An Overview of Recent American Political Events

by Sean Jobst

20 January 2021

   Today the Asterisk President Joe Biden* was inaugurated in a "virtual" non-event presided over by 25,000 National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C. due to "security threats" hyped up by a fear-mongering Corporate Media that fawned over him from the beginning. An FBI notoriously ridden with the deepest of Deep State actors, will "vet" the troops and subject them to loyalty tests down to their personal opinions because apparently the demented career politician who was able to receive a record number of votes while campaigning from his basement just commands allegiance through his overwhelming popularity. Its telling that loyalty tests to Biden apparently supersede protected free speech and their oaths to the Constitution. Even Secret Service agents are being subjected to such loyalty tests in what amounts to a new witch-hunt. This is a demoralizing effort to sow suspicion and confusion within their ranks, while conditioning a confused public to not know what to believe.

   The "security" measures are being justified by the Capitol Hill fiasco on January 6th, when a relatively small number of people broke away from the massive crowd that gathered for the pro-Trump "Save America" rally. The same media and political Establishment that for months were justifying and in many cases inciting 2020 riots under the banner of BLM and Antifa, which supported Leftist protestors who stormed Capitol Hill during the Kavanaugh hearings in September 2018, now cries crocodile tears over right-wing "domestic terrorists". "Violence has been an important tool for protests" according to Slate - but only in relation to sanctioned Leftist rioters not the "male rage" it identified with the Capitol Hill rioters. The narrative continues even when Corporate Media admits provocateurs among them, such as John Sullivan, a Leftist activist who leads a group called Insurgence USA and was caught on camera instigating violence at the Capitol. CNN gave an apologetic interview portraying him as a passive observer despite his own video evidence.

   We are witnessing a massive gaslighting. The militarized spectacle is being greeted by the same Establishment that fear-mongered about an alleged "coup" by Trump for months. Of course the troops are necessary to secure the "peaceful transition" cliche repeated ad nauseum. Neocons and Neoliberals joined together in such efforts as the Transition Integrity Project, essentially calling for a coup to prevent a "coup" - the organizer of that Project happened to speak at an Open Society event that called for "militarization" in 2016. The reality is that this current charade is a massive psyop - as much as QAnon is a psyop for the other side, selling false hope - serving two purposes: First, presenting Biden as beleaguered by evil forces garners sympathy for him by low-information people guided by their emotions over reality. Second and most importantly, it sets up a convenient bogeyman that will justify any militaristic, authoritarian measures the Biden/Harris regime will pursue within the next four years. Its all about propaganda in this age of Fifth-generation warfare.

   Biden recently announced he would use vaccine manufacturing as his excuse to invoke the Defense Production Act, not to mention his bleak "Dark Winter" imagery, so we can expect several other measures using this "domestic terrorist" bogeyman as his excuse for the same type of Police State legislation he supported during his career. Incidentally, the Establishment's love for authoritarianism is such that even while proclaiming Trump to be a "fascist" - despite being far less authoritarian on every level than Biden and Harris - it still called on him to invoke the Defense Production Act "to use more 'autocratic' means to control the coronavirus outbreak" in a blatant violation of the Constitution's separation of powers. That same elite's love for war is such that the only favorable coverage Trump got (in an otherwise obsessive Trump Derangement Syndrome media) was early on when it appeared he would continue the endless wars status quo - something to keep in mind as the incoming administration is staffed with assorted cretins with deep links to the military-industrial-complex and Wall Street firms. I will be a consistent voice exposing those connections.

   Politicians who dragged their feet for months about delivering crucial financial help to millions of Americans dealing with the effects of Covid lockdowns - and for the record, I am opposed on principle to such government stimulus which are only "needed" due to the State meddling in the market and livelihood of people in the first place - before the dust even settled rushed in with a new impeachment charade, and industries rushed to penalize anyone suspected of even being at the Capitol Hill that fateful Wednesday. The Corporate Media was filled with sensational articles, even shaming or doxing individuals who were at the protests (not just those who stormed Capitol Hill). Big Tech oligarchs intensified their selective censorship efforts as part of their "global approach", with Twitter permanently banning Trump, and efforts to shut down alternative tech platforms not as giddy as them about censoring one side over another. Oligarchs hate competition.

