1. Personally, I believe that political ideology is three-dimensional rather than two.

2. I agree with you that rural voters have increasingly turned toward the GOP since the Great Recession began in 2007. I disagree that the 1920s is relevant, given that the surge in white supremacy was accompanied by religious fervor and occurred during a period of official and institutionalized racism. The support of the “Alt-Right” is immaterial compared to that of the mainstream media for Clinton. However, let’s look at the economic record for Obama’s tenure:

  • The same real GDP growth as Bush (half that of Reagan and Clinton)
  • The smallest US manufacturing sector as a share of GDP
  • A Labor Participation Rate not seen since Carter
  • Real median household income lower than Clinton on average
  • Real median household net worth set back a decade for whites and a generation for blacks


Yet Hillary expected to campaign on the status quo?

3. Trump is a politician who will take credit where credit isn’t due.

4. I read The Art of War to be philosophically against war in a way that many martial arts are philosophically opposed to violence.

The Russians have not altered the beliefs of American or European society. They have attempted to amplify popular doubts about the status quo, but the fact is that the establishment has been unable to put forth a compelling vision that Western nations can understand and support. The European Union was provoking ire among many Western Europeans in the early 2000s for its ideological bias and overreach, years before the Great Recession and rivalry with Moscow over Ukraine. On the whole, no new vision has been put forth since 1992’s The End of History. Yet Western faith that liberal democracy will triumph everywhere has been eroded over time and replaced with cynicism if not pessimism.

As for Russia’s curious blend of Czarist and Soviet ideology as well as the Byzantine Caesaro-Papism of the Russian Orthodox Church, it is unsustainable in the long-term.

Russia’s true contest is with China, and if history is any guide, Russia will have to ally with the West or find itself the Austria-Hungary or Italy to China’s Germany…

5. First, Russia was accused of hacking the polling machines. Now, it is accused of hacking the DNC and leaking the correspondence to WikiLeaks, which I believe it did. But did it swing the election in Trump’s favor? No. The biggest blow to Hillary was her “basket of deplorables” remark (32 estimated electoral votes lost) and Comey’s letters to Congress (24 estimated electoral votes lost); in fact, the Podesta release was more than overwhelmed by the Access Hollywood one.

The “vast right-wing conspiracy” of the late 1990s has transformed into a sprawling conspiracy that would baffle even Jim Marrs. Do you want to know the candidate that imitated Russian non-linear warfare? Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Her response to the Server Scandal was reminiscent of Russia’s propaganda regarding MH17:

  • Hillary suffered a concussion and remembers nothing (did the security briefing occur after she had been Secretary for over 3 years?)
  • It was Colin Powell’s fault (he was in no position to approve or authorize it)
  • It was her aids’ fault
  • There was no classified material on the server
  • There may have been classified material but Hillary didn’t know what the “C” meant
  • The security protocols are too onerous
  • Stop asking questions
  • This is yet another right-wing conspiracy
  • All of the above


Again, look at how her minions have responded to her loss:

  • It was a “whitelash” (despite Trump’s share of the white vote being within recent GOP norms)
  • It was white men
  • It was white women (betrayal!)
  • It was Comey (he is a secret GOP agent provocateur)
  • It was Obama (asking her to concede early)
  • It was the Electoral College (set-up to ensure GOP victory!)
  • It was Russia
  • All of the above