BREAKING: Trump sacks Attorney General Yates for refusing to detain Muslims

ByMartyn Bradbury

No way. Trump has sacked Attorney General Yates for refusing to go along with his Muslim ban.

The reality is that everything has changed now Trump is in power.

Everything.

In a mere 11 days Trump has managed to surpass Nixon in Office and make Bush and Cheney look reasonable.

Chris Trotter’s Newspaper column today paints the picture that we now face…

In the simplest terms, anacyclosis evolves as follows: monarchy declines into tyranny; aristocracy degenerates into oligarchy; democracy disintegrates into mob rule.

Polybius, like so many of the ancient writers, was a fatalist. The historical cycle he describes is explained as the unavoidable consequence of human-beings inability to resist the tendency of power to corrupt all those who wield it. Over time, he argues, regimes instituted with the objective of making life better for everyone, inevitably succumb to the temptation to unfairly advantage the one, the few, or the many – at the expense of everybody else.

Converted into a straightforward historical narrative, anacyclosis goes something like this.

A mighty warrior and his army leads his people to independence, whereupon his family, and the families of his key supporters, are entrusted with the task of ruling the new state. For a while all goes well, but as the powers of kingship descend through the generations, the mighty warrior’s successors abandon all pretence of ruling for the public good and begin to wield their inherited authority capriciously, corruptly and, ultimately, violently.

Convinced that their persons and property are no longer safe, the wealthiest and most militarily accomplished families unite to depose the tyrant and assume the responsibility of providing just and effective government themselves. As the years pass, however, the opportunities for enrichment, which control of the state offers, prove irresistible. Increasingly, the mass of the people are forced to offer up more and more of what little they have to satisfy the greed of their masters.

Exhausted and outraged at being sucked dry by these parasitic oligarchs, the people rise up in revolt and establish a system of popular government. It does not take long, however, for bitter disputes over how the wealth of the (now democratic) society should be distributed to tear the new state apart.

The wealthy fear for their property. The poor demand a share of it. In short order, both parties become the prey of political demagogues skilled at whipping up the basest emotions of the people in order to secure partisan advantage. The democratic institutions of the state are paralysed by intractable factionalism and deliberately incited rancour and recrimination. Debate degenerates into disorder and violence. Civil war beckons.

At which point a demagogue, more skilled than any of his predecessors, attracts sufficient support from the state’s angriest and most fearful citizens to overturn the institutions of democracy and govern without them. Backed by his fanatical followers, and with sufficient armed force at his disposal to overcome all resistance, the demagogue arrogates to himself the powers of a king.

And so Polybius’s cycle begins all over again – albeit at a lower (and ever-declining) level of morality.

Only last week, the radical American writer, John Michael Greer – who has a strong scholarly interest in the writings of Polybius – was blogging about the relevance of anacyclosis to contemporary American politics.

The United States, he writes, is now in the “crisis phase” of the cycle:

“[W]hen power has become so gridlocked among competing power centres that it becomes impossible for the system to break out of even the most hopelessly counterproductive policies. That ends, according to Polybius, when a charismatic demagogue gets into power, overturns the existing political order, and sets in motion a general free-for-all in which old alliances shatter and improbable new ones take shape. Does that sound familiar? In a week when union leaders emerged beaming from a meeting with the new president, while Democrats are still stoutly defending the integrity of the CIA, it should.”

…there is a coming storm that will unravel everything civilised human beings have sacrificed to build.

Today Trump managed to make this day in history even creepier

How does America defeat Trump?

Democrats need to understand why Trump won.

Democrats need to understand why 43% of Union homes voted for him and why 53% of white women voted for him.

Democrats need to understand that blue collar workers were betrayed by neoliberalism. Those workers saw their factories close, their jobs moved offshore and were forced to enlist in America’s wars.

Democrats need to understand that the Identity Politics which demanded Hillary as their candidate – despite the fact she was a neoliberal war hawk and wedded to the very free market globalisation that has alienated so many working women and men – was a fatal mistake.

Bernie would have beaten Trump and we would’t be here if it wasn’t for a corrupted Democratic Primary.

This has deep lessons for all left wing movements that have been over taken by middle class liberalism.

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52 Comments

  1. Plus one should remember that when countries build walls, it is always when they have reached the limits of their power to conquer – China, Hadrian, Israel, the United States.

