Imagine a great interfaith convention with the representatives of the world’s most populous religions, the main sects of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and so on, gathering in one spot. Picture the religious leaders as they stand outside the meeting hall waiting for the arrival of the head of the Catholic Church, watching as his famous “popemobile” drives into the square, leading a procession of armed guards, senior clerics, secretaries and assistants. And imagine the surprise of all those bishops, imams, rabbis and priests when the man who emerges from the vehicle is not Pope Francis in his papal finery but David Miscavige of the Church of Scientology in his pseudo-admiral’s dress uniform, and they realise with dawning shock and dismay that the Scientologists have somehow manged to seize legitimate and uncontested control of the Vatican and its ecclesiastical authority.
That’s pretty much how the heads of government and state and all their diplomats and officials must have felt at the weekend during the forty-forth G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, when Donald Trump and his associates turned up to cause confusion and mayhem, and with little apparent purpose. The gathering was an international public relations disaster for the United States, one marked in the most Trumpian manner possible by the American president’s apparent simmering resentment of the Canadian prime minister’s photogenic popularity. The whole thing, and the actions of the US’ representatives at the event is just inexplicable in terms of modern diplomacy. Unless there is a great deal of truth in this report by Jefferey Goldberg of the Atlantic Magazine:
Over the past couple of months, I’ve asked a number of people close to the president to provide me with short descriptions of what might constitute the Trump Doctrine. I’ve been trying, as part of a larger project, to understand the revolutionary nature of Trump’s approach to world affairs.
The third-best encapsulation of the Trump Doctrine, as outlined by a senior administration official over lunch a few weeks ago, is this: “No Friends, No Enemies.” This official explained that he was not describing a variant of the realpolitik notion that the U.S. has only shifting alliances, not permanent friends. Trump, this official said, doesn’t believe that the U.S. should be part of any alliance at all…
The second-best self-description of the Trump Doctrine I heard was this, from a senior national-security official: “Permanent destabilization creates American advantage.” The official who described this to me said Trump believes that keeping allies and adversaries alike perpetually off-balance necessarily benefits the United States…
The best distillation of the Trump Doctrine I heard, though, came from a senior White House official with direct access to the president…
“The Trump Doctrine is ‘We’re America, Bitch.’ That’s the Trump Doctrine.”
I later asked another senior official, one who rendered the doctrine not as “We’re America, Bitch” but as “We’re America, Bitches,” whether he was aware of the 2004 movie Team America: World Police, whose theme song was “America, Fuck Yeah!”
“Of course,” he said, laughing. “The president believes that we’re America, and people can take it or leave it.”
It seems that the government of the United States of America is in the hands of the political equivalent of the Church of Scientology, with Donald J Trump playing the role of L Ron Hubbard for the next three or more years. We’re all America now…
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
This made me laugh. Mr. Goldberg actually took the time to ask some “senior officials” (whatever that means) to come up with the blatantly obvious. Jesus, the guy tweets his buffoonery to the world almost everyday. I am not so sure about the advantage by keeping friend and foe off-balance. That seems more like an excuse for having no plans and no direction. But you don’t really have to ask anyone for that information either, it slaps you in the face very day.
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Yeah but the “Team America, Fuck Yeah” thing is still pretty crazy as a foreign policy strategy. Look at the US row with Canada. Canada of all places!
*SHAKES HEAD*
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Their foreign policy has always been nucking futz. Effective foreign policy entails actually knowing something about foreign countries (including, but not limited to, simple things like where they are physically located). Not something included much in American education. Another thing lacking, especially evident with this idiot, is a common understanding of the human condition in general. It might come as a surprise that, yes, it’s hard to make friends with folks whose whose children just got bombed because you had to stir up some shyte (or you even bombed them yourself), especially when the “why” defies a real reason. The “Team America, Fuck Yeah” thing is as old as the country.
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Manifest Destiny, Fuck Yeah
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Much of the mainstream press is the problem here..twisting or inventing facts to suit their agenda: fake news. If you want to target anything target the lying bitch called the leftist media. You won’t though, will you? Because to do so would show the kink in your armour, your argument, and expose YOUR agenda. The left has consistently destroyed far more of “America” than anyone else. You lost the election because of it, you lost hearts and minds. You lost people’s patience because our YOUR lies. Someone comes along and doesn’t cow-tow to your unsustainable, self-infatuated idiocy and you have a literal melt-down. George Soros can fund you all he likes..the real world has woken up and can see straight through your lies. You have all the answers and none of the solutions and will destroy the planet to exert your own hysterical cravings. Enough of your “shit” already.
