Defending the west while letting an eastern power (Russia) run amok. Yeah, that makes sense.
At some point in the future, historians are gonna look at us and say, “why didn’t the masses accept the Occam’s razor explanation - that Trump was always a Russian asset?”
I don't think it's quite on-point, for the following reason:
Despite it being the accepted dogma of the past century-and-a-half, Atlanticism is not the same thing as "Western Civilization." I think Trump may well be an antichrist to Atlanticism, but since he is drawing on older forms of Western tradition (19th century visions of American empire, instead of a 20th century vision), I think he's more accurately painted as a counter-revolutionary within the Western tradition, rather than as a destroyer of western civilization per se.
…an interesting metaphor for an uninteresting man (lol)…i am so over this era of obfuscation…i love the drama of your metaphor here but find Trump to be something so much more believable and not fable…an asshole with money and power…you meet them in the service industry…and they are one of our most heinous species…not a lib…biden was and is a skeleton avatar for head of state…but man’s desire to have an avatar is killing man…we need to be truthful again and end memes…
I've softened on supporting Ukraine as I really don't think they're going to win and we're just funding the death of Ukrainian men for nothing, but starting trade wars with Canada and Europe really strikes me as deliberate sabotage. There's almost no upside and huge downside. Even if the next president changes course they can't really trust us again and resume the old alliances because another president could just do the same thing.
I still think it was dumb of Zelensky not to wear a suit.
I'm sorry I showed up late to your live video chat about this piece! What I would have asked is, what would you say to Trump, if you were stuck in an elevator with him? What kind of conversation would you imagine having, given what you sense about his character and intentions, and the purpose his presidency might be serving for our country's developmental process and adaptive potential?
Thanks for joining — that’s an interesting question. I’d probably engage in small talk, then appeal to his narcissism with a question like this: “You could go down in history as a hero or an Antichrist… Which way do you want to go?”
My bet is that he won't give a damn, hero or antichrist, whatever works! Getting the attention is what matters, big attention. And most of the time we can't resist the drama, so he wins. Having a family member with these tendencies, you/we learn (eventually) that you're the 'man behind the curtain,' spinning the dials and pulling the levers. You can (and do) look away and focus on your own creation, even if that 'great and powerful' odd duck is still in the picture. So what are you/we creating? I love the adopting embryos idea...
Good piece. I see your point. Perhaps it’s my Catholic side, but Antichrist has always been a bit too overfit to Nero. Lucifer /Tyre OTOH does seem be a good description. From Ezekiel 28:6-9
6 Because you think you are wise,
as wise as a god,
7 I am going to bring foreigners against you,
the most ruthless of nations;
they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom
Some of the best humanitarians I’ve met or heard about were/are atheists or agnostics who, quite ironically, would make better examples of many of Christ’s teachings than too many institutional ‘Christians’. Conversely, some of the least Christlike (and not surprisingly worst) human beings I’ve met or read/heard about are the most devout believers/preachers of fundamental Biblical theology. They've created their Creator’s nature in their own fallible and often angry, vengeful image.
One big problem is it’s a big epistemic assault and there are so many points of attack that it’s impossible to argue any one point before the grounds change and Overton window is shifted. I think that just recently what’s going on with Khalil is contra the values of the West. Not even that he wouldn’t be punished and expelled, but that he would be detained and expelled suddenly as a legal permanent resident without being charged of a crime and tried, by gendarmes with no warning, unilaterally, then have it rationalized later.
Excellent read. I’ve mentioned this a few times now, but even though I’m atheist I spent so long as a Fundamentalist that he’s been setting off my AntiChrist alarm for a couple years now. I know there’s a small minority of Fundamentalists who view him as such. Some of my family can’t stand him.
The institutional ‘Christians’ who still vocally and politically support Donald Trump tend to see him as literally Godsent. Many, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her reporter boyfriend Brian Glenn, also perceive Trump’s presidency as divinely-intended punishment against liberals. (By institutional Christianity, I mean those ‘Christians’ most resistant to Christ’s fundamental teachings of non-violence, compassion and non-wealth.)
