With the exception of Pearl Harbor, the Western Hemisphere escaped World War II mostly unscathed. It also led, to paraphrase Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s alleged quote, a sleeping giant to wake up in the form of the United States. With Europe and Asia in rubble, the threat of the Soviets replacing the Nazis, and China falling to the communists, men like Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and George Marshall forged a new world order, placing the West in the hands of the United States.
I still do not understand why so many on the Right have become hateful towards Ukraine and keep blowing (kisses to) Putin.
The best way I have come up with to understand these times is that we're in the 1930s. This will be familiar with those who are familiar with Strauss-Howe. Commies and socialists are the cool kids. The American Right is highly isolationist. There is a divergence in societal outcomes between those with good jobs and those without (the Great Depression wasn't so bad if you had a job). Crap is going on around the world, and we are trying to stay out of it. Our military is not prepared.
World War III is around the corner. And, no, it won't be the The Day After® 1980s nuclear eschatology version of it, as pushed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BullScient) and others. Rather, think WWII, but this time in a three-theater multiplex--Taiwan and the Pac Rim, Israel and the Middle East (and you thought Hollywood was unimaginative in their sequels!), and Eastern Europe. Putin will make the slackers in NATO find their checkbooks soon enough, and Trump won't have to say a word.
America does have two aces in the hole: China has an economic problem and a demographic problem (a national debt that, in terms of GDP, is almost triple that of the USA + too many old people). Russia has a demographic problem (not enough cannon fodder; you know things are bad when they are cleaning out the jails to get soldiers).
Unfortunately, the only way out is through.
Churchill was right--you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, only after they have exhausted all of the alternatives.
The Pax Americana is expensive in terms of people and money. The alternative is much, much pricier.
God bless the man that runs toward the sound of guns.
Having a rough day?
Here's a stress management technique recommended in all the latest psychological journals.
The funny thing is that it really does work, and it will make you smile:
1 Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that hangs out over a crystal clear stream.
2 Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool running water.
3 Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air.
4 No one knows your secret place.
5 You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the World.
6 The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
7 The water is so clear you can make out the face of the Democrat you are holding underwater.
See, it worked. You're smiling. You feel better already, especially lately with their pushing socialism, wanting to get rid of ICE, open borders, obstruction, and destructive agenda!
I remember when it was Russian leaders coming to America and marveling at American grocery stores, now Right-Wing pundits head to Moscow and marvel at their grocery stores and how well their cities are a la Bernie Sanders. It is one thing to question US foreign policy decisions, but the post-liberal Right has abandoned American exceptionalism and wants a government run by a dictator. They want Trump to be for America what Putin is for Russia. They don't abide by election results and people like Tucker Carlson are willfully ignorant on foreign policy. Russia invades Ukraine and threatens NATO allies and then they harp that Ukraine is a "proxy war" (as if that somehow means we have no interests in stopping the spread of tyranny or defending our allies) and that somehow the West and Ukraine "provoked" the Russian invasion.
On the other side of the GOP, it doesn't help when the Senate GOP gives us a border bill with so many carve outs that it doesn't secure the border at all. Neither on the Establishment and Populist side do we have anyone on the Right who can unify the GOP and offer a coherent alternative to the Deep State Left. The legacy of Donald Trump taking a wrecking ball to the Republican Party is that it has hollowed us out in terms of ideas and people who could actually fix the system. Donald Trump might win in November, but down stream the Party he leads is a neurotic mess.
Utter and complete nonsense. The point of interviewing Putin and showing the city is to compare that to the destruction of cities by democrats, not to yearn for our very own dictator, which, by the way is sitting in the white house now. You may not understand the point being made by Tucker, but the point was made to most.
If that were the case, then Tucker would've challenged him on a number of assertions and wouldn't be parading around Moscow grocery stores marveling at how much a wealthy American like him can buy or their subway system. Democrat run cities are a mess but again and again he assumes the best about Putin. He does that for a reason.
