For those of us on the outside looking in as objectively as possible, it’s clear Trump had a plan in anticipation of the push-back he’d get from the Deep State losers when it came to his choices for his administrative positions. Just to be clear, I voted for Jill Stein as no worthy Duopoly candidate has ever been offered as a choice to American voters which is proven by the policy continuity that’s existed since 1968. Yes, Culture War differences were promoted to make it appear there was some degree of choice; but when it comes to the policies that affect people domestically and internationally, no real difference can be discerned. And we can see by Trump’s popularity that his initial slogan in the 2015-6 campaign—Drain the Swamp—resonated with the majority of voting Americans. His 2020 reelection campaign failed because he failed to drain the swamp and committed other errors, particularly in his appointments and policy choices, all of which contributed to his swamp failure. The Swamp regained the presidency and 2024 was essentially a repeat of 2020 except two big wars are raging that have the Deep State—Swamp—involved up to its eyebrows, while living standards for the 90% continue to fall. And so we now come to the great controversies over Trump’s initial administrative choices that don’t at all seem to be in-line with draining the swamp—again.

Consternation is shared by millions as we watch the theatre. And that presents an analytical problem for the few of us on the Genuine Left—Pro People, Anti-War—that remains as represented by Richard Wolff, Michael Hudson and a few others. We see the overall issue somewhat differently—The Outlaw US Empire has lost its Primacy and is now in visible decline. It’s clearly involved in Genocide in West Asia and in doing so has isolated itself from most of the world—it’s now a pariah nation even more than it was when it had Primacy. And worse, the Empire’s BigLie Media of course doesn’t inform the people of these facts—it’s been a Ministry of Truth for two plus decades now. Thus, it plays an important role in the political theatre we’re subjected to. I recall times when presidential successions were not at all controversial and confirmation hearings were merely pre-forma affairs, not the battles of today which have only erupted since Trump entered the picture. Look back at the 2008-9 transition if you can to see the difference. And we now know why that happened—Obama promised the law-breaking bankers that not only they wouldn’t be prosecuted but they would be showered with hundreds of billions of dollars in the name of “injecting liquidity” into the system, not enforcing the laws as a president is supposed to do. That Obama was reelected in 2012 stunned me give his criminality.

More could be reviewed, but IMO that’s enough to set the table. Getting unbiased views from outside the Empire is difficult but not impossible. One man’s views I’ve been presenting to readers for four years are those of Alastair Crooke because he represents IMO the position/viewpoint of what is known as Progressive Conservatism, which is a political school of thought that was once close to dominant in the USA prior to WW2. He’s been writing and getting his Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) essays earlier in the week than the Mondays we grew accustomed to. He also has ceased writing his short op/eds for Al-Mayadeen, although he’s still featured as a writer there. Instead, he’s now very much in demand for podcast interviews which expand upon his writings. What follows was written just prior to the Oreshnik missile attack on the 21st and would likely have a different POV given what we’ve seen of team Biden’s response. This essay clearly focuses on the internal political transitional war now occurring as its title indicates: “The counter-insurgency is “on” – against Trump’s ‘storm.’” It was published on the 22nd and was buried by Russia’s actions. However, it still needs to be read and discussed as its content remains very pertinent. And so, here we go into the Succession War of 2024-5:

“The Deep State whispered to Trump: ‘You cannot withstand the storm’. Trump whispered back: “I am the storm”. The war is on. The Deep State has launched a war of disruption to disable Trump’s ‘storm’. This week’s ATACM strike was but one part to an inter-agency counter-insurgency – a political strike directed at Trump; so too are all the inter-agency false narratives attributed to the Trump camp; and so too, the escalating provocations directed at Iran.

Be assured the Five Eyes are full participants in the counter-insurgency. Macron and Starmer openly conspired together in Paris ahead of the U.S. announcement to promote the ATACMS strike. The inter-agency grandees clearly are very fearful. They must worry that Trump may expose the ‘Russia Hoax’ (that Trump in 2016 was a Russian ‘asset’) and put them in jeopardy.

But Trump understands what’s afoot:

“We need peace without delay … The foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict. The greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia. It’s probably more than anything else ourselves… There must be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire Globalist Neo-con establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad while they turn us into a Third World country and a Third World dictatorship right here at home. The State Department, the Defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services and all of the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted. To fire the Deep Staters and put America first – we have to put America First”.

Whilst the long-range ATACM launch on ‘deep Russian pre-2014 territory’ is no game-changer-–it will not change the course of the war (ATACMS regularly are–-at 90%—downed by Russian Air Defences); the salience of this act however, is not strategic; rather, it lies with the crossing into the realm of direct NATO attacks on Russia.

