This began as a reply I made to someone who commented to a diary by ursulafaw yesterday evening ( www.dailykos.com/... ). The person commenting didn’t seem to think one person could damage our world standing. I disagreed and as I wrote it turned into a pretty long comment. More than one person suggested it should be a diary so here we go now that I’ve had some additional time to think and expand on my original statements.
As I say in the title it’s far, far easier and faster to destroy something than it is to build/create it. I suppose there are exceptions but history shows again and again that things which took months, years, centuries and even eons to create can be destroyed by careless and/or thoughtless and most definitely malicious and/or ill considered actions.
An ordinary person can be living their life and be caught up in something significant, and have their life ruined because of it. Ask Richard Jewell, initially and more importantly falsely accused of being the bomber in the Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Games in Atlanta. ( en.wikipedia.org/... ) Although he was eventually exonerated there are still people who refuse to believe he was innocent. All because of careless LE talk and journalists eager to “scoop” everyone else with the story. Even though he rebuilt his life having been falsely accused affected him the rest of his too short life. Or how about someone more prominent and important to national security? Valarie Plame built a career and more importantly a network helping to prevent nuclear proliferation (kind of important wouldn’t you say?) as a member of the CIA’s clandestine service. Her true identity as a CIA Officer was maliciously “outed” by a venal Vice-President and administration intent on hitting back at her husband by attacking his wife — all because Wilson’s husband publicly pointed out a rather huge lie used to justify a war in the middle east. Again, seems kind of relevant but the point is that a network of contacts & informants that took decades and who knows how many tens of millions of dollars to build and maintain was forever ruined — in a matter of the hours between when her identity as a CIA Officer was leaked and when the news went public. An important, long term intelligence operation was “blown up” in a matter of hours and for the worst of reasons.
It’s the same with physical things. A car can be built in hours on a modern assembly line. Given my MOS in the Marines, give me some pretty basic materials I was trained to use (although infantry I had a specialty) I could destroy it in a matter of minutes. Someone could go buy a few five gallon cans of gasoline and douse the thing & light a match and could just as thoroughly wreck the entire thing in a half hour. There’s a bridge on the edge of my hometown across a small river that while following FB last year I saw had been rebuilt. Took the better part of a year. With the right materials and a day or two it’s frightening to think how many people know enough to be able to drop the thing into the Big Muddy. On a larger scale, I’d bet that most people reading this have seen giant structures, not just large office or apartment buildings but stadium that encompass acres be demolished by implosion. Things that took years to put up (especially when you take into account the design process, land acquisition/permitting, etc.) can, with a skilled team of demolition engineers be brought down in seconds with a few weeks of planning and preparation.
Even a human life must be considered. It takes nine months for a fetus to develop into a baby and be born healthy, yet while being taken home from the hospital that newborn life can be snuffed out in an instant by a tragic car wreck.
If I’m engaging in a long windup the reason is because like all the things I’ve mentioned so far the same is true of countries, international alliances and even a relatively peaceful world where there are large swaths of land and large populations that are free, or at least relatively so. The threats against both individuals and countries who want to be or are free have always existed. And history shows how quickly entire countries can be overwhelmed and subjugated, sometimes by brute military force & sometimes more subtly. But it can happen quickly regardless of the methods used. Russia used a combination of subterfuge and small unit military action to quickly seize control of Crimea in 2014. That’s something to keep in mind. Since North Korea is in the news and it was Russia who sponsored it it’s worth noting that in the Korean war the general offensive began at the end of June, 1950 and it wasn’t long before the capitol (Seoul) and heart of the country was overtaken and before the end of August Korean & U.S. forces were pushed back into the tiny pocket of the Pusan perimeter at the very south of the peninsula. It was that fast. Of course, we were fairly swift in counter-attacking (once we had the pieces in place) and pushing the enemy all the way to the Yalu River on the border with China, at which point THEY sent in masses of troops and it would be years before the whole thing wound up with North & South divided at the 38th parallel where things were to begin with.
I could cite numerous other historical examples of open warfare and externally promoted/sponsored revolutions that changes entire countries and the balance of power in regions and the world, but I’ve likely bored you to death with background already so let me be specific to the crisis we now face.
