The Trump/ GOP budget trajectory. Suffering for everyone, except Trump's military fantasies.
TGIF TAT readers,
Today’s edition may be fairly brief as that I am a bit under the weather.
I’m a lifelong fan of Colin Powell’s philosophy, as expressed in his autobiography:
Onward
First up a story from Politico and echoed by most reputable mainstream news agencies, with very little difference in perspectives from one to the next. Like most stories that people deem “political”, this one also is every bit as important in regard to what is “between the lines.” The easiest way to describe the true overall threat from this budget approach, is that it clearly betrays Trump’s subservience to Putin and oligarchs. His intent is on becoming a “conqueror” allied with Vlad, not a leader of our constitutional republic, of the people, by the people, for the people. These are the iconic words that President Abraham Lincoln wrote as the conclusion to his Gettysburg Address.
The three graphics below, that articulate data from multiple Federal agencies and reported on by NPR, show you who and what is targeted. Yes, what matters most to a majority of Americans, are in line for elimination and/ or debilitating cuts. Even massive cuts to the fund that helps Veterans like me and so many others, deal with the health implications of toxic exposures. So much for the GOP being “Veteran Friendly.”
The bottom line (s) from my perspective of national security and with an excellent understanding of how authoritarian nations subjugate their citizens via denial of basic services in order to grow their militaries, I see endless parallels with other draconian authoritarian governments.
Trump has all but surrendered our national security to Putin and in doing so, has definitively aligned the US with Putin and his intentions of global dominance or at least in cooperation with Russia, maybe China or even potentially with Modi’s trumpish version of India.
Coercively subjugating a nation’s population via denial of services for the most underrepresented, is a standard play in the authoritarian playbook. A populace denied or severely limited in their adequate basic services; is largely how Putin, Xi, Modi, Milei and other authoritarians operate. Stalin starved well over 3 million Ukrainians to death in the early 1930s. Chinese emperors often would use famine, or floods manage unsupportable population growth and lest we forget the abuse of our US indigenous people via smallpox, hunger and subjugation. Large swaths of Africa have operated like this for a millennium, and they are not alone. There are so many examples that it would require volumes of books just to give everyone a good grasp of the staggering evil.
Trump, fully supported by today’s spineless, MAGA GOP, is hellbent on his conqueror fantasies, likely emulating Putin’s unachievable fantasies. Greenland, the Panama Canal, his recent mention of the Monroe Doctrine are all very clear indicators. The great irony of the Monroe Doctrine is that it is not far off from how Russia sees sovereignty, and how they intend to carve up the globe into spheres of influence.
Trump simply desires a massive, subservient military, although many of our most closely held intelligence and national security capabilities are already shared with Putin. Even Musk’s DOGE cyber brats have downloaded our personal data and attempted to share it with Russia. The jury is still out just how much if any data was shared but there are more than one smoking guns.
On March 3rd of this year, the US national security community was ordered to stand down against our most dangerous adversary, Putin’s Russia. The day after, Axios provided some excellent reporting on how Trump’s actions this time around, have greatly benefited Putin. In some respects, this also means that China has benefitted as well. Despots like Putin and Xi, operate much as does organized crime. Putin, due to the thrashing that his military has taken in their failed genocidal invasion of Ukraine, required him to beg help from China, N. Korea, Iran and so many others. Now, just like within “mob life” he “owes” all of them favors. How much benefit has this new Axis of Evil, acquired via Trump’s subservience to Putin and then, Putin’s subservience to Xi and the others.
Hegseth, a grotesquely incompetent, racist and misogynist SECDEF, is attempting to institute policies within DoD, that often mimic or shadow some characteristics of Putin’s flailing military. Just last week, Trump pontificated on giving women medals for having more white babies, a long-established tradition of the Soviet Union and now Russia. Trump’s playbook is a poisonous mixture of Nazi and Soviet subversion tactics, which include what is discussed here today. Tragically, Trump’s first one-hundred and eighty days is guided by an unconstitutional, misogynist, white Christian Nationalist and far-right extremist playbook called, Project 2025.
Summary
Well readers, I promised a bit shorter essay today, so let’s wrap this up. Trump tells us where he’s going and yet, people and organizations from media to think tanks, continue to talk about this administration as if it is just another one, in our 250-year history. They are all wrong. Trump and the GOP are on the path to the largest global strategic realignment, since the second world war, and this even includes the fall of the Soviet Union. The problem is that if the Trumpian GOP succeeds in this realignment, the so-called good guys, will have lost. To fully comprehend this, just imagine if the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War and Hitler’s Third Reich, would have conquered the world?
The immediate tragedy of this version of the GOP, is that they are willing to go along with painful oppression of their constituents, because they are afraid of Putin and Trump. I don’t much care for political parties and most politicians but only today’s GOP is willing to brutally sell-out, our constitutional republic, to despots, dictators and thugs. We have a great deal of work to do in order to strengthen the republic, but none of that can occur while the Seditionists and traitors are in charge.
All my very best to everyone for their weekend.
Take it to the streets my fellow citizens and… “let freedom ring.”
Paul