Is Trump being backed by the US military?

[kelley]

Factions exist. This was clear from the first Gulf War forward, when the so-called realists in the first Bush Administration vehemently argued against taking Baghdad.

To believe there aren't schisms in policy, and how it translates into action, is disingenuous. The underlying problem with Trump et al is the only thing that's really known about him and his appointments is that he and his cronies are complete opportunists. His vision for the, uh, 'organization' of the transnational corporate American state appears to ape the model established by Putin. It seeks to consolidate personal power by dismantling government through pay-to-play schemes that will strip assets wherever they may be found for purely personal gain.

There'll be a constitutional crisis that Trump will be forced to face, hopefully sooner rather than later, once this administration shifts into gear. The emoluments clause to the Articles of Confederation all but guarantee it. The stonewalling regarding his finances will be exposed, perhaps not completely, but likely enough to allow a glimpse of who exactly is running this fucking scam that's been perpetrated against the citizens of the US.

It should also be noted viz these circumstances that Obama's failure to nominate and secure the appointment of a Supreme justice could be a massive political blunder this Republic, or what's left of it, may not withstand. This was not something I'd heard mentioned in yesterday's relentless stream of kudos celebrating his 'legacy' as President.

[SonicG]

So Mattis was waved in and is considered the most reasonable of the cabinet picks, but he seems to agree more with Obama than Trump...

Mattis signaled that he doesn’t intend to reverse Obama administration decisions that opened combat positions to women, gave gay and lesbian service members protection from discrimination, and lifted bans against transgender men and women serving openly in the military.

"I've never cared much about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
...

Quizzed on his plans to defeat Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, he said the U.S.-led coalition air attacks and other operations that President Obama began in mid-2014 need to be put on “a more aggressive timeline.”

He described Russia as a “strategic competitor,” not a partner, citing U.S. opposition to Moscow’s aggressive military interventions in Syria and Ukraine.
...
If confirmed, he said he would continue to use military overflights and other tactics to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where China has engaged in growing territorial and maritime disputes with its neighbors.

“I believe that we're going to have to manage that competition between us and China,” he said.
...
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who heads the committee, asked Mattis if the United States has a strong enough military to deter Russia and China. “No, sir,” Mattis, a career Marine, responded.

“I think it's under the biggest attack since World War II, sir, and that's from Russia, from terrorist groups and with what China is doing in the South China Sea,” he said.

Trump has vowed to boost defense spending to build more warships and planes, and to increase the size of the Army, after years of congressional budget cuts and the closing of bases overseas.
...
Since retiring, Mattis has served on multiple corporate boards, including U.S. defense giant General Dynamics Corp. and embattled blood-testing company Theranos Inc.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/ ... story.html

So they aren't going to close down the Japanese and Korean bases, and let them fend for themselves?

But yeah, you can see why liberals find him the most "reasonable"...

[Nordic]

From what I've heard, upper-level military types were preparing for either outcome, a Clinton or Trump win, but that they were apprehensive of a Trump victory. Simply put, Trump is a destabilizing force within the scope of their profession. Trump has threatened to upend the apple cart, and complicate things with longtime allies while smoothing over things with long-standing adversaries.

But these military types are not like the Democrats who want to stomp their feet and protest a Trump victory. No, they have plans to work with it and steer it where they can. I'm not talking about top brass and civilian advisers, as those people often have very different views on what we should do in any situation. I'm talking about the middle-level guys who have made a career spanning several administrations.

Don't expect a military take-over of Trump, but also don't expect that they are gung-ho about going easy on Russia and going after China (or whatever Trump dreams up). I think these military types want to avoid any large-scale conflict like a Chinese-American war or a Russo-American war. That doesn't do anyone any good. They want to continue prosecuting the War on Terror, honestly not because they love bloodshed, but because they believe in the mission and they feel equipped to do the job.

It may be old-fashioned nationalism, but the people I know genuinely care about American lives, even if it's at the cost of a few dead foreigners who, regrettably, get in the way.

I know a fair amount of military folks at varying levels. The first commander of CINC/NORAD was my mom's babysitter. I once received a Christmas present from Norman Schwarzkopf. The olde man has letters from multiple Presidents on the wall.

What I am getting is that JSOC was very afraid of HRC's Russia baiting. China has the temperament not to take a challenge personally. They understand psychodrama. Putin does not.