We celebrate 1776 as our time of Independence but it took years of war to finally win it. Still, we have well over two hundred years of our own history. In the grand scheme of things, both our country and the type of government we installed are in their infancy. However, we have also in our short history as a nation built and enormous amount of influence, to the point where we became the world’s only true “superpower.” All along the way we have had moments/accomplishments that have stunned the rest of the world and the “old guard” and even prompted some envy. But at times of crisis during the last century it was the United States that led the way to defeat some very dark forces and regimes. Through a happy set of fortuitous circumstances we’ve been able to develop at an astonishing pace. Ocean’s separated us from dangerous and tyrannical regimes. We were blessed with an abundance of land and natural resources as well as a favorable climate. Yes, there have been mistakes we have made and awful things we have done and/or allowed starting with our original sin of slavery. But more often than not we’ve promoted and protected a lot of good things both at home and around the world, and led educational, industrial & scientific revolutions that have changed the world & usually for the better. History is still out on some things, and it will take the perspective of at least a century to render final verdicts on some matters.
My point is that the free world and those yearning to be free, and those hoping to elevate themselves to a higher overall status of living for their people have long looked to us to lead the way. For a very long time now.
Until now.
At the turn of this century our country was well over two hundred years old. As I’ve already stated that’s actually quite young when one looks at the big picture, but from the time we won our independence from England we were doing amazing things that turned the heads of world powers. Again I have to note we sure as hell haven’t been perfect. However, our still young country kept advancing on the world stage and well before the end of the 20th century we were the world’s dominant superpower. We led in innovation (at least until towards the end of the century), in wealth and in military power. Our influence was vast, and as has been noted so often there was a reason people wanted to immigrate here, study in our universities and so on.
We literally led the world and it was the work and sacrifice of countless millions of our people, not just all those in wars and military service but who gave unfailingly of themselves (look up the lives of those NASA engineers and others during the moon race for example) to help us attain our position in the world. Yes, we made some deals with devils along the way, but even before the end of the Cold War our vision of freedom and self-determination was growing. After the fall of the Soviet Union, we were poised at the turn of the century to truly start using our influence to marginalize authoritarian regimes and make a growing number of countries better places both for themselves and the world in general.
And then came Bush 43, with a chip on his shoulder over his daddy having gotten beaten in his own re-election bid. Jr. was convinced it was because his daddy hadn’t sent our forces on to Baghdad & deposed Saddam. He squeaked into office via a Constitutional quirk and an unconstitutional SCOTUS intervention and from day one was looking to “take out Saddam” and “avenge his daddy.” His drumbeat for war which the rest of the world recognized as pretty much bogus, followed by the mess he created in the middle east (which continues to this day) did enormous damage to our credibility, especially when he won re-election. A common headline in world capitols was “How can over 60 million Americans be so stupid?”
I won’t detail all the foibles but simply note that Bush 43 did enormous damage to our credibility on the world stage. And while that was going on a defeated enemy was becoming a leaner and meaner version of itself — something which we are confronting right now and will have to for years, if not decades to come.
With the election of Obama the world thought maybe, just maybe the lunacy of so many people voting for one unqualified candidate (Bush Jr. who WAS unqualified btw) was an aberration. But then came yet another round of WTF with yet another go-round with that Constitutional quirk (and arguable the least qualified Presidential candidate ever) who still garnered well over sixty million votes.
If the world thought Bush 43 was bad, they like others now look back on those years wishing things were only as bad as that was. Trump has overseen the gutting of our diplomatic presence around the world, and if TPP was controversial here at home (how many folks here vehemently opposed it?) pulling out made most of the world, and especially those in the Pacific rim worried because it has given China a big step up in influence. Then came yanking us from the Paris accords. And now yanking us from the Iran nuclear deal.
No one on this site or around the world doubts that the driving force behind all three actions was that Trump has taken those actions because Obama was for them. They also know how hard Trump has fought to undo other Obama initiatives like the ACA, or even stuff like DACA. It’s as obvious to the rest of the world that Trump’s guiding goal is to obliterate Obama’s legacy and agenda no matter what. Worse, they know why. Trump’s little fee fees were hurt when Obama made fun of him in public at a WHCA dinner.
