Are We Prepared For The Kind Of Catastrophic Disruption That Will Inevitably Lead To A Trump-Bannon Take Over?

-by Michael Wolkowitz

My old friend Michael Wolkowitz tells people he was formed in the late ‘60s. He's a dissident producer, a Social Democrat, and former board member of many progressive organizations, including a stint as the Chair of the Progressive Congress PAC. He put this post together after the Progressive Caucus Summit in Baltimore over the weekend.

I was not able to attend last weekend’s Progressive Congress Summit. I did, however, receive a thought provoking report of remarks made by Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) during a panel discussion. The essence of the report was this:

"What happens if the country is confronted by a security crisis such as 9/11 or something else, no matter what the circumstances are or who is the instigator? We know that the administration will treat this as a political power opportunity the same way Bush did. We (Progressives/Dems/Both or Other) need to think about doing a better job of responding and not letting he-who-must-not-be-named get away with trying to legitimize either himself, his presidency, or his agenda over a inflicted or self-inflicted national security crisis. She bolstered her argument by referring to the falsely created environment in the 2002 and 2004 elections. She did this quite credibly, bypassing the usual conspiracy discussion that often goes with making any point around 9/11. Conspiracy or not, 9/11 became a political strategy."

I agree with Rep. Jayapal and have been concerned about this very issue. Especially as both a Diasporan Jew and a student of 20th Century Revolutions and Regime Changes. I also believe that in addition to Rep. Jayapal's reminders of the reverberations and manipulations that stemmed from 9/11, it is also worth considering that:

Sadly, we are still on that same duplicitous  post-9/11 war footing.

See: Billions of dollars of off-budget (“PayGo” - HA) on-going war expenditures.

See: Violence, death, destruction, displacement, pain and hardship in Afghanistan/Pakistan/Libya/Syria/Iraq/...

See: Guantanamo Bay.

See: Unconsitutional domestic surveillance.

See: Thousands of undisclosed drone and special ops attacks that kill and maim thousands of innocent people.

See: The acceptance of “The Homeland” as a way of referring to our nation (American is bad enough considering the rest of the Americas).

See:  etc. etc. etc.

I mention these continuing and nightmarish issues merely because the current state of affairs requires that our imagination reach beyond 9/11. We must:

• Remember the Reichstag fire and Kristallnacht. 
• Remember overthrowing Mossadegh and installing the Shah. [Quite a list of these... Lumumba, Allende, et ALL].
• Remember Bolsheviks screwing Menshiviks (see: Bannon).
• Imagine Ivanka as Evita (sorry, always need a tee hee factor).
• Mostly, remember the Empires that have fallen. Which ones? Doesn’t matter. Other than our own current reign, they have all fallen since the dawn of recorded history. It’s just a matter of how messy, how many dead people, how much and what kind of pillaging, and who’s turn comes next.

I do not know whose Empire will come next. I do know that we must understand the entire global (animal, vegetable and mineral) context of the threats hovering and opportunities lurking if we are to survive. We must consider the history of homo sapiens who have lived and are living right now throughout the entire planet. There is a slim but real chance that what President Vaclav Havel used to say could happen: "Truth and Love must prevail over Lies and Hatred."