BILL HILLMAN'S
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIALS COLLECTION 261
www.hillmanweb.com/archive/rare/261.html
AGENT ORANGE No. 45: LICENCE TO SHILL
THE TRUMP LEGACY XIII
THE DIVIDED STATES OF AMERICA
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February 2022
Bill Hillman
This is in reference to a "protest" that was really 3-week occupation of our national capital, Ottawa in 2022. When a somewhat similar occupation took place in USA the National Guard was sent in after 10 hours. "That PM and Govt ain't doing nothing". . . when temporary powers were eventually given to police to enforce laws . . ."that communist dictator is taking away our 'freedom'" (actually to halt your taking away the rights, livelihood, safety and freedoms of the masses) Freedom and democracy was respected here for over 21 days. An occupation supposedly against pandemic vaccinations by "truckers" although 90 per cent of Canadian truckers have been vaccinated against COVID which also allowed them to transfer goods to US markets -- the Truckers Union was against this "Freedom Convoy" . . . a protest that blocked the streets of our capital for over three weeks: costing many millions of dollars in the city and nationwide, closing or bankrupting businesses, blocking access to needed services including hospitals, threatening and attacking local citizens, blowing deafening truck horns around the clock, polluting the whole area with diesel fumes from the continually running truck engines, insulting and attacking law enforcement and government personnel who were trying to enforce laws protecting local citizens, businesses and property, bringing their children into this insurrection zone as "human shields" ~ dividing the country and governments ~ bringing in the support and funding from "right wingnuts" -- largely from the US which is still reeling from similar lies and extremes and are gleefully seeing the turmoil spread across into our borders and to embarrass their northern neighbour -- making them the laughing stock of the world ~ a mob of childish selfish extremists who have been misinformed and brainwashed by the disinformation spewed by social media and far right "news" broadcast media such as FAUX NEWS whose punditz and owners are raking in profits of many millions for spreading this dangerous disinformation -- Tucker Carlson's earnings are $30 million dollars -- gotta keep the cash cow fed. Because Canada is better vaccinated than most countries we suffer fewer deaths and sickness -- USA is approaching 1,000,000 deaths -- far great than any other country in the world thanks largely to the constant spewing of disinformation to the gullible.All in the cause of refusing to take a vaccine during a worldwide pandemic while the hospitals are overwhelmed with anti-vaxxer patients who are also spreading the disease among themselves, family and others. A disease fought by brave hospital workers who are risking their lives and lives of family to successfully treat a disease that has killed and sickened many millions worldwide. . . hospital workers who have gone through this ordeal for two years and are suffering burnout and resignations. (Our family have over a dozen doctors, nurses, first responders, etc. all over North America who are facing this every day) Other patients denied serious treatment and operations due to hospital facilities and doctors being sucked away by hordes of anti-vaxxers who have fallen ill - needlessly. (I've personally suffered a long line of painful temporary procedures and treatments for over a year while waiting for a serious operation).
If any of this mob would get a passport and see the world for which they need to take a long list of life saving vaccines, and if they would start trusting highly trained researchers and scientists rather than the "experts" on social media they might have a different view of this vaccine that is saving the lives and promoting the long term health of millions. Many of these radical individuals owe their very lives to inoculations taken during childhood and beyond: measles, polio, flu, mumps, chickenpox, etc. etc.
End of "discussion"!
Who's the worst U.S. president in history?
William Weir ~ Author, Journalist, Minister
There was this one guy who started a trade war that killed 300,000 American jobs in his first two years. Then he signed a tax bill that flatlined the stock market and forced the Fed to start lowering interest rates to try to prevent a recession. Then he said a global pandemic was a liberal hoax to kill the economy he spent three years destroying and he set records for the six worst point drops in the history of the Dow, most new unemployment claims in history, and the largest deficit in history. He was investigated and found to have welcomed and encouraged election interference by a foreign government and to have obstructed justice to cover his crimes. He got impeached once for abusing his office to try to coerce a foreign leader into helping him smear a political rival. Then he got impeached again for inciting an insurrection to try to stay in power after easily and predictably losing his re-election bid. Then he got indicted for almost 100 felonies after leaving office.I forget his name. Draft dodger. Admitted sex offender. Painted himself orange, Wore elevator shoes. Kept filing bankruptcy. Called himself a winner. Dump? Rump? Plump? Chump? Something like that.
