Hat tip Rise Up
Guest Post by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD
A moderator at the last Fox News Republican debate, questioning Donald Trump on his feelings for Vladimir Putin, showed a video where Trump says, “I think I’d get along with Vladimir Putin.” Putin has described Trump as “an outstanding and talented personality,” calling him “a brilliant and talented person, without a doubt.” In response, Trump has said, “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.” Adding, “And [in my dealings with Putin] I don’t think you’d be having the kind of problems that you’re having right now.” [1]
This video displays the above “Trump-Putin ’16 Make Tyranny Great Again!” poster. It is an ad that Republican Presidential candidate John Kasich had made and paid for. (2) It mirrors the Republican Establishment’s view that Trump is too friendly with the Russian President.
Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate, Republican or Democratic, who is not part of the political Establishment. Since he self-funds his campaign, he is not beholden to any special interest groups, especially ones in the military-industrial complex. A real estate-focused businessman and TV reality show star, he has no stake in the neoconservative effort to subdue Russia and have Washington dominate the world. Trump views U.S. wars of intervention and occupation around the world, all in countries that pose no threat to American citizens, a waste of taxpayer money. He is the only candidate in either party who will question the cost and legitimacy of our commitment to Cold War relics like NATO and continuing to station troops in S. Korea; our country’s involvement in religious civil wars in the Middle East and overthrowing and killing secular dictators there it doesn’t like (Hussein and Kaddafi); and our threatening Russia by encouraging its neighboring states of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, and Georgia to join NATO and give them weapons and military guarantees to defend them.
U.S. exploits are leading America to the brink of war with Russia—and possibly, given its actions in the S. China Sea, to war with China as well. Putin has said, “The U.S. wants to subdue Russia, to solve U.S. problems at Russia’s expense. No one in history ever managed to do this to Russia and no one ever will.” [3] More ominously, in a speech delivered at the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, he states, “Russia does not wish for chaos to spread, does not want war, and has no intention of starting one. However, today Russia sees the outbreak of war as almost inevitable, is prepared for it, and is continuing to prepare for it…” [4] Is World War III inevitable?
History, it turns out, goes in cycles. (It is not a linear progression as some would argue.) The earth rotates around the sun every 365.25 days. Human history has an 80-year cycle, roughly equal to the lifespan of a person. Like the four seasons of the earth’s solar cycle, the historical cycle (or “Saeculum”) has four Turnings, which William Strauss and Neil Howe have unraveled and defined. [5]
As the table below shows, we are currently in the Fourth Turning of the Fourth Cycle of American history. (This table is taken from my article “World War Redux: The Fourth Turning Fourth Time Around,” published on LRC in 2014, where more information, with source links can be found to these Cycles and Turnings. [6])
The current Crisis Turn in America’s Millennial Cycle began in 2008, set off by the Lehman Brothers collapse and onset of the Global Financial Crisis. Anticipated to last until 2026 when a new Cycle will start, we have 10 years to go until we get through it. If the current (2008-2026?) Crisis Turn follows the course set in America’s three previous Fourth Turnings, there will be a World War III. Like with the Great Depression that preceded World War II, the ongoing Global Financial Crisis is setting the stage for World War III.
In the American Revolution (Revolutionary Cycle Fourth Turning), there were 25,000 military and civilian deaths. In the Civil War, there were 750,000 military and civilian deaths. In World War II (Great Power Cycle Fourth Turning), 85,000,000 people died.
Regarding this Millennial Cycle Fourth Turning, Strauss and Howe (they nailed its onset in their 1997 book!) write:
“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” [5]
World War III will, in all likelihood, turn nuclear. The Nuclear weapons stockpiled today are 50 times more powerful than the two atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan in 1945. In the next war they could cause 1,000,000,000 (one billion) military and civilian deaths, or more.
