Donald Rumsfeld was not only a war criminal, but played a key role in creating our current political crisis and inspiring the rise of fascism.
For our sake, we must understand the cruel elitism he represented and that currently threatens us all.
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jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/before-the-f…
Though many want to rehabilitate the Bush Administration in the wake of Trump, we have to understand just how much blame they deserve for our current crisis.
The damage they caused will reverberate for generations and we have to reckon with how and why it happened.
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To begin, on September 11th, as intelligence agencies told the Bush Administration Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks, Donald Rumsfeld was already planning an illegal war against Iraq, using the attacks as cover.
It was a matter of convenience and opportunity.
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Rumsfeld and his associates were neoconservatives, or followers of Straussian philosophy.
Leo Strauss taught that natural elites should rule the world and guide politics while using "stories" and made-up crusades in order to inspire and direct the unwashed masses.
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For neoconservatives, September 11th was an incredibly useful moment, a tragedy that could be used to create opportunity and a new "crusade" that would unite the masses and allow elites to gain political power and resources.
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It was never about actual ideology. Rumsfeld had been more than happy to partner with Saddam Hussein. The US had used Hussein, helped him brutalize his own people, wage war against Iran.
In his time, Hussein was an incredible ally for America. But the story needed to change.
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The War in Iraq was illegal, cruel, and an absolute disaster. 9/11 had been used as cover to carry out an operation that neoconservatives had been clamoring for for years.
It was an opportunity made possible by the tragedy and its ability to inspire anger.
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What Iraq revealed was the dangerous possibilities that imperialism inherently held.
We tortured because it was a means to an end. It made obvious how ugly America could be, what we were willing to do to grow our power and ensure our control.
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But our examination has to go back several decades to when Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney played a key role in yet another crucial moment: the birth of "Trickle-Down Economics."
This and the war in Iraq have facilitated a massive American crisis.
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Trickle-Down Economics have never worked. They're a myth that, like the myth of the crusade of the War On Terror, was used to hide more calculated measures.
It was always about redistributing wealth from the poor to the wealthy, who were considered naturally "better."
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The worldview of Rumsfeld and other conservatives held that there was a natural hierarchy, that elites should rule and the masses should follow.
Trickle-Down was the economic side of this that ensured the wealthy grew wealthier and the poor more impoverished.
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There is a direct line between the lie of Trickle-Down Economics and the rise of MAGA.
Anger from this economic manipulation and austerity helped radicalize Americans and embrace this Donald Trump, a billionaire grifter.
That anger, however, had a ready-waiting form.
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Fascism is a means of radicalizing frustrated individuals and giving them power through violence.
The austerity of Trickle-Down Economics helped create a rage in America that was right at home in a culture militarized by the War on Terror.
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Militarism never stays with the war. It infects a country, ruins it from the inside out. What we are dealing with now is a fascistic, militaristic movement informed by the War On Terror and helped along by the economic austerity of Trickle-Down Economics.
The war came home.
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It should be no surprise that the War On Terror, a fairytale invented by Rumsfeld and other neoconservatives, has led to domestic militarism, the threat of widespread paramilitary violence, and dangerous polarization.
This is the side-effect of Straussian appeals.
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As Americans lost faith in their political systems, all rigged to function to the whims of the elite, they inevitably turned to fascism.
They were told that they might be powerless now, but by picking up guns, rejecting democracy, and embracing militarism, that could change
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It was almost inevitable that a "crusade" to overthrow another nation would result in Americans longing for military coups in the United States.
The war ALWAYS comes home. There is ALWAYS a reaction within the country.
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We are living in the wake of horrific, undemocratic, cruel actions of men like Rumsfeld.
Their elitist beliefs have created a dystopia of conspiracy theories, weaponized mythologies, and widespread, militaristic polarization.
To get past it, we must understand that.
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If we are going to survive this crisis with any shred of democracy left, we must work against Straussian, elitist ideology, and embrace what is real and true and rejects this elitism and militarism.
We have to forge something true.
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Donald Rumsfeld's career was a cautionary tale and showed us what happens when you treat humans as disposable and embrace cold elitism and cynicism.
It leads to widespread tragedy, violence, and oppression. We should gaze upon his legacy with revulsion and horror.
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But we must also recognize that nothing that is happening right now, this fascism, this oppression, this antidemocratic movement, is *new*.
It's the side-effect of career men like Rumsfeld and Cheney, established and respected politicians who are being rehabilitated.
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Our crisis is built on generations of men like Rumsfeld and the elitism and cynicism they represent. We can't pretend like this came from nowhere or that it's inexplicable
The path is very clear and we must reckon with the toll it has taken and the tragedies it has caused
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