Nov. 5, What Comes Next
Published in Le Devoir
(Canada) on 18 November 2024
by François Brousseau (link to original)
(Canada) on 18 November 2024
by François Brousseau (link to original)
Translated from
by Reg Moss.
Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
“We are coming to break everything” is the intention emerging from the nominations announced in an incredible blitz of post-election strikes by President-elect Donald Trump for what will be his version of 21st century America.
An All-out Offensive
Rule of law, intelligence, health, defense, administration … It is an all-out offensive on the existing order, a looming revolution by axe, with the unveiling of names slated to head up the Departments of Justice, Health, Defense and a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” The goal: Nothing less than regime change.
Personalities
There is, for the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz*, the subject of a major investigation on charges of statutory rape and a loyalist whom Trump is counting on to go after his enemies; Kristi Noem for Homeland Security, a firearms enthusiast who likes to recount how she killed her dog when it would not walk straight; and Pete Hegseth for the Pentagon, who intends to purge the American military of “wokeism” and fight the “enemies within” designated by the capo.
A Grenade
There is also Tulsi Gabbard, former one-term representative (Democrat turned Republican), now chosen by Trump for director of national intelligence that coordinates with 18 agencies, including the CIA and the FBI. She has no experience in the field and is known for having relayed anti-Ukraine propaganda by Vladimir Putin on supposed chemical weapons in Kyiv, and that of Bashar Assad (with whom she met twice in Damascus) “who is not our enemy.” According to John Bolton, an ultraconservative and former national security advisor to Trump, “Gabbard, like Gaetz, is like a hand grenade ready to explode.”
An Eccentric
Not to be forgotten is radical Robert Kennedy Jr., who opposes vaccines, to lead the Health and Human Services Department, already dubbed by adversaries “secretary of disease progression.” Or Elon Musk, Mr. Tesla, who represents a triumphant techno-plutocracy, the real innovation of this election. This insensitive eccentric will be charged with reducing the number of federal government employees (currently at 3 million) to a bare minimum and placing loyalists at the head of agencies. This is the same man with three wives and 12 children.
A Winning Combination
From the point of view of the United States’ enemies, this is a real winning combination. How would a foreign leader looking to weaken the country go about it? The simplest method would be to find a way for Americans to do the work themselves. By dismantling their health system, rule of law, administration, defense, intelligence …
Narcissism and Corruption
On this point, historian Timothy Snyder, a specialist in Ukrainian philosophy and an amazing polyglot, writes on his blog, “From this perspective, Trump's proposed appointments — Kennedy, Jr.; Gaetz; Musk; [Vivek] Ramaswamy; Hegseth; Gabbard — are perfect instruments. They combine narcissism, incompetence, corruption, sexual incontinence, personal vulnerability, dangerous convictions, and foreign influence as no group before them has done.”
Victory for Putin and Netanyahu?
From an international standpoint, the Russian president and the Israeli prime minister appear to be two of the winners in the American election. It is no doubt clearer for Israel. They have certainly uncorked the champagne in Jerusalem. (In one of his corruption trials, Benjamin Netanyahu is accused of having received several cases).
No Qualms
Trump nominated Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and governor of Arkansas for whom “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” as ambassador in Jerusalem. He supports both West Bank colonization and even the recolonization of Gaza after ethnic cleansing. Regarding Israeli violence, the new government will have no qualms and raise no protest as the outgoing one did, albeit lightly and sporadically.
Real Estate Plans
Those for whom Biden-Trump is six of one and half-dozen of the other when it comes to Israel will see the difference when the Trump familial plutocracy begins to make real estate plans for a Gaza purged of its Palestinians. Because that is exactly what is taking shape: a true ethnic cleansing (after a field study, Oxfam decided Thursday to apply this specific term to North Gaza) and a new exodus of Palestinians, blessed by the Trump administration. It remains to be seen, however, if the Gulf States, obliging toward the Abraham Accords in 2020, will be prepared to play this game again after the atrocities of the past 13 months.
An Abandoned Ukraine?
The Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov wrote in Friday’s New York Times that the Nov. 5 election had the effect of a bomb in Kyiv. But this time, it was an American bomb. With Trump in power, a friend and admirer of Putin, the specter of abandonment is haunting the disconcerted Ukrainians. They fight four against one, exhausted after 33 months of heroic resistance against Putin, who is betting everything on the war and each day sacrifices 1,000 soldiers, with no qualms, to chip off 20 or 30 square miles.
Uncertainty
But if Putin applies his purported plan to cut off aid to Kyiv and “give” Russia the stolen territories, will Trump want to be associated with what would be also a rout of the West, of NATO, the EU and … the U.S.? Trump’s narcissism, lack of morality and principles can, as well, sometimes contain surprises. This game is not yet over.