The rest of the world looks at the fact that sixty million plus folks voted for Bush 43 who ran on a personal grudge and allowed it to affect his governance, to the detriment of the world in general. Now they see sixty million plus people voting for someone even worse who also bore a personal grudge against the President he was replacing. Someone far worse and far less qualified than even the unqualified Bush 43. Trump campaigned on ripping up treaties and agreements and his minions cheered their brains out. And Trump has, to his supporters great delight (even as it harms them personally) done his damndest to carry through on those promises.
Once (Bush 43) might have been forgiven if Obama had been replaced by someone competent, even if they had a different world view. But with Trump, the world now knows that our country, which those who have been paying attention has come to have a huge portion of citizens become disdainful of education and science & even basic competence in management vote in huge numbers can’t be trusted. Like I said, not just agreements but actual treaties, and long held alliances like NATO can be undermined at the whims of a petty asshole who can capture the imaginations of an uneducated and/or willfully ignorant populace in numbers great enough to gain control of our government.
It didn’t even take the first two decades of this new century to tear things down. Even if Trump doesn’t finish his term, and even if we take back Congress this fall most of what Trump has set in motion will continue to 2020 — the destruction can at best only be slowed.
In 20 years the reputation and world standing it took over ten times as long to build will be in ruins. And the lion’s share of that destruction will have taken place due to Trump and the people who have been so strident in their support. Yes, the world sees that as well, and that fact his poll numbers have remained between 35-40 percent support instead of nose-diving down into the low teens as he destroys alliances, agreements and treaties has forever damaged our world standing.
Less than two years into his term Trump hasn’t just sacrificed our position of leadership in the world, he’s actively sabotaged it. I have a cousin who retired from the State Dept. a few years ago. He’s one of the finest people I’ve ever known. I mention this because if you think the way Tillerson (with Trump’s encouragement) has gutted the State Dept. and our Diplomatic capabilities around the world is bad it’s much, much worse than that. Our military starting with the Secretary of Defense is alarmed at what’s taken place. So are career intelligence professionals. So is the rest of the world. Priceless capability has been lost, and of what’s left the professionals have been ignored. When Trump kept saying only he could “fix” things he clearly wasn’t being bombastic and engaging in campaign rhetorical hyperbole. Bush 43 learned at least some that his “gut” wasn’t the be all end all and that those pros, people (including his dad and his dad’s advisors) who’d put in decades learning stuff were worth paying attention to. Trump is too narcissistic to think he needs anyone’s help. Anyone who doesn’t “advise” him with what he wants to hear when it comes to national security and diplomatic affairs will be shoved aside up to and including firing. I worry about how long Mattis, the last “adult in the room” is going to last.
With the combination of NAFTA, the TPP, the Paris Accords, inciting trade wars with tariffs and now the Iran Nuclear Deal AND the gutting of our Diplomatic missions around the globe the world has gotten the message alright. All that good will and trust, earned through generation after generation of American sacrifice in blood and treasure has been squandered. With the “jab” from Bush 43, and now the roundhouse punch from Trump has broken things and it will take a century if not longer to rebuild what’s been lost. If it’s even possible.
If there are tons of folks in our country who are ecstatic about what Trump’s doing and want him to “keep pouring it on”, don’t think it’s a big deal, or believe what’s lost for now can easily be rebuilt and foster ridiculous notions like they did when we invaded Iraq (“they will LOVE us!”) the rest of us have to buckle down that much harder. Like anyone who bears the title jarhead, things that were drilled into my brain housing group over three decades ago still are there and I can recall them easily even thirty years after leaving active duty. The “mantra” I was taught has actually changed, as training now recognizes that stopping high volume bleeding is sometimes more crucial than establishing an airway, or “start the breathing” as it was drilled into us once upon a time. In any case, in battlefield trauma four things are essential and the four things that were drilled into us were: Start the breathing. Stop the bleeding. Protect the wound. Treat for shock. Not easy to do in the middle of a battle but somehow it has to be done. I hope anyone reading this will take matters that seriously — and act accordingly. In the context of salvaging our own future and that of the world as it existed at the end of the 20th century think about it this way:
Start the breathing or establishing an airway is already happening in the form of grassroots organizing, candidates running in every race and establishing fundraising — especially small dollar donors instead of relying on the big dollar corporate/Wall Street types. But it has to go further than finding good candidates and registering voters. It doesn’t help to have a great GOTV effort if voter suppression (which relates directly to stopping the bleeding) efforts mean they can’t vote when they get there. People will need help getting the right documents and/or IDs. The GOP will ruthlessly engage in tactics to hold up processing registrations, or purge voters from the rolls. IOW, we have to have a sustained effort of checking our registration status closer to the election, and in time to correct any “mistakes” made in removing ourselves or other Democratic voters from the rolls.
