georgia, along with the 2014 annexation of Crimea, became the principal obstacle to Trump's business model and strategic planning for his organization, as well as his virtually unlimited access to Russian and/or Ukrainian girls. Also, resulting investigations of Russian money laundering through international banks and properties closed dangerously upon his real estate interests. Any intelligence analyst worth their salt, in most every country, has this profile of him, knows the essence of his dirty secrets, and what makes Trump tick, for lack of a better word. 

Also an equal threat to his personal agenda besides the sanctions was the existence of NATO itself, which stood in the way of his hoped for "merger" with Putin. He intended to dismantle NATO from the moment the Moscow Trump Tower "carrot" was dangled in front of him by Putin's operatives.  Trump wanted complete strategic withdrawal into a "Fortress America" isolationist posture, abandoning our European allies to Russian strategic hegemony. That was his side of the deal in exchange for establishing his expanded business operations in Russia. His American populist dupes were told that the cost savings through dismantling NATO would yield a "peace dividend," and that the Europeans were deadbeats refusing to pay their share, another of his many lies.  In real life, his plan was to redeploy US ground forces within our own hemisphere against Mexico over the border, and as well to topple the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes, for a start. The peace dividend would have gone to his donors in the aerospace/defense industries, and the raw materials cartels which would loot our neighbors at the point of a gun.  

The eventual fly in the ointment for Trump's deals with Putin was the sloppy and incompetent tradecraft of Michael Flynn, who got himself caught in a surveillance net offering Trump's "quid pro quo" to Russian diplomat Kyslyak on lifting sanctions, and then lied about it to Mike Pence, which blew the whole operation and exposed Trump as a Russian asset. This is worth remembering as a moment where Trump's personal hatred for Pence really germinated, since he wouldn't lie about Flynn's lie. 

Also, not inconsequential was the amateur hour attempts by Donald Trump Jr. to enlist Russian intelligence operatives in the same "quid pro quo" agreement to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton in exchange for repudiation the Magnitsky Act, in the infamous Trump Tower meeting which was nominally about Russian adoptions. The email trail regarding that meeting led fairly directly to Trump, implicating him, then campaign manager Paul Manafort, and his campaign organization in Russian collusion. Though not resulting in prosecutions, these revelations served to box Trump in with regard to how far he could go in serving Putin's interests from the White House. 

Whatever people want to believe or read into Trump's political history, this is the big picture of what stood at the center, with add-ons here and there.  

The "hook" through which he attracted people and built his campaign was race baiting against Mexican immigrants, Muslims, and "black criminals," and to stoke his racist brand of reactionary isolationism after a 15 year long global war against terror had worn the American population down. He didn't even really bother with abortion until later. And the reality was that he did not expect to win in 2016. That's not necessarily what he wanted or expected, because the paper trail of his past criminal and unethical dealings were things he wanted to hide from the public and government agencies. As president, he would be under intense scrutiny, the world's largest microscope. From day one, he knew that he would have to keep the presidency to avoid jail, and do whatever was required of him to do so. Despite this, he and his family succeeded in grifting between 2-3 billion dollars off of his presidency. 

His initial strategy was to build a power base which he could wield, and use to leverage the next GOP President to lift the Russian sanctions. The proof of this is the fact that his top people were all to varying degrees extant within the orbit of Russian intelligence (Manafort, Stone, Bannon, Flynn, etal), as if more proof were needed. And of course he hoped to make himself more immune to prosecutions as he continued his corrupt business practices, building up his political cover and celebrity status. 

There were indications that Trump told his wife that there was little chance of him winning, as a precondition for her involvement in his campaign. She did not want to give up her New York lifestyle, thereby putting herself and her son Barron inside a global fishbowl. She felt injured by her husband's notoriety when she was accused by British tabloids and by my ex-acquaintance and associate, blogger Webster Tarpley of being a high end escort. She successfully sued both for defamation, hence the origin of her phoney "anti-bullying" campaign, "Be Best." 

