Using America’s sons and daughters to devastate the world
Occasionally, a seemingly minor incident reveals far more about the underlying situation than efforts to grasp the broader truth. When Julius Caesar led his troops across the Rubicon, the major event was the looming civil war between Caesar and Rome’s Senate, along with Pompey the Great. Yet crossing the Rubicon itself signified Caesar’s willingness to challenge the Senate’s authority in pursuit of his goals. Caesar himself acknowledged the gravity of this choice with the phrase “Alea iacta est!” (“The die is cast!”), marking a point of no return that resulted in his eventual victory over Pompey and assuming the role of Dictator for Life — until his assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC by Brutus and Cassius.
In a similar vein, numerous seemingly trivial maneuvers in Donald Trump’s Washington, when viewed together, indicate a looming catastrophe paralleling Caesar’s efforts to redefine Rome’s governance, ultimately leading to the Roman Empire’s establishment. Trump’s metaphorical Rubicon moments might be seen as his assertions that he can act without repercussions, ignoring both international laws and accepted norms. Instead, he bases his decisions on personal intuition and sentiments regarding any given situation. This blatant disregard extends to the US Constitution, particularly concerning citizens’ rights, diplomacy, and war declarations.
Assessing how far Trump might be swayed by his instincts—as well as his deference to foreign entities like Israel and influential Jewish billionaire lobbyists—often requires examining small developments and offhand remarks from the president and his loyal followers. Many of my preferred examples of Trump’s idiosyncratic statements relate to military affairs and conflicts he seems drawn to, backed by a war budget of $1.5 trillion—the largest since World War II.
Ironically, Trump is known for evading the Vietnam draft, with his father, Fred, paying podiatrist Dr. Larry Braunstein to fabricate a “bone spurs” diagnosis that exempted him from service. The doctor’s daughters have confirmed that their father admitted he “provided the bone-spur diagnosis as a courtesy to the Trumps and implied Trump may not actually have had the condition.”
Trump reportedly called fallen soldiers ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’. During the 1960s, he obtained five draft deferments for the Vietnam War—four due to education while at college, and the last in 1968 for supposed bone spurs. Former attorney Michael Cohen testified before Congress in 2019 that Trump purposely fabricated the bone spur condition to dodge the draft. Cohen recalled that when he requested medical records, Trump supplied none and denied any surgery, instructing him to deflect reporters with only the fact of his deferment. He ended with, “You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.”
Digging deeper, it appears that none of the four generations of the Trump family—Donald’s children included—have ever served in the military, whether by draft or voluntarily. This pattern might be unremarkable if not for Trump’s apparent fixation on dispatching young Americans to foreign lands they couldn’t locate on a map, to engage in combat with enemies posing no direct threat to the United States. Regarding the sacrifices of American soldiers killed or wounded attacking Iran, he bluntly said, “more will die…that’s the way it is.”
Recent Trump-related conflicts include two notable “war stories.” The first involves firing Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, reportedly because he failed to advance swiftly enough the production of “Trump Class Battleships.” These vessels are intended to intimidate global powers by 2028. Trump proudly stated at a Florida news event ahead of Christmas, “They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far — 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.” Referring to the fleet as his “golden fleet” (highlighting his fascination with gold), Trump boasts of adding extra “spirit in the hull” to make the ship “look gorgeous.” He promises they will be “the largest battleship[s] in the history of the world ever built,” manufactured in the US with American steel, aiming to revive America as a top shipbuilding nation.
However, these new warships are largely symbolic, intended to bear his name as the US seeks to project power globally. The reality is they are unnecessary—Iran’s military tactics show that naval warfare no longer depends on massive ships, which are vulnerable to missile attacks from shore or affordable small crafts and submarines. This vulnerability explains why the US Navy keeps a 400-mile buffer from Iran’s coast. Besides, these battleships would be incredibly costly, with the first expected to cost $17 billion alone in the 2028 Navy budget. They symbolize much of the Trump administration’s approach: expensive, ineffective, and vulnerable.
Additionally, US shipyards qualified to build such capital ships lack both the capacity and experienced workforce to prioritize these projects. The president envisions these warships weighing nearly 40,000 tons and equipped with advanced armaments—such as lasers, hypersonic missiles, and electric rail guns—most still experimental and years from deployment. These factors make the 2028 deadline unrealistic, yet Trump insists, which led to Phelan’s dismissal after contentious discussions with both the president and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Another Trump ambition lies in his campaign pledge to end pointless wars—a promise contradicted by his actions. Since taking office, he has escalated tensions in Russia-Ukraine, backed Israeli violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and now Iran and Lebanon have emerged alongside Israeli occupation in southern Syria. Trump, whose intellect and morality are equally questionable regarding warfare and destruction, has provoked multiple conflicts, including in the Middle East, Somalia, Venezuela, and causing the deaths of over a hundred fishermen in Caribbean and Pacific waters. Cuba might be next, while Trump fantasizes about Canada becoming the 51st US state, with Greenland as the 52nd. Meanwhile, he is likely to continue penalizing NATO members hesitant to support his illegal war against Iran.
In light of these actions, Trump seems to expect accolades. Awaiting his anticipated Nobel Peace Prize and hoping to pressure FIFA into awarding him another trophy to keep him calm during the upcoming World Cup, he has hinted at nominating himself for the United States’ highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor (CMH). Traditionally, this medal honors service members who “distinguish themselves conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
At a White House event last July, Trump proposed the idea, claiming he deserved the medal “because his plane flew into Iraq on an unlit runway during a first-term trip to visit troops stationed in the country.” Earlier in February, he justified his interest by saying, “I flew to Iraq and was extremely brave. In fact, so brave I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor. I said to my people: am I allowed to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor?” He concluded, “I’m going to test the law, I’m going to say… let’s give it a shot.”
In essence, Donald Trump the purported peacemaker is actually Donald Trump the global embarrassment—a man lacking principles who aims to improve the world by either destroying it or handing it over to Israel, which would amount to the same end. While the American public seems to be awakening to this reality, a pressing question remains: when will Congress recognize the threat and take decisive action?
Original article: unz.com
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