I Know I Am But What Are You
Trump is suffering from Alzheimer's, like his father, so Trump accuses Joe Biden of having dementia.
Donald Trump wears diapers, so Trumplicans spread lies about Joe Biden wearing diapers.
Trump tried to extort Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden, so Trump accuses Joe Biden of extorting Ukraine.
Donald Trump weaponized the DOJ against his political enemies like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden by ordering an investigation of his son, so Trump accuses Joe Biden of weaponizing the DOJ.
Donald Trump and his co-conspirators tried to use election fraud to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, so he’s spent nearly 3 years accusing Joe Biden of election fraud.
The Trump family and family business has been committing fraud for decades and are widely known as the “Trump Crime Family,” so he and his allies in the House have started using the term “Biden Crime Family” on a daily basis.
Are you noticing a pattern here?
This is not a "Trump is the new Hitler" piece, but rather it's a hard look at what happens when a myth like Trump's "stolen election" bs takes root amid social polarization and economic hard times. The short version is that something very, very similar happened in Germany in 1918, when Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and the armistice was signed. Powerful conservatives who led the country into war refused to accept that they had lost. Their denial gave birth to the most potent and disastrous political lie of the 20th century — the Dolchstosslegende, or stab-in-the-back myth, which had it that Germany was never defeated, but was stabbed in the back by leftists and Jews who manipulated the country into a false admission of defeat. The myth grew, and it stirred resentment, humiliation and anger. And the one figure who knew best how to exploit their frustration was Adolf Hitler. The myth was not just the sharp wedge that drove the Weimar Republic apart. It was also at the heart of Nazi propaganda, and instrumental in justifying violence against opponents. The key to Hitler’s success was that, by 1933, a considerable part of the German electorate had put the ideas embodied in the myth — honor, greatness, national pride — above democracy. And we all know what happened next. THE "STOP THE STEAL" MYTH
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers CIA Medal and CitationRepublicans under Trump bear a lot of resemblance to this. To them Trump, like Germany, was not defeated in the election -- he stole it from them. According to Pew Polls, 90% of republicans view a Biden presidence as a severe danger to the country. Now imagine Trump out there, pounding away at his false accusations but never mind that they are false -- they will be believed by a significant segment of the population. And if/when the Biden administration disappoints, as it almost surely will with only a slim margin in the house and McConnell likely in charge in the Senate -- Trump's message could resonate with enough Trump defectors to flip things in four years.
How can Biden have the best shot at not having this happen? I don't know the whole answer, but at least part of it is that he really, truly, needs to get away from the "corporatist democrat" angle and do something meaningful for working class people. He and dems need to find a way to shed the "out of touch wannabe socialist coastal elite" branding and somehow reconstitute the dem party as the champion of the working class. I don't know if it can be done, but that's where a big part of the focus must be, because that goes to the heart of the people who will be swayed by Trump's lies and false promises.
Here's the whole piece.1918 Germany Has a Warning for America HAMBURG, Germany — It may well be that Germans have a special inclination to panic at specters from the past, and I admit that this alarmism annoys me at times. Yet watching President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign since Election Day, I can’t help but see a parallel to one of the most dreadful episodes from Germany’s history.
Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign
recalls one of the most disastrous political lies of the 20th century.
By Jochen Bittner ~ Nov. 30, 2020
One hundred years ago, amid the implosions of Imperial Germany, powerful conservatives who led the country into war refused to accept that they had lost. Their denial gave birth to arguably the most potent and disastrous political lie of the 20th century — the Dolchstosslegende, or stab-in-the-back myth.Its core claim was that Imperial Germany never lost World War I. Defeat, its proponents said, was declared but not warranted. It was a conspiracy, a con, a capitulation — a grave betrayal that forever stained the nation. That the claim was palpably false didn’t matter. Among a sizable number of Germans, it stirred resentment, humiliation and anger. And the one figure who knew best how to exploit their frustration was Adolf Hitler.
Don’t get me wrong: This is not about comparing Mr. Trump to Hitler, which would be absurd. But the Dolchstosslegende provides a warning. It’s tempting to dismiss Mr. Trump’s irrational claim that the election was “rigged” as a laughable last convulsion of his reign or a cynical bid to heighten the market value for the TV personality he might once again intend to become, especially as he appears to be giving up on his effort to overturn the election result.
