Lies, Damn lies, and More of the Same

Donald Trump was never going to be a radical departure from the Biden administration - which itself wasn’t that radical a departure from the first Trump administration

(Via Adobe Stock Photos)

Dear reader,

Something has been gnawing at me over the past few days. Something… Painfully obvious. Something that should have been apparent to anyone with any sort of sensory input system.

For all the caterwauling about Trump, the resurgence of fascism, and putting an ugly mask on empire, things are remarkably similar to where they were under Joe Biden. Hardly coming as a surprise to most, as many saw Biden as a continuation of the ugliest sins of the first Trump administration. Aside from a few superficial social issues and media dramatizing, things are about the same as they ever have been.

I’m sure that some of you now need to pick your jaws up off of the floor, this notion putting you into a state of deep shock and surprise. A few of you may even find this to be laughable, I’m sure. For the rest of you, this was likely clear from the first day of Trump’s 2024 campaign. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. Nothing would fundamentally change.

What do I mean by all of this? Let’s take a look at a few specific points, and see how they match up with the Biden administration.

Russia-Ukraine War

On the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump and Biden are in near lockstep. Sorry, but we’ve been mislead, I’m sorry to say. Though Trump promised countless times to “end the conflict within 24 hours”, it is now hour 96 and the conflict rages on exactly as it has since 2022. What did Trump add to the discourse? What genius stroke of diplomacy did Trump arrive at? How did Trump manage to “appease Putin”? “Do what we say, or face sanctions”. This is, for all intents and purposes, the exact same “stick and stick” approach that Biden (alongside European leadership) tried for 3 years with zero success, backfiring in a number of spectacular ways.

I have no faith that Trump will find movement on this issue as he lacks any credibility in Russian politics, even though many held out hope that he would be meaningfully different; some even deluding themselves into believing Trump was a Russian-controlled Manchurian candidate, someone who would simply roll over and work to please Putin directly. How wrong these lost souls were.

In fact, Trump’s own Treasury Secretary pick Scott Bessent confirmed as much during his Senate confirmation hearings; that he believes harsher sanctions on Russia are the best way to handle the situation - failing to recognize that these tactics failed to produce results over the past 3 years.

We will of course continue to cover this topic as the weeks turn into months, as months turn into years. Will Trump reneg on his campaign promises to stop military and financial aid to Ukraine? Or will he u-turn and follow in the footsteps of his predecessors? Time will tell.

Globalism

For all the hoopla about “muh WEF globohomo” and “America first”, Donald Trump looks set to continue the status quo here as well. Trump just finished giving a speech to the World Economic Forum, in which he cried about Europe not being nicer to us (read: giving us more of their money), and theorized that the Russia-Ukraine war would not have happened under his watch (how he believes this would have been possible is unknown at this time).

Aside from his usual boisterous tone, the premise is the same. ‘America #1, Europe needs to pay more to play more. Russia bad. Mammon good’. This is not meaningfully different from the position Biden held. In fact, aside from tenor, it is remarkably similar.

Tariffs and Trade

On this topic, Biden and Trump are again in near lockstep. Biden spent most of his administration putting tariffs on countries like China, something Trump looks set to continue without change. This protectionism of American industry and corporate hegemony is nothing new, other administrations have tried it with limited success. The only difference here is that Trump wishes to include bordering nations Mexico and Canada in his tariff plans, which could harm the American economy further; as large American corporations outsource considerable labor to these two nations, in order to reduce cost in manufacturing and production of goods.

This new approach could end up having a boomerang effect, where some companies simply reduce supply (or leave America entirely) leaving consumers flat-footed. Where Trump intended to bring manufacturing back to America, he could simply be driving the cost up - or driving companies out.

What’s next

Aside from liberals returning from brunch and putting their pink pussy hats back on, nothing is going to fundamentally change. American empire will continue its slow decline into irrelevance on the world stage; with American industry requiring underhanded tactics like subsidy and economic strong-arming to remain relevant.

The poor and working class will continue to shoulder the decline the most, people’s civil rights will continue to be trampled, hugely profitable multinational corporations will continue to receive untold taxpayer infusions, weapons will be sold, and bombs will be dropped. Women and children will be killed. Fingers will be pointed. Blame will be shirked. Responsibility abandoned. USA, USA, USA!!!

It’s just more of the same, the red white and blue Punch and Judy show will continue on schedule, and that’s all there is to it. Anyone who thought otherwise was deluding themselves.

- RS