Ep 337 Israel, Trump, and Us. Which Side Are We On?

It went like this Sometimes we must explicitly state what ought to be utterly obvious , or would we rather make what is disgusting normal , make every street corner a shooting gallery , every handheld device a bomb , every bomb a cemetery , every step someone's last ? Do we want to make fear the new normal , paranoia , wisdom ?

Do we want to cease fire or to spread fire ? Dear Netanyahu , you have crawled past statist elitism , past nationalistic immorality , past ignominious war-making infamy , all the way to fascistic bottom-feeding decrepitude . You are disgusting and you want to drag us all after you , don't you ? But what of those in the Israeli Defense Force ?

What of Israelis living life and life only throughout Israel ? What of Israel's supporters living life and life only around the world ?

How should we , who are nauseated by what has been and is being done to Palestinians and by what is now spreading rather than ceasing , regard Netanyahu , regard the IDF , regard Israelis in Israel who support genocide and regard Israel's supporters around the world who ignore alibi , arm and otherwise aid genocide .

Can we be horrified , outraged and enraged , but also regard the planners , perpetrators , supporters and ignorers of the genocide hurled at Gaza's schools , hospitals , homes and streets without ourselves hurling dehumanizing epithets , without ourselves becoming dehumanizers ? It is getting difficult . It really is .

We don't want to think of fellow humans , much less of neighbors or relatives , as planners , perpetrators , abettors or even just ignorers of genocide . We don't want to hate fellow humans . Can we hate the acts yet somehow recognize that those involved are people like us ? Can we hate the acts but not dehumanize the perpetrators ?

Could Israelis have hated the October 7th acts yet have understood the circumstances and feelings that led to those acts ? Could Israelis have not dehumanized the perpetrators , much less dehumanized all Palestinians ? Could Israelis have not called Palestinians vermin , not incentivized genocide against Palestinians ?

Could Israelis have avoided reducing themselves to genocide perpetrators ? Not easily , apparently , but was that too much to have hoped for ? For that matter , can we ourselves hate repressive and even murderous policing and not call the cops pigs ? Can we hate racist , misogynist , evil Trump officiating , yet not dehumanize Trump supporters ?

Can we arouse in ourselves appropriate energy to battle fascist trends , but not let hate for fascist actions undo our own humanity . Can we work to end the horrors in Gaza and to prevent their spread , without parroting anti-Semitic slanders ?

Can we see that , against everything holy , everything moral , everything worthy , israel seems literally hell-bent upon mayhem and destruction until nothing remains of Palestinians , and perhaps of Israel as well ? And can we , at the same time , not become what we rightly reject ? Isn't that part of our task ? Regarding ending Netanyahu , genocide and Trumpism too ?

It's not easy to express outraged militants but simultaneously not dehumanize . Some are trying . We should all try , shouldn't we ? Okay , that was the whole article . And now the Mideast massacre that it railed at persists and grows . Snipers routinely target young children .

Can you imagine sitting comfortably on the edge of a roof , cocking your mammoth rifle , aiming it and slicing off the top of the head of a 10-year-old ? Maybe you can't . It is a hard act to contain in one's head . But can you imagine celebrating that act or financing it , or even only carrying on , while that is financed by your country ?

Surely we can imagine that much , can't we ? It is all around us , after all . So how should we feel about it , can't we ? It is all around us after all . So how should we feel about it . Starvation sadistically afflicts everyone in Gaza . Can you imagine actual flesh-and-bud people cheering for starvation Go , starvation go . Or even just ignoring weaponized starvation ?

The correct reaction to weaponized starvation , the only humane reaction to it , is tears plus outrage , and then resistance and , above all , reaching out monumental migraine , a perpetual , malignant , monumental migraine that hurts beyond pain and that is methodically mopping a path to extensive , malignant murder .

I feel somewhat ridiculous repeating these observations over and over , somewhat apocalyptic , and yet they are not an exaggeration . Our not-so-friendly American exceptionalist fascism isn't fully grown yet . Knives flash , but don't quite yet sever heads . Though we are getting there .

Socially challenged , savage assholes wield power that corrupts , coerces , incarcerates , kidnaps and , increasingly , murders , albeit the last still occurs as a collateral and not overtly pursued outcome . More structurally , our not-so-friendly American exceptionalist fascism seeks more than this or that individual policy .

Its goal is round-the-clock power that removes all obstacles to its own unlimited range . Our not-so-friendly American exceptionalist fascism seeks structural enshrinement . It literally seeks to establish and entrench power that corrupts absolutely . That is our glass , seen half-empty , and it is more than mere imagination .

Yet at the same time , trump's support drops , anti-fascist resistance climbs , outrage demonstrations spread , energetic organizing starts to produce collective connections . Some law firms resist . Some colleges resist , some unions resist , many , many citizens resist . Each new conversation , refusal , rally , march and obstruction touches additional people .

