Thursday, October 31, 2019
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Dictator-wannabe Donald J. Trump and 13 of his “Favorite Authoritarians”
By Gary G.
Kohls, MD – October 2, 2019 (1106 words)
Trump with
Likud Party Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Aka, the Likud Party Half of the
“US/Israeli Wannabe Authoritarian Tag-team”)
Israel’s
influential center-left newspaper, Haaretz, commented recently on the
Netanyahu/Trump relationship:
“The
historically deep ties that bind the United States and Israel were profoundly
damaged Thursday when the government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
succumbed to pressure from the Trump Administration…’
“The ‘wannabe
authoritarian tag-team’ (ie, ‘Trump and Netanyahu’) has committed a reckless,
racist, contemptible act driven by stunningly short-sighted political
calculations by barring [US House of Representatives members] Omar and Tlaib
from visiting Israel. The action will have fateful repercussions…”
It is
instructive to recall that in the 1995 campaign for Israeli Prime Minister, a
number of violent hate-group protests were organized by Netanyahu’s Likud Party
which caused serious divisions in the state of Israel – quite similar to the
divisions that have occurred in the US since the campaign for president by
Donald Trump.
The hateful
rhetoric coming from right-wing Likud party led to the assassination of the
left-wing, peace, justice and reconciliation candidate Yitzhak Rabin, who
pledged during his campaign to adhere to the Oslo Peace Accords – which the
Likud Party ultimately succeeded in killing.
The Rabin
assassination took place when a far right-wing Jewish student with a
semi-automatic pistol murdered Rabin, managing to fire 3 shots before he was
subdued by bodyguards.
During the
hate-filled anti-peace process campaign that was largely orchestrated by
Netanyahu’s party, there were many totally unjustified campaign depictions of
Rabin in a Nazi SS uniform, with some placards showing Rabin in the
crosshairs of a gun.
Pro-Likud
protesters also compared Rabin’s Labor party to the Nazis and Rabin to Adolf
Hitler. Chants "Rabin is a murderer" and "Rabin is a
traitor" were also common. In July 1995,
Netanyahu
even led a mock funeral procession featuring a coffin and a hangman's noose at
a rally where protesters chanted, "Death to Rabin".
The
shameful anti-Rabin character assassination campaign ultimately came to its
successful conclusion – physical assassination – a few months later, in early
November 1995.
US
President Donald Trump, who has never read history books, is therefore
justifiably labeled as being historically-illiterate and likely has no
knowledge of the USS Liberty scandal or the Likud/Netanyahu role in the
assassination of Rabin, also is likely unaware of the historical backgrounds of
nation-states like Egypt, whose current leader is Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who
became dictator after a violent coup against the first and only
democratically-elected president in the history of Egypt. Trump once called Al
Sisi “my favorite dictator”.
Trump with Egyptian Military Dictator Abdel Fattah Al Sisi
(Trump’s “Favorite Dictator”)
Other
authoritarian leaders that the similarly authoritarian Trump has proudly been
photographed with include (see the photos further below):
1. Saudi Arabia: an oppressive (anti-democracy) “kingdom” and its most recent authoritarian ruler, Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud (aka “Butcher of Yemen”), who has taken responsibility for the brutal murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi;
2. Russia: from the oppressive Tsars to the anti-tsarist communist revolution of Lenin and the oppressive Stalin to the authoritarian capitalist Vladimir Putin;
3. China: from the oppressive fascism of Chiang Kai-Shek to the oppressive, anti-fascist, communist revolution of Mao to the anti-democratic capitalist chairman Xi Jinping;
4. North Korea: from the brutal occupation of Japan before and during WWII, the US-led Korean War through the communist revolution and the dictatorship of Kim Jung-Un and his father;
5. The Philippines: from the oppressive Spanish colonization, through the oppressive occupation of the United States to client state status, independence and now to strong-arm President Roberto Duterte;
6. Turkey: from the Ottoman Empire (which was destroyed during WWI), to support of the Nazis during WWII, to the current authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan;
7. Brazil: from the oppressive rule of the Portuguese, through the series of Fascist Military Dictatorships (and their “death squads), to the massive exploitation of its mineral resources by multinational corporations to current President Jair Bolsenaro;
8. India: from the fiefdoms, the oppressive rule of the British Empire to the non-violent revolution led by Gandhi, et al to the authoritarian presidency of President Narendra Modi.