The Clinton position was extremely dangerous and it STILL astonishes me that this is somehow not blatantly fucking obvious to her apologists here. Of all places.

Thank you for common sense and sanity in a world gone completely mental.

November, I don't know where you're getting your notions. CNN? Rachel Maddow?

In addition to The Obvious stated by OP ED, plenty of people in the military know we were militarily supporting Al Queda terrorists in Syria. Do you think that was a popular thing among soldiers?

[seemslikeadream]

every commentator I heard on the tv yesterday seemed to believe Mattis is the acting president

[Nordic]

every commentator I heard on the tv yesterday seemed to believe Mattis is the acting president

Commentators on tv. Ok.

[Nordic]

Pepe Escobar's take on things, as presented through an anonymous source. FWIW. Very interesting.

I don't find it 100% believable. But it could be. And I have a ton of respect for Escobar.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/10299 ... 0.facebook

Here's how the Trump Presidency will play out
Source:sputniknews.com Published: 2017/1/20 22:00:23

9
The Trump era starts now - with geopolitics and geoeconomics set for a series of imminent, unpredictable cliffhangers.

I have argued that Trump's foreign policy guru Henry Kissinger's strategy to deal with the formidable Eurasia integration trio - Russia, China and Iran — is a remixed Divide and Rule; seduce Russia away from its strategic partnership with China, while keep harassing the weakest link, Iran.

In fact that's how it's already playing out - as in the outbursts of selected members of Trump's cabinet during their US Senate hearings. Factions of US Think Tankland, referring to Nixon's China policy, which was designed by Kissinger, are also excited with the possibilities of containment regarding at least one of those powers "potentially arrayed against America".

Kissinger and Dr. Zbig "Grand Chessboard" Brzezinski are the two foremost, self-described Western dalangs - puppet masters - in the geopolitical arena. In opposition to Kissinger, Obama's foreign policy mentor Brzezinski, true to his Russophobia, proposes a Divide and Rule centered on seducing China.

Yet an influential New York business source, very close to the real, discreet Masters of the Universe, who correctly predicted Trump's victory weeks before the fact, after examining my argument offered not only a scathing appraisal of those cherished dalangs; he volunteered to detail how the new normal was laid out by the Masters directly to Trump. Let's call him "X".

The non-stop China watch

"X" starts by doing something US deep state-connected regulars, who revere their idols, never dare to, at least in public: "It is important not to attribute too much importance to either Kissinger or Brzezinski as they are merely fronts for those who make the decisions and it is their job to cloak the decisions with a patina of intellectuality. Their input means relatively nothing. I use their names on occasion as I cannot use the names of those who actually make the decisions."

That's the cue for "X" to detail the new normal: "Trump was elected with the support of the Masters to tilt towards Russia. The Masters have their tools in the media and Congress maintaining a vilification campaign against Russia, and have their puppet Brzezinski also come out against Russia, stating 'America's global influence depends on cooperation with China'. The purpose is to threaten Russia to cooperate and place these chips on the negotiating table for Trump. In a traditional good cop-bad cop approach, Donald is portrayed as the good cop wanting good relations with Russia, and Congress, media, Brzezinski are the bad cops. This is to aid Trump in the negotiations with Russia as Putin sees the 'precarious' position of his friend and should be willing to make major concessions as the line goes."

And that brings us to how Taiwan - and Japan - got into the mix: "Donald shows the Russian tilt by talking to the Taiwanese, demonstrating that the shift is serious. But it was decided to throw Japan into the mix as a predator against US industry, with an attack on Toyota, thoroughly deserved. That moderated the position as the Masters became afraid that the perception of our building up Japan against China would be too much of a provocation."

So expect China - as "not too much importance" Kissinger prescribed — to be under non-stop scrutiny: "The Masters have decided to reindustrialize the United States and want to take jobs back from China. This is advisable from the Chinese viewpoint; for why should they sell their work to the US for a dollar that has no intrinsic value and get really nothing back for the work. China should have a car in every Chinese worker's garage and they will become a larger producer of cars than the EU, US and Japan combined, and their own nation will keep their wealth in their own country."

And why China over Russia? "Russia in this sense being a natural resource country with a gigantic military industrial complex (the latter being the only reason she is secretly respected) is exempt from any tough trade talk as they hardly export anything but natural resources and military equipment. The Masters want jobs back from Mexico and Asia including Japan, Taiwan, etc., and you see this in Trump's attack on Japan. The main underlying reason is that the US has lost control of the seas and cannot secure its military components during a major war. This is all that matters now and this is the giant story behind the scenes."

