Mr. Trump, Shake Yourself Awake

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Originally posted May 27, 2016.

Michael Scheuer, former CIA bin Laden unit chief, represents fed-up Americans expecting answers and action from candidate Donald Trump, pronto or else.

Why do you refrain from explaining to Americans that the United States cannot financially afford more of the unnecessary interventionist wars – fought for the lethal illusion that America can give democracy, liberty, and women’s rights to foreigners — that are always lost, deepen the debt, waste the lives of U.S. service personnel, and erode civil liberty?

Why have you stopped explaining to voters the need for America to rid itself of a deadly and unneeded treaty commitment by withdrawing from NATO, an alliance that hangs around the republic’s neck and helps choke it to death?

Why are you meeting and/or chumming about with giants of the war-wanting Israel-First and Neocon movements, men like Lindsey Graham, Speaker Gingrich, Sheldon Adelson, and that engineer of our Vietnam catastrophe, Henry Kissinger.

None of this is much to ask, Mr. Trump, and all of it is encompassed in the phrase America First. If it begins to be clear that you do not intend to run a national government grounded on that principle, you are apt to see your support begin to whither and then flee.

Americans with a sense of desperation are not going to give up and turn silent and submissive if you betray them. These citizens perceive, I think, that if this election cycle yields another iteration of the status quo, the chance of vote-driven improvement is over, and another tack must be devised. Indeed, this perception probably is the main motivation behind the enormous growth in gun purchases that has occurred since 2007.

For many Americans, and especially your supporters, Mr. Trump, these issues must be addressed to their satisfaction or at least a credible effort to do so must be made.

The 2016 election is the last straw, and a victory for the status quo will render a new approach mandatory. Desperation and perhaps a touch of despair will lead these citizens to action.

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