Who I'm reading to get through this mess (among many others):
#1 - Timothy Snyder
Yesterday's piece, "The Logic of Destruction," should be read in full, but here are some important bits:
"The parts of the government that work to implement laws have been maligned for decades. Americans have been told that the people who provide the with services are conspirators within a 'deep state.' We have been instructed that the billionaires are the heroes. All of this work was preparatory to the coup that is going on now. ... The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. ...They will have bet against the stock market in advance of Trump's deliberately destructive tariffs, adn will be ready to tell everyone to buy the crypto they already own. ... The economic collapse they plan is more like a reverse flood from the Book of Genesis, in which the righteous will all be submerged while the very worst ride Satan's ark. ...
Trump's tariffs (which are also likely illegal) are there to make us poor. Trump's attacks on America's closet friends, countries such as Canada and Denmark, are there to make enemies of countries where constitutionalism works and people are prosperous. As their country is destroyed, Americans must be denied the idea that anything else is possible. ... [These oligarchs] are possessed, like millennia of tyrants before them, of fantastic dreams: they will live forever, they will go to Mars. None of that will happen; they will die here on Earth, with the rest of us, their only legacy, if we let it happen, one of ruins. They are god-level brainrotted."
So, yikes! It doesn't look good for us here no matter how you slice it. As long as Trump is in power, Canada is in danger. Snyder calls for Trump and Vance to be impeached, but so far I don't see many standing up to him beyond Sanders and AOC. That's not enough. Beyond that, he calls for government workers to keep working until officially fired to slow the process down. Muddle up the works as long as possible.
If you don't want to read the new, subscribing to her feed gets you the highlights within context and with explanation of who the players are. Yesterday she wrote about Musk's takeover of USAID with the help of six young engineers, one still in college.
"USAID receives foreign policy guidance from the State Department. Intelligence agencies must now assume U.S. intelligence systems are insecure. ... The majority of staff in the legislative and public affairs bureau lost access to their emails, implying they've been put on admin leave although this was never communicated to them. ... USAID has a budget of more than $50 billion. ... This is money appropriated by Congress, and its payment is required by law."
Then she discussed the eradication of free trade and quotes Trudeau:
"As President John F. Kennedy said many years ago, geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies. .... From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, Canadians have fought and died alongside you. ... During the summer of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged your great city of New Orleans, or mere weeks ago when we sent water bombers to tackle the wildfires in California. During the day the world stood still - September 11, 2001 - when we provided refuge to stranded passengers and planes, we were always there, standing with you, grieving with you, the American people. ... Together, we've built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen. A relationship that has been the envy of the world. ... Unfortunately, the actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together."
#3 Robert Reich
He posted all of Andrew Coyne's article on Trump,
"There is no sense in understanding the depth of the disaster. This is a crisis like no other in our lifetimes. The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jai, is to seek revenge on this enemies. The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do - to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world - is incalculable. We are living in the time of Nero.
The first six months will be a time of maximum peril. NATO must from this moment be considered effectively obsolete. ... The huge across-the-board tariffs he imposes will tank the world economy ... massive deficits, fueled by his ill-judged tax policies ... will ignite a new round of inflation. ... All my life I have been an admirer of the United States and its people. But I am frightened of it now, and I am even more frightened of them."
Today, Reich explores a potential reason for the tariffs:
"The point is the show -- so the world knows it's dealing with someone who's willing to mete out big punishments. Trump increases his power by demonstrating he has the power and is willing to use it. ... The real reason Trump stopped foreign aid is he wants to show he can. ... If Canada or Mexico retaliates, he'll retaliate against them with even bigger tariffs. ... What makes an abusive parent or spouse, or an abusive dictator, or Trump, especially terrifying? They're unpredictable. They lash out in ways that are hard to anticipate. ... How else to explain the bizarre deference -- cowardice -- we're seeing among CEOs, the media, almost all Republican and even some Democratic lawmakers? Presumably, they're all saying to themselves: "He could do anything, so let's be especially careful." ... Nearly 50 House Democrats support a bill targeting undocumented immigrants. .... We need predictability to be free. ...
The bigger his demonstrable power and the more unpredictably he wields it, the greater his ability to trade some of that power with people with huge amounts of wealth, both in the United States and elsewhere. I'm referring to America's billionaires. ... They give Trump (and his family) business deals, information, campaign money, and positive PR (propaganda). ... I'm also referring to oligarchs in Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. ... They're eliciting extraordinary deals for Trump and his family."
#4 Paul Krugman
A few days ago he wrote about the tariffs:
"I think you have to see 'fentanyl' in this context as the equivalent of 'weapons of mass destruction' in the runup to the invasion of Iraq. ... It's just a plausible-sounding reason for a president to do what he wanted to do for other reasons -- George W. Bush wanted a splendid little war. Donald Trump just wants to impose tariffs and assert dominance. ... There's a real possibility that Trump's new tariffs will face a court challenge, and that he will lose. ... But even if these tariffs are blocked, or Trump finds some way to declare victory and call them off, the damage will be immense. ...
In the three decades since NAFTA went into effect, North American manufacturing has evolved into a highly integrated system whose products typically contain components from all three members of the pact, which may be shipped across the borders multiple times. Manufacturers developed this system not just because tariffs were low or zero, but because they thought they had a guarantee that tariffs would stay low. ... Even if the tariffs go away, the private sector will know that they can always come back. ... North American manufacturing will disintegrate, reverting to inefficient, fragmented national industries."
Yesterday he wrote about his feelings of nationalism as a child that were affected by learning about our violent history. Now the threat from the U.S. is reigniting something:
"I was angry and felt immediately drawn to the cause of unity -- and retaliation. I'm not sure I'd call that a feeling of national pride, but it was one of resolve and solidarity, a feeling that there was indeed something good about this country, something worth preserving and protecting while remaining critical and, where necessary, even ashamed. ... Today, Canada remains as deeply flawed as before in our relationship with Indigenous peoples, with our weak welfare state, with our corporate oligarchy, with our inadequate plan to fight climate change, with so much more we ought to lament. But by God, I care about the peopel who live here, and I believe this is a country worth fighting for. "
We've seen what the US did to Iraq in order to get unfettered access to their oilfields. Nobody I've read this week has mentioned this, but I wonder how much the threats are in order to get unfettered access to our water. But I suppose it could all just be about money and manifest destiny. More important, will the world come to our aid if we're treated precisely like Iraq?
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