It may happen sooner than we think. In a February 18, 2016, report titled “Risking Nuclear War for Al Qaeda?,” Robert Parry writes:
“A source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that the Russians have warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow is prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons if necessary to save their [20,000] troops in the face of a [500,000-man] Turkish-Saudi onslaught. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, any such conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear confrontation.” [7]
Donald Trump as President is best suited to make it possible for humanity to escape a WW III nuclear holocaust. He is the only presidential candidate that can do this. (But one hopes that during the campaign he is not influenced by neocons like John Bolton.) David Stockman puts it this way:
“…A nation tumbling into financial and fiscal crisis will welcome the War Party purge that Trump would surely undertake. He didn’t allow the self-serving busy-bodies and fools who inhabit the Council on Foreign Relations to dupe him into believing the Putin is a horrible threat; or that the real estate on the eastern edge of the non-state of the Ukraine, which has always been either a de jure or de facto part of Russia, was any of our business. Likewise, he has gotten it totally right with respect to the sectarian and tribal wars of Syria and Iraq and Hillary’s reckless destruction of a stable regime in Libya.” [8]
America must adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy, as advocated by the nation’s founders, to avoid a nuclear WW III in this Fourth Turning.
Despite the risks, the outcome of this Millennial Cycle Fourth Turning could be peaceful and positive. Strauss and Howe write:
“America could enter a new golden age, triumphantly applying shared values to improve the human condition. The rhythms of history do not reveal the outcome of the coming Crisis: all they suggest is the timing and dimension.”
The next eight years will be a very crucial time in human history.
References
1 — http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-russia-president-vladimir-putin/
2 – http://trump-putin2016.com/
3 – “Opening the Gates to World War III,” Paul Craig Roberts.
4 – http://usmcinfantrybrothers.com/2015/10/29/world-war-iii-in-the-making/ Speech delivered October 24, 2014.
5 – The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy: What the cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny. 1997. William Strauss and Neil Howe.
6 – “World War Redux: The Fourth Turning Fourth Time Around,” Donald W. Miller, Jr., Lewrockwell.com. September 16, 2014
7 – https://consortiumnews.com/2016/02/18/risking-nuclear-war-for-al-qaeda/
8 – “The Trumpster Sends the GOP/Neocon Establishment to the Dumpster,” David Stockman. Lewrockwell.com. March 4, 2016.
This is a strong point to be made for preferring Trump to Hillary or Sanders.
Trump may not have a chance to avoid it.
Obama seems to be intent on either getting it started before he leaves office (if he leaves office) or setting the stage for it somewhere beyond the point of no return so that it can’t be avoided even if he isn’t still the one in power.
John Kasich’s resume:
Governor of Ohio (2011-)
Lehman Brothers Managing Director, Investment Banking Division (2001-08)
US Congressman, Ohio 12th (1983-2001)
Ohio State Senate (1979-83)
Congressional Staff to Rep Buz Lukens (1974-78)
Member of the Board of Invacare (2001-)
Member of the Board of Instinet
Member of the Board of Worthington Industries (2001-)
American Legislative Exchange Council
Caring Institute Honorary Trustee
Pioneer PAC
Washington Legal Foundation National Board of Advisors
Perhaps this Fourth Turning will be named “The Restoration of the Republic”.
Check out the free .pdf “Fear the People”
I think I just found my second reason to vote for Da Donald.
When Trump boasts before well-heeled crowds that he doesn’t need their money, he is greeted with stunned silence. At these moments he is thinking naively like a business guy with p&l responsibility. Imagine being able to report to your board that you accomplsihed what they asked and didn’t have to spend a dime of company money. Yuge! Not so in poli-sticky. Money cements beholdenness and control.
Tail wag dog 1. Money insists on $1 billion campaigns in order to put the choice on a shelf too high for People’s candidates. They are interminably long regurgitations of the same soundbites because that’s how the expense can be rationalized. Tail wag dog 2: it doesn’t matter what’s in Hillary’s GS speeches (in fact I’d be amazed if they’re anything more than banal platitides). The speech exists to rationalize the writing of a large check –bribery transmogrified by the simple addition of a company purchase order into the process.
But here’s one better..
