The Trump administration has released its official statement to Congress justifying its drone assassination of Iran’s top military official Qassem Soleimani last month. Surprising exactly zero people, the formal notification makes no mention whatsoever of any imminent threat posed by Soleimani, a direct contradiction of this administration’s previous claims defending the assassination.

“The Trump administration has been accused of lying after the publication of a new report that undermined its reasoning for assassinating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last month,” reports Middle East Eye. “The chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that President Donald Trump’s official notification to Congress defending the 3 January strike failed to specify an ‘imminent threat’ posed by Soleimani.”

“This official report directly contradicts the president’s false assertion that he attacked Iran to prevent an imminent attack against United States personnel and embassies,” Democratic Representative Eliot Engel of New York said.

“President Trump and top officials lied about the existence of an imminent threat to excuse his having engaged in an act of war without congressional approval,” tweeted independent Michigan Representative Justin Amash. “For Americans’ safety, the Constitution forbids unauthorized offensive actions regardless of the president’s justification.”

It has been obvious to many analysts for quite some time that the world was lied to about yet another act of war against yet another Middle Eastern nation by yet another US president; the Trump administration’s tacit admission just confirms it. Add this confirmation to the lies we were told about no US soldiers being injured by Iran’s missile retaliation against US military bases, as well as the revelation that the initial rocket strike which sparked the exchanges of violence in Iraq likely came from ISIS and not Iran-backed militias as claimed by the US.

What this means legally is that Soleimani’s assassination was a war crime. On a practical level, since the US is never prosecuted for war crimes it commits, what it means is that we now know we were lied to about an assassination which by Trump’s own admission brought us “closer than you thought” to a disastrous full-scale war.

What I personally find interesting about the destruction of the “imminent threat” narrative is that none of the many Trump supporters I spent time arguing with last month about Soleimani’s assassination ever attempted to claim that he posed an imminent threat to Americans. They’d argue that Soleimani was a bad man who deserved to die, they’d attempt to spin unfounded claims that he was directly behind the embassy attack or the aforementioned rocket strike, they’d accuse me of being a terrorist-supporting terrorist lover, but I never once encountered anyone who tried to argue that there was an imminent threat to American lives.

They made no attempt to make this argument because they knew it wasn’t a good one. They knew the Trump administration was making bogus claims that they couldn’t defend. They knew this. They just didn’t care.

https://twitter.com/DanVMaul/status/1213626764259418113?s=20

They didn’t care because they weren’t approaching the situation from any interest in truth or facts. Their sole interest was, and is always, in defending their president and promoting narratives which help ensure his re-election in November. It’s a game to them. A game of imagination which consists entirely of narratives that have little to no relationship with objective reality. They are LARPing.

Well, not all of them to be fair. There are two kinds of Trump supporters: there’s the straight-ticket Republicans who’d support an animatronic Chuck E Cheese robot as long as it had an (R) next to its name, and then there’s the so-called “populists” who say everything Trump does is secretly a brilliant strategic maneuver against the Deep State.

There’s some overlap between these two categories (neocon swamp monster Sean Hannity now posing as a swamp-fighting enemy of the Deep State is the most hilarious example), but there’s a distinction that’s worth noting. After the Soleimani assassination the straight-ticket Republicans were online acting like the Bush voters they are yelling “Yeeehaw, we kill whoever we want!”, whereas the “populists” were claiming that this was yet another strategic 4-D chess maneuver against the enemies of peace. I had one former reader sincerely attempt to argue with me that Soleimani was actually working for the Deep State, and had been protected by Obama and Hillary Clinton.

This latter category of Trump supporter is the type I generally encounter in doing what I do. Openly partisan Republicans who are honest about their partisanship tend to take little interest in writers like myself, whereas Trump supporters who see themselves as anti-establishment, anti-war and anti-propaganda often make their way into my orbit. These are also the type that my readers will generally run into for the same reason, so they’re the category of Trump supporter I’m writing about here.