In only a few words "X" details the reversal of an economic cycle: "The Masters made money out of transfer of industry to Asia (Bain Capital specialized in this), and Wall Street made money from the lower interest rates on the recycled dollars from the trade deficits. But now, the issue is strategic; and they will make money on the return of industries scaling down their investments in Asia and returning them to the United States as we rebuild production here."

"X" remains quite fond of Henry Ford's business strategy; and that is the cue for him to address the crucial theme: national defense. According to "X", "Ford doubled the wages he paid and made more money than any other manufacturer. The reason was that a living wage where the mother can have many children on her husband's wage was psychologically good for productivity in his car plants, and that his workers could then afford his cars. He thus recognized that in a society there must be a just distribution of wealth that his admirer Steve Jobs could not.

Henry's mass productivity was the wonder of the world and that was what won World War Two for the United States. Amazon does not contribute anything to national defense, being merely an internet marketing service based on computer programs, nor Google which merely organizes data better. None of this builds a better missile or submarine except in a marginal way."

It's the Pentagon, stupid

So yes; this all has to do with reorganizing the US military. "X" made a point to refer to a CNAS report I quoted in my initial column: "It is very important for what is visible between the lines. And that is we are in deep trouble being technologically behind Russia by generations in weapons, which is a follow-up on the Brzezinski quote that we are no longer a global power."

This is a thorough, wide-ranging analysis of how Russia has managed to organize the best armed forces in the world. And that does not even take into account the S-500 missile defense system, which is now being rolled out and arguably seals the entirety of Russian airspace. And the next generation — S-600? - will be even more powerful.

"X" does venture into deep state taboo territory, as in how Russia, over the past decade, has managed to leap far ahead of the US, "eclipsing it as the strongest military power". But the game may be far from over - wishful thinking or otherwise: "We hope Secretary of Defense James Mattis will understand this and that the Deputy Secretary of Defense has advanced technological skills, organizational ability and the foresight to understand that the weapons of World War Three are offensive and defensive missiles, and submarines, and not air power, tanks and aircraft carriers."

A realist, "X" admits that the warmongering neocon/neoliberalcon status quo - represented by most US deep state factions - will never abandon the default posture of unremitting hostility towards Russia. But he prefers to focus on change: "Let Tillerson reorganize the State Department along Exxon efficiencies. He may be worth something in that. He and Mattis may be gutless but if you tell the truth to the Senate you may not be confirmed. So what they say means nothing. But notice this about Libya. The CIA had a goal of driving China out of Africa and so does AFRICOM. That was one of the secrets to our Libyan intervention."

Not that it worked; NATO/AFRICOM turned Libya into a wasteland run by militias, and still China was not driven away from the rest of Africa.

"X" also admits: "Syria and Iran are red lines for Russia. So is the eastern Ukraine from the Dnieper." He is fully aware Moscow will not allow any regime change gambit on Tehran. And he's also aware that "China's investments in Iranian oil and gas imply that China also will not permit Washington's overthrow of the Iranian government."

The going really gets tough when it comes to NATO; "X" is convinced Russia "will invade Romania and Poland if those missiles are not taken out of Romania and the missile commitment to Poland rescinded. The issue is not the worthless defensive missiles of the United States but the substitutability of offensive nuclear missiles in these silos. Russia will not tolerate this risk. These are not subject to negotiation."

In contrast to the "perpetual threat" perpetual propaganda by the US War Party, Moscow focuses on actual facts on the ground since the 1990s; the break up of historic Slavic ally Serbia; Warsaw Pact nations and even former USSR republics annexed by NATO, not to mention attempts to also include Georgia and Ukraine; US deployment of color revolutions; the "Assad must go" fiasco, as in regime change forced on Syria even including the weaponizing of Salafi-jihadis; economic sanctions, an oil price war and raids on the ruble; and non-stop NATO harassment.

"X", fully aware of the facts, adds, "Russia has always wanted peace. But they are not going to play a game with the Masters of the Universe that has Trump as the good guy and the Congress, CIA, etc. as the bad guy as a negotiating ploy. That is how they see it. They do not regard this circus as real."

