Blackcap Blog

Published at 19:59 on 8 March 2017

As I am wont to do at times, I’m delving into a subject deeply for no apparent reason other than a friend mentioned it and it sparked my interest to read further on it. The subject in this case is the Chilean Revolution of 1970-1973 that was brutally cut short by a US-supported coup d’etat against the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende.

I’m not quite old enough to qualify as “old” yet, but this still resonates with me:

“[T]here is no generation gap–there are young old people and old young people, and I place myself in the latter category.” — Salvador Allende

This comes from a little-known (in the US) speech that Allende gave at a university in Mexico:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

 

Published at 08:14 on 4 March 2017

And really, could anyone doubt that it wouldn’t?

That speech that some foolishly gushed over looked good only in comparison to the general standard of awfulness that Trump has set. If any other president had uttered it, proposals like the Naziesque one to track and publicize immigrant crimes would have inspired the horror and revulsion they deserve.

Trump has done that before: His “I am your voice” acceptance speech was actually far better than his norm, too. He’s given up tweeting before, too. Neither has lasted. The leopard has proven time and time again that he cannot change his spots.

Published at 12:28 on 26 February 2017

They managed to successfully ram through a Clintonite to be the next head of their party. This shows that enough Democrats are either terminally clueless and cannot understand the mechanics of the Trump victory, or terminally craven and think risking a further slide into fascism is a price worth paying for continuing to appease the oligarchs.

Either way, I have no stomach for working closer with those bastards. Yes, I realize that there’s an argument to be made for perseverance, one that is basically not refutable (since it depends so much on unknowable future events). It’s just that the chance seems so remote to me, and the need seems so profound for more revolutionary politics, that I cannot in good conscience squander my precious life energy on working within the Democratic Party.

It bears revisiting the point that the Establishment left does not exist to liberate people from capitalism; it seeks to placate people with reforms so that they don’t get uppity and threaten the rule of the elites. As such, the reason that Ellison wasn’t voted in is that he serves no useful purpose to the Establishment. There simply isn’t enough viable threat of social revolution to sufficiently motivate serious attempts at reformism at the present.

So the conflict between following my heart and choosing the most practical route turns out to be illusory; focusing on radical politics is the most practical route.

Published at 10:07 on 24 February 2017

It could be explicitly guided by the principles of white nationalism, and could be totally unmoored from any standards of decency, instead of only partially unmoored from them. It could, in other words, be much like President Bannon desires it to be.

Which means that despite all his faults, someone like James Mattis is exerting a beneficial influence by retarding such new directions and clinging to historical patterns. In turn that means that if Mattis (or some other more Establishment figure) leaves, particularly if he is forced out, it’s time to get really worried.

Published at 13:24 on 16 February 2017

It’s real. Trumpists are whining about it and Establishment liberals are cheering it on.

What’s the ramifications in this for anarchists? I think this discussion on Reddit captures many of the points. First, the Deep State, like any part of the State, is not the friend of anti-authoritarians. But second, the pre-Trump status quo is far better for anarchists than the sort of fascism Trump could easily unleash. In this, the Deep State serves much like Stalin did against Hitler: not necessarily a Good Guy, but someone who can be much more easily lived with and coped with than the Bad Guy both of us have in common.

Currently, the Intelligence Community seems to be fighting Trump in the least harmful way remaining available to them: by leaking damaging facts about his regime. That allows the influence they wield to be moderated by public opinion and lawful processes. Exercising influence via leaks is greatly preferable to doing so via more overtly forceful techniques such as blackmailing, assassinations, coups d’etat, etc.

The leaks are still unlawful, of course. Classified information is being released to the public without following the legally mandated formal process of declassification. But the law isn’t prefect; in fact, it’s already failed mightily by letting an authoritarian demagogue (precisely the sort of person it has intended to keep out of high office) into the White House.

The crisis, in other words, already exists. By choosing to deliberately leak, the Intelligence Community is responding to an existing constitutional crisis, not creating a new one.