If God really is as vengefully angry, even seemingly blood-thirsty, as institutional Christianity generally portrays Him to be, is anyone — including supposed ardent followers or conservative Bible believers — truly safe or really ‘saved’? One could reasonably theorize that He’d be especially peeved by those self-professed Christians He’d (likely rightfully) deem as fake or frauds. After all, Jesus, a.k.a. God incarnate, was about non-violence, genuine compassion, love and non-wealth. His teachings and practices epitomize so much of the primary component of socialism — do not hoard gratuitous wealth in the midst of great poverty.
Yet, they are not practiced by a significant number of ‘Christians’, likely including many who really seem to worship Donald Trump, a callous man who stands for very little or nothing Jesus taught and represents. ... The Biblical Jesus would not have rolled his eyes and sighed: ‘Oh well, I’m against everything the politician stands for, but what can you do when you dislike even more what his political competition stands for?’
... I watched a televised documentary a few years ago about Michel de Nostredame and his seemingly often prophetic quatrains. Amongst them were disturbing prophesies apparently making references to the first [Napoleon], second [Hitler] and third anti-Christs, the latter having yet to come and do his immense damage. One of the Nostradamus scholars interviewed for the documentary said the writings suggest the third anti-Christ will originate from what's now the United States, though he'll be of European ancestry.
Many people find Trump to be the very unstable, vengefully angry and self-centered/-serving type willing to take the world for a most brutal spin, perhaps even for the sake of him making it into the historical-'greatness' books. If anything, he's evidence of a great evil being unleashed onto a largely powerless world.
Yet, early on Nov.6, Trump publicly stated: “Many people have told me that God spared my life [from two assassination attempts] for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” … Then again, Adolf Hitler also escaped assassination attempts made against him, most notably that foiled effort called the July Plot or Operation Valkyrie.
The Ukraine situation is un-winnable. Everyone knows this. Even you spent zero time laying out any action that could be taken that would win the war because no one is willing to win the war. That’s the point of what Putin is doing. To win back this land, you’d need to start WWIII. So it’s basically just a pride thing. It’ll cost us a trillion dollars and the whole thing will fall apart like Afghanistan when we eventually pull the cash and military support in 2045 and our western alliances will still be our alliances because where else are they going to go? The US has not won a single conflict it wasn’t trying to win. You’re advocating a state of persistent and expensive war so that nations feel comfortable intelligence sharing. The lack of desire to win is an indicator that everyone is mailing in their support and just hitting their marks on TV/social media. The Ukraine war is exactly a conflict the antichrist would create to pressure people into mindless group think over a nothing issue. The fact Trump wants to get the US out of an un-winnable conflict in a timely manner is at the very least something American hadn’t tried in 60 years. If you have the capability to win but won’t, you have already sealed your fate. By not winning, you’ve told everyone where you stand. No amount of finger wagging or grandstanding or tough talk is going to make any difference.
When did Trump run on "Make the West Great Again"? I do believe he was naive enough in his first term to work on the post-war liberal consensus of "the west", but he has no such delusions this time around. Justin Trudeau, Kier Starmer (et al), Jacinda Arden (et al), Claudia Sheinbaum, Macron, and most leaders of "the West" have destroyed for personal and political gain their own countries and any notion of a unified, philanthropic "west". We had naught to do but await the Vandals to cement the destruction of our empires.
Finally, we have Trump, Javier Milei, Nigerl Farage, Marine LePen, Victor Orban, and others who see through the globalist agenda and Woketopia and are working to save their country, and by extension, the free world from this dystopian nightmare.
And you are calling Trump the anti-Christ for wanting to end the war in Ukraine? Perhaps you should re-think this post.
Defending the west while letting an eastern power (Russia) run amok. Yeah, that makes sense.
At some point in the future, historians are gonna look at us and say, “why didn’t the masses accept the Occam’s razor explanation - that Trump was always a Russian asset?”
Yes. It sucks arriving at this conclusion after supporting him in 2016, but I agree. Better late than never.
It’s like that scene from Austin Powers: “one book: ‘Russian collusion and me - this sort of thing is my bag, baby,’ by Donald J Trump.”
It’s been so painfully obvious for so long.
Now Musk too.