But that would be a grave error. Instead, the campaign should be seen as what it is: an attempt to elevate “They stole it” to the level of legend, perhaps seeding for the future social polarization and division on a scale America has never seen.
In 1918, Germany was staring at defeat. The entry of the United States into the war the year before, and a sequence of successful counterattacks by British and French forces, left German forces demoralized. Navy sailors went on strike. They had no appetite to be butchered in the hopeless yet supposedly holy mission of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the loyal aristocrats who made up the Supreme Army Command.
A starving population joined the strikes and demands for a republic grew. On Nov. 9, 1918, Wilhelm abdicated, and two days later the army leaders signed the armistice. It was too much to bear for many: Military officers, monarchists and right-wingers spread the myth that if it had not been for political sabotage by Social Democrats and Jews back home, the army would never have had to give in.The deceit found willing supporters. “Im Felde unbesiegt” — “undefeated on the battlefield” — was the slogan with which returning soldiers were greeted. Newspapers and postcards depicted German soldiers being stabbed in the back by either evil figures carrying the red flag of socialism or grossly caricatured Jews.
By the time of the Treaty of Versailles the following year, the myth was already well established. The harsh conditions imposed by the Allies, including painful reparation payments, burnished the sense of betrayal. It was especially incomprehensible that Germany, in just a couple of years, had gone from one of the world’s most respected nations to its biggest loser.
The startling aspect about the Dolchstosslegende is this: It did not grow weaker after 1918 but stronger. In the face of humiliation and unable or unwilling to cope with the truth, many Germans embarked on a disastrous self-delusion: The nation had been betrayed, but its honor and greatness could never be lost. And those without a sense of national duty and righteousness — the left and even the elected government of the new republic — could never be legitimate custodians of the country.In this way, the myth was not just the sharp wedge that drove the Weimar Republic apart. It was also at the heart of Nazi propaganda, and instrumental in justifying violence against opponents. The key to Hitler’s success was that, by 1933, a considerable part of the German electorate had put the ideas embodied in the myth — honor, greatness, national pride — above democracy.
The Germans were so worn down by the lost war, unemployment and international humiliation that they fell prey to the promises of a “Führer” who cracked down hard on anyone perceived as “traitors,” leftists and Jews above all. The stab-in-the-back myth was central to it all. When Hitler became chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933, the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter wrote that “irrepressible pride goes through the millions” who fought so long to “undo the shame of 9 November 1918.”Germany’s first democracy fell. Without a basic consensus built on a shared reality, society split into groups of ardent, uncompromising partisans. And in an atmosphere of mistrust and paranoia, the notion that dissenters were threats to the nation steadily took hold.
Alarmingly, that seems to be exactly what is happening in the United States today. According to the Pew Research Center, 89 percent of Trump supporters believe that a Joe Biden presidency would do “lasting harm to the U.S.,” while 90 percent of Biden supporters think the reverse. And while the question of which news media to trust has long split America, now even the largely unmoderated Twitter is regarded as partisan. Since the election, millions of Trump supporters have installed the alternative social media app Parler. Filter bubbles are turning into filter networks.
In such a landscape of social fragmentation, Mr. Trump’s baseless accusations about electoral fraud could do serious harm. A staggering 88 percent of Trump voters believe that the election result is illegitimate, according to a YouGov poll. A myth of betrayal and injustice is well underway.
It took another war and decades of reappraisal for the Dolchstosslegende to be exposed as a disastrous, fatal fallacy. If it has any worth today, it is in the lessons it can teach other nations. First among them: Beware the beginnings.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP WHILE IN OFFICE
- He had the lowest GDP since Hoover.
- He was first president in 80 years to lose jobs.
- He had to pay $25M for Trump U fraud.
- He had to pay $2M for charity fraud.
- He lost over 2M off health insurance rolls.
- He attempted a goofus coup.
- He promised an infrastructure program, called a meeting, and wandered away to watch TV after ten minutes.
- He had collateral damage that killed an extra 400K Americans owing to his mismanagement of Covid; he hawked quack medicine.
- He attempted to enlist Ukraine in a political plot against Biden.
- He lied incessantly.
- He solicited donations under false pretenses.
- He lied about his involvement in Russia.
- He was fanboy to Putin in Helsinki.
- He stole - and exposed - US national secrets
- He advocated sexual assault.