A Trump-Sanders ticket drops the bottom out of the entire bucket and implodes the game. Galvanizing issue? TPP i.e. jobs. Revealingly, they’re the only two ardent opponents of it. Yes, that’s right, the two pariahs who we are assured are pariahs for entirely different reasons.
Don’t let the dopey MSNBC-Fox Tv tropes obscure the obvious. Sanders is a center-right candidate. Trump and Sanders are not oceans apart like the cozy duopolists want you to think they are. The ocean is a creek.
Stucky is “Da Faucet”……………On and off, On and off, Voting Trump, Not voting Trump, Voting Trump.
For the love of Mike, pick a side and stay there. Womenz aren’t that flighty.
Donald Trump is tight with the Russian Federation and has been for as long as I can remember. First wife Ivana was most definitely Russian mafia when they were married.
Would that stop a war ? Doubt it as the people who profit from war don’t really give a damn about what sock puppet actor leaders think. Oligarchs put their puppets in and oligarchs profit from war.
Hard not to admire the way Putin articulates his position
Trump can’t save us, unless he can save himself.
Got this in my email this morning, don’t know if this is true, Snopes says nope, but who fact checks snopes?
William J. Bennett, Host of Bill Bennett’s Morning in America Show, is one of America ‘s most important, influential, and respected voices on cultural, political, and education issues. He has one of the strongest Christian world views of any writer in modern times.
What I See Happening In a Trump Presidency
By Bill Bennett
“They will kill him before they let him be president. It could be a Republican or a Democrat that instigates the shutting up of Trump.
Don’t be surprised if Trump has an accident. Some people are getting very nervous: Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Jon Corzine, to name just a few.
It’s about the unholy dynamics between big government, big business, and big media. They all benefit by the billions of dollars from this partnership, and it’s in all of their interests to protect one another. It’s one for all and all for one. It’s a heck of a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich, everyone except the American people. We get ripped off. We’re the patsies. But for once, the powerful socialist cabal and the corrupt crony capitalists are scared. The over-the-top reaction to Trump by politicians of both parties, the media, and the biggest corporations of America has been so swift and insanely angry that it suggests they are all threatened and frightened.
Donald Trump can self-fund. No matter how much they say to the contrary, the media, business, and political elite understand that Trump is no joke. He could actually win and upset their nice cozy apple cart.
It’s no coincidence that everyone has gotten together to destroy The Donald. It’s because most of the other politicians are part of the a good old boys club. They talk big, but they won’t change a thing. They are all beholden to big-money donors. They are all owned by lobbyists, unions, lawyers, gigantic environmental organizations, and multinational corporations – like Big Pharmacy or Big Oil. Or they are owned lock, stock, and barrel by foreigners like George Soros owns Obama or foreign governments own Hillary and their Clinton Foundation donations.
These run-of-the-mill establishment politicians are all puppets owned by big money. But there’s only one man who isn’t beholden to anyone. There’s only one man who doesn’t need foreigners, or foreign governments, or George Soros, or the United Auto Workers, or the teacher’s union, or the Service Employees International Union, or the Bar Association to fund his campaign.
Billionaire tycoon and maverick Donald Trump doesn’t need anyone’s help. That means he doesn’t care what the media says. He doesn’t care what the corporate elites think. That makes him very dangerous to the entrenched interests. That makes Trump a huge threat to those people. Trump can ruin everything for the bribed politicians and their spoiled slave masters.
Don’t you ever wonder why the GOP has never tried to impeach Obama? Don’t you wonder why John Boehner and Mitch McConnell talk a big game, but never actually try to stop Obama? Don’t you wonder why Congress holds the purse strings, yet has never tried to de-fund Obamacare or Obama’s clearly illegal executive action on amnesty for illegal aliens? Bizarre, right? It defies logic, right?
First, I’d guess many key Republicans are being bribed. Secondly, I believe many key Republicans are being blackmailed. Whether they are having affairs, or secretly gay, or stealing taxpayer money, the National Security Agency knows everything.
