The media is scrambling to try to find out what Trump really meant when he made this cryptic statement; “Maybe this is the calm before the storm.” When asked to explain, he smiled and said, “You’ll see.”
What now? What does he mean by this ominous sounding remark?
Well, most likely the answer is that he means that a war with North Korea is about to erupt because he followed up with, “We have the world’s great military in this room.” That’s in line with his recent tweet in which he hinted at military action against North Korea, saying, “Only one thing will work” on the secretive communist state.”
We never know what this highly reactionary and very volatile individual is going to do. That statement about a coming storm alarmed the members of the media and, no doubt, many millions of Americans. I guess we will find out if he was, once again, bluffing or if he is determined to launch a military attack that would be disastrous.
On the other hand, this comment could have been about Russiagate, the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in our election process; and possible collusion between Russia, Putin and individuals in the Trump administration, or even Trump himself.
Watching as this investigative scenario plays out one thing stands out. Mr. Trump continues his verbal wars, fighting constantly with almost everyone around him, some of those in his cabinet, and various elements of the media.
But guess which country and leader are never, ever insulted, strongly admonished or subjected to any vicious verbal attack? If you guessed it is Putin and Russia then you are correct in that Trump never says anything derogatory about either.
He knows full well that the U.S. and Russia are on opposite sides in the Syrian civil war and that, very recently, these two world powers engaged in highly dangerous military confrontations in Eastern Syria. Any other U.S. president would be condemning Russia and Putin, and demanding that they leave Syria.
But not this president who remains completely silent, not saying a peep about any relationship; he might with Russia. This is very strange and may be an indication that he has been compromised in some way by Putin; that Putin has some kind of damning evidence that, if leaked out, would destroy Trump’s presidency.
Another possibility. It may be that the calm before the storm is the period just before Trump does something that would ignite a political firestorm in Washington D.C. With the threat of Putin exposing him if he steps out of line hanging over him, and the fear that Mueller & Co. have unearthed clear evidence of collusion, he may be signaling that he is going to fire Mueller and bring this entire investigation to an abrupt end.
What else? This calm may be the period before Trump is ready to initiate yet one more startling firing or forced resignations of someone in high authority in his administration. Now who might his latest target be? How about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who seems to be at odds with Trump on U.S. foreign policy and who, in a strategy meeting, supposedly called Trump a moron?
Maybe his statement was really nothing more than another diversionary tactic or Trump playing his mind games with the media. While the members of the media were tying themselves in knots, trying to figure out exactly what he meant by his cryptic statement, he was probably ecstatic at how he, once again, threw out some red meat to this media and they immediately took the bait.
So no one knows what he meant and, quite possibly, we never will because he was doing what he does best; keeping everyone off balance trying to figure out his next moves. But think about this: it’s possible that he may have, unwittingly, described a storm that is growing in strength and gathering momentum, just off America’s horizon, not yet visible to us; something that may happen, that he could not begin to imagine.
What kind of storm? Well, as we have seen with the frightening hurricanes that have caused great destruction in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, meteorologists don’t really know the exact path hurricanes will take, if and when they hit the mainland of some country. Sometimes they remain on the predicted path and hit populated areas or they suddenly veer in a different direction and go out to sea.
The storm that I’m describing in this analogy is the latent but massive power that the people of America possess, coupled with a great degree of growing anger, frustration and feelings of hopelessness. This could be called a “societal storm” by which Americans have finally arrived at a point where they have totally exhausted their patience, can no longer remain silent while watching this government concentrate on advancing the interests of the wealthiest Americans and the Corporatists, instead of those of Americans.
The probability of such a societal storm has been increasing for quite some time. Americans have watched as their jobs have been transferred to China and other countries. The middle class is slowly but surely shrinking. America is plagued with massive problems that this government refuses to even address. We have a Congress that never hesitates to appropriate funds for the military empire and then tries to find ways to slash or eliminate this country’s critically important social programs.
Even with all this pain and suffering, personal setbacks, and the prospect of more and more of the same, the people of America still remain in a form of semi-paralysis, full of apprehension and fear for the future, but not engaging in strong protests, seemingly unable to vent their mounting anger.
Those in the field of psychology would tell us that this is a dangerous condition. Keeping things inside, allowing problems to fester without relief, can be extremely harmful, both physically and mentally. People under such stress and tension in their lives often come to the point where life has lost its meaning and that’s when unexpected things can easily happen.
What are the people of America to do; is there any hope that things will change for the better? Where can they turn to in their great time of need? Can they continue to wait and believe that this president and this Congress will finally respond to their needs?
Absolutely not, based on what they have seen as this government’s main priorities.
There are those who would scoff at that and call it a misguided conclusion that this societal storm can never happen; that there is no way that the mass of Americans could ever be organized and energized to take part in such a movement. That they are caught up in a state of silence and submissiveness and would never have the courage to engage in massive ongoing protests all across America.
Are we Americans in the calm before a storm? What lies ahead for the people of this country? Are we on the verge of a People’s Revolution that will return this government into one of, by and for the people? Or will we continue traveling down the wrong road?
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