  3. You are being a tad melodramatic Martyn. It was predicted long ago that Trump would destroy America but Hillary would destroy the world.
    Sure, he’s doing it quicker than expected and there’s also the huge risk he will destroy the world as well.
    It’s going to be a bumpy ride but two things for sure are that change is coming, and we are not stuck with the same old same old crap that Hillary was pushing. Their bad for not choosing Bernie.
    Watching the USA implode is going to be very interesting and challenging.

    1. Revolution is never as colourful as pundants predict, what’s more likely is Mexican and Asian workers will continue there March inland from California on the west coast and New York and Miami on the west. These 3 cities are where the bulk of Mexican and Asians reside and dominate low wage work that reginal white folk get paid more per hour for. Or older store clerks who’ve been with a company for 30 years watch themselves get replaced with younger versions. The only message being taken away from trump supporters is they have jobs and we don’t.

      So when you say destroy America, do you mean as I say it? That white Americans are being replaced with cheaper, browner versions, and I ain’t even mad.

    2. Well one thing is for sure, your prophecy about Trump destroying the U.S. is correct however your opinion on Hillary is that we will never ever know.

      The similarities between Trump and Hitler are frighteningly similar.

    3. where were all the righteous Democrats when Clinton instigated the war on Libya and Gaddafi?

      …what is worse 1.) border restrictions and controls for a short period ?

      or

      2.) invading sovereign states, overthrowing their leaders and destroying their fabric of society eg as has happened/happening to Palestine, Iraq, Libya Syria, Yemen?

      ‘New Rasmussen Poll Reveals Silent Majority Approves Of Immigration Ban’

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-30/new-rasmussen-poll-reveals-silent-majority-approves-immigration-ban

    4. Garibaldi, saying Clinton was more likely to “destroy the world” is crap. Her and Bill Clinton governed for eight years and we’re still here.

      Stop being such a trump sycophant and look around you. We live in disturbing times. Worse than that real warmonger, George dubya.

      Worse still is that trump will embolden Israel onto building more settlements and new military adventurism to seize land. Just wait.

  4. ‘This has deep lessons for all left wing movements that have been over taken by middle class liberalism.’

    Do you mean: ‘This has deep lessons for all left wing movements that have been taken over by middle class liberalism.’ ?

    Or perhaps: ‘This has deep lessons for all left wing movements that have been taken over by neo-liberalism.’

  5. In the face of incoming disaster Greer is remarkably cheerful. ” What kinds of meltdowns are we going to get when internet service or modern health care get priced out of reach, or become unavailable at any price? How are they going to cope if the accelerating crisis of legitimacy in this country causes the federal government to implode, the way the government of the Soviet Union did, and suddenly they’re living under cobbled-together regional governments that don’t have the money to pay for basic services? What sort of reaction are we going to see if the US blunders into a sustained domestic insurgency—suicide bombs going off in public places, firefights between insurgent forces and government troops, death squads from both sides rounding up potential opponents and leaving them in unmarked mass graves—or, heaven help us, all-out civil war?”

    Etc.

    And he’s a conservative Arch Druid.

    I could have done without the preview, on reflection.

    2. A fast and furious debate between two Americans on:

      ‘Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’: Islamophobia or defense of US?’

      https://www.rt.com/op-edge/375590-muslim-ban-trump-us/

      …and Morning Report is full of anti Trump rhetoric…where were they when Clinton instigated the invasion of Libya and laughed at the killing of Gaddafi? ( that country is now in ruins , overrun with ISIS , Christians killed , and with masses fleeing to Europe from North Africa)…the mainstream media has a backlash

      ‘Media against Trump – trump card in his hands’

      https://www.rt.com/op-edge/375812-media-protest-trump-ban/

      “The majority of Americans don’t trust the media and don’t like them. Therefore the US media being so openly one-sided against President Trump is very good for him, said Lew Rockwell, chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute…

      …and a Muslim woman speaks out :

      ‘The soft coup – US Establishment goes to war with President Trump’

      https://www.rt.com/op-edge/375785-muslim-politics-trump-us/

      …”All Trump did with his executive order was to temporary halt the entry of refugees into the United States. All he’s really done is use Obama’s policy as a springboard for his own tempestuous and misguided terror crusade against an enemy he has failed to identify adequately. So let’s give credit where credit is due and thank America’s very own presidential Nobel Peace prize for so kindly laying down the foundation of Trump’s misguidance.

      To be perfectly fair, America has done a lot worse by way of injustice and state-sponsored criminal behavior over the years than an entry ban: rendition, black sites, drone strikes, systematic torture, unilaterally declaring war on countries … Need I go on?