When the news first broke of Soleimani’s assassination I wrote the following:

“A proportionate retaliatory strike would necessarily entail an attack on US military targets, or the military targets of US allies. If that happens, either the empire stands down or we’re looking at an all-out war of a size that is potentially almost limitless.”

And indeed that is exactly what happened. Iran did retaliate, against US military targets, injured more than 100 US soldiers, and then the US empire stood down. Trump’s reckless act of brinkmanship resulted in a dead Iranian general, a badly damaged airbase, scores of injured soldiers, a tail-between-the-legs retreat, and brought the US and Iran “closer than you thought” to war, for no real strategic benefit. Yet for days after the military exchange I was getting Trump supporters in my social media mentions telling me I’d been crazy and hysterical for warning of the risk of war.

These bizarre mental gymnastics are possible because these Trump supporters aren’t interfacing with reality in any way. They’re engaged in a weird Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) game where they pretend to be knowledgeable patriots cheering for a Ron Paul-like champion of peace and anti-authoritarianism, while in real life they’re acting exactly like garden variety Republicans cheering for a standard Republican president who’s been advancing longstanding agendas of neoconservatives and the CIA.

In real life Trump has imprisoned Julian Assange, has re-started the Cold War, has killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans with starvation sanctions, has vetoed attempts to save Yemen from US-backed genocide, is working to foment civil war in Iran using starvation sanctions and CIA ops with the stated goal of effecting regime change, has occupied Syrian oil fields with the goal of preventing Syria’s reconstruction, has greatly increased the number of troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, has greatly increased the number of bombs dropped per day from the previous administration, killing record numbers of civilians, and reduced military accountability for those airstrikes.

Every single one of these longstanding deep state agendas that Trump has advanced have been defended by Trump supporters in my social media mentions as brilliant strategic maneuvers against the deep state. Literally every single one of them, without a single, solitary exception. Every time Trump advances an evil establishment agenda and I speak out about it, I am guaranteed to receive comments explaining why the thing I’m speaking out against is actually an ingenious move by Trump against the establishment. Trump arresting Assange is actually Trump helping Assange. Trump helping the neocons is actually Trump hurting the neocons. Those sure are some elegant invisible clothes the emperor is wearing today.

Trump’s words say one thing, and his actions say something very different. He gives lip service to anti-interventionism and opposition to the swamp, and his supporters play along with the narratives he’s spoon feeding them. He’s another George W Bush, concealed by a thin overlay of narrative and imagination. But in the LARP he’s Ron Paul.

I started this job a few months before Trump took office, and ever since January 2017 I’ve been pointing out evil things this president has been doing and having Trump supporters tell me “Wait and see.”

“Calm down,” they tell me (they always want me to calm down). “Trump is doing something big here. You’ll see.”

They’ve been saying “you’ll see” for years now. Trump’s term is almost over. It’s time to admit you were wrong, guys.

You’ve been had. You were duped by narrative and empty words into supporting a garden variety Republican president who’s been advancing garden variety Republican agendas. Your anti-establishment sentiments were successfully corralled by propaganda into a standard GOP ideology with some populist-looking window dressing. You’ve been sitting very pretty lately while the Democrats make complete asses of themselves with ill-advised impeachment agendas and a scandalous primary race, but in reality you’re just as blinkered and duped as they are.

Believing that a US president is going to save you is just as dumb as believing the FBI and CIA are going to save you. Republicans have been doing the former while Democrats have been doing the latter. Both have been duped by custom-made establishment propaganda into cheering for different aspects of the establishment, and the only one who wins is that very same establishment.

Stop getting duped into believing in America’s two-handed sock puppet show. It’s always fake, and it always ends the same: all your money goes to the performers, and you get screwed. Start seeing through the illusion.

_______________________

Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either YoutubesoundcloudApple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypalpurchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

Liked it? Take a second to support Caitlin Johnstone on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

65 responses to “Trump Supporters Are George W Bush Supporters LARPing As Ron Paul Supporters”

  1. Trump is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American public.. he is no conservative. Witness him pardoning all his Democrat swampmates.

