No One Told Trump

Poor Donald Trump.  A victim of our nation's own propaganda.

No, no, come back.  I'm not actually bashing our President this time.  And I mean that honestly.  I saw a headline today about how he wants South Korea to pay a billion or so dollars for their missile defense, and the typically outraged replies from other power players, and it struck me all at once -

- President Trump honestly thinks those nations really are our allies!  He thinks they are our friends!

This accounted for his earlier wishes that Japan pay to defend themselves now, or Germany pay more for NATO and all his other gaffs on this issue!

He was taught - as we all were as kids - that these nations are our allies, and he bought that!

In truth, they are of course nations that we conquered and now occupy for our own benefit.  Germany, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Cuba, the Philippines...etc.

Here we are waterboarding our future Philippine allies!

When you're raised in America, it somehow never crosses your mind to wonder, "How come all our allies are nations that we once were at war with?"

lol

So here's the problem that the power players have with Donald - he gives away the game. Or rather, he forces them to have to duck and weave to avoid the game being exposed.

Conquering a nation is relatively easy compared to holding it.  And the United States holds the vast number of nations it holds as much by diplomacy as military might.

Yes, yes, we make sure to have our bases in their nations - while not letting our "allies" have any of their bases here! - but more to the point, we let them pretend to be independent.  Because if we did not let them keep their pride, they'd have to rise up every ten years or so and we'd have to go to the trouble of putting them back down.

Oh, sure, some weaker nations like Hawaii and Guam and Alaska such we could just out and out overwhelm and absorb.  We sure had plenty of practice at that in the 19th century.  But for most others, best to take the more prudent course.  Holding a world takes more than might, it takes finesse.

So as tributary nations, all our “allies” are expected to agree with us on most all of our foreign policy adventures and to give us first call on their resources and productivity.  In exchange we guard them from other empires that would love to harness their work forces.

The former Soviets, now the Russians.  The Chinese.  Brazil or India, if they thought there was a power vacuum.  Indonesia.

Now along comes Trump and upsets that apple cart, not because he's stupid, but just because - and it really took me awhile to realize this - he honestly does not get that we occupy those nations!  His only error is in believing as he was taught, as we all were taught!  He thinks that we are guarding them out of kindness and that it’s time they paid their fair share!  

Most politicians rise up through the ranks, and so have time to learn this and get this.  But Donald leaped from the bottom to the top all at once and so had no chance to learn this as a governor or a congressman or even the mayor of a big city.

Had he occupied any of those positions, then he'd have dealt with some of these conquered provinces and been let in on what's what.  How to talk to them - and how not to.  How to make sure to give them a lot of lead in their leash.  Particularly the United Kingdom.

Yes, we occupy England, too, the difference being that they don't mind as their business and our business are so closely tied together that it's a coin flip as to who is wagging who!

Goodness.  I could go on.  But honestly he - and any reading this  who doubt me - need only get a map and a history book.  Look at where each U.S. Military base is - and read of which war we fought with that place before it was built.

Heck, this applies right here at home - think about how many of our cities are named after the conquered peoples or the "Forts" that held the troops that exterminated them!  Look at the distribution of bases west of the Mississippi!

We are the Anglo-American Empire, and sadly, our leader is under some false impression that we're just the main contributors to some kind of benevolent mutual aid society!