Altered states
3 days ago , by Richard Lutz
A recent trip up the US west coast is overshadowed by an unsettling pall, writes RICHARD LUTZ
Day after day, the air is filled with the backwash of the president, about his past, his vitriolic rants, his drifting opinions and half baked pronouncements. It makes for an altered nation, altered states so to speak.
The most alarming decision during my trip was (and still is) his notion to fill America’s big cities with federal troops. His excuse, not backed by facts, is a perceived rise in urban crime. A real reason is that all the cities eyed up by Trump are run by Democrats, not Trump’s favourite political flavour.
As a commentator on a CNN website wrote: ‘(It’s) a classic page from the playbook of strongman leaders.’ Flood the streets with muscle. And the sub-text is that The White House is busting for a fight between the federal government and the fifty states over who runs the country. And for that read: is the nation still a democracy? Are Trump and his ideological backers riding roughshod over the constitution? Are they breaking the law? Day after day.
A puppet president…
So changed is the structure of the running of the country that newly minted conspiracies continually emerge, not from the right this time, but from the left. One theory is that the president is a puppet for a hardline ideological group that wants chaos in the cities (caused by putting armed military on street corners) so civil rights and laws can be cast aside to ‘protect’ America.
A small illustration of this theory is the decision by Trump (or his shadowy backers) to sweep downtown areas of the homeless and push them into camps or restricted areas. What he and his insiders fail to add is these people, these dispossessed, these marginalised down-and-outs are also Americans….American citizens who need help and not forced removal.
As I moved north from California’s cerulean skies, the Putin/Trump lovefest weirdly unfolded. The president craves a Nobel peace prize. He’s a child craving a forbidden box of chocolate and, childishly, it’s his desperate wish to be seen as a broker in the unending Ukraine war that he hopes will clinch the international prize.
And that means, in his simplistic thinking, sycophantically cuddling up to Putin.
This has altered US policy which, up to now, mainly consisted of playing a careful game of hardball with the brutal Moscow regime. Now The White House seems to be in bed with the Kremlin…in bed with a bloodthirsty Putin as the US plans to push its own American troops into cities such as Washington, Chicago and New York to control a perceived domestic enemy within.
But what he does within- and without- the borders are a bit blurred anyway.
Charlie Sykes, a conservative writer quoted in The Guardian, argued: “In Donald Trump’s world there’s no significant distinction between what he does internationally and what he is doing domestically because it all centres on himself. There’s no ideological through-line or consistency.”
“It’s all about what serves his own personal interests. The notion that you would roll out the red carpet for an internationally wanted war criminal 19 months after he murdered [opposition leader] Alexei Navalny would be vomit-inducing in any context.’’
”But given Trump’s long history with Vladimir Putin, I suppose it should be expected.”
So, maybe it’s all within a twisted Trump plan. After all, the twice elected president is hardly a friend of truth. And he said as much when he told a press aide: “As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.”
With that in mind, the Capitol Hill rioters, who caused multiple deaths, were patriots; Ukraine is the aggressor in protecting its own homeland; immigrants are criminals; armed troops are needed in cities despite crime rates falling…it doesn’t matter what you say. As long as it’s repeated and repeated and repeated, in these, the Altered States of America.
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Angela Cooper
you have nailed it, but it’s all so very, very depressing isn’t it. Where will it end, have we any idea how it can end or even if it can ever end? Apparently some Americans are now doubtful if the MAGA universe can ever be displaced, even if Trump himself doesn’t get the third (non-constitutional) term he thinks he deserves. OMG!
Robin McC
Such a shame
Wilma
So scary.
Who is going to stop this? Or what?
Mike Timms
Unsettling times
SW/ Boston
Love “Altered States of America”. Or hate, actually.
Tony Fitzpatrick
When, at his inauguration, I saw him with the 5 ‘tech bros’ lined up behind him I said out loud “ America’s done” (it was an expletive actually!).
I so hoped I was wrong, but I am now more convinced than ever this is what is playing out…while constantly checking I’m not over-dramatising. For my own mental health I’m trying to look away, but I’m struggling. I do however have a new and perhaps greater concern… there are clear signs of contamination this side of the Pond and even here in Scotland (which he treated like some kind of minor province on his recent visit where he demanded our First Minister “stand up” and smile for the press). It’s even harder to look away when it comes to visit you. My only slither of hope is that, culturally, it won’t translate.
Will Travel
Sad, true
Martin McCrindle
Shocking…
William Rice
That Trump, who is obviously cratering mentally, is even capable of making basic decisions, seems doubtful at best. His petty vindictiveness is on display twenty four hours a day, and his sycophantic Attorney General acts as his personal lawyer using the DOJ as his personal attack squad. He is a maniac with nuclear codes and could kill us all in a hissy fit.
David Rendall
Democracy in the dis-USA is imploding, a military state is rapidly evolving and the tech bros are using the President to implement their vision of a Corporate State where de-regulation rules, the billionaires enrich themselves and the rest of society gets more impoverished and trembles at what’s coming next.. sadly the demise of the Orange One (looking more imminent by the week) will likely usher in an even more dangerous President. JD Vance is a philistine in so many ways with little grasp of history but, he is bright and full of aggression and hate and is the chosen one of the Thiel and Musk gang to run the country for their own benefit.
Ian Cohen
To think that the person who ordered a destructive bomb to be dropped on Iran should be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize seems absurd especially when the agreement that Obama (and John Kerry) got was accomplishing that goal without firing a shot.
Tony Fitzpatrick
Well…. strange things happen….Tony Blair became a Middle East Peace Envoy after all… work that one out…?
Tony Brown
Sadly accurate
Tina Mara
Terrifying
Joel M
I realize this country has been through some crises, but this seems to take the cake. A commentator on NPR pointed out that it took Trump 6 months to accomplish here what it took Putin 10 years to accomplish in Russia.
Bella Houston
What is troubling is Vance is right behind Trump in case anything untoward happens/ and he’s a crafty one to deal with too
Alan Holland
Trump has and continues to be underestimated by all the pearl clutchers who stand in horror of a decision maker who is upending the old order. His electors want him to do what he said was required to improve their country and their lot and that’s what he is striving to do. Does an honest citizen have more to fear from a National Guardsman or a criminal on the street? 116,000 phones were stolen in London in 2024!
When you compare his action over 120 days with Starmer’s abject failure on every front, the economy, inflation, immigration, unemployment etc. I reckon I’d rather have a man like Trump who says he’ll do something and does it, than the worse than useless shower we’ve got.
Let’s see where this all shakes out in a year or so.
You may all be right, but personally I doubt it. Either way, hand wringing won’t help. Brace up.
Hillary Dawson
I wonder how so many MAGA supporters can insist that Trump “supports” Democracy.” To me, Democracy means “the people rule,” and so many of Trump’s actions go against that principle.
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