The military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned about
While most of the western mainstream media was shocked by Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential Elections, the same can't be said about all media outlets or pundits. Although, to be fair, it was a difficult call because of the reluctance of Americans to admit to pollsters that they would vote for Trump, given the media's demonisation of Trump.
One reason for Trump's victory was, many Americans who would have voted for Bernie Sanders eventually voted for Trump, having seen leaked documents and e-mails published by WikiLeaks which showed that the Democratic nomination was taken away from Sanders. Later, the former Interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Donna Brazile, had to admit in her book, Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House, that WikiLeaks was right, and recalled in detail how the Democratic primary was rigged against Sanders—something that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren also said on CNN on November 2, 2017.
This, however, was one of the very few times that the mainstream media admitted or reported on this. Neither did it report on how Sanders was attacked from within his own party, with Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta saying, "stick the knife in[to Sanders]", and one Democratic PR strategist replying, "Bernie needs to be ground to a pulp…Crush him as hard as you can." But, then again, reporting on it would have been an embarrassment for the media.
This is an old tactic often used by western intelligence agencies that merged with—and had, in fact, taken over—the military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned about, as evidenced by the now-exposed CIA's Operation Mockingbird programme and others, and by Dr Udo Ulfkotte, former assistant editor for German daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, among other top western journalists. What these and the recent "Integrity Initiative leaks"—alleging that British intelligence used the British media to create damaging narratives against Russia—by the global hacktivist group Anonymous shows, according to legendary journalist and filmmaker John Pilger, is that the media, "never more so than now", is "an appendage of [the] established power" that is the military-industrial-intelligence complex—often referred to as the "Deep State".
Like WikiLeaks was proven correct about Sanders being taken down by this Deep State—or permanent state, comprising of members from influential segments of society who always stay in power—it seems that Trump too is now being proven right about its attempt to depose him. In an article for the late great Robert Parry's (best known for breaking the CIA's involvement in the Contra cocaine trafficking scandal in the 1980s) Consortium News on February 16, John Kiriakou, who blew the whistle on the CIA's infamous torture programme, wrote: "I was a member of that 'Deep State' throughout my 15 years at the CIA. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the CIA doesn't care who the president is. Neither does the FBI."
Kiriakou, who is not a fan of Trump nor his CIA Director Gina Haspel (also known as "Bloody Gina" for her role in the torture programme that Kiriakou exposed)—highlighting an interview of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe with CBS's 60 Minutes, where he had admitted that he and other FBI officials had discussed the possibility of recruiting a cabinet secretary to help push the president out of office using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution—had this to say: "McCabe's almost offhanded comments on '60 Minutes,' that the FBI actively considered deposing a sitting president, should be cause for alarm. Set partisan politics aside for a moment. We're talking about deposing a sitting president. We're talking about wearing a wire to catch a sitting president saying something because you're angry that he fired your boss. Even the idea of it is unprecedented in American history."
As shocking a revelation as this may be, for those paying attention, this is not the first evidence of attack on Trump by the Deep State that has come out. If we rewind back to how the Mueller investigation began, one may recall that it was started using the false "Steel Dossier" produced by a former British intelligence agent, and paid for by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, in breach of US law. Moreover, at the centre of recommending the appointment of a Special Prosecutor (Robert Mueller) was (now fired) FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who had previously promised his fellow FBI Agent Lisa Page through text messages that they would "stop" Trump from winning the White House, among other things.
But why would the Deep State go after Trump? Well, one reason is Trump's foreign policy of wanting to withdraw troops from Syria, Afghanistan, etc., and of making peace with North Korea—all extremely damaging for the war profiteers that are also a part of the Deep State. And why is it that the media has joined the Deep State in its attacks? The media is mostly there to push their own ideology (both Left and Right) onto the masses; which is why, they have almost never covered the different evidence (that have not once been credibly refuted, despite being publicly available) that I've mentioned so far.
To put it all into perspective using the words of Julian Assange: "Hillary Clinton unified the establishments…Trump is the anti-establishment candidate. Despite himself being from the wealthy New York real estate establishment, he was not connected in a serious way to the Washington DC political intelligence or diplomatic establishment. So the media were part of that and…acted, in a disgraceful way by constantly making editorial endorsements to their candidate [Clinton]… they were forced to make editorial endorsements for Clinton…otherwise they couldn't publish anything."
What is most interesting about this ongoing battle happening underneath the surface is the massive exodus of personnel from within all the three letter US intelligence agencies (now standing at record numbers), which could imply that Trump is actually winning, at least to some extent for now, against the Deep State. But, as the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reminded everyone on MSNBC: "You take on the intelligence community—and they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you." What has become obvious from Trump's presidency is that not everything is as it seems when it comes to matters concerning the Deep State.
Eresh Omar Jamal is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star. His Twitter handle is: @EreshOmarJamal
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