I have toggled back and forth with these questions. My conclusions tend to be more sinister and subversive than yours. Hope I'm wrong.
More sinister and subversive in what way? Do tell!
I don't think it's quite on-point, for the following reason:
Despite it being the accepted dogma of the past century-and-a-half, Atlanticism is not the same thing as "Western Civilization." I think Trump may well be an antichrist to Atlanticism, but since he is drawing on older forms of Western tradition (19th century visions of American empire, instead of a 20th century vision), I think he's more accurately painted as a counter-revolutionary within the Western tradition, rather than as a destroyer of western civilization per se.
…an interesting metaphor for an uninteresting man (lol)…i am so over this era of obfuscation…i love the drama of your metaphor here but find Trump to be something so much more believable and not fable…an asshole with money and power…you meet them in the service industry…and they are one of our most heinous species…not a lib…biden was and is a skeleton avatar for head of state…but man’s desire to have an avatar is killing man…we need to be truthful again and end memes…
Superb read, thank you for putting your perspective on this into words. More of this is needed. Also, semi-related: https://open.substack.com/pub/thestrongwilledchild/p/why-evangelicals-dont-see-corruption?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=51u7dq
Thank you!
I've softened on supporting Ukraine as I really don't think they're going to win and we're just funding the death of Ukrainian men for nothing, but starting trade wars with Canada and Europe really strikes me as deliberate sabotage. There's almost no upside and huge downside. Even if the next president changes course they can't really trust us again and resume the old alliances because another president could just do the same thing.
I still think it was dumb of Zelensky not to wear a suit.
I'm sorry I showed up late to your live video chat about this piece! What I would have asked is, what would you say to Trump, if you were stuck in an elevator with him? What kind of conversation would you imagine having, given what you sense about his character and intentions, and the purpose his presidency might be serving for our country's developmental process and adaptive potential?
Thanks for joining — that’s an interesting question. I’d probably engage in small talk, then appeal to his narcissism with a question like this: “You could go down in history as a hero or an Antichrist… Which way do you want to go?”
My bet is that he won't give a damn, hero or antichrist, whatever works! Getting the attention is what matters, big attention. And most of the time we can't resist the drama, so he wins. Having a family member with these tendencies, you/we learn (eventually) that you're the 'man behind the curtain,' spinning the dials and pulling the levers. You can (and do) look away and focus on your own creation, even if that 'great and powerful' odd duck is still in the picture. So what are you/we creating? I love the adopting embryos idea...
Good piece. I see your point. Perhaps it’s my Catholic side, but Antichrist has always been a bit too overfit to Nero. Lucifer /Tyre OTOH does seem be a good description. From Ezekiel 28:6-9
6 Because you think you are wise,
as wise as a god,
7 I am going to bring foreigners against you,
the most ruthless of nations;
they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom
and pierce your shining splendor.
8 They will bring you down to the pit,
and you will die a violent death
in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you then say, “I am a god,”
in the presence of those who kill you?
You will be but a mortal, not a god,
in the hands of those who slay you.
Some of the best humanitarians I’ve met or heard about were/are atheists or agnostics who, quite ironically, would make better examples of many of Christ’s teachings than too many institutional ‘Christians’. Conversely, some of the least Christlike (and not surprisingly worst) human beings I’ve met or read/heard about are the most devout believers/preachers of fundamental Biblical theology. They've created their Creator’s nature in their own fallible and often angry, vengeful image.
One big problem is it’s a big epistemic assault and there are so many points of attack that it’s impossible to argue any one point before the grounds change and Overton window is shifted. I think that just recently what’s going on with Khalil is contra the values of the West. Not even that he wouldn’t be punished and expelled, but that he would be detained and expelled suddenly as a legal permanent resident without being charged of a crime and tried, by gendarmes with no warning, unilaterally, then have it rationalized later.
Excellent read. I’ve mentioned this a few times now, but even though I’m atheist I spent so long as a Fundamentalist that he’s been setting off my AntiChrist alarm for a couple years now. I know there’s a small minority of Fundamentalists who view him as such. Some of my family can’t stand him.
