SPENGLER REVISITED ; THE DOWNFALL OF THE WEST

After the lies and the corruption were laid bare for all to see in this president's conducting "diplomacy", the full range of the White House's dirty tricks is now being activated.

The whistle-blower and Representative Adam Schiff are on Trump's hit list. The former is named a "spy" while the latter  is enjoined to resign. The House speaker might as well hide to stay alive. 

The Democratic leadership for once is trying to set a tone of some dignity, rooted in governance and precedent, going back to the Founders. Trump chooses yet again the gutter over breed, destroying chances for a more dignified, chastened outcome (which is still possible under the safeguards in the existing impeachment proposal). 

The American political debacle, which alienates former allies and placates autocrats of all creeds, is entering a phase of overdrive. 

Trump is to the United States what Pinochet was to Chile. The denial of truth is no longer some form of nervous disorder. It is a strategy of a few, who are dismantling the fabric of democracy for the benefit of a ruling mafia which seeks material gain during the allotted time of "occupation". This mafia net is supported by an international coterie of equally unsavory leaders outside, and by a Christian jihad inside.

Pinochet used similar stepping-stones to slowly reverse diversity, generosity, and correct governance. At the end,the pockets of resistance proved to be stronger than the evil who had stormed the La Moneda presidential Palace in Santiago. Pinochet was another gift of the US to the world.

We are not there yet in this troubling America. Unfortunately, especially for democracies worldwide, the flavor of the "made in the USA" has become debased. It will be hard to change course in the short-term. The Republicans have become a rat pack of Brownshirts and the Democrats are having a hard time corralling their better intentions in a mobilizing alternative.

Did one ever think one had to feel sorry, not for what the Americans do to others (Vietnam, Iraq...) but for what they have brought on themselves?  Spengler's assertion applies to the USA now, with the greetings of Donald J. Trump. The asphalt civilization is a hard-sell.