Ask former House Speaker Dennis Hastert about that. The government even knew he was withdrawing large sums of his own money from his own bank account. The NSA, the SEC, the IRS, and all the other three-letter government agencies are watching every Republican political leader. They surveil everything. Thirdly, many Republicans are petrified of being called racists, so they are scared to ever criticize Obama or call out his crimes, let alone demand his impeachment. Fourth , why rock the boat? After defeat or retirement, if you’re a good old boy, you’ve got a $5 million-per-year lobbying job waiting. The big-money interests have the system gamed. Win or lose, they win.
But Trump doesn’t play by any of these rules. Trump breaks up this nice, cozy relationship between big government, big media, and big business. All the rules are out the window if Trump wins the Presidency. The other politicians will protect Obama and his aides but not Trump. Remember: Trump is the guy who publicly questioned Obama’s birth certificate. He questioned Obama’s college records and how a mediocre student got into an Ivy League university. Now, he’s doing something no Republican has the chutzpah to do. He’s questioning our relationship with Mexico; he’s questioning why the border is wide open; he’s questioning why no wall has been built across the border; he’s questioning if allowing millions of illegal aliens into America is in our best interests; he’s questioning why so many illegal aliens commit violent crimes, yet are not deported; and he’s questioning why our trade deals with Mexico, Russia and China are so bad.
Trump has the audacity to ask out loud why American workers always get the short end of the stick. Good question! I’m certain Trump will question what happened to the almost billion dollars given in a rigged no-bid contract to college friends of Michelle Obama at foreign companies to build the defective Obamacare website. By the way, that tab is now up to $5 billion. Trump will ask if Obamacare’s architects can be charged with fraud for selling it by lying. Trump will investigate Obama’s widespread IRS conspiracy, not to mention Obama’s college records. Trump will prosecute Clinton and Obama for fraud committed to cover up Benghazi before the election. How about the fraud committed by employees of the Labor Department when they made up dramatic job numbers in the last jobs report before the 2012 election?
Obama, the multinational corporations and the media need to stop Trump. They recognize this could get out of control. If left unchecked, telling the raw truth and asking questions everyone else is afraid to ask, Trump could wake a sleeping giant. Trump’s election would be a nightmare. Obama has committed many crimes. No one else but Trump would dare to prosecute. He will not hesitate. Once Trump gets in and gets a look at the cooked books and Obama’s records, the game is over. The goose is cooked. Holder could wind up in prison. Jarrett could wind up in prison. Obama bundler Corzine could wind up in prison for losing $1.5 billion of customer money. Clinton could wind up in jail for deleting 32,000 emails or for accepting bribes from foreign governments while Secretary of State, or for misplacing $6 billion as the head of the State Department, or for lying about Benghazi. The entire upper level management of the IRS could wind up in prison.
Obamacare will be de-funded and dismantled. Obama himself could wind up ruined, his legacy in tatters. Trump will investigate. Trump will prosecute. Trump will go after everyone involved. That’s why the dogs of hell have been unleashed on Donald Trump.
Yes, it’s become open season on Donald Trump. The left and the right are determined to attack his policies, harm his businesses, and, if possible, even keep him out of the coming debates. But they can’t silence him. And they sure can’t intimidate him. The more they try, the more the public will realize that he’s the one telling the truth”.
William Bennett is a bloated hypocrite who gambled his entire life savings away after writing the Book of Virtues.
How can you possibly say he’s telling the truth without being utterly deluded? He’s saying what you want to hear and you are therefore calling it truth.
As to the assassination scenario, well yes. if they can’t screw him at the convention, they’ll wait for a motocade. He is an absolute nonstarter who eschews teleprompters and shoots from the hip. The empire runs on scripts. It simply cannot –and will not– work with him.
Trump is the most disruptve candidate since JFK. There isn’t an organized power center on the planet that doesn’t detest him. His only recourse is the People. However that’s never been much of a shield. The disorganized masses can only offer commiseration aqnd outrage.
Thanks, Admin, I’d never heard of William Bennett before.