    1. Remember when SOON after he was SELECTED, he called CLINTONS “Good People” when asked if HE would prosecute them???
      No worry…THERE ISN’T GOING TO BE A 2020 “SELECTION” ANYWAY.

  2. Trump should be removed from office immediately.
    This shit is only getting started.
    Trump’s only viable response to iran’s back slap was total war.
    Iran was just letting the world know there WILL be payback.
    Every Leader on Earth is pondering the fact America no longer respects White Flags or any other NORM.
    Trump has just shown Iran, North Korea, and every other country on earth why they HAVE to get and keep nuclear weapons.
    There is no such thing as a “preemtive murder” murder is murder. What if other countries start taking out our MISleaders?
    Trump created a martyr.
    If he was so bad …. why was he not arrested at the airport ???
    Going to tell me we do not have lots of Troops stationed at Baghdad Airport?!
    Soleimani openly traveled through Baghdad airport and we did not ARREST HIM??!!
    Trump claims we have all this proof of Soleimani’s crimes.
    We knew he was in the airport.
    We did not arrest him, we murdered him.
    We knew he was “Under a White Flag”.
    Trump has shamed and blackened the name of America Worldwide …..
    how could anyone trust a Nation that breaks Treaties & Agreements willy-nilly. Would You sign a Trade Deal with someone who will declare bankruptcy or just tear up the contract?
    Trump has now murdered a man “Under a WHITE FLAG””There was nothing to suggest to the Iraqis that it was unsafe for Soleimani to travel (he had a DIPLOMATIC passport) to Baghdad – quite the contrary. This suggests that Trump helped lure the Iranian commander to a place where he could be killed. It is possible that the president was unaware of the crucial role that Soleimani was playing in the attempted rapprochement with the Saudis. Or that he knew but did not care.”
    There can be no doubt that the Trump administration would have known in detail about Iran’s ongoing secret negotiations with Saudi Arabia, one of its closest allies, which were mediated by the Iraqi government, which was also operating closely and communicating frequently with Washington. This means the Pentagon and the White House fully knew, when they ordered the airstrike to kill him, that Soleimani was traveling to Baghdad in a diplomatic capacity as an emissary of Iran, and that he had a meeting planned with the Prime Minister to discuss broader de-escalation.

  3. Anyone who confuses the philosophy and actions of Ron Paul with that of Donald Trump is either being disingenuous or delusional. This is especially true as Ron Paul has dedicated ample editorial space illustrating the flaws in and condemning Donald Trump’s statist policies.

  4. If One WANTS the REAL Truth about problems facing this planet….and WHO They are watch this video made by Bill Ryan: “The Anglo Saxon mission (Agenda)” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d86DRnT098/
    The buy a copy of a book entitled: “The Isis Papers,The Key to the Colors: by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
    Available at Barnes & Nobel Book stores.
    Talk about “Hitting It DEAD-ON”
    IF YOU LIKE TO LIVING “INSIDE THE BOX”…DON’T BOTHER!

  5. The real controllers are those running and owning the shares in the central banking system. All currency is loaned int existence at interest. The interests on fictitious money is paid with the redemption of that same money. Thus in order to maintain the money supply more is created at increased debt and so the debt levels rise. The interest paid increases exponentially. It is a pure Ponzi scheme requiring yet another sucker er borrower to keep the pyramid from collapsing. Those controlling the money supply end up with all the hard assets while the rest of us are left holding the debt.
    Shut down the central banking system. Stop fractional reserve lending and money creation and regain control. Either that or we remain economic serfs slavingly labouring to redeem a debt of others making .

  6. Excellent article Caitlin, I think you hit a home run with this one. Your insightful comments are greatly appreciated.

  7. Excellent article Caitlin. I think you hit a home run with this one!Steve

  8. Please check your share buttons, they don’t seem to work properly.

    This article says it all… Trumpers are fake, and lying just like their idol.

    It’s a cult and they have no clue what is really going on.

