War is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who once declared that “War is the continuation of politics by other means”. The aphorism encapsulates the turmoil our nation is going through today. We are at war with ourselves and the politics that drove us to this point remain the leading factor sparking our divisions and stoking mistrust and hate. Nothing is more obvious to the truth of what Clausewitz declared than watching the flag of the Confederates paraded in the halls of Congress.

The war we are facing within is a continuation of the White Supremacists’ pre-1861 politics embodied in racism, hate, and a singular obsession with retaining power at all costs.

But this war within has been percolating for some time due to the politicization of our economic order to serve the very few. Some, like Kurt Andersen, laid a case of supply-side economics as the cause for our upheaval and why the American middle class is falling behind in every category while the very rich walk away with the bank. We are at war within, and it seems to be the continuation of the same politics that saw this country go to civil war.

It is not enough to call Trump for the risks he provokes or the danger he precipitates against the republic.

TRUMP’S POISON IS THE SOURCE OF OUR WAR

Trump politics are causing Americans to wage a war against each other. This is the honest truth. The man’s very existence, with or without Twitter, has become a danger to our democracy whether he is in power or not. Maybe this sense of reality might dissipate once the trial is over, but looking at this country from the prism of social unrest, Trump continues to stoke the very divisions he did when he was in office.

Unless the Biden Administration faces heads-on this Trump lasting factor, which will continue to reel its ugly head for the next four years, Trump’s ghost of hate and bigotry will have a lasting effect on the country. Just like a vomit in a car. Not only that, Trump’s long shadow will, without a doubt, entomb whatever new policies this administration will introduce. I hope I am wrong in this assessment, but vomit’s smell, like Trump’s existence, does not fade away that quickly or that easily. Nor, it seems, will Trump’s specter of grotesqueness.

It is not enough to call Trump for the risks he provokes or the danger he precipitates against the republic. From any angle you view today’s state of affairs, we have no solution to Trump’s poison. He is like COVID without a vaccine spreading destruction across our lands.

So much so that the FBI warned us that invoking the 25th Amendment, when we had the chance, might have caused nationwide uprising by his supporters.

Any move to raid Washington D.C. with his army of militia nationalists, White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, armed to the teeth would succeed and Trump would become the new American Hitler.

SO WHAT SOLUTIONS REMAIN?

Trump continues his politics through a war on the democratic institutions of this country. And even though we don’t see his army of crazies storm Washington D.C., the fear alone is paralyzing politicians from acting with resolve. Trump has them all under an invisible extortionist scheme.

If the Trump virus remains on its destructive path, what will President Joe Biden do to save our country from his politics causing us to wage a war against each other?

There are two criminal investigations that could, theoretically, lock Donald Trump in prison for breaking the law. If so, will this administration risk an uprising by his supporters across the political spectrum? Does Joe Biden have the spine to decimate the Trump factor by making sure Trump dies while still in prison? Honestly, I do not think Biden would do it. And even after two or three years of Trump poison, should Biden decide to act, it would be far too late.

The options available are limited. If we ignore Trump, it would only embolden him, and his anger might grow to a point of implosion. A point at which the U.S. Government may not be able to stop him anymore. Any move to raid Washington D.C. with his army of militia nationalists, White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis, armed to the teeth would succeed and Trump would become the new American Fuhrer.

Joe Biden will have to make really tough decisions what to do about Donald Trump as his politics cause us to wage war against each other. Allowing him the time for his danger to grow would be a fatal mistake.

I hope Biden has the Chutzpah to find a way to eradicate the Trump factor. It appears Republicans are not going to abandon him, and so the burden becomes Biden’s.

War is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means