Stopping the bleeding also means an overwhelming GOTV effort because again, the GOP will cheat and will use Trump’s master Putin to do so. There’s likely only so much manipulation of vote tallies that they can get away with without detection so we literally have to overwhelm them. Taking back Congress (not just the House but the Senate) and as many down ballot seats is crucial because only then will we be able to place limits on the damage Trump and his minions are doing. We then have to “protect the wound” by holding on to our gains when 2020 rolls around. This diary has already gotten pretty long and while I’ve got ideas of my own on how to do that I’ll leave that for another discussion or for people smarter than me. Finally, the treat for shock also has a component in this context. Implementing lifesaving measures are challenging enough in an ER, or even for paramedics at the scene of an accident but in the middle of a battle with incoming fire to deal with it’s even more so. Still, providing as much safety/cover as possible and properly positioning the wounded patient/country and providing fluids to replace blood loss has to be done — in the political context it means being ready for the attacks that will surely come and while “returning fire” making sure to replenish fluids and keep that airway working. As in knowing the terrain of a given race and speaking to local matters instead of only “Trump/GOP bad” and what we will do to help. And forgetting the fancy techniques of the ivory tower teaching hospital and instead being plain spoken but most importantly fighting back hard, and trying to seize the initiative on messaging. The main thing is to openly fight back and hard about what we are for and not just rely on blunting Trump’s appeal with so (too) many that will be there no matter what. People do respond to strength and strength of conviction.
In summary we have to recognize our country is badly wounded and bleeding out. It will take every bit of effort we can muster to stabilize things — by winning back Congress and state & local seats. However, we have to maintain every bit of that energy because 2020 will be upon us before we know it. We have to assume that the GOP and their mega donors will come back hard at us. In fact, I think anyone who doesn’t believe that the Koch’s et al aren’t quietly planning for a response to big gains by us this fall is whistling past the graveyard. Anyone my age can, or at least should remember that in the aftermath of Watergate and the anger over Ford pardoning Nixon there were assumptions it would take a generation for the GOP to be competitive nationally. But the GOP didn’t go anywhere, and not only did they NOT abandon tactics like Nixon’s “southern strategy” they doubled down on them and in 1980 the Reagan Revolution was inflicted on us.
More recently, in 2008 it was assumed the GOP would be on the defensive for a long time, but those same behind the scenes players immediately began developing the strategy that bore fruit in 2010 and remains in effect even now. Even if we clean up this fall, they will be back with a vengeance in 2020, and even if Trump isn’t part of the equation by then their willingness to prop him up proves to me at least that like Trump, they will gladly keep self-inflicting wounds on our country just to win. There is a group of American oligarchs only too happy to have us become like Russia.
And with the damage Trump has done to our standing internationally the rest of the world is already figuring out how to manage without us if need be. We are in a war alright. And we’d better act like it because even if our friends around the world can help us out they are surely less inclined to do so than they were not all that long ago.
It is easier to destroy than build. The rest of the world looks at Trump’s unshakable support with a distressingly large number of Americans, and a Party establishment all too happy to allow him to engage in his destruction because they believe they will be so rich they will be protected no matter what. We have to assume that our allies and our enemies alike are looking at the very real possibility that we are self-destructing under Trump because no one seems willing or able to stop him and they are considering their own moves. The best we can do is slow down the self-destruction and buy some time for 2020 and hopefully then set the stage for a decade for Democrats like the GOP has had since 2010. And maybe, just maybe that will buy us a couple of generations to rebuild some of what has been destroyed.
IF we can do it, one thing we must absolutely do is accept how much damage one awful President can do. And over and over remind our fellow citizens of that sad fact. But first things first. Survive the wounds that have been inflicted and somehow win this particular battle or the war will be lost.