EDIT: As we argue about this, the head of Putin's opposition, Alexi Navalny, died in an Artic Prison. In response to being asked why he didn't question Putin about imprisoning Navalny, Tucker responded that "leadership requires killing people". Sorry but that is not impartially drawing contrasts. That's justifying authoritarianism.
That is what you and Eric choose to believe. It is not what others believe. And Carlson frequently uses this interview style. Sorry he didn't change it to suit you.
No, "leadership requires killing people" is what Tucker believes. It's not a matter of his interview style or who his audience is, those are the ideas Tucker is trying to mainstream on the Right. To dismiss criticism of Carlson as just something "you and Erick choose to believe" isn't an argument, it's a lack of one on your part.
Yes, you presented an argument, and it was bad. I explained why but you don't have an answer. If you think Carlson's belief that "leadership requires killing people" is a just about exposing Democratic misgovernance in urban areas and don't see anything weird about Carlson parroting Russian propaganda then I don't know what to tell you. It is a belief to point out what he's doing is wrong, but it also happens to be a correct belief and one you don't seem to want to give any credence. Have a nice day.
Read Peter Zeihan's book. The post Bretton Woods Global order is over. It was never sustainable. The US has been paying to prop up the world of peace and prosperity on the backs of the American middle working class and poor. China took advantage of it and raped, pillaged and plundered our economy with the only benefit to the US of increased wealth for the top1% through their Wall Street holdings.
Damn this has to stop. What is wrong with people that they cannot see it?
Nearing 1 million homeless. Family budgets destroyed by the elite virtue signaling luxury beliefs of climate crisis... that is just another of the money and power making schemes of the elite managerial class that runs the globalist corporatist cabal. Infrastructure falling apart. Crime exploding. Opioids and other suicides exploding. No more melting pot... identity wars... neoracism... class wars.
Excuse my language here but WHAT CANNOT PEOPLE EFFING SEE THIS? The US has lost its ignoring all the domestic issues while arguing about sending more billions to other countries for THEIR EFFING CONFLICTS!... denying its own culture... dividing American people into tribes to fight each other... flooding in more non-Americans to add to the conflict.
Soft European countries spend lavishly on social programs, fail to spend even close to their NATO commitments on Defense, join in the global warming scam to destroy American industrialism while scapegoating the US for wars and political interference. Eff them! Really.
It is WAY PAST time to turn inward... to focus on our OWN COUNTRY and our OWN PEOPLE. To hell with all you establishment globalist idiots.
This election is about this... American First that requires we rip the establishment from power. Or we keep heading to an end of the American Great Experiment.
No, and yes. The problem is that Russia does not appear to be getting weaker. They're frantically building up their military while the United States and Europe are sending weapons to Ukraine faster than they can replace them.
One thing though.... As for Adm. Yamamoto's famous alleged quote about "waking the sleeping giant", there is no written record or any spoken testimony to corroborate it. If anything like that did exist, it's either been lost to history, or it hasn't been discovered yet. The quote got famous as a result of the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
Now, that being said, even if Yamamoto didn't say that, I'm pretty sure he was thinking it, or something very similar. He went to Harvard, he was the Japanese Naval Attaché to Washington for a while, and he spent several years living in the US and traveling around the country. He knew American culture, met many Americans and knew full-well that we were not the weak, spineless, feckless people that Tojo and the rest of his Imperial Army hotheads were telling everyone. He knew that America had the raw materials, resources, manpower, and manufacturing capacity to lay waste to anything that the Japanese could produce. He knew that a war with America was unwinnable.
I believe he IS on record as stating that if Japan went to war with the US, that he could guarantee six months of victory, and that was all. He was proven correct; almost six months to the day after Pearl Harbor, four Japanese Fleet Carriers, 250 fighter aircraft, and over 100 of their best, most experienced pilots ended up on the bottom of the ocean after the Battle of Midway..
Thanks for the Friday morning history lesson. I love a good quote fact-check! :) I'm of the opinion that anything wise ever said can be purchased on an Etsy plaque attributing it to Mother Teresa, Einstein, or Thomas Jefferson.
