Is a coup still ‘electoralism’?

  • Qelp [they/them,she/her]
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    4 years ago

    trump's bad for business, the military industrial complex needs blood and trump hasn't spilled any. at this point, they'd probably take anyone, republican or democrat, who wants to reboot the war economy

    • Ned [none/use name]
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      4 years ago

      Trump has spilled plenty of blood. Killed more civilians with drone strikes in 4 years than Obama did in 8.

    • OhWell [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      Trump bombed Iran in 2017, massively expanded the drone program and revoked a law that forced the military to report civilian casualties.

      Seems most people on this site think the military industrial complex is a hivemind and don't understand that it's a handful of capitalists at the top who have their own interests, most of them contradicting one another.

      Also, US imperialism has been declining for years. It was in a decline before Trump stepped in office. Ask neolibs and necons about the failures of Obama's presidency and the first thing they'll bring up is foreign policy. Obama screwed around in Afghanistan, which is now completely overrun with the Taliban to the point the US has lost that war and their puppet government toppled. Obama also completely squandered Syria and he was seen as a weak coward for not getting aggressive with Russia after Putin had his own power trip in the eastern bloc with seizing back the Crimea and invading Ukraine.

      All through 2014, conservatives were yelling "boots on the ground" in regards of Syria. They constantly talked about how WEAK WEAK WEAK they seen Obama to be for his foreign policy efforts, something that was also heavily criticized by the neolibs who worship at his altar.

      The media simply changed sides when Trump came into the picture and because 70% of all our media has a liberal bias, you suddenly heard about the US empire in decline, cause they refused to really cover it years ago.

      Trump is a failure much in the way Obama was in his second term, and Biden isn't going to fix it for them either.

      • cracksmoke2020 [none/use name]
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        4 years ago

        It's really that Hillary Clinton was a war hawk in a way that Kerry wasn't as well. Many of these same people also describe Biden as more dovish than Obama.

    • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      Biden has promised limitless blood already. Warmongering in China, Syria, Bolivia, Venezuela, you name it. He's serving the world up in a buffet platter.

      • OhWell [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        ROFL a war on China is not happening. Both parties love to yell at each other over China, but it's just them acting tough and that's been going on for over 30 years now. Republicans ran this same propaganda calling Obama soft and cowardly on China, and even in the 90s, Bill Clinton was called "soft on China". Over 70% of our commodities are made over there. There isn't going to be a war any time soon.

        The US already squandered their chances in Syria years ago back in Obama's presidency. They can't really do anything except bring in more troops.

        Bolivia and Venezuela might have coups engineered by the capitalists within the military industrial complex. But full on 2004 style war, is unlikely.

        No mention of Iraq or Afghanistan I see, which are the biggest failures of US imperialism as of late. The Taliban have pretty much taken over in Afghanistan to the point that the US has lost that war and the Taliban could force them out in the near future. Both of the puppet governments that the US and NATO propped up have failed. Those countries have become failed states. If there is any imperialist effort to be done in Biden's presidency, I'm pretty sure it's going to be Iraq and Afghanistan long before it's China.

        So many leftists seem to think it's still 2004 and come up with laughably bad takes on foreign policy acting like the military industrial complex is some hivemind, when it absolutely is not. It's a handful of capitalists with their own interests in natural resources spread out across the world and if you pay attention long enough, you start to see where they contradict themselves and run into conflict over said interests.

        The US war machine has been declining for the past decade. Biden isn't going to fix it. If anyone actually paid attention to Obama's foreign policy failures in his second term, this would be clear to them. Obama's entire second term was mostly foreign policy failures on the US's behalf. Trump was a bumbling moron and he made things worse by escalating tensions in Afghanistan and increasing the drone program. The only thing he really did that made matters worse for the war machine was that he and the neo-cons in his cabinet were willing to defund NATO all to make a few extra bucks.

        It's not 2004 anymore.

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          You don't actually need to go to war to feed the beast, just beat the drums at paper tigers and spend trillions on broken weapons systems. Biden is continuing that proud tradition of "everyone who isn't white is our mortal enemy, ready to pounce at any second". Trump did too, but he wasn't as convincing about it. He's not saying these things because he believes then, he's saying then because the MIC knows that this means their profits are safe under Biden.

          There will be bloodshed, probably a proxy war (revival of funding to Turkic Nationals maybe?, Definite continuation of whatever projects were happening under Trump), And the war profiteering will cause countless deaths in America from the austerity that funds it.

          Healthcare pls.

          • OhWell [he/him]
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            4 years ago

            Trump did too, but he wasn’t as convincing about it. He’s not saying these things because he believes then, he’s saying then because the MIC knows that this means their profits are safe under Biden.

            What makes you think the military industrial complex is some hivemind with the president at the center? It's not a hivemind. It's a handful of capitalists, all with their own interests spread out across the globe. I mean, we literally got a full example of this with Elon Musk of all people being involved in Bolivia.

            It's not 2004 anymore. There is no full on; boots on the ground, waving American flags with the war machine when coups happen. And what you describe with military profits happens even without war. Our budget is so inflated and a fair share of that is not even going to the military, it's going to the private corporations and private sector which is controlled by these capitalists.

            Go back and read about Obama's foreign policy errors that I highlighted and do some digging there on articles from 2014 and 2015. War in Syria didn't go so well for them and they put a lot of effort into that. Obama also screwed up with Ukraine and the Crimea, when he had he biggest neolibs and neocons SCREAMING for war over that.

            This shit isn't as simple as most of you think. War has changed a lot since 2004, and the US has been getting their asses kicked in Afghanistan and Iraq since Obama's second term. The Taliban have practically taken over Afghanistan to the point that they can push the US out in the near future. I know some armchair leftist genius is going to respond to this with "that's not true! Biden can just put more troops on the ground and turn the tide!' but that's not how war works. They tried that in Obama's second term and it backfired and will backfire again.

            There will be bloodshed, probably a proxy war (revival of funding to Turkic Nationals maybe?, Definite continuation of whatever projects were happening under Trump), And the war profiteering will cause countless deaths in America from the austerity that funds it.

            The austerity that is going to come here in the US will be to raise police budgets and the national guard. The military budget is already inflated through the roof and they have that covered. The war on terror is coming home. Few of you seem to realize this with how the state is preparing for all our war with the protest movement in the street. We'll see a bipartisanship effort early on next year to pass some law furthering military police to suppress protests. The word we keep hearing is that the federal government is broke and that austerity is going to fund all this shit for them to make life hell for us.

            • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
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              4 years ago

              I am in total agreement, we're heading towards a massive domestic conflict. A heightening of class warfare and subsequent violent crackdown by the imperial bourgeoisie.

              They're failing miserably to succeed in projecting power in the colonial territories so that industry has to go somewhere, and the police are absolutely going to be getting a massive windfall over the next decade or so.