When Trump won, there were reliable reports that the marriage almost blew up, (which was said to be on the rocks anyway due to the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape) and Melania was dug in about not moving to DC. After a month of protracted negotiations, she agreed to get on board as FLOTUS only after they renegotiated her "pre-nup." That was indeed the timeline there. Also, if you dig enough, you will read reports about how shocked and freaked out Trump himself was at first about actually winning, before his narcissistic ego reflex kicked in and he opted to try to become a King, not just President of the US. 

Politically speaking, his leading issue of stopping immigration was never his main motivation. His main issue of personal concern was to reverse Russian sanctions, and expand his family syndicate into Russia. It was a classic deception, a "bait and switch" sleight of hand. 

In fact, his decision to adopt the "MAGA" slogan and proclaim his program "America First" was taken right from the pro-fascist Hitler supporting isolationist movement of the 1930's, led by Radio Priest Father Charles Coughlin, eugenics advocate and anti-semite Charles Lindbergh, and Nazi supporting automaker Henry Ford. (For those who would want more background on this history, including the overlap of the original America First with the German-American Bund, Ken Burns' new documentary is essential viewing). 

That movement, which was Adolph Hitler's "Fifth Column" in America, started out as a populist campaign against the Lend Lease agreements to arm Britain, (playing upon the same tax-payer rage as they are pushing now about aid to Ukraine), and then morphing into an anti-socialist crusade against Franklin Roosevelt's recovery program. That is, the same program upon which President Biden has modeled his "Build Back Better" today. The isolationist program of America First, both then and now, is to weaken the incumbent President and his economic plan on behalf of America's enemies. Therefore, they should be retitled, "Hitler/Putin First," and used interchangeably. 

The purpose of Trump's xenophobic isolationist and racist strategy was to fuel the demand by Americans to dissolve NATO and withdraw strategically from our role in the world. Militarily, he wanted alliances only with countries that would pay for our deployments as a money making enterprise, to market our soldiers as mercenaries. His dealings with Saudi Arabia were all about cash flow to keep his personal operations going. And unspoken of course, was that he and his friends would take a large cut of it. He stated these views about overhauling US military strategy personally to McMaster, Tillerson, and the Joint Chiefs, calling his Generals "f**king losers" to their faces, according to Bob Woodward. This coming from the Great Generalissmo with the fake bone spurs, who called our military veterans who were KIA suckers, also losers. 

From the day Trump was elected, everything he did as president was either for personal gain or personal damage control on every front. He never expected to win, but his racist campaign caught lightning in a bottle, which the old-line GOP could not control, nor did they want to. They decided to ride the wave of Trump's new enhanced racism. He was and is prepared to destroy the presidency and the country in order to reacquire the White House, which he needs as a legal shield to protect his criminal family enterprise. This is what is behind the fictional narrative which the Trump/MAGA/GQP is churning out about Hunter Biden and the so-called Biden crime family as an ongoing hot-button diversion for his rabid base. Likewise, Trump is conducting the Russian authored disinformation campaign about Biden having dementia for the same reason, to change the subject from his ongoing crimes against the United States. The pro-fascist wing of the GOP in 1936, 1940, and 1944, similarly stoked gossip about Franklin Roosevelt's health, first as an undercurrent, then progressively making it the centerpiece of their campaigns against him, so it is not surprising to see them delving into that old playbook with Biden.  

These are things which many informed observers are somewhat aware of. But, it is still important to understand that Trump has operated from a sense of personal desperation all along, using the Roy Cohn playbook of outright aggressive lies and obfuscation in a rearguard strategy to protect his vulnerable flanks, always paranoid, looking over his shoulder, obsessed with loyalty and driven by revenge. 

In that sense, our greatest vulnerability is the deluded belief that Trump himself has a policy agenda. The GOP does have one which, as we know, is pure evil. Trump's agenda is about him only. Therefore I believe that this conflict of differing intentions between him and his own Party is what will actually destroy Trump in the end, ie, the point reached at which he becomes a liability to those who created and enabled him. The recent moves to distance themselves by the Murdoch press, and the RNC announcement that they are no longer footing Trump's legal bills are indicators that this shift is already underway. They might just decide to "let him go" when the time is right. And most importantly, Trump knows this, and is prepared to take down the GOP as an act of revenge if they break with him.