That Abe Lincoln quote is one of my all time favorites! My desk has the following:
"Whatever age you are today, your future self would love to be it." and "The antidote to a bad day is a good workout." -James Clear
"I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs." -Frederick Douglas
"Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done." -Bryan Stevenson
"There is no horizontal Stratification of society in this country like the rocks in the earth, that hold one class down below forevermore, and let another come to the surface to stay there forever. Our Stratification is like the ocean, where every individual drop is free to move, and where from the sternest depths of the mighty deep any drop may come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls." -James A. Garfield (one of my favorite Presidents)
Policies need a goal to reach. What is ours? I see more bickering among us caused by the puppet masters here and abroad. Europe and Asia are ahead of us in the death spiral.
I don't consider myself part of a reactionary right, but do have to ask, concerning foreign aid, how has that served us in the UN? Has it stopped a single country from buying into China's Silk Road initiative? We just keep paying, looking like the chumps we are. If we have to buy everybody off and still get little in return, is it a good investment? And sorry, I just can't see how padding Zelensky's Swiss bank accounts and Italian villas makes us stronger. Just don't see it, and while I understand your argument, and might have agreed with it 20 years ago, it has gone stale, based on reality. Our country is in such a fix that if we don't correct things now, what happens across the globe won't matter. Our border is open to the Chicoms as we speak.
Thank you Erick . Great article. Truth. I have been so concerned about the Isolationist voices. The World needs a strong America. God has made us a strong nation. I pray we don't throw that away. For the safety and security of America and for the World. I just appreciated this piece so much. Thank you again.
Fund the border crisis adequately and not cave to some lame WH/Shumer/McConnell deal and the foreign aid will follow. Our world order starts at our border. Johnson is the first Republican leader in a long time to stand up to the Democrats/Rino charade. All the money we have given to Ukraine comes with the stipulation they need to purchase all of their military weaponry from the US. Guess which sector is the largest political donor? The Defense Industry.
In the words of Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry)" Dont piss down my back and tell me it's raining"
Even though I couldn't be farther from Nancy Pelosi in every ideological stance, she was one of those most successful Speakers I've seen. She certainly knew how to get what she wanted.
With all due respect please consider a couple of thoughts related to Ukraine aid….
1- we really never successfully addressed the sanctions on Russia. This lack of effectiveness is being totally ignored. If we had real teeth in the sanctions the appetite to end the Conflict would likely be more positive
2-the amount of $$ and the efficacy of the spend is very worrisome. If we had tighter audit process and discussion to minimize corruption/ $$ steal I would feel less skeptical
3-where is the discussion to end this conflict?
I don’t hear much about this, only about how bad the Russians are. Are we interested in a long term conflict just to keep them occupied?
Finally, as to how we have fared post covid versus other countries….we should be way ahead. Given our natural resources, agricultural capability , and strong mfg base we enjoy a huge advantageous position.
If we just stop being “stupid” about our energy resources we will be in even better position.
Education / school effectiveness and “go forward” strength is a subject for another day, and real concern!
Well-said. The fact that foreign aid amounts to 1% of our federal budget needs to be hammered home. And you hit on a serious pet peeve of mine: WHY does NO ONE focus on the endless graft, waste, and duplicity in federal spending?? (Tom Coburn, we need you back!) OMG man, what we could achieve if that were effectively addressed!
One percent of our increasingly bloated budget is still impossible to fathom, and it's money we don't have. I'm with you on the domestic spending, though. Entitlements, and not foreign aid, are what's killing us, and the Republicans spend just as much as the Democrats.
I still do not understand why so many on the Right have become hateful towards Ukraine and keep blowing (kisses to) Putin.
The best way I have come up with to understand these times is that we're in the 1930s. This will be familiar with those who are familiar with Strauss-Howe. Commies and socialists are the cool kids. The American Right is highly isolationist. There is a divergence in societal outcomes between those with good jobs and those without (the Great Depression wasn't so bad if you had a job). Crap is going on around the world, and we are trying to stay out of it. Our military is not prepared.