   Whose interests were actually served by the Capitol Hill fiasco? Certainly not the 75 million people who voted for Trump, as it disrupted hearings that disputed the legitimacy of Biden electors from two states (Arizona and Pennsylvania). Certainly not the people who went to hear Trump speak that day, as one has to wonder about a handful of people who would carry out this act rather than hear their idol speak. The old status quo alliance of Establishment politicians and Big Media, joined now by Big Tech oligarchs emboldened by the special privileges given them by government, exploited the events for all they're worth. The same criminal media that lied America into wars, that lent themselves as propaganda for various Police State policies, that carried water for their own favored politicians and filled their trash pages or airwaves with ridiculous puff - is pushing an absurd narrative about Capitol Hill which is their gift which keeps giving. Millions remain under their spell, to be lulled into sleep under the status quo.

   The reality is that in his speech on January 6th, Trump was not calling for any violence much less "inciting" them - it effectively ended the hearings meant to challenge 31 Biden electors and led to yet another impeachment effort against him. Trump said at the rally: "And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down. We're going to walk down anyone you want, but I think right here. We're going to walk down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer on our brave Senators and Congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today, we will see whether Republicans stand for integrity."

   Nothing about storming Capitol Hill or anything provocative, but showing support to the select Senators and Congress members who disputed the electors. If anything it expresses the desperation of a man who knows his star is fading, so he placed his last hopes at the mercy of certain politicians. Even Twitter which banned him, never said he was "inciting" violence but merely that some people would "misinterpret" his words. Cut off from Twitter, Trump released a statement via the White House on January 13th: "In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers." This was followed by his farewell address released yesterday, in which Trump said "all Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol" as "political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans" so "can never be tolerated".

   The militarized spectacle was instituted in D.C. because of the images it seared into the public, with a massive round-the-clock news coverage including airing the inauguration to an extent even greater than previous years. These measures were carried out even though the results of the Pentagon investigation were released yesterday: "No plot against Biden was found." And even the Department of Justice recanted its previous assertion that the Capitol Hill rioters wanted to "capture and assassinate" politicians. Yet the Big Lie narrative is still being repeated by Big Tech, Corporate Media, and the Democratic/Republican duopoly Establishment which sees its opportunity to squash a populist surge beyond the careful parameters of acceptable discourse (and thought). Past administrations used all kinds of false flags and psyops to justify wars and the Police State, so are we to presume its not being done now? Garner sympathy by appearing beleaguered for one side, and demoralize the other side by projecting a massive display of power.

   Contrast the statements of non-violence to CNN talking head  Chris Cuomo (the privileged son and brother of governors) who asked about BLM riots last June: "Please, show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Because I can show you that outraged citizens are what made the country what she is and led to any major milestone. To be honest, this is not a tranquil time." (The answer would be the First Amendment's "right of the people peaceably to assemble"). That same month, Kamala Harris said on a fawning late night talk-show: "They're not going to stop before election day in November, and they are not going to stop after election day. And everyone should take note of that on both levels. That they're not going to let up. And they should not, and we should not." She asked for donations for rioters who destroyed and burned many small businesses. In August, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a member of the leftist "Squad" on Capitol Hill, demanded "unrest in the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives". Long before her selective outrage now, Nancy Pelosi said in a press conference on June 14, 2018: "I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country." There are countless more examples of such hypocrisy.

   I have made clear my past opposition to many of Trump's policies and connections, as far back as 2016. Yet I have also been consistent against the other side, especially given their selective outrage, hypocrisy, and obnoxious Trump Derangement delusions these past four years. Whatever his faults up to the very end, the forces that have now arrayed against him epitomize the worst Corporatists, Wall Street firms and hedge fund managers, lobbyists, architects and advocates of the endless wars, Big Tech and Big Media oligarchs, Police State and mass incarceration authoritarians. And its an indisputable fact those forces are united around the Biden/Harris regime which will carry out all those status quo policies that we witnessed in previous administrations. 

   Their spell over people's minds is such that millions on the Left applauding this new regime hold positions completely at odds with the actual records of their two anointed saviors. Conversely, the momentum of this "Right-wing" grassroots revolt of 75 million against the Corporatist Duopoly should be built into a consistent, principled movement that would also reevaluate some of its positions inconsistent with its general distrust of authoritarianism, endless wars, and America-First policies. We can only observe and name the specific solutions as the regime will wage its wars, increase its authoritarianism, serve its Wall Street and Corporatist masters, weaken the economy, and re-enter disastrous trade deals.