For his part, Donald Trump also plays a starring role in the US democracy charade. During their fireside meeting in the White House, the billionaire property tycoon called Obama a "very good man" and said that he would seek his counsel in the future.
This is the same "very good man" whom Trump had earlier accused of being the "creator of the ISIS [Daesh] terror group." Along with Clinton, Trump had rallied his supporters to view Obama as a treasonous criminal for waging illegal wars in the Middle East.
Well, that's a spectacular U-turn by the fiery, big-mouth anti-politician Trump. If he can so quickly accommodate himself to such apparently hated political enemies and effectively drop all charges then one wonders what else Trump will renege on?
Will he really "drain the swamp" of Washington's oligarchic establishment? Will he deliver on "making America great again" by investing in the "forgotten people" who elected him? Will he really de-escalate American overseas militarism and NATO aggression towards Russia?
It was surely a good thing that Hillary Clinton was not elected as president. Her warmongering record as former Secretary of State speaks for itself, as does her overt Russophobia.
But we should not be under illusions that a Trump presidency represents a new contrite and cooperative America. An American president is only ever a figurehead for a system and structure of power. That system relies on militarism and war to project US hegemony in the world. Without hegemonic relationships and imperialist conduct, US capitalism as we know it would collapse.
And Trump is a raw-toothed capitalist. His early selections show a preference for further neoliberal deregulation of capital, as well as surrounding himself with his family and business cronies. Trump may be a pragmatic businessman inclined to form relations free from ideology. Potentially, that is a good thing for improving US relations with Russia and other foreign powers.
Nevertheless, it would be naive to expect one individual to radically change a political system. It is not hard to imagine that when Trump enters the White House formally in 10 weeks that the military-intelligence-corporate apparatus of American capitalism will impress on him how the system works. And he will oblige.
Trump's polite deference to Obama this week, and vice versa, shows in an unintended way what Obama meant when he said "we are all on one team." That "team" is the American oligarchy. It is not the American nation. Disenfranchised working-class Americans may simply have gotten Trump into the "team" -- against their genuine aspirations for radical democratic change.
The rapid disappearance of Russian hacker allegations as well as Trump's anti-establishment bombast suggest that American "democracy" is all just one giant reality TV show.
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