Each such act gives new people hope , provides new people ways to join . The whole of the resistance , with all of its many dimensions , puts steadily growing pressure on elites of all kinds and also , honestly , on their abettors , on their enablers . It tells them we are not going away . We will get steadily more numerous and stronger . We will broaden our focus .

We will resist , but then we will also challenge . We will reject your fascism , but then also pursue our liberation . Keep up your agenda , and your whole edifice of cowardly , hypocritical , elite-serving , self-serving , fascistic and even just business-as-previously-usual system will be our target . You will not intimidate us into silence .

You will instead horrify us into sustained , ever-widening pursuit of a better world . That is our glass half full , and it too is more than mere imagination .

It is happening , it is spreading , and yet I can't deny that at the same time , we still have many , many neighbors who continue to actively celebrate Trump , or who submissively buckle before him , scared even while also outraged , or who just passively watch him , whether horrified or amused .

Too many do not yet visibly dissent , too many do not yet resist , too many comply . So what might you do about those who continue to watch Trump's antics , perhaps clapping or , more often , troubled but silent ? Should we who resist Trump write off those who don't ? Should we castigate those who don't resist or even hate them ?

And what do we do about the fear that interferes with resistance ? Can I be blunt ? Look around , even aside from Trumpism , hypocrisy parades . People who decry lying , lie , people who ridicule , clickbaiting , clickbait , people who say defend free speech , move to jail free speakers or abide it . Look around and you will see that profiles in cowardice proliferate .

A university capitulates . A law firm suspends legality . A progressive non-profit engages in self-defense against conceivable attacks by prophylactically doing what the attackers demand before it is even demanded . And yet , still more troubling , below the top , many young lawyers still obey their partner bosses . Many students and faculty still obey their trustees .

Many progressive organization staffs still obey their accountants . Obedience and self-censorship still proliferate . But wait , that's just more glass-half-empty reporting . Other law firm lawyers file rebellious briefs . Other campuses collectively rebel . Other non-profit organizations stay the course and organize . And , for that matter , you are not a hypocrite .

You are not a coward , me too . So what for goodness sake should we do ? Returning to Gaza , before I try to answer . I should note that I am Jewish by birth , though religion , even just as a cultural connection , isn't remotely deep in my makeup . It isn't my identity , not even a tiny part of my makeup . Nothing religious is . Yet my mother was Jewish .

So I am Jewish and on the two occasions that I can remember that I personally directly encountered anti-Semitism two cases in 78 years . The first was from a parent of a then-woman friend , and incredibly , so was the second .

And I admit that my perhaps too aggressive response in each case may have owed somewhat to something purely personal , purely visceral , as well as to general outrage at oppressive behavior of any kind .

So maybe that explains as well my reaction to what Israel is doing , to what much of Israel's population cheers on and to what much of the Jewish community in the United States also cheers on or at any rate calmly accommodates to .

Maybe my being Jewish , however loosely , explains why I'm not only outraged , but I think maybe the word is embarrassed and incredulous . How could we ? How could we ? Well , people are capable of good and of ill , capable of wonderful and of abysmal . That's just a fact .

People living under the sway of horrendously malignant institutions can become blind to , deaf to and even abettors of widely horrible circumstances . That's just a fact . But people , even living under the sway of horrendously malignant institutions , can also resist . How many will ?

Here at home , and getting just a trifle more analytic about all this , trumpian pundits offer three phony rationales to justify some key aspects of what Trumpism has been doing . Do these rationales abet Netanyahu too , over there , and abet other right-wing thugs elsewhere ? I don't know . Perhaps they do . They are one that we need to protect meritocracy .

Two , that we need to expand efficiency . And three , that we need to terminate anti-Semitism . Each of these three inclinations has been widely perverted to their current rationalizing purpose , though not for the first time , of course , and so each deserves some scrutiny . So consider the first rationale meritocracy .

This is employed because who is going to say merit ought not receive reward ? Okay , then Trumpers say DEI interferes with meritocracy , so we must eliminate it . Owners produce oodles , so we must defend them against commie judges , and so on . Well , what do we make of this rationale ?

Well , it is to remunerate , empower or elevate people based on the merit , which is to say the quality or worth of their actions . We might then reasonably ask , however first , does this , in any degree at all , actually occur ? Does merit get rewarded , or does malevolence ? Second , what or who determines merit ?

That is , what or who determines the quality or worth of actions ? Is it all those who are affected , or is it a few who have great power ?

And third and I suppose you might say this question is from somewhere outside the box , since this is nearly never asked , even if it is done seriously and with good intentions ought people be remunerated , empowered or elevated based on the quality or worth of their actions ? Ought we reward luck or even inborn talent , or should we reward only effort and sacrifice ?

The second rationale is that we must be efficient . This is urged because who is going to say no , we should be inefficient ? Fire him , fire her , fire them all . Efficiency demands that heads roll , but does it ? Well , what is efficiency ? It is to succeed in doing what we want to do and not waste that which is valuable to us in the process .