Published at 10:55 on 11 February 2017

I’m visiting my parents in New Mexico, and twice I’ve been struck by articles in the local paper hyperventilating about crime. The most recent one is here. In short: they’re pure crap, as shown by the actual statistics.

Crime is higher than national averages both in Albuquerque and in the state of New Mexico. Things have long been such; I remember that being the case when I lived in New Mexico as a teen. Yet, I never felt personally at risk, and I still don’t when I visit. And, more importantly, the long-term trend in crime, both in New Mexico and nationwide, has been downward.

Claims that “the crime rate is eye-popping” are nothing short of fake news. The Albuquerque Journal should be ashamed of itself.

Published at 19:34 on 3 February 2017

I’m going to be investing in some firearms soon, and thanks to most gun owners being right-wingers, I’ll probably be able to get them for less money than I normally would.

Published at 14:27 on 31 January 2017

The Trump Regime is Not Stupid or Incompetent

Please, let’s stop saying this. It makes no sense. Worse, one of the most serious mistakes you can make in any struggle is to underestimate your opponent.

For openers, Trump ran an astoundingly successful campaign (winning despite spending less on his campaign than his opponents and despite having a mostly hostile mass media). Was it chaotic? Yes. Was it divisive and highly offensive to many people? Yes again. But all that’s irrelevant for the purpose of judging campaign success. The purpose of a campaign is to win an election, and in that Trump succeeded.

Moreover, very little he has done since gaining office is stupid or incompetent, either. Take the controversial “Muslim ban” executive order, for example. It is not a bug that it was needlessly cruel or chaotic. It is a feature. The order was designed in no small part to illustrate that the Trump Regime is willing to be as cruel as possible to those it demonizes, and as powerful as possible in doing so. It also served to demonstrate the willingness of at least some ICE agents to ignore the court order, at least initially. Expect those agents to be rewarded and promoted.

Yes, it is accurate to refer to it as a “Muslim ban” order. The order was intended to be as close to an actual Muslim ban as its authors believed could pass Constitutional muster.

Steve Bannon is the Real Brains of the Regime

Any lingering doubts about that should have been cleared up by the recent elevation of Bannon to the National Security Council and the demotion of the Joint Chief of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence. Steve Bannon is widely acknowledged to be the author of the “Muslim ban” executive order.

Steve Bannon is a Fascist

Bannon is on record as saying his Breitbart website is “the platform for the alt-right.” By any objective measure the so-called alt-right is a fascist movement, advocating racism, authoritarianism, and nationalism, and being hostile to democracy and equality.

When a person spreads a political point of view, the logical conclusion is that person is doing so to advocate that point of view. Those who advocate fascism are known as fascists.

Therefore the Trump Regime is a Fascist Regime

At this point, it becomes axiomatic. A regime run by a fascist adhering to fascist principles is by definition a fascist regime.

The fascist nature of the Trump regime explains the lack of mention of Jews in the White House’s statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the fact that the White House chose that day itself to issue the “Muslim ban” order, and the thinly-veiled antisemitism in Trump’s own campaign.

We Have Our Own Article 48

Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution was the path to Hitler making himself dictator and ruling by decree. It was unnecessary for Hitler to repeal Germany’s democratic constitution in order to become a dictator; everything Hitler did was legal and according to the letter of the law. It is often assumed that the US Constitution has no comparable weakness and thus the risk of a fascist dictatorship is significantly less here than it was in Germany. Not so.

Our Article 48 is the presidential pardon power. The president can order his subordinates to break the law and then pardon them if they are caught. In fact, this is already being planned; Newt Gingrich has advocated the pardon power be used as such.

The Right to Free Speech is Already Starting to Be Repealed

Trump filed for reelection the day he was inaugurated. That means the 2020 presidential campaign is already technically underway. Nonprofit organizations are forbidden from advocating for or against political candidates during campaigns, therefore it is now technically illegal for any nonprofit to criticize Trump, and Federal election law can (and doubtless will) be used to persecute such organizations.