Colonel Doug MacGregor reports that two sources are telling him that “Russian nuclear rocket forces are on full alert. They are at the highest level of readiness ever achieved. It suggests that Russia has taken this crossing of the line very seriously”.

Yes, it was a provocation, and President Putin will respond appropriately. He has to–-but not necessarily through nuclear escalation. Why? Because the war in Ukraine is moving rapidly in his direction, with Russian forces closing-in on the Dnieper east bank. Effectively, facts on the ground will be the outcome determinant, leaving little point to external mediation.

But more than just a dangerous provocation aimed at Russia, the ATACM and Storm Shadow attacks represent an attempt to turn foreign policy–-literally–-on its head. Instead of policy being aimed directly at a rising foreign adversary threatening U.S. hegemony, it is being transformed into a loaded weapon locked onto America’s domestic war. It is aimed specifically at Trump–-to ‘hog tie’ him in, and to divert his attention to wars that he does not want.

Logic suggests that Trump would want to keep clear of Netanyahu’s scheming for a war against Iran. But the ‘Israel Firsters’ and the Lobby (as Professor Jeffrey Sachs argues) long have had effective control over Congress and the U.S. military–- more than does the President. Explains Sachs:

“Because the Zionist Lobby is so powerful, Netanyahu basically has had control over the Pentagon to fight wars on behalf of Israeli extremism. The war in Iraq in 2003 was a Netanyahu War. The attempt to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the overthrow of Moamar Gaddafi–-all were ‘Netanyahu Wars’”.

The important point is that Netanyahu can ‘do what he does’ because it was always planned this way–-a plan that has been 50 years in execution. The ‘Israel First’ strategy was fully embraced by Scoop Jackson (a two-times Presidential candidate). And just so the policy could not be rolled back, Scoop insisted on Zionists staffing the State Department, and that neo-cons and Zionists hold the reins at the NSC. That same pattern continues until today.

At bottom lies the ultimate boondoggle by which the political class of both U.S. parties become wealthy and afford the campaign costs of remaining legislators: “It’s quite a dandy deal that the Israel Lobby or the Zionist Lobby puts in, say, a hundred million dollars into campaigns and it gets trillions out-–trillions, not billions, trillions out [in government] expenditures. And so, when Netanyahu speaks, it’s bizarre to me, but it is not Trump who is appointing or naming [those ‘Israel Firsters’ who are part of his Team, but Netanyahu]”, Sachs says.

When Netanyahu describes Trump’s ‘Israel First’ nominations as his ‘dream U.S. team’, the explanation is not difficult to see. On the one hand, Trump has a ‘Revolution’ to conduct in America and wants his nominations to office approved. And, on the other, Netanyahu has a further war he wants the U.S. to fight for him.

“The ‘Big Ugly’ was always a description of the battle that few understood”, another commentator notes:

“The Senate is factually the core of republican opposition to MAGA and President Trump. The visible battle … consumes the most attention. However, it is the less-visible battle against the entrenched ideological Republicans that proves to be the hardest”.

“The Republicans in the upper chamber will not relinquish power easily. They have a multitude of weapons to use against the (Trump) insurgency … We are seeing this play out now in the alignment of Republican Senators who stand in opposition to Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, [as] this recent report [explains]”.

“The basic outline is that the senate leadership will reluctantly support Matt Gaetz for Main Justice, where ‘support’ means they will not directly oppose; in exchange for the nomination of FBI Director Mike Rogers [a co-founder of the ‘Never Trump’ group] to defend inter-agency interests at FBI”.

The prospective Republican Senate Leader, John Thune, will play his cards carefully in order to extract maximum damage. He has leverage by trying to connect Trump to Netanyahu’s carnage in the region.

Thune, whilst announcing huge quantities of weapons for Israel, said:

“To Our Allies in Israel, and to the Jewish People Around the world, my message to you is this: Reinforcements are on the way. In six weeks, Republicans will reclaim the Senate Majority, and we will make clear that the United States Congress stands squarely In Israel’s Corner”.

Trump will need to play his cards carefully, too. Since, for his purposes, the absolute priority are his two domestic wars: First, “dismantling the entire Globalist Neocon Establishment”, and secondly, ending the out-of-control government expenditure that has bloated the Deep State boondoggle and turned the U.S. real economy into a shadow of its former self.

Trump needs those radical reform nominations to pass, even if he has to sacrifice one or two to secure Senate approval for the others. The Israel First nominees, needless to add, will be approved seamlessly.

Of the two ‘entanglement’ threats to Trump’s reform agenda, Russian escalation is the lesser of the two. The Ukraine war is motoring steadily towards some form of dénoument. One that works for Russia. Putin is in the driving seat, and does not need a major war with NATO. Nor does Putin need Trump’s ‘art of the deal’. A resolution of some sort will occur without him.

