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Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
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23 Dec, 13 tweets, 4 min read
Everyone Was Wrong About Trump

Trump's term has revealed that virtually everyone, all across the political spectrum, has been wrong about him. And it's a testament to the power of echo chambers that they remain just as wrong as they were four years ago.
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/everyone-was…
After weeks of speculation and hopes that Trump might pardon Snowden and/or Assange before leaving office on January 20th, what the latest round of presidential pardons has delivered is about as far from that as you can conceivably imagine.
I probably don't need to tell my regular readers this, but a Trump pardon for Assange and Snowden is almost certainly not in the cards.
Trump's entire term has revealed that virtually everyone, all across the US political spectrum, has been wrong about him. And it's a testament to the power of media echo chambers that for the most part they remain just as wrong about him as they were four years ago.
To this day, even after four years of evidence to the contrary, Trump supporters still believe their president has been ending the wars, draining the swamp, and fighting the Deep State.
To this day, even after four years of evidence to the contrary, liberals are still convinced that Trump is a servant of Russia who has spent his term advancing the interests of Vladimir Putin.
caityjohnstone.medium.com/25-times-trump…
To this day many on the left still believe Trump is a uniquely fascistic or Hitler-like president, despite his having far fewer deportations than Obama had. And despite the fact that he will with absolute certainty leave office on January 20th.
thehill.com/latino/470900-…
All sides pretended that Trump was a radical deviation from the norm, and so did Trump, when all he actually did throughout his entire time in office was protect the status quo just like his predecessors did. As @samhusseini put it:
After four years everyone--left, right and center--has been proven wrong about Trump. He was neither a uniquely evil monster (he was indisputably not even as bad as Bush), nor a populist hero draining the swamp and fighting for the common man against the Deep State.
In actuality Trump's term has clearly established what he really was: a US president. Better than some, worse than others, but also deeply awful all around since he voluntarily served as the face of the most evil and destructive force on earth, namely the US government.
He was the same kind of monster as his predecessors.

Trump was a US president of fairly average depravity, with a truly massive overlay of narrative heaped on top of him by partisan media on all sides.
In reality Trump was pretty much what you'd get if you took any average American Fox News-watching boomer who yells at Obama on TV, made him rich, and then made him president.
That's what Trump is and has been. Nothing more extraordinary than that. It is only the effectiveness of echo chambers and the human tendency to prioritize narrative over factual data which prevents more people from seeing this.

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More from @caitoz

Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
23 Dec
Echo chambers are responsible for the fact that:
- Rightists STILL think Trump is antiwar despite all his warmongering
- Libs STILL think he's a Russian asset despite his cold war aggressions against Russia
- Leftists STILL think he's Hitler despite fewer deportations than Obama
After four years everyone--left, right and center--has been proven wrong about Trump. He was neither a uniquely evil monster (he was indisputably not even as bad as Bush), nor a populist hero draining the swamp and fighting for the common man against the Deep State.
Here is what Trump's term proved about him: he was a US president. Better than some, worse than others, but also deeply awful all around since he voluntarily served as the head of the most evil and destructive force on earth. He was the same kind of monster as his predecessors.
Read 4 tweets
Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
21 Dec
People who wrongly saw Russiagate as the deep state attacking Trump won't recognize the similarities to the Chinagate op.
Those who know Russiagate was the US intelligence cartel manufacturing a case for aggressions against Russia will see the same thing happening with Chinagate.
Russiagate was not the deep state attacking Trump because they don't like him; it was barely about Trump at all. It was about reigniting cold war hysteria and manufacturing support for a new cold war. All the China/Biden stuff will be used in the same way.
"But Caitlin, Russiagate was fake and Chinagate is REAL!"

No you dupe. You only believe that because you think Russiagate was about Trump. If you understood that it's just diddling narratives to force a confrontation before US hegemony is surpassed, you'd see them as the same.
Read 4 tweets
Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
21 Dec
Why It's Good To Push Politicians To Do The Right Thing (Even When They Probably Won't)

"You don't push politicians to do the right thing because you think they will, you do it to show everyone else that they won't."
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/why-its-good…
The debate rages on over whether House progressives should force a floor vote on Medicare for All, with one side arguing that AOC and the rest of "The Squad" were elected to advance progressive policies and the other side arguing that AOC is cool so shut up and leave her alone.
As we discussed yesterday, Americans will not be given Medicare for All despite overwhelming public support because so much power depends on keeping them poor so they don't interfere in the affairs of a nation which serves as the hub of a global empire.
Read 16 tweets
Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
21 Dec
Human behavior only changes when there's an expansion of consciousness, individually or collectively. Substance abuse doesn't end until you turn and face the inner demons compelling it. A society doesn't reject racism until it collectively becomes aware of how damaging it is.
For this reason, the ultimate fight is to spread awareness of what's really going on. It's not winning elections or getting what we want that will lead to lasting change, it's an expansion of understanding of what's really happening in ourselves, our society, and our world.
This is why so much of the battle is happening on the front of propaganda, censorship, and press freedoms. The more unconscious aspects of our world want to keep things secret, distorted, and hidden in the shadows, while those who want change are fighting to turn the lights on.
Read 4 tweets
Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
20 Dec
Americans keep expecting a system that's not built to serve their interests to serve their interests.
- Progressives look to congress for economic justice.
- Trumpers think the judicial system will overturn the election.
- Libs thought Mueller would arrest the entire Trump camp.
What these all have in common is a belief that the system can be used to radically change the system, and it just can't. The system is built by the powerful to maintain power structures which serve the powerful. That's it. It's not going to suddenly start serving your interests.
This is why the main US factions keep being proven wrong about their predictions of apocalyptic revelations which will take out the other party: they're taking it as a given that there's some part of the system which works in opposition to the other parts on behalf of justice.
Read 10 tweets
Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture
19 Dec
The US has institutionalized poverty because if wealth were more evenly distributed in the most powerful nation on earth there'd be no ruling class to ensure the domination of the globe-spanning empire. Plutocrats wouldn't be able to buy the system; the people would control it.
This is the real wall US progressives keep crashing into when fighting for economic justice. Not a lack of votes, not a lack of seats in congress, not "it's just not realistic right now", but a system that is deliberately rigged to keep the general public poor and powerless.
You can't work within the system to obtain economic justice because the system is explicitly designed to maintain economic injustice. You will keep crashing into that same exact wall, over and over and over again, no matter how hard you try.
Read 12 tweets

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