The circus may be just an illusion. Or wayang - Balinese puppet theatre — as I suggested. "X" advances a crisp interpretation of the shadow play ahead from Moscow's point of view, allowing "several months to see if Putin can work out a detente with Trump that essentially creates an autonomous eastern Ukraine, a peace treaty in Syria with Assad in place, and a withdrawal of NATO forces back to their line of defense under Ronald Reagan."

Who will prevail; the Masters, or the deep state? Brace for impact.

[Elihu]

"Trump was elected with the support of the Masters Democratic Party to tilt towards Russia. "

[Elihu]

we have yet to begin seeing the implacable force known as showbiz

[SonicG]

I really don't understand what the fuck Pepe Escobar is trying to say there...Trump will come off as being the savior to brining peace to the world and industry back to the US? mmm okay then...
He is wrong about Wayang -the famous shadow puppets, it's Javanese...I saw it on Bali too but that is not where it is from...

[seemslikeadream]

every commentator I heard on the tv yesterday seemed to believe Mattis is the acting president

Commentators on tv. Ok.

oh I thought they were agreeing with YOU....OK

[barracuda]

Yesterday, I thought I heard a bit of what sounded like just a hint of Trump threatening the CIA with the military, though he may not actually understand the difference. Excerpt from his speech at Langley:

You know, the military, and the law-enforcement generally speaking, -- but, all of it -- but the military, gave us tremendous percentages of votes. We were unbelievably successful in the election with getting the vote of the military and probably almost everybody in this room voted for me, but I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did. [laughter]

But I would guarantee a big portion. Because we’re all on the same wavelength, folks. We’re all on the same wavelength. [applause] Alight? [pointing to the crowd] He knows. Took Brian about 30 seconds to figure that one out, right? Because we know. We’re on the same wavelength.

We’re going to do great things. We’re going to do great things. We’ve been fighting these wars for longer than any wars we’ve ever fought. We have not used the real abilities that we have. We’ve been restrained.

We have to get rid of ISIS. We have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice [applause]

Radical Islamic terrorism - and I said it yesterday - has to be eradicated. Just off the face of the Earth. This is evil. This is evil.

And you know, I can understand the other side. We can all understand the other side. There can be wars between countries. There can be wars. You can understand what happened. This is something nobody could even understand. This is a level of evil that we haven’t seen.

You’re going to go to it, and you’re going to do a phenomenal job. But we’re going to end it. It’s time. It’s time right now to end it.

You have somebody coming on who is extraordinary. You know for the different positions, of secretary of this and secretary of that and all of these great positions, I’d see five, six, seven, eight people.

And we had a great transition. We had an amazing team of talent.

And by the way, General Flynn is right over here. Put up your hand, Mike. What a good guy [applause]

And Reince, and my whole group. Reince. You know Reince? They don’t care about Reince. He’s like, this political guy that turned out to be a superstar, right? We don’t have to talk about Reince.

But, we did. We had just such a tremendous, tremendous success.

So when I’m interviewing all of these candidates that Reince and his whole group is putting in front, it went very, very quickly, and in this case went so quickly. Because I would see six or seven or eight for secretary of agriculture, who we just named the other day. Sunny Perdue. Former Governor of Georgia. Fantastic guy. But I’d see six, seven, eight people for a certain position. Everybody wanted it.

But I met Mike Pompeo, and he was the only guy I met. I didn’t want to meet anybody else. I said “cancel everybody else”. Cancel. Now he was approved, essentially. But they’re doing a little political games with me. You know, he was one of the three.

Now, last night, as you know, General Mattis - fantastic guy - and General Kelly got approved [applause]

And Mike Pompeo was supposed to be in that group; it was going to be the three of them. Can you imagine? All of these guys. People respect … they respect that military sense. All my political people? They’re not doing so well. The political people aren’t doing so well… but you … We’re going to get them all through. But some will take a little bit longer than others.

But Mike was literally -- I had a group of, what, we had nine different people? -- Now. I must say, I didn’t mind cancelling eight appointments. That wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

But I met him, and I said “he is so good”. Number one in his class at West Point. Now, I know a lot about West Point. I’m a person that very strongly believes in academics. In fact, every time I say, I had an uncle who was a great professor at MIT for 35 years, who did a fantastic job in so many different ways academically. He was an academic genius.

And then they say: “is Donald Trump an intellectual?” Trust me. I’m like a smart person. [laughter] [pointing at Mike Pompeo] And I recognized immediately,

So he was Number 1 at West Point. And he was also essentially number 1 at Harvard Law School. And then he decided to go into the military. And he ran for Congress. And everything he’s done has been a home run.

