New Year, Same Asshole! Hopefully His Last Year in Office!! And Are We Now Facing a New Middle East War?

Happy New Year to all! Here’s hoping that it is the asshole-in-chief’s last year in office!! What I want to know is how can this guy’s approval rating possibly be going up recently, even by a few points??! I guess it is all about the economy. The sad reality is that most Americans are too apathetic, ignorant and/or self absorbed to pay attention to or care what happens with our government, including our politicians’ behavior, the state of our democratic institutions, foreign policy, etc. The same goes for things like climate change, national debt, etc., unless it is literally directly affecting their lives at the moment. That is how the multinational corporations and other powerful interests have been able to completely hijack our government, with the associated political corruption further alienating the public from involvement with our political process. 

As for the impeachment process, while congress is still on vacation, the articles are still being held back by the House because things are still at a stalemate over the form of a Senate trial, with the Republicans holding nearly all the cards, and with McConnell still blocking allowing witnesses or new documentary evidence. It remains to be seen whether Trump and/or a few moderate Republican senators will force McConnell‘s hand in this regard. However, acquittal is still a foregone conclusion no matter what additional evidence comes out through emails or witnesses. It will still be interesting to see if any Republicans, or Democrats for that matter, defect from the party line.

Meanwhile, tensions are rapidly escalating in Iraq and probably soon throughout the region due to a series of attacks and counter-attacks, now including the US assassination of the top Iranian military leader and a pro-Iranian militia leader in a rocket attack just outside the Baghdad airport!  This is guaranteed to have significant and still unforeseen repercussions, which could include the further destabilization of Iraq, the pro-Iranian Iraqi government ejecting the remaining US forces from their country and probably the stepping up of attacks on US and other allied interests by Iran and/or their multiple proxy militia forces throughout the region, as well as possible interference with oil or other shipping through the Persian Gulf. This is nearly guaranteed to further destabilize the entire region, and again raises the risk for escalation to armed conflict. This is yet another example of Trump’s failed and incoherent foreign policy, which in this case mostly arises directly and indirectly from his misguided withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and imposition of crushing sanctions on Iran. Unfortunately, depending on how things evolve, this could potentially boost Trump’s ratings, unless we are sucked into a major conflict, which he knows would be politically damaging for him. This could well end up being the most important foreign crisis of the Trump administration.