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Well the “Left” is far greater and far more diverse than any one catch-all description. The American Left is distinct from the Irish Left, and the Irish Left runs a broad spectrum of opinions. There is no one “left” agenda.
As for lies, Donald Trump consistently and explicitly lies, and has been repeatedly exposed as a liar. How can you doubt that? Yes, all news media companies have their cultural biases, and can throw slants or spins on news items. But facts are facts.
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Meanwhile the FBI has been exposed for taking it upon themselves to ‘stop Trump being President’ during the election campaign. How do you like them apples? No outrage at police state intervention in ‘democracy’ from the usual wailers? Hypocrites the lot of them.
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So true and unbelievable! They totally compromised their entire justice system, thrown into doubt equal treatment of the politically differently thinking for the next few decades, and obliterated any belief in their integrity for years to come. For what? To oppose 4 to 8 years of an idiot in office, who can be and has been well managed with existing checks and balances. They are setting an example of why you should not stoop to the level of your opponent.
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The election of Trump has gradually exposed the corrupt nature of all the recognised tools of the State I.e media,law,politics etc. From eternity the peasants were always taught to believe in the impartiality of these bodies and that they can be trusted. However with Trump being elected and although he has no part of it, these bodies are continuing to self destruct and reveal their lack of impartiality. Let’s no kid ourselves, the two party state is a model picked by most Establishments. The two parties fight it out with one and other but they are still part of the same game. The fact that the establishment has allowed itself to be exposed via the Trump wailing suggests there’s a internal spook war going on within the US I.e Intel agencies are battling it out with one and other and thus exposing each other’s dirty tactics via media,law etc.
P.s could you imagine the outrage if there was a text from an FBI agent stating ‘we are going to stop Clinton from being president’? We can safely conclude there is no texts of that nature otherwise it would’ve been published. And yet the lack of outrage is a sign of appalling hypocrisy on the wailers behalf.
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Could not agree more! GRMA a chara!
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America really doesn’t have a left that is politically represented in any significant manner. They have their college students (who eventually grow out of it) and a few incorrigible fanatics that innocently throw terms like Socialism and Communism around without really knowing what they mean or what they are really about For an Irish (or most other European) person, any political party staunchly in support of capitalist venture in detriment to the people is a right-wing party (there is indeed such a thing as healthy capitalism that works for the people – I am not necessarily opposed to that, progress is a good thing and must be rewarded) . Americans really only have Republicans and Democrats. Both work hard to undermine all existing hard-earned benefits workers should be able to enjoy in America. Americans just do not want to see it. Any person neutrally examining the agendas these parties push by determination to whose benefit these agendas may be, will come to the conclusion that the only people benefiting are the already obscenely rich. The Republicans generally do it the old-school way by passing pork-laden bills to benefit their industrial cronies, and the Democrats by importing millions of scabs for cheapening labour cost for their Billionaire cronies. Republicans boast of the “trickle down” effect of the super rich, but the bottom of the well is dry. The others boast how inclusion and immigration bolsters thought diversity and is good for the development of the country, but they do nothing to bring what immigrants are paid and the conditions they live in, to a level even remotely close to what is considered an acceptable wage and a livable human habitat in their country. Republicans like isolationism and prefer American goods for Americans so it is easier for them to extort the local market. Democrats like globalism, as the lack of control over international resources allows procurement of low-cost labour without any pesky humanitarian obstacles. Republicans naturally favour traditional producing industries like steel, weapons, and pharmaceuticals, while Democrats favour service industries like high-tech and big box distribution cartels along with human labour intense industries. All of them lie. All of their media lie. All of their representatives lie. A Fox or a CNN report of someone lying makes me laugh out loud. CNN used to be a decent news source in the nineties. They have now overtaken Fox in how low you can go, something I previously thought impossible (splicing soundbites, altering photographs, staging scenes, etc.. is pretty bad). I would have never thought of CNN destroying itself and its integrity for the sake of commercialism and over some silly buffoon, even if he is the president – very disappointed. I have lived in America for a long time, I am a dual citizen, I love the country, but in this crazy period of their history, I am glad to be able to now spend much of my time in Ireland. It is just so sad to see what is happening to the country. People in their frenzied undying support of their stupid party have turned blind and deaf to reality and reason. I am an independent, but tend to side more with the Democrats, as they have better focus on environmental protection. Yes, it is kind of like Sinn Fein and the Irish language, but it is at least something. Then there are a couple of other bothersome things like creationism and other such stupid stuff, that sway me. All in all, I believe it is time to kick out the unabashedly self-enriching major parties that are both bringing the country down in flames while yielding insane profits for just a minor few individuals. High time.
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