  9. I’m a brand new subscriber. What I see in Caitlin Johnstone’s view is it is overwhelmingly negative. (Check out William James’ The Will to Believe). Let’s say she is mostly right about what she reports on. Does the reporting inspire you to go out and help people? the environment? Hell, does it inspire you to just be nice when you’re in the grocery store? In these times, do we need more opportunities for darkness (with no suggestions for positive action one can undertake to offset all-in-life-stinks)??? Happily, I’m about to become an EX-subscriber. Then I’m going to sit and meditate, ending with a prayer on behalf of all who suffer–everywhere–(including myself). Life is short. I pray to be more honest about watching my mind, opening my heart AND experiencing the connection between all beings. Lastly, before checking in on my special needs son, I’m going to UNsubscribe from this awfulness.

    1. I have always been active but the idea that Trumpers are lulled into satisfaction when they shouldn’t be means there are less helping me. They have been fooled into thinking things are being done that are NOT… Stop the MAGA fraud.

    2. Cognitive Dissident Avatar
      Cognitive Dissident

      I thought (s)he’d never leave.

    3. Such delicate feelings surely must be a crippling emotional burden in this veil of tears.

    4. Quick. Find a safe space. Take your teddy bear. The adults will bring you warm milk and read you a fairytale.

  10. The most dangerous illusion is thinking that the trend in regional confrontations will not end in world war.
    https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/

  11. I’m From 100mcxtips.in. I thank you wholeheartedly, I get important and correct information from your side.
    I appreciate you for the authentic news you have given me.
    Website : http://100mcxtips.in/
    Best Regards
    100mcxtips.in

  12. Most American politicians have no set of immutable standards grounded in fact and logic. I think they act reflexively like Pavlovian dogs, following the dictates of those who finance their campaigns and accommodate them with free junkets, insider investment tips and other gifts when it comes to casting votes on bills, treaties and other issues placed before them. Consider Mitt Romney. He was willing to remove Mr. Trump from the presidency for conducting telephone diplomacy as he saw fit, conflating an unembellished request to investigate public evidence of corruption by an American official to a shake down for a personal favor of dubious consequence. As some ventured to say, this was raising everyday garden variety diplomacy, which can be as inelegant as sausage making on occasion, to an impeachable offense. Yet Mr. Romney, in the latest senate vote on the War Powers Act, was satisfied to allow Mr. Trump to continue flouting the constitution and committing acts of overt war against foreign countries without any input, let alone approval, from the Congress. Asking a favor in passing from a Ukrainian politico was anathema in Mitt’s mind, but droning an Iranian leader on a peace mission is perfectly all right in Mitt’s world. And so it goes with most of the characters that have the run of Foggy Bottom. Not much morality, clear thinking or even consistent thinking to be found there.

  13. Bush is up to his lying eyeballs in 9/11.

    To compare Trump to a monster like that is straight outta CNN…

    1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
      Step O’Rafferty

      The two people mentioned above, although they are both actors/puppets playing a prestigious role on the world stage, are both complicit in the 9/11 atrocity and it’s aftermath.
      The earlier puppet was in office when the event occurred and played his role in deceiving the public about who was behind it.
      The latter puppet promised, before he was elected, to bring the truth of the matter out into the open. He has failed to do that.
      It is almost certain that had either of them been honest with the American people they would have gone the way of President Kennedy. That being the case, a truly honorable person would step down from the presidency rather than perpetuate the deception that has ‘legitimized’ the murder of millions of people.

      1. JFK is why Trump (or Ron Paul) can’t say what he knows.

      2. Why can’t we even talk about this with our friends? So obvious. Did you try to make sense of the media reports during the coups in various countries as they were (and still are) taking place? I always used to feel as if I was the uninformed one, when in fact, my intuitions were giving me the truth. Remember “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, 1962, based on Western State Mental Hospital? The play would never have been shown in Lakewood, with wealth and Fort Lewis Military Base close by. (I saw it at a neighborhood theater in IL.) As N. Klein describes as “shocks” necessary to keep the narrative of, as you describe, ‘legitimized’ murder alive, this discounting of human lives in our own neighborhoods is often so subtle, the public has no idea.