This factually based assessment does not, in my view, necessarily mean a happy ending. It is the choice between a lunatic, pushing an ideology which translates into unchecked rage, political chaos and violence, and race war, versus a more stable, rational and calculated evil which is more marketable to a base which is demanding a return to the pre-Civil War social order, as well as political and economic relations. 

The GOP committment to that policy outlook is more powerful than their loyalty to Trump. What they have done to stack the courts is proof of the fact that they are playing the long game, with no guarantee Trump will be around for it, one way or another. Trump wants to overturn the result of the 2020 election for reasons of his personal survival. The billionaire fascist oligarchs who run the GOP want to overturn the results of the US Civil War, by using legislation, the neo-Confederate governors under their control, and the Federalist Society dominated Supreme Court to destroy the "Reconstruction Amendments," the 13th, 14th, and 15th, for a start. 

Therefore, there will be a reckoning soon, a falling out among thieves as it were, because Trump will continue to target those GOP leaders like McConnell who see him as a liability. McConnell as we know is an unprincipled pig, but he sees Trump as a threat to his "business agenda," too unstable, too unreliable, a threat to their "long game" of dismantling the government, and because he is such an ugly polarizing figure, now thoroughly exposed legally on multiple fronts, is unable to effectively sell their program. Trump's only interest is to save or sell himself. 

Consequently he is now openly embracing the violent Nazi cult of QAnon, which is a larger version of the Jonestown/Branch Davidian variety. Initially, as was the case with his subject of intense study Adolf Hitler, his use of terrorists is intended first to purge his own ranks, and distill out of that a hard core at his disposal with which to then purge everyone else. So, the first wave of Trump/QAnon targets are "RINOs."  

QAnon should not be dismissed as just a "conspiracy theory" with legs. They are an American ISIS which will spill much innocent blood and likewise their own when given the orders to do so. Because he is surrounded on all sides, by the law, his adversaries, and his erstwhile former allies, his only available pathway is to unleash "the furies" in a reign of terror. In effect, the process by which he is now surrounded by four grand juries at the state and federal level, facing the collapse of his business empire, the possible indictment of his heirlooms who I'll not refer to as "children," and the increasingly public disintegration of his relationship to his wife and young son, you are watching Trump undergo what can only be described as a breakdown. In that respect he is ironically still following the lead of his mentor, Vladimir Putin, also now facing the demise of his own corrupt power. 

It is a fantasy to think he will respond to being indicted in any other way. He will use a court trial in the same fashion as did Hitler after his failed Munich Putsch, as a platform for inciting his followers in a wave of targeted violence which is meant to create chaos. It is the ultimate Trump revenge tour. 

The recourse which we have is to do the following. Build the "Blue wave," and do the kind of work which Stacey Abrams and Beto O'Rourke and many others are doing, especially in Georgia and Texas. We need that everywhere. 

Second, is to defend the vote through any means necessary, even if we have to organize a general strike and shut the entire country down to make sure our vote is counted and secured. The GOP has to feel the full weight of those of us defending our democracy. 

Thirdly, is we have to come out of this process with a movement which will not fade out after the election. We have to prepare for the possibility that what we are doing now won't be quite enough, and that the GOP, Trump or something like him will come to power, in which case we will need a resistance movement at the point this campaign ends, not just an electoral movement. 

I believe that any other approach is myopic and lacking a sense of urgency in what is at stake, which overrides any single issue. They want to steal our identities, our legacy, and our immortality, because they believe with religious conviction that we are less human than they. They are nihilists, who with their perverse deconstruction of Christianity mean to destroy the very meaning of our lives. It hasn't been about politics for quite some time, as many are now realizing.

Once we grasp that difficult truth, as have the Ukrainians in their resistance war against Russia, then we will know what to do, and will begin to see ourselves as potential leaders and not observers. That, I believe, is the leap we each need to make in the face of the MAGA threat in front of us. Once we take the step from believing this to knowing it, the answers will be there for us. If we have learned anything from history, it is that.