By Askold Lozynskyj
The Gulf of Mexico to be renamed, Panama, Greenland and Canada to be annexed are all silly, yet dangerous halos. Perhaps, none of this matters because it is all so bizarre, but we are on the eve of an inauguration.
The psychotic mind is working non-stop. How do I become a strongman in a country which prides itself on democratic checks and balances. Is it possible to bring back the age of empires? Frankly, I do not know what that means because I have no knowledge of history. I have achieved the impossible – an overwhelming electoral victory while under three indictments and one conviction. I have fooled most of the people at least this one time. I control all three branches of government. No one can stop me because I am unbridled. I cannot run again so there is nothing in my way.
Ruminations of a madman or a democratically elected president.
This could never happen in America because this is not who we are, said the madman’s predecessor. President Biden was so wrong. This is exactly what we have become. We just buried a president who spoke of helping others, working towards peace and protecting the rights of all individuals. His mentor was none other than Jesus. His funeral was attended by Democrats and Republicans and all living past presidents. Even Donald Trump was there even if he did not fit in.
For America, it is a time of much concern. Please put to rest the illusion that America is exceptional. There is nothing in its history to evidence that absurdity. Today, America is exceptionally primitive. That is the bottom line. One would have to go back to the 19th century to find a similar American president. Andrew Jackson comes to mind but even he did not take the presidential oath as a convicted felon.
America has to overcome this. With all the wealth that God has bestowed, America should be at the very least democratic with a separation of powers and checks and balances as written in its Constitution. A moral component is a necessary element, but a fake religious zealotry or disingenuous sacrilege does not result in morality. Remember, that part of Trump’s presidential campaign was the publication of a Bible for sale at $60.
What is wrong with America? America’s highest court has no code of ethics. Its lower legislative body is led by a self-professed religious zealot, in fact, a disingenuous pharisee, elected by less than one tenth of one percent of the American population. Its upper house will be presided over by a hillbilly. Its president carries only a diploma in real estate and even his supporters acknowledge that he does not read anything. His primary supporters are the poorly educated by his own choice and admission. Oh sure, he has others joining his coteries for personal enrichment.
Donald Trump is a good option for Elon Musk and the rich. He will lower their taxes and arrange for less government regulation all at the expense of the middle class and the poor. Government
regulations are often overbearing, but mostly well intended since few possess the assets of Elon Musk or Donald Trump for that matter. Corruption in America will take on a new dimension. There will be a Trump hotel down the road from The White House (Trump is working on that), yet Ukraine will be told to clean up its corruption before entry into NATO or even the European Union.
January 20 will be the start, but the danger is so apparent. On January 6, 2025, exactly four years after Trump’s treason at the Capitol, VP Kamala Harris confirmed his electoral victory. What irony! Except that this is how Democracy is supposed to work, but Trump does not know the meaning of the term “peaceful transition.”. It was so different in 2020 when Trump lost. No one stormed the Capitol this time. Now the Senate will take up its futile task of advising and consenting on confirmation of many inappropriate members of the new administration.
This is a parody of America. Unfortunately, American leadership is the world in which we live. English is the global language. America is the leader of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. America is the most formidable member of the G7. Yet America will be led for the next four years by a man who does not understand the basic meaning of the rule of law, forget the nuances.
Can we move on? One obsessed man, no matter the sycophants and American primitiveness, cannot dictate the norms for a global society, its own government or its actions. International law has not evolved in almost one hundred years. This is a major stumbling block, unlike any in the last 100 years.
Yet, Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression will continue, perhaps, ultimately to a victorious conclusion. How is that possible?
There is a non-calculated variable in any war which involves a nation’s existence. With or without tangible American support Ukraine will pursue the defence of its existence. Europe has engaged substantively and now will have to support Ukraine even more.
And then there are the subjugated nations of the evil empire. There are massive problems within the Russian Federation also known as the Russian Empire. There are besides Russians more than 100 nations, many living on their own land except that that land is controlled by the Russians. At the same time, these people serve as cannon fodder in Putin’s war against Ukraine. They do not want to be cannon fodder, nor do they want to help the Russians, because the Russians are their enemy as well.
There is much going on. Sure America has drifted into an era of anti-democracy and the rule of a psychotic strongman. Yet, there will be no era of empire because frankly Trump has no idea what that means. Empires are not purchased on an open market. Greenland, Panama, Canada or the Gulf of Mexico are not purveyed by a real estate agent. In each instance, these are elements which involve sovereignty, something which a primitive and antidemocratic Trump can never understand.
Believe it or not the Russian Empire is falling apart. America may be in trouble as a democracy and global leader, but Russia’s role as an empire is an anachronism.
January 13, 2025