        1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
          Step O’Rafferty

          Nancy I never saw “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” so I can’t comment on that. I do feel isolated, like a piece of floating jetsam on a sea of deceit. I have not watched TV since I was a child and stopped reading the mainstream press in the early 1970’s when I realized what they were doing. Back then we had an underground press revolving around dissident bookshops and meeting places. Proof that we were on to something came with the constant police raids and confiscations of materials.
          The internet has been very useful for disseminating information but it has also had the effect of physically isolating dissidents who previously would gather at given locations. The phone tapping in those days was so crude, it was possible to actually hear the agents when they tapped the wire! Now the state’s gathering of information is much more sophisticated. It’s very easy for them to follow forums such as this one.
          Most of the people I know still believe that fluoride and vaccinations are a good thing, 9/11 was perpetrated by……they don’t really care, and Assad is a monster who gasses his people. They believe that the corona virus was caused by Chinese people eating bats and blah, blah, blah!
          Don’t give up and don’t despair Nancy, the light of truth will prevail and the veneer of mass deception will peel off. It’s OK if your friends don’t believe you, eventually they will realize that you have a more thorough and balanced understanding of what is going on in our world than what the garbage media is presenting to them.

    2. Trump is a worse monster in his own way. Lies, cheats, and steals.

      1. Yes, CNN, and colludes with the Russians.

        Do you know what happened September 11th, 2001??

        1. I agree with you completely John. The cultural marxist attitude this article exudes sounds like the rantings of a solipsistic smear merchant. This horrible attitude towards everything and everyone has infected the world. I used to love the genius in Ms. Johnstone’s writing even when I knew we had different world views. The genius has been replaced with splenetic irrational complaints with no suggested solution anywhere to be found. It is laughable to me when people name call & pass moral judgements on people they dont know when they dont even reside in the country they are apparent experts on. Im done too.

  14. Agents and puppets of the “establishment” have an easy task indoctrinating the masses. Many dissidents know that the democratic process and political system are tools of brain-washing and population control. Where is the plan for effective revolutionary action we need to eliminate sociopaths and clear the way to build a brave new world? Read more of this here: http://www.wisdompage.com/2013%20Articles/Molyneaux%20essay.pdf

  15. Anybody who has studied Ron Paul’s and related literature could fail to under stand the underlying message is a voluntarist non-violent ethics in general, how this could be construed with actually being four George Bush or Donald Trump is a exaggeration bordering on falsehood.

    1. Neither Bush nor Trump are Ron Paul. His followers who went full on TrumpTard forgot everything Ron Paul taught them apparently.

  16. Bush = Trump ??!

    Pathetic narrative.
    Pathetic – although probably effective – recruitment attempt to get more zombie Democrat subscribers.

    Try

    Bush = Clinton = Bush = Obama = Clinton

    for the real perspective on the agenda’s direction;

    to which Trump & supporters said,

    “DRAIN THE SWAMP.”

    1. It’s a misspelling, should be DARIN THE SWAMP, Oscar the Grouch’s amphibious half brother.

  17. Well written, Caitlin.
    Per your article, Cognitive Dissonance is alive and well.

  18. Gladly, the Internet provides access to all kinds of thoughts and reasoning. These two articles stuck out this morning and caused me to wonder just how true they might be:
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52988.htm
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/16/new-hampshire-buries-biden-and-warren-prepare-for-the-rise-of-little-pete/

  19. Interesting analysis as my son and I had just come to the same conclusion. In fact my son called it during the campaign that Trump was a repackaged Bush Jr. from the get go. Talks Liberty, walks Empire.

  20. Michael P Goldenberg Avatar
    Michael P Goldenberg

    “Believing that a US president is going to save you is just as dumb as believing the FBI and CIA are going to save you. Republicans have been doing the former while Democrats have been doing the latter. Both have been duped by custom-made establishment propaganda into cheering for different aspects of the establishment, and the only one who wins is that very same establishment.”