However, Trump’s role will be important subsequently to define a new border between the security interests of the Atlanticists and those of the Asian heartland (including China and Iran).

The other putative war – Iran – is the more dangerous to Trump. Jewish political influence and the Lobby has taken the U.S. into multiple disastrous wars before. And now, Netanyahu desperately needs a war and he is not alone. Much of Israel is clamouring for war that would end ‘all the fronts’ facing it. There is a profound conviction in this prospect as the solution and the ‘Great Victory’ that Netanyahu and Israel so desperately need.

The ground has been dug-over, both by propaganda that Iran’s nuclear programme is ‘staggeringly vulnerable’ (which it isn’t), and by the media’s onslaught that replays the meme that to attack Iran now represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, with Hizbullah and Hamas already weakened. War with Iran – totally erroneously – is thus being sold as an ‘easy war’.

There is an unshakeable certitude that it must be so. ‘We are strong, and Iran is weak’.

Who will roll-back the Israel Firsters? They have the momentum and the fervor. A war against Iran will fare badly for Israel and the U.S. The wide ramifications likely will precipitate precisely the severe financial and market crisis that could derail Trump’s ‘Storm’. [Bolded Italics My Emphasis]

A question brought up when I provided the partial transcript of Trump’s 18 November speech: Does America First mean a return to seeking Primacy, in recouping the Empire that has yet to be dissolved? IMO, if we take Trump’s words at face value—something many people have great difficulty doing—then it appears that isn’t the goal since the Imperialists are to be ousted:

There must be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire Globalist Neo-con establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad while they turn us into a Third World country and a Third World dictatorship right here at home. The State Department, the Defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services and all of the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted. To fire the Deep Staters and put America first.

Many of us have wanted that to happen since LBJ and is what brought back Nixon—we’ll never know what difference Humphrey would have made. Probably very little with Scoop Jackson to deal with and the woefully lame response to the attack on the USS Liberty. Soon after, the systemic corruption of subsidizing Occupied Palestine with many millions of dollars that flowed back in the form of campaign contributions from what’s now known as The Lobby began. I note that Trump says nothing about that conveyor belt of corruption when attacking the Deep State,

Opposition to Trump’s picks has already caused casualties. The Zionists continue to lose badly and are even more isolated than just a month ago as is the US with its latest UNSC veto. The ICC arrest warrants are backed by some EU/NATO members that could cause further fracturing of those institutions. Netanyahu also faces court again in a week or so as in the Zionist system he can be compelled to testify against himself. So, the possibility Netanyahu will be removed before Trump becomes POTUS is genuine. Response by some idiot US politicos thinking the Outlaw US Empire still has Primacy only serves to further isolate the Empire and increases the resolve of other nations to stand against it. One could say that Trump faces the same hurdles a Jill Stein presidency would face. And there’re a host of other factors that suggest Trump will surrender to the pressure as he did in his first term, which is an outcome many predict. It’s possible Putin helped Trump with his new weapon test that Trump ironically helped develop. The days ahead will tell us if NATO ceases its craziness.

However, most voters voted for Trump because they want Domestic change. The big question in that realm is will Trump continue polices that support the top 10% and neglect or worsen the condition of the 90% as has been the case for the last 40+ years. True, Trump can only propose policy suggestions that Congress must enact. Unfortunately, there’s a crossover as the biggest money hog is support for the Empire that climbing close to two Trillion dollars annually when interest on the accumulated debt is added in as it should, while the other corruption conveyor belt exists between the Military Industrial Complex and Congress which predates the Zionist corruption by decades going back to WW1. And lastly there’s the Money Power from which Trump arose and where most Duopoly Donors are located. So, to do anything domestically for the Little Guy, a great many hurdles exist most of which are in the Duopoly Congress. And to top it off, we have BigLie Media that refuses to tell the truth about most everything, so the public is not only very poorly informed but is easily confused.

IMO, when it comes to eliminating the Deep State and Overseas Empire, most people want Trump to succeed. But as Crooke implies, there are many powerful well-entrenched interests that will oppose his every move except when it comes to approving their own. There’re now 58 days to go until Succession Day. Trial balloons will be floated, and most will burst as we’ve already seen. And it’s clear that the most underhanded of methods will be used. So, what should the voting American public do? They need to very closely scrutinize how their elected officials act to Trump’s nominees and policy proposals—as they ought to do all the time regardless the POTUS. Citizens need to finally begin to act in their own interest as was done in the distant past—1880-1900, 1930-1940 and 1955-1970. I have one very easy prediction: If the Citizenry doesn’t act, nothing will improve; it will worsen. So, whether you voted for or against Trump, you still have a civic duty to yourself, your family, and your community to act—No Excuses!