World War III is around the corner. And, no, it won't be the The Day After® 1980s nuclear eschatology version of it, as pushed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BullScient) and others. Rather, think WWII, but this time in a three-theater multiplex--Taiwan and the Pac Rim, Israel and the Middle East (and you thought Hollywood was unimaginative in their sequels!), and Eastern Europe. Putin will make the slackers in NATO find their checkbooks soon enough, and Trump won't have to say a word.
America does have two aces in the hole: China has an economic problem and a demographic problem (a national debt that, in terms of GDP, is almost triple that of the USA + too many old people). Russia has a demographic problem (not enough cannon fodder; you know things are bad when they are cleaning out the jails to get soldiers).
Unfortunately, the only way out is through.
Churchill was right--you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, only after they have exhausted all of the alternatives.
The Pax Americana is expensive in terms of people and money. The alternative is much, much pricier.
God bless the man that runs toward the sound of guns.
Having a rough day?
Here's a stress management technique recommended in all the latest psychological journals.
The funny thing is that it really does work, and it will make you smile:
1 Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that hangs out over a crystal clear stream.
2 Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool running water.
3 Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air.
4 No one knows your secret place.
5 You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the World.
6 The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
7 The water is so clear you can make out the face of the Democrat you are holding underwater.
See, it worked. You're smiling. You feel better already, especially lately with their pushing socialism, wanting to get rid of ICE, open borders, obstruction, and destructive agenda!
Have a great day!!
Amen! Keep reminding everyone of the big picture, and America's essential historical role in the world.
I remember when it was Russian leaders coming to America and marveling at American grocery stores, now Right-Wing pundits head to Moscow and marvel at their grocery stores and how well their cities are a la Bernie Sanders. It is one thing to question US foreign policy decisions, but the post-liberal Right has abandoned American exceptionalism and wants a government run by a dictator. They want Trump to be for America what Putin is for Russia. They don't abide by election results and people like Tucker Carlson are willfully ignorant on foreign policy. Russia invades Ukraine and threatens NATO allies and then they harp that Ukraine is a "proxy war" (as if that somehow means we have no interests in stopping the spread of tyranny or defending our allies) and that somehow the West and Ukraine "provoked" the Russian invasion.
On the other side of the GOP, it doesn't help when the Senate GOP gives us a border bill with so many carve outs that it doesn't secure the border at all. Neither on the Establishment and Populist side do we have anyone on the Right who can unify the GOP and offer a coherent alternative to the Deep State Left. The legacy of Donald Trump taking a wrecking ball to the Republican Party is that it has hollowed us out in terms of ideas and people who could actually fix the system. Donald Trump might win in November, but down stream the Party he leads is a neurotic mess.
We do have someone on the Establishment Right who can provide a coherent alternative. Her name is Nikki Haley.
I don't get why so many on the Right find her so toxic.
Utter and complete nonsense. The point of interviewing Putin and showing the city is to compare that to the destruction of cities by democrats, not to yearn for our very own dictator, which, by the way is sitting in the white house now. You may not understand the point being made by Tucker, but the point was made to most.
If that were the case, then Tucker would've challenged him on a number of assertions and wouldn't be parading around Moscow grocery stores marveling at how much a wealthy American like him can buy or their subway system. Democrat run cities are a mess but again and again he assumes the best about Putin. He does that for a reason.
EDIT: As we argue about this, the head of Putin's opposition, Alexi Navalny, died in an Artic Prison. In response to being asked why he didn't question Putin about imprisoning Navalny, Tucker responded that "leadership requires killing people". Sorry but that is not impartially drawing contrasts. That's justifying authoritarianism.
That is what you and Eric choose to believe. It is not what others believe. And Carlson frequently uses this interview style. Sorry he didn't change it to suit you.
No, "leadership requires killing people" is what Tucker believes. It's not a matter of his interview style or who his audience is, those are the ideas Tucker is trying to mainstream on the Right. To dismiss criticism of Carlson as just something "you and Erick choose to believe" isn't an argument, it's a lack of one on your part.
My argument was already presented. You choose to believe otherwise.