Trump and Saudi
Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin
Salman Al Saud
Trump and Russian
“Dictator” Vladimir Putin
Trump and Chinese Communist Party
Dictator Xi Jinping
Trump with North Korean
Dictator Kim Jung-Un
Trump with
Philippine Strong-arm President Roberto Duterte
Trump with Turkish
Strong-arm President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Trump and Brazilian Strong-arm President Jair Bolsenaro
Trump with India’s
Strong-arm President Narendra Modi
Russia’s
Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping
And while I’m
showing disturbing photos of Trump and prominent authoritarians, here are a few
more photos of Trump with some politically-prominent Fundamentalist Christian
Dominionists (aka “Christian Reconstructionists” aka “The Family”). One of the
movement’s hidden agendas is the gradual establishment of a theocratic
government to replace American democracy! Seriously!
It is
important for all US voters to watch NetFlix’s new series, titled “The
Family” (or read the book by that name, both authored by Jeff Sharlet).
Here is the link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7knN2TXQPzw.
Trump at this year’s
annual “Family”-sponsored National Prayer Breakfast. (Photo from the Guardian’s important
article, “The Family: Inside
the sinister sect that has infected western democracy”,
Here is a
definition of the theocratic Christian
Reconstructionist movement that has been
increasingly – and successfully - trying to gain control over the Republican
Party for decades. The definition comes from Julie J. Ingersoll, the author of
a new book on the subject, titled Building God's Kingdom:
Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction.
“Christian
Reconstructionists (believers in biblical
inerrancy and male Christian supremacy, among other dogmas, including expanding
the death penalty for sins mentioned in the Old Testament) are a small
but influential group of conservative Christians who argue that biblical law as
it is contained in the Old and New Testaments should be the basis of our modern
legal system and the organizing mechanism regulating every aspect of human
life. Most known for “dominionism,” they have had an important, but often
hidden, influence in the culture, the agenda, and the framing of concerns of
conservative American Protestantism.” – Julie J. Ingersoll
A recent
Counterpunch article written by Karl Grossman, Professor of American
Studies at SUNY, does
a good job of explaining the movement and the implications for the US and VP
Mike Pence if Trump is removed from office. Read it at: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/30/a-theology-of-power-mike-pence-and-the-dominionists/.
Trump with
Christian Dominionist Sarah Palin
Trump with
Christian Dominionist Mike Pence
Trump with
Christian Dominionist Betsy DeVos
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr Kohls is a retired family
physician from Duluth, MN, USA. Since his retirement from his holistic mental
health solo practice, he has been writing weekly columns for northeast
Minnesota’s alternative newsweekly magazine, the Duluth Reader. His columns,
which are widely re-published around the world, deal with a large variety of
justice issues, including the dangers of American fascism (including religious
fascism), conscienceless corporatism, militarism, racism, xenophobia,
industrial pollution, climate geo-engineering/solar radiation management, the
dangers of electromagnetic radiation, Big Copper Mining’s attempts at exploitation
of northeast Minnesota’s water-rich environment, Big Medicine’s and Big
Pharma’s over-charging, over-screening, over-diagnosing, over-drugging, and
over-vaccination agendas, as well as other corporate global movements that
threaten human health, the environment, democracy, civility and the
sustainability of life on earth. Many of his columns have been archived
at a number of websites, including these four: http://duluthreader.com/search?search_term=Duty+to+Warn&p=2; http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/gary-g-kohls; http://freepress.org/geographic-scope/national; and https://www.transcend.org/tms/search/?q=gary+kohls+articles
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