    Exactly.

  21. The Facebook group, Trump Tzu, provides another perspective not mentioned in this article.

  22. scottysaintsdeloren Avatar
    scottysaintsdeloren

    Thank you for another great post Ms. Johnstone. It reminds me of the arguments (which I now avoid) which I had 10 years ago with Obama supporters, you know the most brilliant president ever who cared about civil rights when they foamed at the mouth with delight that he had ordered a drone strike that killed “Alleged terrorist” Anwar al-Awlaki, and then incredibly, another strike two weeks late that killed his 16 year old son, who had never been tried or convicted of any crime against the United States. So in other words, Obama supporters had no problem with the “State” (murdering a child who was “just walking home” because the child was not black, or living in Baltimore (or pick your city) but was in the Middle East, where the neocons want war. The contradiction and hypocrisy was completely lost on them.

    1. I was going to make a similar comment regarding Obama and his supporters. The first time he ran, he talked a good game and seemed to be black, thereby sucking a lot of us old 60s radicals into working for him, along with a massive number of young people. I cried that first night he was elected, thinking that finally, after all these years, we had beaten the bastards. I spent money I didn’t have on a glossy photo of Obama speaking in the rain and proudly put it over my front door. Then came the sell out, the let down, the realization that all of us who worked so hard to elect him had been had. I gave away that glossy photo and then watched in amazement and despair as so many worked to re-elect him after it had become clear what he was…and wasn’t.

      1. scottysaintsdeloren Avatar
        scottysaintsdeloren

        Tends to be the same people that want massive “gun control” (so that the state has all the weapons, in contradiction to the 2nd Amend), every time there is a high-profile mass shooting…but who somehow are unaware that dozens of “mass shootings” (3 or more victims) are carried out every weekend in “urban” areas of the U.S. Thousands of murders every year from Chicago to NYC, to St. Louis, to Dallas to LA. It’s ISIS every day in certain areas, but due to political correctness, it’s easier to “look, over there, in the Middle East…people are DYING, dontcha know?!?!?!”

  23. People generally have no idea how truly monstrous the US Sociopaths In Charge are. If a truly sane person would happen to get elected, they would be disposed of. Of course there is no danger of that happening this time around. Any notion that voting matters is a product of propaganda. No sane candidates ever get on the ballot. Singling out Trump is somewhat disingenuous, but pointing out political obsession is completely justified, and is unfortunately the major feature of the political landscape. Which insane candidate can generate the largest number of the most enthusiastic ignorant suckers to support them?

  24. We are so sorry for the loss of a fine General in the struggle to defeat the imperialist U.S. It is time for people wake up and elect a President that will bring our troops home to fight the GOP deplorables, let’s blitzkrieg across Virginia knocking down statues of dead whites and take their guns. We must protect and defend democratic socialism in Iran and around the world.

  25. Ms Johnstone the people that you mention here have all been fitted with ” their own Masters of the Universe ” invisible suits. They own everything and everybody; reasoning with them is futile. Killing one or killing millions for any reason is always ” justifiable ” because nothing that they ever do is ever ” wrong “!

    1. And sadly their minions are all head bobbing NPCs and far outnumber thinking humans. As long as the bloodlines run the global money they will remain unstoppable.

  26. I have zero interest in defending Trump. For the sake of accuracy, however, I would like to point out this interview with an Iraqi journalist who says it is possible that the attack on the U.S. base was conduced by an Iranian backed militia:

    https://scotthorton.org/interviews/2-7-20-suadad-al-salhy-on-the-insane-plan-to-divide-iraq-in-two/

    One thing that puzzles me about the statements about U.S. casualties is they only consist of brain injuries. Shouldn’t there be more diverse injuries? The explanation may be that these troops were protected in bomb shelters, which prevented other injuries, but could not stop brain injuries.