@ Card:
Whether Bennet is the author or not, that is an amazingly accurate assessment. And it’s the reason that I, and millions of others support The Donald. I gave up voting years ago but I just might come out of electoral hibernation for Trump, and this is exactly why.
OTOH ………….
Donald is always talking about rebuilding America’s military. WTF? So a trillion dollars a year isn’t enough??
Donald always talks about making our military so YUGE!! and so strong that no one would ever ever think about attacking us. WTF? Neither Russia nor China want to start a war with us … although it appears we want to start one with them. OK, so piss-ant ISIS and looneyfuk mooslims would like to attack us. Pffft. The question is; who CAN attack us and succeed? No one.
While Donald is wasting untold wealth on rebuilding our military …. what the hell does he think Russia and China will do? Sit on their asses? While Donald may want good relations with Russia, a massive building up of America’s military WILL result in our foes doing the same. Bingo. Cold War reignited.
How much more will Donald spend on the extra-massive boondoggle, the F-35, and those ships that sink when waves hit them, the cLittoral? Another trillion?
These are not anti-Trump questions. They are simply important questions. None of the media and none of the debates bring this up. Neither do Trump supporters. Why? I guess making NO CHANGES to the MIC — except to make it even bigger — just isn’t all that important.
Did y’all notice what I did NOT say above?
Not once did I use the word ‘Trump-eteer’.
I am evolving into a kinder and more loving debater, filled with the Holy Ghost.
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Stucky,
I don’t think Trump wants to spend more on the military. He has said (unfortunately) that he won’t cut defense, and he’s said he would “strengthen” the military. Strengthen doesn’t necessarily mean “increase funding” and “not cutting” could mean leaving military funding nominally flat – and shrinking in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. He has to win the Republican nomination before he can do anything. I cut him some slack on this because I’m a realist.
“They will kill him before they let him be president”
Ain’t that what a lot of the Kikuyu’s admirers were saying in ’08?
“I am evolving into a kinder and more loving debater, filled with the Holy Ghost.”
Oh, shit. This is fuckin’ demoralizin’. 😉
Sorry bub, but you lost me at “Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate, Republican or Democratic, who is not part of the political Establishment.”
Bernie Sanders is far outside the political establishment since he’s an Independent. And his statements regarding our foreign policy demonstrate he would not send troops or wage wars unless it was to defend against an attack on America.
Therefore the entire premise of this piece is utter bullshit.
Sorry Westcoaster, but simply because Bernie claims to be Independent that in and of itself does not mean that he is not part of the Establishment. Au contraire mon frere. He is a career politician and political insider and has been for over 35 years. The “I” badge does not make him an outsider or any less a part of the Establishment. He is part of the Establishment because of the various political positions that he has been elected too and the offices he has held within the established political hierarchy.
Does Putin know Trump is Hitler ?
#LarkenRoseForPOTUS2016!
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Stucky,
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Westcoaster,
You’ll notice the entire world’s Establishment if going after Trump with everything they can muster and has no interest at all in opposing Bernie.
Why do you suppose that is so?
@Anonymous Coward: You must live in a mud hut in the middle of the jungle to say “the establishment….has no interest at all in opposing Bernie”. IF that were true then why did the NYT run 12 negative stories on him in 12 hours? Why does CNN wait until 98% of the Michigan vote was in before calling it his win? Why does the MSM not cover the thousands who march for him in more than 70 cities nationwide?
@Nkit: Check his voting record. He’s been a champion of the poor and oppressed. He voted AGAINST going to war with Iraq. Open your eyes and ears and you might learn something.
“@Anonymous Coward: You must live in a mud hut in the middle of the jungle…………Open your eyes and ears and you might learn something.”
Got damn, WC. You just focked him opp. He’ll never dare to fock witchoo again.
Bernie wanting to give ever Moar free shit to “the poor and oppressed” does not make him their champion. It makes him their enslaver.
Admin, I wonder what the brain cell of that female looks like, too.
The tampon was the invention of a female army nurse during WW2, to help other WACs, who were mostly nurses, maintain feminine hygiene in the field. The sanitary pad was the invention of another female army nurse during WW1, who was trying for the same thing.
