American Duplicity

The dichotomy of the “American experiment,” has always been an “oil-water” blending of concepts, ideas, and hypotheses on the American condition. But following the induction of the “Trump spectrum,” the once democratic paradigm, has amplified into combative exchanges, void of any moderate voices. The avarice behind the discourse has deteriorated any common-stance amongst American citizens. Heightened racial tension, antisemitism, and isolationism, helped to augment Donald Trump’s impetuousness and ruthlessness towards governance. Using disinformation as a battering ram, the unrelenting proliferation of bad info, that the right-wing brandish as arbitrary truth, is integral to propping up their doctrine (be it project 2025, etc). But this is not a new practice of the right-wing. Concepts like the “Deep State,” are derived from opposition to the FBI program COINTELPRO, in which the “New Left” was the target of harassment, violence and murder by the FBI. Using terms like “Conspiracy Theorist,” meant to describe, discredit and ostracize the Civil Rights, and Anti-War movements of the 60’s and 70’s, were written orders throughout COINTELPRO documents. From the desk of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, highly concentrated misinformation began distorting societal norms and turning the American citizenship in on itself. This systematic demoralization, weaponized America’s public opinion, sowed discontent amongst the populous, and unveiled the willingness of secret operators within the government, to offset and undermine the socio-political reformation of America’s civil equality. Turmoil overcame political groups, disrupting and dismantling them from the inside out. Other moderate civil rights leaders or those deemed “agitators,” like Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King were targeted and murdered by orders of the program. Charting the propaganda, its easy to find the origins of many of the low-hanging tactics that are recycled by right-wing. Barrages of names like “woke mob,” “cancel culture,” “extremists,” even leftists (in context), saturate exchanges and antagonize. This is a learned “psy-tactic” drawn from the Cold War, and verbatim, per the COINTELPRO documents. Same as “conspiracy theorist,” the terminology is meant to “blanket-classify” and discredit opposition and discourage any bipartisanship. Since the Obama administration, the whispers, quiet slights and micro-aggressions have turned to full-on intimidation, and loud posturing. By the insurrection on January 6th, the acidic perpetuation of bad information, “fake news,” and internalized government discontent, fizzled up toward the precipice, with Trump instigating it further.

THE COINTELPRO PAPERS

What is startling, is the relativeness of this old Cold War FBI program, and its’ long-ranging impression on the current status quo. The notion of duplicity sets in, once it’s understood, that we are on course to repeat history; searching for the enemy within, turning our sights towards each other. The internet, and more importantly, social media, has become the preverbal “open-air tabloid,” exacerbating how quickly misinformation spreads, how intricately information is distorted, and how quickly it is consumed. The propaganda conjures the alternate realities, and churns the internal information war in which progressives and conservatives are obsessively embroiled. Division is the tool that conquers nations. If Americans can find no common thesis on which to continue this American experiment, it’s likely to wind up in our total destruction.

World history records tyranny with discontent; Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, China’s “Great Leap Forward,” the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, all costing the lives of millions of people. These atrocities were the ambitions of a single individual, being projected through totalitarianism and brutal repression. A systematic dismantling of the the governmental infrastructures in these instances, left civics and constitutions to be dissolved by the state. The Soviet government following the World Wars, angled itself towards global superiority. The Balkans and other eastern European states were annexed through the USSR’s consolidatory aspirations. The Cold War wasn’t just an arms race with the Soviet powers, it was the Soviet Republic’s attempt at global dominance. In response, America positioned itself to counter the Russian aggression, using the military alliance of European (western) nations called NATO, with the US at the helm. The contest of strategic global positioning began to encompass the conflicts, Russia encroaching on the international sovereignty of European countries, America aligning with countries with comparable military power and those under the reign of Russian communism. In sum, the Cold War was a mobilization of “western,” countries, to circumvent the spread of communism and the expansion of the USSR. This 40+ year contest with Russia surmised the complicated nature of US-Russia relations, which have been tedious at best, leading toward Vladmir Putin’s rule over the country. Putin’s constant efforts to meddle in US affairs, and undermine. Through computer hacking, planted stories, blackmail, Putin’s subversive approach to US-relations, has been quiet yet predatory, searching for soft spots to exploit and expose America’s internal security. Putin’s extended appointments as president, are the signatures of his corruption. His rule has been marked with political assassinations, subversion, and repression, and is left to be seen what his true endgame actually is. In the interim, his digital war-games have taken their toll on American practices and society. It is baffling as to why Trump is eager to “normalize” relations with the Putin’s clandestine authoritarian dictatorship, if not for some surreptitious quid-pro-quo. Having a complicit administration in the US, bolsters his reign over his country, and he is empowered to undermine the sovereignty of his neighbors should he choose to impose his will on surrounding territories. Putin rules through fear, and Trump seems eager to mimic. However, what is most interesting is, after generations of less than perfect relations with Russia, Trump is willing to compromise the integrity of the United States, in exchange for the chance to bend at Putin’s feet.

Amidst Trump’s reappointment to office, he’s done something unseen and unprecedented in over 100 years of American governance; he attacked everyday, hardworking Americans, and the institutions that stabilize societal progress, and cradle American livelihood. D.O.G.E, has been part of the expeditionary, spearheaded by Elon Musk, who, like Trump, had no prior government credential prior to his appointment. Together, they actively break down the internal infrastructure of the US. His open capitulation to white nationalists, KKK, Neo Nazis’, Confederate sympathizers alike, sends a clear signal to Americans, his willingness to offset American democracy with idealistic imposition, and potential violence. On this, stands another duplicitous position; in the open Trump supports Israel, yet his supporters hold fiercely antisemitic views. Our current propensity to believe the first glance, keeps us susceptible to the ongoing waves of extraordinary propaganda. Americans are in a paradox, with the abnormalities of the American ethos, and the inherent corrosive deprecation of America’s ugly underbelly are exposed to the world. The remanence of defeated adversaries, return to rinse and repeat of their methodology…exclaiming validation for appeasing the world’s evil men.