Taking Down Donald Trump?
Not Yet Inaugurated; Already a New War
Set aside all feelings for Donald Trump, and reflect for a moment on the historical happenings of the last couple of months.
Early in the primary, Trump was the media darling, with non-stop coverage of everything he said or did. He was constantly on media outlets, so much so, rivals in his own party started complaining of unfair coverage. They argued Trump was getting free air time, while they were excluded. To their point, Media Quant, a company that does media analysis, estimated that Trump had been given about 2 billion dollars’ worth of free coverage by media outlets.
Suddenly the honeymoon ended, and Trump went from media darling, to the devil incarnate. Media suddenly turned with vengeance on Mr. Trump, and his every move was analyzed and ridiculed. Some argue the turning point occurred, because media realized they had created a Frankenstein, and they might be, in part, responsible for a possible Trump victory, and were shocked at what they had done
Further reflection on the precise “turning point” shows things dramatically changed and reversed, when Mr Trump expressed his sentiments about Russia. He insisted, he did not want a war with Russia, and he would move to “reset” US relations with Russia. That was the turning point, and from that day on he was subjected to relentless criticism and ridicule, by corporate media outlets. He was accused of being an unwitting tool of Putin. This was followed by a plethora of stories about his close relations with Russia, and the possible relationships members of his administration had with Russia. Now there were two villains; Trump and Russia, and they were always depicted as more or less one in the same. The Russophobes were in full attack. Russia, their new scapegoat, was vilified and called all kinds of nonsensical things, and was accused of all that is evil in the world.
But Trump held fast and brushed aside most of the accusations and stood by his belief that better relations with Putin and Russia was a good thing. Things escalated, when accusations without proof were made and repeated by corporate media, that Russia had hacked the e-mails of the DNC, and interfered in the election to assist Trump in his victory. This story went viral despite the absence of any credible evidence. Journalism was thrown aside, and any rumor, accusation, based on no source or anonymous sources, circulated widely. Papers like the NYT and the Washington Post became shameless in their unfounded, unsubstantiated, repetition of rumors and accusations. It appeared a modern-day McCarthy-like witch hunt was in progress.
Early on, the FBI would not go along with the intelligence agencies, but was eventually bullied into compliance. The intelligence agencies produced laughable reports and “proof” of their accusations, and still Mr Trump stuck to his belief that a better relationship with Russia is a good thing. Trump refused to knuckle under to the government, corporate media, and intelligence narrative. They got desperate and pulled out of their hat, a completely made up story about Trump’s sexual behavior, which was plastered and repeated all over corporate media for one day, until it was categorically and unequivocally proven to be a “fake” story, but the damage had been done. BuzzFeed, who originally published the bogus report, after CNN announced it, got over 2 million reads, and no one knows how many times the story was read or heard on subsequent venues of corporate media. The damage had been done.
The stakes have been vicariously raised with the leak of disinformation by the intelligence agencies. It was either a “leak”, or release of information, depending on your point of view. Formerly, the military industrial complex, along with the support of neocons, the media, and intelligence agencies, had been trying to bring Trump into the “fold” of demonizing Russia and Putin. With this latest however, things have changed, with the goal of the Deep State (a collection of the above forces) apparently having decided, to bring Mr Trump down.
The intelligence agencies have refined their trade of bringing down governments for the past fifty years all over the world, and now have decided to take down our own. Far-fetched? Think about the whole thing, especially the time and sequence of events. Think about the timing of the latest “leak” of the fake bogus story of Mr. Trumps alleged exploits. It was “leaked”, and appeared just in time for Mr Trumps first press conference. We are spectators to a historical battle between a President elect and the “Deep State”. Certainly, there have been many other such battles, but they have never erupted in open warfare with the intent of bringing down a sitting president. If this be true, continue to watch the constant dribble by corporate media, working in conjunction with the military industrial complex and the neocons, to undermine this President. Their goal is to render him useless by throwing so much adverse publicity at him, the public will demand his impeachment. Time will tell, but it is very apparent that the battle lines have been drawn. Will Trump fold and be beaten into submission by those powerful forces, and jump on the demonizing Russia bandwagon, or will he continue to defy them?
Some readers hate Mr Trump so much they are probably wishing for his demise. I believe Trump is horrible, and in no way, would I ever support such a horrible person to be president, but put all that aside and ponder the happenings. Those who cannot put their emotional hard feelings aside should be very cautious about getting what you wish for. If those Deep State forces prevail, and run Trump out of town, what next? For Mr. Trump, a bit of parting advice. Don’t be hanging around any grassy knolls.
Joe Clifford lives in Rhode Island and has written a regular column for an online newspaper and has contributed many articles to various RI newspapers. His articles deal almost exclusively with American Foreign policy but ventures into other areas on occasion.