These are, IMO, two of the world’s greatest inventions.
Does this chick think that a man would actually bother his head about something like female hygiene during “that time?”
Westcoaster you fool, I don’t care about his fucking voting record you Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao loving moron. The fact that he has a voting record tells me that he is part of the ESTABLISHMENT. What part of that don’t you get for Christsake? Are you really that ignorant? Did Trump get to vote on the Iraq war? Did he ever get to vote on anything in our government? No, he didn’t. That’s an outsider. Bernie is a crooked insider fuck too, idiot. Go jack off to your Tony Judt poster…
Vote for the Neocons. You can’t go wrong.
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Westcoaster, start thinking for yourself and you might learn something. You are obviously incapable of thinking for yourself and you apparently have little knowledge of history. So you support your Pol Pots, your Stalins and Maos..It’all work out just fine; it always does with you collectivist fucks in charge, doesn’t it? But, the funniest part of your ignorant daily postings is that you tell everyone that they are voting against their best interests but in truth, it is really you who votes against his best interest, unless of course, you are voting for moar free shit for yourself.
I was an Officer and saw purposeful waste under Jimmy like ordering B-52 crews to fly another hour to get the base’s annual fuel consumption high so next years budget would have that padding. Saw squadrons buy buy buy and fill up rooms with stuff for the same reason. Saw Commanders take Spare Tail Assemblies who had no other function whatsoever on their TDYs. Saw Co-Gen Restaurants, fully stocked TLQ bars, golf every day in the summer at southern bases for the Brass, private Beechcraft aircraft and staffed yachts, helicopters used for duck hunting, a C-9 used to transport a wife and dog, etc. That said, didn’t Reagan just by fear get the Iran Hostages released and then just about double defense spending with the one hand but bring about an end to the Cold War with the other (diplomacy) and that enable Detente. I believe Trump will fire the nincompoops and wasters, promote good Flag Officers who will repair the damages done by Obama as much as is humanly possible until there are certain policy changes, seek a new Detente with Putin and end the constant NeoCon wars.
If Trump gets elected and don’t cooperate they will kill him.he will have a VP that is approved by the establishment. Judging from this article we can just make up any scenario we want.
Don’t you TBP readers realize that US military spending, continual wars, and intimidation of our allies are essential to the health of our economy?
Consider what would happen if Donald I-could-get-along-with-Putin Trump were elected president. Consider the risks if The Donald is the GOP nominee.
An already weak economy would go into a tailspin. You might lose your job, your investments and income would suffer, and your future and your children’s would be bleak.
Take a tip from Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and America’s former a-heartbeat-away-from-the-presidency VP, Dick Cheney. Realize that Trump’s “a liberal” who’s “way off base.” Vote for Deep State patriots like Mario “Bubble Butt” Rubio, Ted “My wife works for Goldman Sachs” Cruz, or Hillary “Too Big to Jail” Clinton. With one of them in charge, you’ll get rich even though they and their friends will get richer.
America’s future and yours are tied to AIPAC goals, military ventures, and corporate globalism. Understand that and support making America great again.
My first hat tip. Cool. Hope to contribute more. TBP rocks!
The Bill Bennett piece is good, even if not by him as was noted. It is irrelevant that Bill has or had personal gambling problems, man is in a fallen state. At least he recognizes and extolls what we should all aspire to in his writings, he probably has a tortured conscience because of his weakness in that regard while recognizing how he should behave as opposed to people who have sold their souls such as the current POTUS, the Bushes and the Clintons. Trump is clearly the most “outside” of anyone running for POTUS. Sanders is not really but may not be totally had by the system. A Trump/Sanders ticket would sure be interesting and stir things up. If, by some miracle of the Repubs not stealing the nomination from him and Trump gets in, expect him to be targeted for a hit. If not, then we all know ee have been had. Hopefully he is smart enough to have his own loyal protectors but I wonder how he can survive even with a loyal team if they really decide to get him as there are too many ways they can do it.