It was genius letting people cry wolf for so long that everyone's inured now
The institutional ‘Christians’ who still vocally and politically support Donald Trump tend to see him as literally Godsent. Many, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her reporter boyfriend Brian Glenn, also perceive Trump’s presidency as divinely-intended punishment against liberals. (By institutional Christianity, I mean those ‘Christians’ most resistant to Christ’s fundamental teachings of non-violence, compassion and non-wealth.)
If God really is as vengefully angry, even seemingly blood-thirsty, as institutional Christianity generally portrays Him to be, is anyone — including supposed ardent followers or conservative Bible believers — truly safe or really ‘saved’? One could reasonably theorize that He’d be especially peeved by those self-professed Christians He’d (likely rightfully) deem as fake or frauds. After all, Jesus, a.k.a. God incarnate, was about non-violence, genuine compassion, love and non-wealth. His teachings and practices epitomize so much of the primary component of socialism — do not hoard gratuitous wealth in the midst of great poverty.
Yet, they are not practiced by a significant number of ‘Christians’, likely including many who really seem to worship Donald Trump, a callous man who stands for very little or nothing Jesus taught and represents. ... The Biblical Jesus would not have rolled his eyes and sighed: ‘Oh well, I’m against everything the politician stands for, but what can you do when you dislike even more what his political competition stands for?’
... I watched a televised documentary a few years ago about Michel de Nostredame and his seemingly often prophetic quatrains. Amongst them were disturbing prophesies apparently making references to the first [Napoleon], second [Hitler] and third anti-Christs, the latter having yet to come and do his immense damage. One of the Nostradamus scholars interviewed for the documentary said the writings suggest the third anti-Christ will originate from what's now the United States, though he'll be of European ancestry.
Many people find Trump to be the very unstable, vengefully angry and self-centered/-serving type willing to take the world for a most brutal spin, perhaps even for the sake of him making it into the historical-'greatness' books. If anything, he's evidence of a great evil being unleashed onto a largely powerless world.
Yet, early on Nov.6, Trump publicly stated: “Many people have told me that God spared my life [from two assassination attempts] for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” … Then again, Adolf Hitler also escaped assassination attempts made against him, most notably that foiled effort called the July Plot or Operation Valkyrie.
The Ukraine situation is un-winnable. Everyone knows this. Even you spent zero time laying out any action that could be taken that would win the war because no one is willing to win the war. That’s the point of what Putin is doing. To win back this land, you’d need to start WWIII. So it’s basically just a pride thing. It’ll cost us a trillion dollars and the whole thing will fall apart like Afghanistan when we eventually pull the cash and military support in 2045 and our western alliances will still be our alliances because where else are they going to go? The US has not won a single conflict it wasn’t trying to win. You’re advocating a state of persistent and expensive war so that nations feel comfortable intelligence sharing. The lack of desire to win is an indicator that everyone is mailing in their support and just hitting their marks on TV/social media. The Ukraine war is exactly a conflict the antichrist would create to pressure people into mindless group think over a nothing issue. The fact Trump wants to get the US out of an un-winnable conflict in a timely manner is at the very least something American hadn’t tried in 60 years. If you have the capability to win but won’t, you have already sealed your fate. By not winning, you’ve told everyone where you stand. No amount of finger wagging or grandstanding or tough talk is going to make any difference.
When did Trump run on "Make the West Great Again"? I do believe he was naive enough in his first term to work on the post-war liberal consensus of "the west", but he has no such delusions this time around. Justin Trudeau, Kier Starmer (et al), Jacinda Arden (et al), Claudia Sheinbaum, Macron, and most leaders of "the West" have destroyed for personal and political gain their own countries and any notion of a unified, philanthropic "west". We had naught to do but await the Vandals to cement the destruction of our empires.
Finally, we have Trump, Javier Milei, Nigerl Farage, Marine LePen, Victor Orban, and others who see through the globalist agenda and Woketopia and are working to save their country, and by extension, the free world from this dystopian nightmare.
And you are calling Trump the anti-Christ for wanting to end the war in Ukraine? Perhaps you should re-think this post.
Just curious, when did Ukraine become part of the West? And are you for the 1984-ification of most of our allies in Europe?