To succeed and to not waste , that's a good norm , right ? Who would instead favor inefficiency ? Well , not so fast . We might ask who is the we who decides what we want to do ? Is it us or is it someone who bosses us ? And who is the we who decides what we value ? Again , us or bosses above us . The third rationale is anti-antisemitism .

This is used because who is going to say that we ought to instead hate and punish Jews ? So jail him , deport her hell , get them all . Anti-antisemitism demands it , but does it . What is anti-antisemitism ? Who decides that ? Netanyahu , trump ?

If these three rationales are ridiculous , lying , manipulations and , in any event , not even remotely serious explanations of Trump , vask , musk et al's true motives , then what does fuel Trumpism ?

Perhaps the most singularly unique thing about the chaotic , shock and awe activities all around us is the degree to which the underlying real rationales are visible for all to see and are literally the opposite of their rhetoric . The real rationales don't even hide . In plain sight , they parade .

The real rationales are to establish one-man rule , to impose chief executive rule , chief executive order and chief executive cultural conformity , enhance profit and power . Power and profit , not one or the other , but both . And if the two do sometimes clash , then if you can seek and hold power first the real rationales .

Hate is their son , fear is their daughter , cruelty is their emblem . Physical , emotional and intellectual rape is their weapon . For Trump , musk , vance et al , anything serviceable to their agenda has merit If you are more conformist . You have more merit .

If you bow down lower and serve with a bigger smile , you are a prince of talent , wisdom and , of course , merit . If you stand and resist seriously , you would do that . Okay , you are a despicable vermin . Indeed , you are a terrorist against all that is holy , which is to say against Trump . Our meritocracy rewards what power and wealth deem to be merit .

Likewise for Trump , musk , vance et al , anything that facilitates their pursuits and doesn't waste what they covet is efficient . If you are more serviceable of their power , you are more efficient If you better fit their profit-seeking agenda . You are a princess of perfect accomplishment seeking agenda . You are a princess of perfect accomplishment .

Of course , this isn't particularly new . It has long been that anything that advances profit without wasting assets that profiteers can utilize was deemed efficient . The idea that what advances human well-being and development and doesn't waste what people value should be deemed efficient .

Well , find a few economists and citizens who say that and you will have pinpointed a bunch of anti-Trump terrorists . The Trumpian change from professional economists blathering about capitalist efficiency isn't going from humane to inhumane . It already was inhumane .

It is going from one profit-seeking , uberalist version of inhumane to a different now Trumpian , and far more extreme and cruel , uberalist version of inhumane .

And finally , for Trump-Musk et al if you celebrate their every word , their every look , their every action , if you learn to lie with levity , learn to laugh while you shuffle humans out of sight before more simply just doing away with them , learn to toast yourself while you kill , then you are a winner . You must be anti-anti-Semitic .

You can celebrate Trump and be celebrated by him , no matter that you make Nazi salutes or worship at the altar of Hitler's memory . What's the phrase that folks seem to like ? Make no mistake . Okay , make no mistake . Trump and co are dragging us toward long-running fascist hell , but their power , ironically , depends on our submission .

They have no really special talents , no superpowers . Their only strength , at least until and unless they truly solidify state repression to their whims , is their obliviousness to law and morality , their total lack of internal restraint , their total lack of empathy .

But the simple truth is , if enough people say no , if enough people refuse to bow , if enough people finally actively , militantly disobey , the tide will turn for Gaza and for America . That being the case , a final question echoes , reverberates . Which side are we on ?

Should we individually self-center and obey commands to avoid pissing off Trump , or should we collectively not only disobey Trump , but challenge , impede , remove and replace Trumpism . I have a feeling that a number of people are going to experience some confusion in coming weeks regarding Trump himself . He's going to claim a lot of victories .

He's going to claim to end war . He's going to claim to refresh and revitalize the economy . He's going to claim to clean up our culture . He's going to claim all manner of things and superficially , I fear and expect that it may look like he's telling the truth , and so people are going to get confused .

People are going to follow every single machination and ask is he fulfilling his promises ? Well , in a very real sense , he is going to be fulfilling his promises . His promises are vile , but he's going to be fulfilling them .

So my point is it's critical that people come to realize that we're not fighting , or we're not only fighting policy , policy , policy , policy . We're fighting an overall scheme , an overall agenda for the country and the world for that matter , and that scheme and that agenda is fascistic . That's what must be opposed .

The whole array of aims that he and his partners harbor for the United States and yes , on occasion he will do something , he may do something that has a good side has some positive ramifications . He may negotiate an end to the battle , to the war , to the genocide , at least temporarily , in the Middle East .

The genocide , at least temporarily , in the Middle East . Well , that's a thing that has good implications , good effects . It is possible , it ought to be possible , to simultaneously celebrate those good effects and castigate and continue to oppose and resist Trump and Trumpism .

It needs to be , otherwise , that's how he will entrench what he seeks , which is total one-person control . So , with that last point in mind , this is Michael Albert signing off until next time for Revolution Z .