Yes, you presented an argument, and it was bad. I explained why but you don't have an answer. If you think Carlson's belief that "leadership requires killing people" is a just about exposing Democratic misgovernance in urban areas and don't see anything weird about Carlson parroting Russian propaganda then I don't know what to tell you. It is a belief to point out what he's doing is wrong, but it also happens to be a correct belief and one you don't seem to want to give any credence. Have a nice day.
Read Peter Zeihan's book. The post Bretton Woods Global order is over. It was never sustainable. The US has been paying to prop up the world of peace and prosperity on the backs of the American middle working class and poor. China took advantage of it and raped, pillaged and plundered our economy with the only benefit to the US of increased wealth for the top1% through their Wall Street holdings.
Damn this has to stop. What is wrong with people that they cannot see it?
Nearing 1 million homeless. Family budgets destroyed by the elite virtue signaling luxury beliefs of climate crisis... that is just another of the money and power making schemes of the elite managerial class that runs the globalist corporatist cabal. Infrastructure falling apart. Crime exploding. Opioids and other suicides exploding. No more melting pot... identity wars... neoracism... class wars.
Excuse my language here but WHAT CANNOT PEOPLE EFFING SEE THIS? The US has lost its ignoring all the domestic issues while arguing about sending more billions to other countries for THEIR EFFING CONFLICTS!... denying its own culture... dividing American people into tribes to fight each other... flooding in more non-Americans to add to the conflict.
Soft European countries spend lavishly on social programs, fail to spend even close to their NATO commitments on Defense, join in the global warming scam to destroy American industrialism while scapegoating the US for wars and political interference. Eff them! Really.
It is WAY PAST time to turn inward... to focus on our OWN COUNTRY and our OWN PEOPLE. To hell with all you establishment globalist idiots.
This election is about this... American First that requires we rip the establishment from power. Or we keep heading to an end of the American Great Experiment.
Can Ukraine win this war? Or is more about depleting Russias military and money?
No, and yes. The problem is that Russia does not appear to be getting weaker. They're frantically building up their military while the United States and Europe are sending weapons to Ukraine faster than they can replace them.
Agreed, Erick. Excellent post!
One thing though.... As for Adm. Yamamoto's famous alleged quote about "waking the sleeping giant", there is no written record or any spoken testimony to corroborate it. If anything like that did exist, it's either been lost to history, or it hasn't been discovered yet. The quote got famous as a result of the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
Now, that being said, even if Yamamoto didn't say that, I'm pretty sure he was thinking it, or something very similar. He went to Harvard, he was the Japanese Naval Attaché to Washington for a while, and he spent several years living in the US and traveling around the country. He knew American culture, met many Americans and knew full-well that we were not the weak, spineless, feckless people that Tojo and the rest of his Imperial Army hotheads were telling everyone. He knew that America had the raw materials, resources, manpower, and manufacturing capacity to lay waste to anything that the Japanese could produce. He knew that a war with America was unwinnable.
I believe he IS on record as stating that if Japan went to war with the US, that he could guarantee six months of victory, and that was all. He was proven correct; almost six months to the day after Pearl Harbor, four Japanese Fleet Carriers, 250 fighter aircraft, and over 100 of their best, most experienced pilots ended up on the bottom of the ocean after the Battle of Midway..
Thanks for the Friday morning history lesson. I love a good quote fact-check! :) I'm of the opinion that anything wise ever said can be purchased on an Etsy plaque attributing it to Mother Teresa, Einstein, or Thomas Jefferson.
Abraham Lincoln once said that you can't always trust everything you see on the internet 😅
Otherwise, in Harry Truman fashion, I have two signs on my desk: "The Buck Stops Here", and "If You Can't Take The Heat, Get Out Of The Kitchen".
