While surveying the coverage of President Trump's unilateral decision to recognize Jerusalem as (with portentous pauses) "Israel's capital," I ran across a good example (I run across many daily) of the kind of non-thinker who encapsulated the American political and intellectual dumbing-down process.
The commenter shrugged (we can feel him snarkily do it): "I thought (the capital) already was Jerusalem. Did I miss something?"
You're an ignorant ass, OZ (as he anonymously styled himself). You've been hypnotized by the great and terrible Oz on the screen while the men behind the curtain push the buttons and pull the levers.
This is the fruits of the "peace negotiations" among Bibi Netanyahu and his nationalist partners, and Trump's bankruptcy lawyer, David Friedman, a major investor in Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank, and the soon-to-be-indicted neophyte weasel real estate man who happens to be a personal friend of Netanyahu, and is also an investor in settlements, Jared Kushner. How the US Senate could confirm such a candidate for diplomatic office given the conflict of interest represented by being a financial investor of millions of dollars in furtherance of a specific policy that counters the prevailing US policy stance for decades is completely beyond me, one more reason to throw the bums out.
As the reporter said, we must now brace for violence in the Middle East. For Trump to say he has a "Peace Plan" and then blow it to shreds as surely as Kim Jong-Un executed his uncle with an anti-aircraft gun once again demonstrates the dynamic that might be called massive cognitive dissonance in another less serious situation, but that in this case began with a calculated intention of a One-State Solution-- Israel-- in the region that comprises (the term is an old one, not currently being publicly espoused by Netanyahu or his government officially, but is echoed privately by many high current and former Israeli officials)-- "Eretz Israel," which is to say, "Greater Israel."
Trump signaled his support for a One-State Solution-- the term is well enough
known that it deserves capitalization, as a major historical action-- during the President-Elect period. Bibi was exultant. Trump has done this a little quicker than I thought he would. I expect Trump is hearing the hounds and seeing the glow from the torches, and he knows there are pitchforks in that crowd.
Lessee, so far Trump has removed the US from the TPP, chiding allies we might need for not paying enough; he's pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accords; and now the US, some day (unless the Republican Party, whose job it certainly is, gives him the hook very quickly), will be the only nation with its embassy in Jerusalem.
He's got to be gone in 2018. As I have noted in the past, resignation before impeachment is his plea bargain. If he retires before he is indicted for federal charges, he can go back to New York and beat the state charges against him-- Kushner can do the same.
This president does not play well with others. He's an existential threat to the survival of the planet. We all (except for the coalition of right-wing ideologues and low-information voters that comprise Trump's base) are watching the atavistic process in horror.
I am a touring musician who plays for an international fanbase, and I am constantly apologizing to my fans from around the world for the earthshaking error that America has perpetrated on the world through a collective error in political and moral judgment. We elected a violence-encouraging p-grabber who's never read a full book in his life (no matter for his claim of "Ivy-League education"), and has gutted American diplomacy by his constant tweeting.
I am actually surprised that any American ambassador is currently serving (except Friedman of course). Who would want to work representing a man who even undercuts THEIR direct superior, the Secretary of State, on Twitter?
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