*Editor’s Note: On Nov. 21, Matt Gaetz withdrew as attorney general nominee.
An All-out Offensive
Rule of law, intelligence, health, defense, administration … It is an all-out offensive on the existing order, a looming revolution by axe, with the unveiling of names slated to head up the Departments of Justice, Health, Defense and a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” The goal: Nothing less than regime change.
Personalities
There is, for the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz*, the subject of a major investigation on charges of statutory rape and a loyalist whom Trump is counting on to go after his enemies; Kristi Noem for Homeland Security, a firearms enthusiast who likes to recount how she killed her dog when it would not walk straight; and Pete Hegseth for the Pentagon, who intends to purge the American military of “wokeism” and fight the “enemies within” designated by the capo.
A Grenade
There is also Tulsi Gabbard, former one-term representative (Democrat turned Republican), now chosen by Trump for director of national intelligence that coordinates with 18 agencies, including the CIA and the FBI. She has no experience in the field and is known for having relayed anti-Ukraine propaganda by Vladimir Putin on supposed chemical weapons in Kyiv, and that of Bashar Assad (with whom she met twice in Damascus) “who is not our enemy.” According to John Bolton, an ultraconservative and former national security advisor to Trump, “Gabbard, like Gaetz, is like a hand grenade ready to explode.”
An Eccentric
Not to be forgotten is radical Robert Kennedy Jr., who opposes vaccines, to lead the Health and Human Services Department, already dubbed by adversaries “secretary of disease progression.” Or Elon Musk, Mr. Tesla, who represents a triumphant techno-plutocracy, the real innovation of this election. This insensitive eccentric will be charged with reducing the number of federal government employees (currently at 3 million) to a bare minimum and placing loyalists at the head of agencies. This is the same man with three wives and 12 children.
A Winning Combination
From the point of view of the United States’ enemies, this is a real winning combination. How would a foreign leader looking to weaken the country go about it? The simplest method would be to find a way for Americans to do the work themselves. By dismantling their health system, rule of law, administration, defense, intelligence …
Narcissism and Corruption
On this point, historian Timothy Snyder, a specialist in Ukrainian philosophy and an amazing polyglot, writes on his blog, “From this perspective, Trump's proposed appointments — Kennedy, Jr.; Gaetz; Musk; [Vivek] Ramaswamy; Hegseth; Gabbard — are perfect instruments. They combine narcissism, incompetence, corruption, sexual incontinence, personal vulnerability, dangerous convictions, and foreign influence as no group before them has done.”
Victory for Putin and Netanyahu?
From an international standpoint, the Russian president and the Israeli prime minister appear to be two of the winners in the American election. It is no doubt clearer for Israel. They have certainly uncorked the champagne in Jerusalem. (In one of his corruption trials, Benjamin Netanyahu is accused of having received several cases).
No Qualms
Trump nominated Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and governor of Arkansas for whom “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” as ambassador in Jerusalem. He supports both West Bank colonization and even the recolonization of Gaza after ethnic cleansing. Regarding Israeli violence, the new government will have no qualms and raise no protest as the outgoing one did, albeit lightly and sporadically.
Real Estate Plans
Those for whom Biden-Trump is six of one and half-dozen of the other when it comes to Israel will see the difference when the Trump familial plutocracy begins to make real estate plans for a Gaza purged of its Palestinians. Because that is exactly what is taking shape: a true ethnic cleansing (after a field study, Oxfam decided Thursday to apply this specific term to North Gaza) and a new exodus of Palestinians, blessed by the Trump administration. It remains to be seen, however, if the Gulf States, obliging toward the Abraham Accords in 2020, will be prepared to play this game again after the atrocities of the past 13 months.
An Abandoned Ukraine?
The Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov wrote in Friday’s New York Times that the Nov. 5 election had the effect of a bomb in Kyiv. But this time, it was an American bomb. With Trump in power, a friend and admirer of Putin, the specter of abandonment is haunting the disconcerted Ukrainians. They fight four against one, exhausted after 33 months of heroic resistance against Putin, who is betting everything on the war and each day sacrifices 1,000 soldiers, with no qualms, to chip off 20 or 30 square miles.
Uncertainty
But if Putin applies his purported plan to cut off aid to Kyiv and “give” Russia the stolen territories, will Trump want to be associated with what would be also a rout of the West, of NATO, the EU and … the U.S.? Trump’s narcissism, lack of morality and principles can, as well, sometimes contain surprises. This game is not yet over.
*Editor’s Note: On Nov. 21, Matt Gaetz withdrew as attorney general nominee.
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