The damage will be generational.
After the cringe worthy hit job in the oval office last week followed the next day by the Kremlin spokesman thanking DT for taking a U turn and realigning the American position by 180 degrees, one can only feel there’s Kompromat involved… or just a sick sociopath in charge that prefers ruling from the ashes.
The latter is certain, the former, suspected but yet to be proven.
Why would the leader of the free world distance ourselves from
democratic values and our European allies? Or indiscriminately eliminate large swaths of the federal government and purge senior leadership? Or order the military to stand down on all Russian cyber activity while at the same time ending their sanctions? Or force FBI agents to resign for the crime of doing their jobs? Or stop all aid to Ukraine or USAID, long a Putin sore point, one he feels “interferes” with his Russian agenda.
In Russia they’re saying “He looks like a wrecking ball. Our wrecking ball.”
This from no less than Lech Wałęsa, former political prisoner and President of Poland “Mr. President, material aid—military and financial—can never be equated with the blood shed in the name of Ukraine’s independence and the freedom of Europe and the entire free world. Human life is priceless; its value cannot be measured in money. Gratitude is due to those who sacrifice their blood and their freedom. This is self-evident to us, the people of Solidarity, former political prisoners of the communist regime under Soviet Russia.”
Information dumps in the form of 200+ executive orders in the first weeks are designed to make you passive and disengaged- a kind of cognitive bottleneck that uses chaos and shock to push thru radical changes and unpopular strategies while we’re reeling from the sheer quantity.
We can’t keep up because we’re fragmented with outrage and coverage is superficial at best. This is strategic and overloads our cognitive abilities so best to set boundaries by choosing key issues and concentrate on those.
Impact comes from sustained focus not scattered awareness.
Controlling the narrative is tried and true propaganda 101, a kind of ignorance manufacturer. Cue book bans and fake news. They want you questioning your lying eyes. Everything that’s going on I learned in a high school marketing class.
Textbook. No surprises.
Except how easily it’s happening. Install unqualified yes men and women that will do your bidding and bulldoze your bullshit while we clutch our pearls. The calvary’s not coming and it’s up to us to find ways to resist.
Watching this shock and awe campaign from the sidelines it’s hard to take it all in let alone conceive of a way to stop it. And that’s the point. The more we’re barraged and in turn enraged by America slipping into whatever you want to call it (dictatorship, oligarchy, kleptocracy) the more helpless we feel.
It’s human nature. We’re being played but now’s not the time to turn away from the most important game in our lives.
Chef/percussionist/writer/reprobate and lover of all things beautiful & delicious, Chef Alan Lake’s culinary career includes East Bank Club in Chicago; Sunset Marquis in W. Hollywood; Izakaya Hiwatta in Ichinomia Japan and legendary nightclub Purpur in Zurich, Switzerland. Working all around the world for over four decades, he's won numerous awards, professional competitions and distinctions. He’s the author of Home Cookin'- The Stories Behind The Food and The Garlic Manifesto- the history of garlic going back to 10,000-year-old Neolithic caves and contains facts, fiction, folklore, myths and legends (besides 100 recipes).
A lifelong musician that plays 70+ percussion instruments, he coined the term “Jazzfood” to describe his cooking style i.e. “solid technique coupled with tasteful improvisation.” He views his food as he does his music and writing and has been known to bust a pout if subpar in any way.