Another Week of Dangerous Nonsense from Donald Trump
Image from Original article at Unz.com
It is hard to imagine how President Donald Trump’s insane assertions might go beyond the point of being merely demented to something far worse, i.e. catastrophic. Last week provided one such experience when Trump reportedly rushed back from Camp David to the White House so he could contemplate the possibility of “destroying Iran” with the intention of stealing the country’s oil just like he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio did in Venezuela after first abducting that country’s elected leaders. But even better than gleefully wrecking a country of 90 million people solely because Israel is presumably telling him to “do it” was the bit of domestic unraveling that followed. Donald Trump, who regularly confronts mostly women journalists by deriding them as “fat,” “stupid” or “ugly” marked a dangerous escalation in his war against the free press by banning what he regards as promoting liberal or “Fake news” media completely— and experts fear it won’t end here.
On Friday, Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entering White House grounds. He followed through over the weekend when journalists from the three banned outlets were turned away and had their press credentials confiscated by the Secret Service. The ban was reportedly triggered by the now notorious Natalie Harp who reportedly showed Trump videos of MS NOW hosts criticizing his administration, which resulted in the decision to block the presence of those journalists asking critical questions completely.
The targeted news outlets subsequently announced that they are suing Trump over the move, stating the president acted “in disregard of the most basic guarantees of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause.” A number of other news outlets have reportedly joined in the struggle, including normally friendly FOX, withdrawing their own journalists from providing coverage of any and all Trump appearances. In response, Trump will soon be launching Trump Television to promote himself.
By now many Americans have come to accept that what Trump wants is often linked to his personal glorification as the self-described greatest and best president the United States has ever had, which comes with a price of having his name and visage appearing on government buildings as well as on every other suitable space in the nation’s capital and beyond. One bill in Congress even sought to add Trump to the four presidents honored by the Mount Rushmore memorial in South Dakota. Given the self-deification by Trump, anything equating to criticism of his policies and behavior is deemed unacceptable by the White House, just as Trump accepts no contrary views coming from his own Cabinet. Some might argue that a profoundly ignorant Trump is unwilling to confront disagreement because he knows deep down that he is incapable of defending his own behavior in any kind of reasonable way.
But all of that interplay with an increasingly hostile media was mere child’s play compared to last week’s several revelations, first that he is considering demolishing the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts because there has been resistance to “recognizing him” by adding his name in large bronze letters to the inscription on the façade honoring Kennedy. And if that was not bad enough, Trump delivered the final blow, which was connected to the notorious Triumphal Arch not far from the Kennedy Center that he intends to erect, presumably in his own name, on the Virginia side of the Potomac River between Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington DC side. The broad vista between the cemetery and the Memorial was intentional to link those who died honorably in the nation’s military service to Lincoln who served and was assassinated after succeeding in keeping the United States a union at terrible cost. The cemetery, built on the grounds of the Custis-Lee Mansion plus the later Memorial were envisioned as a symbol of peace and reconciliation after a bloody war, not sited as if they are for celebrating military prowess!
For those who are not familiar with the ongoing debate over the Triumphal or, if you prefer, “Trump-full Arch” promoting one man’s ego, I would observe that it is planned to be 250 feet high, much larger than similar arches elsewhere in the world, and it would obstruct and obscure the views from either direction, i.e. the military cemetery and the Memorial. In justifying the Arch, Trump has claimed that Washington is the only major city in the world lacking such a feature, which is far from true. The Arch is a grossly enlarged copy of the Parisian Arc de Triomphe, which is itself based on Rome’s still smaller Arch of Titus. There is also a commemorative arch dedicated to our first president at Washington Square in New York City that is much smaller than what is envisioned by Trump.
The feature that makes the Trump Arch unique is that it is being weaponized and militarized, just like the $600 million ballroom constructed on the former site of the White House East Wing has been modified to include an underground fortress complete with a Secret Service facility, a hospital and various features to make it defensible. The new Arch design incorporates sniper stations on and under the roof plus a storage area that will accommodate a supply of ammunition as well as drones that can be used to strike targets miles away from the Arch itself, which would include the Capitol Building in DC. As the Arch is also little more than a mile away from the Pentagon in Virginia, America’s military headquarters, one has to wonder at the positioning of the offensive capability in an urban setting where no threat can be perceived under normal circumstances. Trump has muddled his way through an explanation for the change in plans by saying that it was done at the request of the military. Trump, as he always does, claims “national security,” arguing how “At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage. There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World.”
Indeed. Draft dodger Trump’s obsession with the armed forces and with killing people is itself perhaps odd and symptomatic of some kind of psychic disorder. Maybe The Trumpster is expecting an insurrection as a result of the November election which he will heroically order put down using withering fire from the top of the Arch to mow down demonstrators. Or the drones could be launched to use their explosive capabilities to wipe out meetings of groups that the White House disapproves of. Anything is possible!
Interestingly enough, my wife and I recently had lunch at The Wharf on the Potomac River in Washington DC. We sat outside as it was a nice day and I observed how we were in a line of sight from the proposed location of the Arch. A skilled sniper located at the top could easily take us out and, if we were part of a larger group, we could be drone-bombed. Afterwards, the Trump team or its successor in power could claim that I was targeted as I was a critic of Israel and therefore legally subject to the final solution, in a manner of speaking. And someone on the White House staff would no doubt also be asking “Why have all this lovely military equipment laying around without anyone using it?” Yes indeed, that would be the real Trump legacy and a vision of the future for the United States of America that we are all diving headlong into.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is https://councilforthenationalinterest.org address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.