Where Is Trump Going?

A little less than a year after Donald Trump's return to the White House, it is reasonable to wonder what remains of the promises and grandiose political program to revive America that The Donald had trumpeted during his election campaign.

Photo: flickr.com by Gage Skidmore, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Donald Trump

The war between Putin's Russia and NATO-Ukraine continues despite Trump's claim that he could stop it in 24 hours.

Israel attacked Iran after lengthy and meticulous preparation but, despite the initial surprise and a series of heavy bombardments against its long-standing enemy, after twelve days it suffered a fierce and humiliating defeat at the hands of the Islamic Republic, and only an agreement between Tehran and Washington prevented a worse scenario. However, war still smolders beneath the ashes of an apparent and unstable peace.

There are also other scenarios of war: Venezuela faces an American fleet that seems to promise an imminent attack and invasion. And Nigeria, an African country with vast oil reserves, is bloodied by religious clashes in which local Islamic militias slaughter local Christians without this diluted carnage being stopped. It is a scenario already seen in other countries and which anticipates a transfer of power (to the West) of Nigeria's great wealth: Africa has always been a colonial battleground, and France's expulsion from its traditional African domains in favor of Russia and China has exacerbated the hostility of the Collective West.

So, what is the balance sheet for this almost-year of Trump 2.0? I reached out to Paul Craig Roberts to try to figure it out with him.

Trump intended to accomplish much quickly. Has he?

Trump closed the border. He is deporting some illegals, but is unlikely to succeed in deporting the many millions that Obama and Biden encouraged to illegally enter the US. Trump is eliminating, or attempting to eliminate, the non-merit based Diversity-Equity-Inclusion appointments and promotions in the military and civilian government. He appointed Robert Kennedy as Secretary of Health in an effort to stop public health policies that reward Big Pharma's profits at the expense of Americans' health.

The Democrat Party is opposed to the agenda that the electorate chose. To prevent Trump from implementing it, the Democrats have closed the government by refusing its responsibility to pass a budget for the government's operation. Unable to block the agenda, the Democrats have blocked Trump from moving forward by closing the government. It appears that American democracy is too dysfunctional to function. The outcome might be a further shift of legislative power to the executive.

On the foreign policy scene, Israeli influence has prevented any progress in halting the Gaza genocide. Trump declares a cease fire, but Israel does not observe it. Israel is still pushing Washington for another attack on Iran. Trump was unable to prevent Israel from extending its borders into Syria and Lebanon.

Trump's solution to the conflict in Ukraine is a ceasefire, which does not serve any Russian purpose. Trump is trying to force a ceasefire on Russia with more sanctions and threats of sending more weapons. Neither Trump nor his regime have bothered to understand what Putin means by the "root cause of the conflict”. The root cause is Russia's insecurity from having NATO on Russia's border with US missile bases in Poland and Romania. Putin wants a mutual security agreement with the US and NATO as the solution to the growing provocations of Russia. Such an agreement would deprive the US military/security complex of the enemy that justifies the military/security complex's budget and power. It is probably impossible for Trump to change the American establishment's view of Russia from hostile to friendly. So, danger of wider war remains.

On the other hand, Trump ran up against an iron wall in his meeting with Xi and has pulled in his horns with regard to China. The US cannot be without China's rare earths, and Trump has dropped his tariff threats. If Putin were as forceful as Xi, Putin might have a better chance of ending the conflict with a mutual security agreement.

Why is Trump hostile toward Venezuela?

Washington is hostile to Venezuela because Hugo Chavez completed the nationalization of the oil industry and took majority stakes in industries and projects that had been in foreign ownership. Chavez also rebuked Washington in his famous speech before the US General Assembly. Washington wants the assets back and it wants revenge for Chavez's speech. Maduro is Chavez's successor and is taking the heat. Washington has defined Venezuela as a "narcoterrorist state” in order to threaten Maduro into submission or create an excuse for US military intervention.

Why is Trump supportive of Israel's massacres but critical of Nigeria's?

Trump accepts Netanyahu's massacre of Palestinians and Christians, but is upset over the murder of Christians in Nigeria. It is unclear whether the persecution of Christians in Nigeria is a government policy or the work of radical Muslims. The difference is explained by the fact that Israel has massive influence in the US and Nigeria has none.

What does Charlie Kirk's murder mean?

We know very little about Charlie Kirk's murder, and what we have been told does not make sense. There seems to be no evidence the accused is the assassin. Many suspect Israel as Charlie Kirk was leading the younger American generation away from its unthinking acceptance of Israel.

What is the outlook for the US?

The dysfunctional US government is pointing to a transition from democracy to autocracy. Already, despite the Constitution, presidents have removed from Congress the decision whether to go to war. Currently Democrat federal judges are ordering Trump to issue welfare payments without congressional approval. The power of the budget belongs to Congress, but Democrat judges are ordering Trump to take this power from Congress and issue the welfare payments for which no budget has been passed.