    1. Something to consider in your evidence, the Iraqi journalist probably got their “tip off” from the CIA. This doesn’t make the theory right or wrong, just suggests a little salt to the mix. As far as US casualty reports, those are always to be viewed from a jaundiced perspective. The Defense Department has long been known to issue false claims regarding numbers, causes, etc. to maintain a sellable image for the narrative de jour.

      1. I don’t think so; all she is saying is that this Iranian backed militia is in fact present in that area, so that the possibility that this group did attack the base cannot be automaticaly ruled out. As a native Iraqi journalist, this is something I would expect her to know. Of course, she could be working for the CIA and lying about the situation. Either way, though, I think the identity of the attackers should be considered an open question.

        As for the numbers– yes, the pentagon lies about everything. This is one time I am happy that they lie since I don’t want a war with Iran.

  27. Today’s world dominant imperial empire, aka The American Empire, constantly attacks both Russia and China on claims that Russia and China want to establish empires. And we all know Empires are bad, so says the world-spanning American Imperial Empire.

  28. Excellent article, but in Trump’s defense he doesn’t actually have any choice. He is completely controlled by the Deep State and just does what he is told to do by his handlers.

    The remaining Trump supporters are a cult (commonly referred to as Cult 45). They support Trump no matter what he does (or I should say no matter what his handlers tell him to do). They think they are “winning” just because he is in office.

    1. I remember when just a few years ago this was the standard line of the Obama-bots, who claimed that Obama had to be evil because he was forced into it. Deep-State wasn’t a ‘cool’ word back then, so the Obama-bots claimed that Saint Barrack would be assassinated if he didn’t murder enough people every year.
      Same propaganda, different party.

  29. USA-ma Bin Laden Avatar
    USA-ma Bin Laden

    This assertion that Fill-in-the-Blank-Enemy is a “threat” (imminent or otherwise) to America and precious American lives itself is a claim worthy of Joseph Goebbels.

    Why?

    This is the same America that militarily encircles, bombs, sanctions, starves, regime changes, balkanizes, and invades multiple nations around the world–not only threatening but murdering millions of people as a result.

    Now this same America plays the victim that it is the ONE being “threatened”?!

    Un-f*cking-believable.

    This is a classic example of American Psychological Projection: the United States accuses others of what the USA truly is.

    The American Threat claims to be Threatened.

    It’s like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer whining that a serial killer is “threatening” them.

    The fact that very few people–including supposed “antiwar” critics–question the Orwellian nature of America’s claims shows how the USA has been effectively able to colonize the hearts and mind of the planet.

    Who has the balls to say to America: No, m*therfucker, YOU are the threat!

    Uncle Sam was Born Lethal
    https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/16/uncle-sam-was-born-lethal/

    1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
      Step O’Rafferty

      Among the western nations a good deal of the ‘common people’ have the balls to tell America how it is but the leaders of our fraudulently elected governments bow as low as possible and kiss America’s butt.
      I was actually in America when one of the ‘gulf wars’ began and my friend was watching the bombardment of Baghdad on television, cheering on the bombers. When I asked my friend what had Iraq done to deserve the bombardment he actually didn’t know. Nor did he know where Iraq was. Nor did he care.
      How can you tell an ignorant country where 80% of the population consists of garbage eating blithering idiots to behave itself when it doesn’t even know what it is doing wrong?

      1. And yet, the last two Presidents both had to campaign as ‘antiwar candidates’ in able to convince those war-loving blithering idiots to vote for them. The open war-mongers, McCain and Hillary both went down in defeat. Which just backs up that most of those blithering idiots have been telling pollsters that they want the wars to end and the troops to come home ever since about 2005.
        America has had a highly successful antiwar movement. That antiwar movement has succeeded in convincing about 55-60% of Americans to oppose these wars. The problem is that what America really needs is a democracy movement.

        1. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
          Step O’Rafferty

          My apologies to Americans for writing that 80% don’t know or don’t care what is being done in their name. As Dahj has pointed out, I exaggerated and the figure of don’t know don’t care is closer to 40% if 60% were opposed to war. That gives rise to some hope that the peace loving majority may actually reach critical mass sooner than later. I wonder what percentage is necessary before the oligarchs will take notice?