People like him. But much more importantly to me, everybody respects him.

When I told Paul Ryan that I want to do this, I would say, he may be the only person that was not totally thrilled, right, Mike? Because he said “I don’t want to lose this guy”.

You will be getting a total star. You going to be getting a total gem. He is a gem. And I just …. [applause] You’ll see. You’ll see. And many of you know him anyway. But you’re going to see.

And again: we have some great people going, but this one is something, going to be very special, because this is one of -- if I had to name the most important, this would certainly be, perhaps, you know, in certain ways, you could even say my most important.

You do the job like everybody in this room is capable of doing.

And the generals are wonderful and the fighting is wonderful. But if you give them the right direction? Boy does the fighting become easier. And boy do we lose so fewer lives, and win so … quickly.

And that’s what we have to do. We have to start winning again.

You know what? When I was young, And when I was … of course, I feel young. I feel like I’m 30. 35. 39. [laughter]. Somebody said “are you young?” I said “I think I’m young”.

You know, I was stopping when we were in the final month of that campaign. Four stops, five stops. Seven stops. Speeches -- speeches -- in front of twenty five, thirty thousand people. Fifteen thousand, nineteen thousand, from stop to stop.

I feel young.

But when I was young -- and I think we’re all sort of young -- when I was young, we were always winning things in this country. We’d win with trade. We’d win with wars.

At a certain age I remember hearing from one of my instructors “The United States has never lost a war”.

And then, after that, it’s like, we haven’t won anything. We don’t win anymore.,

The old expression: “to the victor belong the spoils” - you remember? You always used to say “keep the oil”. I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I didn’t want to go into Iraq. But I will tell you. When we were in, we got out wrong.

And I always said: “In addition to that, keep the oil”.

Now I said it for economic reasons, but if you think about, Mike, if we kept the oil we would probably wouldn’t have ISIS, because that’s where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil.

[JackRiddler]

Factions exist.

Absolutely not disputed. Sort of like the sun rises in the morning. Very important to understand how this may operate in reality. This is why I objected above to a mythologizing version of what the current deep state and National Security state factions might be, ungrounded in precedent or observation, but sounding a lot like a Hollywood whitehat/blackhat plot with Trump as, not the hero exactly, but the possible victim of the blackhats, with whitehats on his side.

To believe there aren't schisms in policy, and how it translates into action, is disingenuous.

Thank god this is one of those things that is not a problem on RI.

The underlying problem with Trump et al is the only thing that's really known about him and his appointments is that he and his cronies are complete opportunists.

Pretty much everything is known about Trump and his appointments, which is why it should not be hard to figure out the problem with whitehat/blackhat scenarios or ideas that it's a mystery whether he wants to make peace and prosperity or TAKE THEIR OIL, etc. etc.

His vision for the, uh, 'organization' of the transnational corporate American state appears to ape the model established by Putin. It seeks to consolidate personal power by dismantling government through pay-to-play schemes that will strip assets wherever they may be found for purely personal gain.

You can call it Putin, especially if you think it was invented in Russia. I prefer to call it New Jersey politics, which is roughly where Trump came from.

There'll be a constitutional crisis that Trump will be forced to face, hopefully sooner rather than later, once this administration shifts into gear. The emoluments clause to the Articles of Confederation all but guarantee it. The stonewalling regarding his finances will be exposed, perhaps not completely, but likely enough to allow a glimpse of who exactly is running this fucking scam that's been perpetrated against the citizens of the US.

I don't know about the "who exactly" part but this is very likely as described.

It should also be noted viz these circumstances that Obama's failure to nominate and secure the appointment of a Supreme justice could be a massive political blunder this Republic, or what's left of it, may not withstand.

I don't see how this is Obama's failure.

.

[Elihu]

Perhaps he was saying "I know you guys are isis"

[JackRiddler]

Yesterday, I thought I heard a bit of what sounded like just a hint of Trump threatening the CIA with the military, though he may not actually understand the difference. Excerpt from his speech at Langley:

Don't see that really.

At most "to the victor the spoils" is a reminder that he is now their paymaster.

Next interesting question: who put up Pompeo? What conversation was held? Did Pompeo make such a great offer, or was it more of a threat? Since the process was immediately suspended.

.

[KUAN]

That Trump spokeswoman I saw on the news looked like a yokel. That's all I've got, sorry