Trump is Probably Planning His Gestapo

Any totalitarian government needs a secret police force that operates completely or mostly above the law. Trump is planning to do this by tripling the number of ICE agents. It is little known, but ICE agents are exempt from the normal rules against search and seizure, and most of the country’s population, and in particular most of the left-leaning population, already lies within zones where ICE is authorized to operate.

Worse, ICE already has an established reputation of ignoring those limits and operating outside that area. It also bears pointing out that the ICE is one of the most rabidly pro-Trump parts of the civil service, and thus will be willing to go beyond the letter the law that grants them their already excessively broad powers. Finally, pardons can be used to get those ICE who do get prosecuted out of jail free.

Initially the repression will be targeted against people who appear to be Mexican or Muslim, but it could be easily extended to just about anyone. They couldn’t easily jail people indefinitely, but lower-level harassment by detaining opponents for a number of days while their “eligibility to be in the country is investigated” would certainly be possible. Note that this could cause people to be dismissed from their jobs for reason of excessive absence.

Lies, Lies, Lies

It’s well-known that Trump tells lies. A lot. But he doesn’t do so because he’s stupid or inept. All his lies serve very deliberate and intentional purposes.

Some lies are told for the pure purpose of exerting control over both his opposition (who are manipulated into a perpetual state of hyperventilating over Trump’s dishonesty) and his followers (who are manipulated into believing anything their Dear Leader says, no matter how obviously false). Trump’s lies about the size of the crowds at his inauguration fit into this category.

Trump is Probably Planning to Undermine Elections

Some lies also have deeper, more sinister purposes beyond the above. His lie about winning the popular vote despite election results to the contrary (because so many undocumented aliens voted) falls into this category. Obviously, that lie is also calculated to whip up xenophobia. But it also carries a logical implication: if it is true, then the inescapable conclusion is that the election process in certain states (conveniently, ones with Democratic majorities) is corrupt and in need of being cleaned up.

I believe Trump plans to twist Civil Rights laws intended to ensure minorities have the right to vote to the purpose of ensuring that the minority (and in some cases, even the white Democratic) vote is suppressed.

Trump’s Achilles Heel: Hubris

Trump is on the far right, but ironically his greatest weakness is one that has historically plagued authoritarian leftists: an excessive belief in the power of government coercion to achieve desired aims.

Consider how he has already placed the USA and Mexico on the brink of a trade war because he actually believes he can make Mexico agree to pay for the border wall. Trump and Bannon are acutely aware of how patriotism and nationalism can be used to their advantage, but utterly unaware of how the vast majority of those in every country have a similar sense of national dignity.

Mexico won’t agree to pay for the wall even if such a refusal prompts US sanctions that hurt the Mexican economy more than just paying for the wall will. When this happens, the Mexicans will tend to support their leadership for opposing Yankee aggression and defending their national dignity, blaming the crisis 100% on the USA. The resulting economic hardship will then prompt an increase in the number of Mexicans attempting to cross the border illegally.

The sanctions are likely to take the form of tariffs. Though Mexico will be hurt by these, it will be impossible for the cost of these to be borne solely on the Mexican side; they will inevitably disrupt supply chains and impose higher costs on US businesses and consumers.

Trump’s rule is likely, therefore, to evoke a pattern familiar to anyone who has studied Venezuela under Hugo Chavez: do something ham-fisted and authoritarian, have it predictably blow up as the Law of Unintended Consequences manifests, and then double down on the ham-fisted authoritarianism. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The good thing about this is it will end up hurting practically everyone, big capitalists included, the Rust Belt working class included. This will in turn motivate opposition to Trump. Venezuela had a huge underclass which formed Chavez’s base. Part of the reason his regime lasted so long was that Venezuelan society was so unequal that even though his policies were making the economy overall poorer, his base overall tended to be better off as a result of the new programs Chavez created. Trump will not enjoy this degree of long-term immunity to the overall harm he causes.

