Political Discourse 2020

With little prospect for normalcy to reassert itself in our deranged political culture, the new year unfolds upon us with three dominating stories: the intrusion into Venezuela, the killing by ICE of Renee Good in Minnesota, and the reigniting of Trump’s obsession to control Greenland. This letter addresses the interrelated foreign policy issues.   The move to take out Maduro cannot be viewed in isolation. It must be understood within a broader context that included the previous several month bombings of small vessel ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, the broader objective of exerting U.S. power in Latin and South America, and the intrusion into the wider western hemisphere, particularly Canada and Greenland. Whatever other reasons underlying the Trump administration’s push to remove Madruro, the least credible was that of preserving democracy in Venezuela. Equally dubious was the accusation that Venezuela was a primary source of fentanyl importation into the U.S., given...

If the initial 28-plan program developed by the Trump- and Putin-led governments, which gave Russia nearly everything it wanted in its war against Ukraine is any indication, the United States is on the verge of rewarding the naked aggression of Russia against its neighboring country. Given the current occupant of the White House this should surprise no one. When Russia initially invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, then former President Trump declared the unprovoked act “wonderful.” There is a long history of Trump’s involvement with Russia extending to the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia and the machinations of his 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort’s lobbying for Russian favored politicians in Ukraine. Trump’s emissary to Ukraine, Rudy Giuliani acted to remove the highly acclaimed Marie Yovanovitch as Ambassador to Ukraine because she obstructed efforts to get negative information on the Biden’s during the spring of 2019 in anticipation of the 2020 Presidential election. ...

  According to the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, Jeffrey Rosen, a constitutional crisis  occurs “if a president refuses to carry out an authoritative opinion of the Supreme Court.” Adam Liptak provides a more expansive view, defining a constitutional crisis as “generally the product of presidential defiance of laws and judicial rulings. It is not binary: It is a slope, not a switch. It can be cumulative, and once one starts, it can get much worse.” (New York Times, 2-12-2025). Consider Trump’s response to federal judge James Boasberg who temporarily blocked the removal by the Trump administration of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, which his administration is stonewalling. In Trump’s eloquent phrasing, the judge is a “Radical Left Lunatic” who should be impeached (Huffington Post, 5-20, 2025). This evoked a response from Chief Justice John Roberts that “for more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachmen...

  Fact: Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. It was assumed that Ukraine would fall in short order. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky was offered safe passage by the United States out of Ukraine. His legendary-like response: “I need ammunition, not a ride.” In point of contrast, then former President Trump called the initial Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine “genius.” It was nothing less than “wonderful.”   The accolade was based on giving homage to Putin’s propagandistic acumen in his admiration of the Russian president’s manipulation of “alternative facts” in masking Putin’s colonial driven masterstroke.     Zelensky’s courage reinforced Ukraine’s resolve to take on the juggernaut from the east in a brutal ground and air war. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly over the past three years in a long, vicious stalemate. Combining their own heroic military efforts with the massive support provided by a broad array of European nations, the U.S. and...

Fact: Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.   It was assumed that Ukraine would fall in short order. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky was offered safe passage by the United States out of Ukraine. His legendary-like response: “I need ammunition, not a ride.” In point of contrast, then former President Trump called the initial Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine “genius.”  It was nothing less than “wonderful.”  The accolade was based on giving homage to Putin’s propagandistic acumen in his admiration of the Russian president’s manipulation of “alternative facts” in masking Putin’s colonial driven masterstroke.   Zelensky’s courage reinforced Ukraine’s resolve to take on the juggernaut from the east in a brutal ground and air war. The Ukrainians have fought valiantly over the past three years in a long, vicious stalemate. Combining their own heroic military efforts with the massive support provided by a broad array of European nations, the U.S. an...

It is widely acknowledged across the political sector that the second Trump administration will usher in a sea change within the United States that politicians, journalists, and historians will be assessing through the year 2050 and beyond. Commentary will depend on what transpires over the next 4-8 years and on the collective views of those who exercise influence and power within the public square. It is commonly believed that history is written by the winners, a view that is overly simplistic. The historical record is comprised of many voices written from various perspectives, including those that potentially can, as well as that are less likely to be ultimately reconciled with the prevailing power structure—itself, a fluctuating phenomenon. As the French philosopher, Michel Foucault has so brilliantly illuminated, the power/knowledge relationship has an indelible influence on what emerges as reality, a factor which cannot be lightly ignored.    The Trump administration is...