      …While I applaud Jeremy Corbyn for speaking up against Washington’s latest stunt, he is most probably one of the few decent politicians left in town, I would rather a ban be implemented against those systematic right violators, who, to this day, buy billions of dollars’ worth of weapons from the UK – Bahrain and Saudi Arabia come to mind.

      I would rather righteous anger be directed at those actors, who, from their pulpits fan ethnocentrism and sectarian bigotry, lumping Islam and the Middle East to the hateful ideology the likes of Deash [ISIS] have fronted over the decades.

      But that, of course, would require real political involvement and THAT flash-in-the-pan-activists don’t really do, do they?…

    3. Simply because a candidate promises something – does it still make it right?

      Key promised to partially-sell our power companies – was it the right thing to do? We protested against it.

      In 2014, National campaigned to complete TPPA negotiations, and won the election. We protested against that as well.

      ref: http://www.interest.co.nz/news/70588/election-2014-party-policies-trade

      Sometimes a candidate/party can win an election despite having made promises that are damaging to the greater good.

      1. Since all political parties promote the use of fossil fuels, promote consumerism, promote fractional reserve banking and interest on loans, promote economic growth, and promote rapid trashing of the environment, it naturally follows that all political parties act against the long-term common good. Indeed, all political parties that I am aware of promote the sabotaging of the next generations future, and most of them do it with great pride.

        The slogan of the times we live in: ‘Proudly wrecking the air, the land and the seas, and proudly wrecking the next generations future.’

        The fact is, whole system is completely insane, and is utterly corrupt. It has been for decades. And the Earth is grossly overpopulated by humans. All of which is why the world in such an awful state and is being made worse by the second.

        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/31/bay-bengal-depleted-fish-stocks-pollution-climate-change-migration

      2. If you want to criticize the message, criticizing the messenger doesn’t seem a helpful way of going about it.

        1. +100…MIKESH…Frank has not said where those ‘FACTS’ are wrong…just done some name calling

          …which shows a person who can’t think for themselves

          1. Uncalled for, Chooky. Frank has a good rep for researching the facts and presenting info that few of us would ever find out.

            For you to suggest he “can’t think for himself” is mean-sprited just because he hasn’t been suckered in by your “hero”, the Orange One. There, hows that for name-calling?

          3. btw…bullshit the “Orange One” is my “hero”!

            …i am just waiting for Trump to do something more heinous than warmongering Hillary and the Democrats…thus far he hasn’t..but you wouldnt know it because of all the braying by the mainstream media

            Question: who is the mainstream media owned by in the USA?

        2. If the message and the messenger were independent of each other then you might have a point. But they aren’t.

  8. I see Tracy Watkins has written another of her “insightful, balanced” opinion pieces on stuff titled “Could Donald Trump cost Bill English the election?”
    Can Trumps machinations truly be that far reaching, or is she already acknowledging that the Natz are screwed?
    I appreciate the extreme dangers events in the US pose, but let us not lose focus on Blinglish and his cunning manoeuvres this year, aided and abetted by the MSM propaganda machine.

  9. I’ve been thinking about that subheading:

    ‘there is a coming storm that will unravel everything civilised human beings have sacrificed to build’

    The present dominant culture is not civilized and most of the people living in New Zealand and other western nations are not civilized in the true sense of the word.

    What is mistaken for civilized is actually industrialised. New Zealand is not a civilised country, it is an industrialised country.

    The dominant meme is not one of behaving in a civil manner towards one another and towards the Earth, but of plundering the Earth as quickly as possible and acquiring possessions via exploitation of other people and exploitation of the Earth.

    ‘Success’ in industrial nations is measured by the rate at which an individual converts fossil fuels into waste (CO2 and various carcinogens) via internal combustion engines. ‘Successful’ people destroy the future faster than less ‘successful’ people. Those who do no harm because they do not have the capacity to acquire and use planet-fuckers are deemed unsuccessful.

    In this industrialised and uncivilized society, building does not mean providing everyone with the best possible education and skill level, it means constructing infrastructure to facilitate the conversion of fossil fuels into life-threatening pollution.

  11. ‘More Americans approve of Trump’s travel ban than disapprove – poll’

    https://www.rt.com/usa/375923-trump-travel-ban-poll/

    “Despite nationwide protests and several major Republican figures speaking out against President Trump’s controversial travel ban, a new poll has revealed that more Americans actually support the ban than oppose it.

    A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday found that 49 percent of Americans approved of the executive order to ban citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the US. Forty-one percent disapproved…

    (This follows on from other polls eg Rasmussen

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-30/new-rasmussen-poll-reveals-silent-majority-approves-immigration-ban )

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