A Reichstag Fire is Inevitable unless Trump is Stopped

All available external evidence indicates Trump’s disdain for the intelligence community continues. So doubtless significant intelligence about terrorist threats is or will be ignored. Moreover, the Muslim ban order has served alienate Muslims worldwide, and the fight against terrorism requires the cooperation of allies in Muslim-majority areas of the world. It’s not for nothing that an unprecedented number of retired national security officials opposed Trump.

Therefore an increase in terrorism is all but inevitable. Expect the reaction to be as hysterical and draconian as possible. It is likely that basic civil liberties will be restricted in response if Trump is at the helm.

We’re in a Race Condition

Where we are now is basically a race condition between the various types of damage done by the regime’s hubris. If the damage that cannot be easily spun into rationales to impose a dictatorship dominates, it will be possible to limit the overall damage Trump does. Otherwise, a truly horrifying future awaits.

What’s important at this time is to oppose and undermine as much as possible while we still can do so at relatively low personal risk, while at the same time preparing ourselves for the worst-case scenario.

Published at 23:31 on 23 January 2017

Today Trump tore up the TPP, a piece of capitalist trash I’ve long wanted to see suffer precisely this fate. And I’m hardly alone on this. I’m way out there (with respect to the norm) generally but most Americans share my disbelief in corporate globalization.

Hillary claimed to oppose the TPP, too, of course. But here’s the crux of the matter: she did so only after pushed to by Bernie. Frankly, she was never quite believable in her promise. She’s a lifelong free-trader. I honestly can’t say that I’d trust her to have done what Trump just did.

And I’m saying this as a left anarchist who fucking hates Trump and the horse he rode in on.

In light of all that, can you see why your party lost so humiliatingly last November, Democrats?

And remember, you don’t have to give up on any of your core principles. Good old fashioned left-liberalism of the sort LBJ pushed and Slick Willie turned his back on will do the trick. I’m a queer feminist, but I will be upset not in the least bit if you add a nice big helping of class consciousness to your identity politics. In fact, I’ll love it.

That assumes left-liberalism is still more of a core principle in your party than craven centrist triangulation, of course. So, is it?

Published at 23:56 on 22 January 2017

Some points:

1. The marches had only a very limited effect, which will soon dissipate. We must understand this. Yes, it is worthy to celebrate their large size. Yes, they helped delegitimatize Trump. But they’re just a blip in time. They must be merely the opening battle of a prolonged struggle.
2. Trump is still Trump. He still believes — fervently — that he is the greatest man on Earth and the greatest president ever, and has surrounded himself with sycophants who indulge him in this belief. Therefore the marches can be expected to have very little effect on Trump himself, beyond provoking him into a display of pettyness about them.
3. Conservatives are still conservatives. They are still following, by and large, their historical role of being fascism’s enablers. The honorable dissidents amongst them, such as Evan McMullin, are still in the minority.
4. The Democratic Party is still the Democratic Party. It is still infested with the craven political triangulators who coronated Hillary and thereby paved the way for Trump. On the other hand, it also remains, like it or not, the only opposition there is in the halls of government.
5. The US political system remains. Its checks and balances, a mix of genuine attempts to prevent tyranny and cynical attempts to preserve white male supremacy, have still failed to prevent a tyrant from being elected.

Given the above:

1. It’s a total waste of time to work on convincing Trump of anything. Don’t convince, oppose and taunt. He’s thin-skinned. He’ll continue acting childish and demonstrating his unfitness for office.
2. It can be good to particularly carp on basic Constitutional stuff like the Emoluments Clause. If this is done enough, and Trump’s already-low popularity tanks, it might start making enough conservatives realize that they need to abandon this sinking ship.
3. Push the Democrats hard to stand firm, like the Tea Partiers did for the Republicans against Obama.
4. But don’t be limited to electoral politics. The system has demonstrated its failure. This can itself be a liberating thing for those who oppose Trump: the legality of his victory becomes irrelevant once one considers the system’s legitimacy irrelevant. Groups like the Seattle Neighborhood Action Coalition are trying to come up with ways to build a new society in the shell of the old. Support them.