      2. USA-ma Bin Laden Avatar
        USA-ma Bin Laden

        It is truly disturbing the level of (willful) ignorance many Americans wallow in.

        Even the mainstream US media has noted this ignorance, as a 2007 poll found that around 40% of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9-11 attacks:

        “Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right—and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.”

        This level of ignorance is today reflected in the American regime such as Mike Pence, who has suggested that Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was involved in 9-11!

        “Pence says Iran’s Qasem Soleimani aided 9/11 hijackers. Experts say that’s not true”
        https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/04/mike-pence-says-iran-leader-qasem-soleimani-assisted-9-11-hijackers/2812917001/

        Iran, Iraq, Arab, Persians–they are all the same for Proud Amuricans: Sand N*ggers Who Hate Our Freedoms!

        The United States of America=an Idiocracy armed with nuclear weapons

        “POLL: WHAT AMERICAN’S (DON’T) KNOW”
        https://www.newsweek.com/poll-what-americans-dont-know-100099

        1. Willful ignorance and stupidity are their own reward.

  30. Entertainment is what’s it’s all about isn’t it? Wait till the real entertainment starts when the oligarchs thin out the the 7.5 billion unnecessary humans on this planet.

  31. Well, it’s all about the entertainment value; isn’t it? The real fun starts when the oligarchs are finally ready to get rid of the 7and a half billion unnecessary humans that are ruining the planet for the rest of us.

  32. Step O'Rafferty Avatar
    Step O’Rafferty

    The people who say: “Wait and see…. Trump is doing something big here” are actually suffering from a bona fide mental illness called delusional disorder. Along with a degree of cognitive dissonance and a genuine dread of accepting that the elite will continue to pull the strings forever, these people put their faith in a current figurehead or a pending messiah.
    It is quite sad really, a lot of people try to become informed of domestic/international affairs but they turn to the news broadcasts of the mass media which bombards their brains with repetitive advertisements peppered with ten second bites of incomplete and inconclusive ‘news’. (Which is also incessantly repeated in the ‘coming up next’ announcements) It’s a vicious cycle. Whenever a brainwashed citizen tries to raise his or her head above the media swamp, the news is the tool that plows their heads right back in. Our job is to GENTLY fertilize their inquisitive minds.

  33. LARPing! Thank you for that new (to me) word. It fits so much of what we see happening in our rotting culture today.

  34. Articulated with the torch of knowledge Thankyou thankyou ThankYou Caitlin .My eyes are are full of tears for the ones alive that keep on believing the tweedledee & tweedledumb show

  35. I’m as wary of Ron Paul as I am of Donald Trump and Dubya. Behind the reasonable facade is a lot of crazy.

    1. Huhh? Which propaganda sites do you read?
      There is a huge amount of propaganda aimed at supposed lefties who oppose war and the unconstitutional government that tells those lefties that they can never, ever even think of joining forces with the righties who oppose war and unconstitutional government. The lefties have to be told the righties are crazy, because otherwise they might notice that they want the exact same things.
      What gives the oligarchs nightmares is that divide and conquer might someday stop working.
      —————–
      Years ago, when I lived in 9-11 critic Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s district, I learned to go listen to the exact words she said when the media and the propaganda were smearing and attacking her. And of course, what she actually said was never the awful stuff that the Mike Bloomberg’s of the world were attacking her about.
      I suggest you do the same thing with Ron Paul. Go and actually hear what he says and read what he writes. And stop listening to the smear jobs that are aimed at anyone who dares to threaten the profits of the merchants of death.

      1. I’ve read Ron Paul’s stuff since the nineties. You’d have more luck teaching your grandmother to suck eggs than wasting your time trying to convince me that Ron Paul isn’t a nut with a rational-sounding sales pitch.

  36. The information is classified on a need to know basis and you do not need to know. I neither agree with nor deny the previous statement. I hope that explains the confusion. Move on. Nothing to see here.

Leave a Reply to Ernie Hopkins Cancel reply

Trending