Donald Trump: The Great American Alibi. (And more talk about America's Guns.)

Responses to Facebook chats.

OF course. Of course. Donald Trump is the alibi. That'd be the crux, center, and core of U.S. attention, at least until the end of 2028. Maybe even beyond. Because that's what The Narrative spoonfeeds us. Or forces us to swallow whole.

       I was a long-time Leftist until I blurred my paradigm in late 1990s when the Organized Left in the Philippines split into two (as funding went scarce as the Cold War ended). And then I moved to the U.S. and tried to work with Left-wing Filipinos and Left-wing mainstream (largely Americans). I felt alienated, confused, or lost. 

       I can say a lot more but I'll just say the Left that I knew is gone. I see a dismissive elitism that is hot and high on ideological purity and liberal overreach. I am sure whoever argues this is equipped with "cool insults" and correct crassness as response, almost the antithesis of how we were when we were groundworking communities and labor-organizing. 

       We persuaded, we shook hands, we gathered for fun, we discussed with those who disagreed. We never gave up until we recruited them. 

       Years ago, organizing and activism were committed projects. Tactical alliances were effective. These days, the Left believes it can advocate its cause via a juvenile meme that is shared 5,000x in 1 minute. 🏛🗽🏛

 <>IN a nutshell, per war (or America's obsession with guns), these will only heighten or exponentially spike, regardless of a POTUS with a foreign policy playbook that leans kind of dovish. 

       Mr Trump may favor trade-based deals over military brinkmanship but that doesn't mean he won't sell arms for the masters of war. America's 120.5 guns per 100 stays as the marquee. I just hinge my little ambitions to less war, end of wars and less mass shootings in our midst. 

       <>I have been unaligned since I left the Philippines in late 1990s. But it is easy to be judged as this side's apologist because I refuse to ride the hate Trump bandwagon over reading between the lines of his policies or other policies by other POTUSes .🏛🗽🏛

Media stuff and remembering a (real, not imagined) dictatorship.

Responses to Facebook chats.

IN a 20-year dictatorship that I lived through in my most active life as a journalist, the ruling power doesn't shut a major newspaper down or the media outlet that fights it. Why? How'd they know who is against them? LOL! 

       But seriously, the stronger reason: The dictatorship's benefactor, Washington, wanted to let the world know there's still democracy in countries that it controls. 

       I was a junior staffer for the alternative or progressive paper that battled Ferdinand Marcos Sr., which was raided but allowed to resume a few months after. The raid was provoked, not really because We Forum was anti-Marcos (activists called it then “sabwatang Marcos-U.S.”) but because the dictator was infuriated by our publication of a series of articles questioning his (WW2) war medals. We were warned after two or three articles but the editors ignored it, of course.

       I also wrote for the biggest anti-government daily (Philippine Daily Inquirer) and an all-opinion weekly (“Manila's best thinkers”), post-revolution. I did co-publish a “guerrilla-like” newsmagazine (Weekend Banner) that was constantly monitored by the military, LOL! Shut me up? Writers write. They don't spew yarns like we will be shut down, guys! 🏛🗽✍️

MEANWHILE, it is a different situation in a Communist government which "owns" its media. Russia's The Kremlin has Tass. China's CCP has People's Daily, Guangming Daily and PLA Daily and the English-language China Daily. 

       In America? Under Donald Trump? Close to the New York Times, you say? That's laughable. Why not just shut down Saturday Night Live? LOL! This is America, a global power that earns its “coolness” boss mojo by, you know, being democratic and a bastion of freedom and democracy? If The Times or Washington Post or Rolling Stone get shut down, how'd President Trump be able to convince the world that America is still #1? Then China is better. Xi Jinping has an English paper, not just Mandarin. 

       Seriously though, whoever POTUS, the issue is the advent of China and BRICS, which is expanding--that is Washington's utmost concern. The New Left in America is simply pissed that their bet lost, period. The thing is, even if Kamala Harris won last year, China remains as China. 

       In fact, two or three weeks after November 2020  while Joe was celebrating, China gathered 14 economies in the Asia Pacific (including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) to form the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), the largest trade bloc so far. And then BRICS welcomed Egypt, UAE, Iran, Indonesia and Ethiopia. The EU's top trading partner: China. 

       Ergo, whoever sits in 2028, the geopolitical grid has changed since 2021. It is not the 19th or 20th century anymore. America has to unite rather than continually divide itself. And we should stop pointing at Mr Trump as THE alibi for this country's crumbling foundation. 🏛🗽✍️

MAJOR U.S. newspapers or media outlets, for whatever reason, can be sold or bought out or acquired or merged with another but will never be shut down, I believe. 

       Part of New York Times’ current investors is the powerful BlackRock; Carlos Slim used to be a major shareholder. Of course, Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post years ago. In 2018, Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the LA Times and two other publications. Warren Buffett used to own 30 newspapers and 49 weeklies, which he sold to Lee Enterprises (which currently publishes 72 newspapers in 25 states). Etc etcetera. 

       These U.S. media giants aren't like tiny mouthpieces that a POTUS can just erase. And as I said, the U.S.' marquee ego of "character of greatness" to the world, whoever sits in White House, can't just do a "dictatorial" trick like what its underlings elsewhere in the globe do. But shutting down a newspaper isn't that easy as SDO (standard dictatorship operation). 🏛🗽✍️