That Abe Lincoln quote is one of my all time favorites! My desk has the following:
"Whatever age you are today, your future self would love to be it." and "The antidote to a bad day is a good workout." -James Clear
"I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs." -Frederick Douglas
"Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done." -Bryan Stevenson
"There is no horizontal Stratification of society in this country like the rocks in the earth, that hold one class down below forevermore, and let another come to the surface to stay there forever. Our Stratification is like the ocean, where every individual drop is free to move, and where from the sternest depths of the mighty deep any drop may come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls." -James A. Garfield (one of my favorite Presidents)
"Either you like bacon or you're wrong." -Me
My favorite “ if wishes were horses we all would ride” my grandmother 🤗
Love it. That reminds me of my dad, though less eloquent: "Want in one hand and s**t in the other, and see which one fills up first."
It's been said that for every piece of bacon you eat, it takes 5 minutes off of your life....
Well, if that's true, then I should have died sometime around 1741...
lol. You gotta die of something!
Erick, check your math - $6.1 trillion budget= $610 billion at 10%, $61 billion at 1%, I believe we have blown past that number.
Policies need a goal to reach. What is ours? I see more bickering among us caused by the puppet masters here and abroad. Europe and Asia are ahead of us in the death spiral.
Is the Rapture coming?
Come, Lord Jesus...
I don't consider myself part of a reactionary right, but do have to ask, concerning foreign aid, how has that served us in the UN? Has it stopped a single country from buying into China's Silk Road initiative? We just keep paying, looking like the chumps we are. If we have to buy everybody off and still get little in return, is it a good investment? And sorry, I just can't see how padding Zelensky's Swiss bank accounts and Italian villas makes us stronger. Just don't see it, and while I understand your argument, and might have agreed with it 20 years ago, it has gone stale, based on reality. Our country is in such a fix that if we don't correct things now, what happens across the globe won't matter. Our border is open to the Chicoms as we speak.
"If the tired American giant sets aside its power and might to go back to sleep, its enemies will work to make sure it can never wake again."
Some mistakes don't really matter. But, this one is kind of a big deal.
Thank you Erick . Great article. Truth. I have been so concerned about the Isolationist voices. The World needs a strong America. God has made us a strong nation. I pray we don't throw that away. For the safety and security of America and for the World. I just appreciated this piece so much. Thank you again.
Thank you, Erick - spot on!
Fund the border crisis adequately and not cave to some lame WH/Shumer/McConnell deal and the foreign aid will follow. Our world order starts at our border. Johnson is the first Republican leader in a long time to stand up to the Democrats/Rino charade. All the money we have given to Ukraine comes with the stipulation they need to purchase all of their military weaponry from the US. Guess which sector is the largest political donor? The Defense Industry.
In the words of Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry)" Dont piss down my back and tell me it's raining"
Good ones do seem to be short lived.
Even though I couldn't be farther from Nancy Pelosi in every ideological stance, she was one of those most successful Speakers I've seen. She certainly knew how to get what she wanted.
Erick,
With all due respect please consider a couple of thoughts related to Ukraine aid….
1- we really never successfully addressed the sanctions on Russia. This lack of effectiveness is being totally ignored. If we had real teeth in the sanctions the appetite to end the Conflict would likely be more positive
2-the amount of $$ and the efficacy of the spend is very worrisome. If we had tighter audit process and discussion to minimize corruption/ $$ steal I would feel less skeptical
3-where is the discussion to end this conflict?
I don’t hear much about this, only about how bad the Russians are. Are we interested in a long term conflict just to keep them occupied?
Finally, as to how we have fared post covid versus other countries….we should be way ahead. Given our natural resources, agricultural capability , and strong mfg base we enjoy a huge advantageous position.
If we just stop being “stupid” about our energy resources we will be in even better position.
Education / school effectiveness and “go forward” strength is a subject for another day, and real concern!
Well-said. The fact that foreign aid amounts to 1% of our federal budget needs to be hammered home. And you hit on a serious pet peeve of mine: WHY does NO ONE focus on the endless graft, waste, and duplicity in federal spending?? (Tom Coburn, we need you back!) OMG man, what we could achieve if that were effectively addressed!
One percent of our increasingly bloated budget is still impossible to fathom, and it's money we don't have. I'm with you on the domestic spending, though. Entitlements, and not foreign aid, are what's killing us, and the Republicans spend just as much as the Democrats.