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THE ABSURD TIMES
Illustration: U.S. foreign policy and peace in the Middle East, Latuff
Since about half of our readers are in countries other than the United States (the percentage has been increasing as the number of editions has been decreasing),[1] there seems to be considerable confusion and frustration at the activities of President Trump.[2] Quite often, there is reference to "method in his madness," but that is a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare, like the authors of the "Bible," is often quoted out of context. The quote is from Polonius, clearly a fool employed by the usurping King to spy on Hamlet, the hero of the play. He also said "To thine own self be true," so why quote one about Trump without the other?
Much of what Trump says is sensationalistic, spectacle as Aristotle calls it, and used to amuse the masses while not of any real significance. The problem, then, is separating the real from the spectacle. The spectacle is a diversion for the real, but is beginning to have very significant consequences for the U.S. and for the rest of the world.
One of his very real goals is to please his daughter. Trump dotes on his daughter. No, he really dotes on his daughter, He dotes so much that it amounts in incest in his heart. Now, she wants Daddy dearest to make sweetheart a big man, and so he is charged with making peace in the Middle East. The first move is to encourage the building of more Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem [where he wants the American Embassy]. This is a real goal. Erekat has sent five letters without a single response. Hamas will undoubtedly gain from this.
His praise of torture and waterboarding is part of his style. I know several people who have water boarded and some who have been water boarded and it is quite clear that, after five minutes of it, Donald J. Trump would confess to the Manson Murders. (Probably only 3 minutes needed.)
Signs from Mexico: YA BASTA!! GRINGO RACISTA! The President of Mexico cancelled his visit to meet with Trump. This is highly unusual since he is under immense pressure from the "elites" in Mexico, the major corporations and wealthy, to do whatever the U.S. wants. He has a 12% approval rating, but that is expected to rise.
Teresa May visited and pointed out that if Trump goes forward with water boarding, England will not share intelligence with the U.S., not that she has that much to spare as it is. She knows, of course, that it will not happen and, anyway, it was not very well covered in our press.
As to the voter fraud issue: this takes some clarification. There is a difference between election fraud and voter fraud. If a person votes without being eligible to vote and uses falsified evidence to obtain the right to vote, that is voter fraud. It has been expanded by Trump to include being registered to vote in two or more states, and so far at least five members of his administration are thus guilty. Steve Bannon is the most obvious.
Election fraud is more prevalent and does, indeed, exist. I know from personal experience having grown up in Chicago, where Nixon was kept out of the White House for the first time (1960). It is, however, more recently practiced widely in the south, especially ever since Nixon began his "southern strategy" and has increased ever since. Voter suppression comes under this heading. In 1990, Pat Buchanan carried his own district by 70% and it is overwhelmingly Jewish. He, himself, said on multiple accessions that he did not win that district by 70%. This year was simply insane and there is no need to analyze it. Mainly, the electoral college is designed to keep the masses for electing an unqualified rabble-rouser to the Presidency, and it obviously did not work. The Democratic Party made sure that Sanders was not nominated even though he would have won Michigan, Wisconsin, and many other states that Hillary lost. To use a phrase of Trump's, it was "rigged".
But what about Russia and interference in our election? Do we ever do that? Here is a chart:
