Instability, Political Turmoil Sweeping the U.S.

Introduction

In a display of corruption and delusion, the war hawks in the U.S. political/corporate Establishment finally pushed through legislation to continue funding wars designed to protect the collapsing Unipolar Order.  House Speaker Mike Johnson demonstrated both cowardice and opportunism, in violating the pledge he made to those who backed his candidacy that there would be no funds to Ukraine unless funds were allocated to shut down the flood of immigrants coming into the country.  No bill to protect the border was passed.

It was not just Biden Democrats who voted to send your tax dollars to fight the war against Russia in Ukraine and to back Israeli genocide against Palestinian civilians.  More than 100 Republican Congressmen voted with Johnson, with the final vote being 311 to 112 for the $60+ billion for Ukraine.  The vote for $26 billion to fund Israel was 366 to 58, with most of the "No" votes from Democrats, and the Taiwan/Indo-Pacific vote of $8 billion was 385 to 34 -- meaning that the overall sentiment in the three votes was pro-war, with many Republicans backing Biden and the Military-Industrial-Financial Complex.  So much for principled opposition!

The first of the following articles was written before the April 20 vote, the second after it occurred.  Please feel free to share them, and participate in our International Peace Coalition.  We must build a principled opposition to the Establishment war hawks and neo-liberals.

- Harley Schlanger, April 22, 2024

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Credit: Flickr/Gage Skidmore/CC 2.0

Instability, Political Turmoil Sweeping the U.S.

April 15 -- As the 2024 presidential election campaign in the United States is underway, the Biden administration and leaders from both parties remain committed to supporting the likely losing side in two endless, costly and unpopular military conflicts, with the voters facing a rerun between two candidates whom polls show are widely disliked.  It is therefore not surprising that the nation which is considered by its arrogant establishment to be the world's "sole superpower", the "indispensable nation", is wracked by intense political turmoil with seven months to go before the election.  It is not just the usual partisan brawls which are underway; there are deepening splits within both parties, driven by growing recognition that the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is lost, and that U.S. backing for Israel's ethnic cleansing in Gaza makes America complicit in what jurists of the International Court of Justice have described as a plausible case of genocide.

The most immediate battle is over President Biden's supplemental funding bill to back Ukraine, with $60+ billion in aid, and Israel, with $14+ billion, with smaller amounts to go to Taiwan and border protection at home.  Republicans allied with former President Donald Trump have blocked the Ukraine funding, and are threatening to oust Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson if he backs Biden's spending plans, which are supported by neocon war hawks in both parties. Supporters of the bill point to the collapse of Ukraine's defenses, due to lack of manpower, weapons and money, as reason for the urgent call for action, arguing that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, he will continue to move westward against NATO countries.  This point was made by Treasury Secretary Yellen, among other administration officials, who said on April 17, that failure to pass the funding bill "has been inexcusable -- and detrimental to our national security."  Delaying passage, she added, only "strengthens Putin."  

Supporters of the $95 billion supplemental spending plan also pointed to the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13 as a compelling reason for pushing through the package for Israel -- with no mention that the attack was provoked by Israel's violation of international law with its April 1 deadly missile strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria. 

The acrimony over war expenditures deepened this week, when Johnson dropped his previous hesitancy to back Biden's plan, proposing to break it down into four separate bills, with full funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. This provoked leaders of the Trump "wing" of the party -- which presumes to speak for the majority of Republican voters -- to threaten to remove Johnson as Speaker, just as they did former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster in October 2023, after ten months as Speaker, plunged the Congress into chaos.  With Johnson now firmly supporting the Biden endless war policy, Democratic Party Congressional leaders have pledged to cross over party lines and vote for him to remain as Speaker if opponents in his own party move to oust him.

The unseen hand of the Military-Industrial-Financial Complex (MIFC) is controlling the debate, with defenders of Biden's policies in government positions, think tanks and media, echoing the battle cry of the War Hawks committed to using war to sustain the U.S. position as the chief hegemon running a collapsing Unipolar Order.  In announcing his turn away from the Trump-"Make America Great Again" (MAGA) isolationist opposition to funding Ukraine, Johnson used the support of Republicans for Israel as an end-run around Trump, who has repeated his defense of Israel's brutal assault on Gaza.  Following an April 12 meeting with Trump in Florida, Johnson said Trump now supports his plan -- though Trump limited his public comments to saying that he considers Johnson to be a "good man." 

United For Endless Wars

In announcing his plan, Johnson gave full support to the MIFC's talking points.  "We know the urgency in Ukraine and in Israel and we are going to stand by Israel...and make sure that Vladimir Putin doesn't march through Europe."  In a brief statement from Biden, in which he gave his backing to Johnson's plan, the President said, "We stand with our friends and we won't let Iran or Russia succeed."  

This bipartisan unity for funding the permanent wars has provoked those with a principled opposition to the neocons. Representative Nehls, a Texas Republican Congressman, denounced Johnson's shift on Ukraine funding, saying "Putin is not going into Poland."  In a gathering of party members on April 18, Rep. Thomas Massie confronted Johnson, asking him to resign.  Massie is supporting Trump loyalist, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is threatening to act on a motion to remove Johnson as Speaker.  In response to this threat, Democrats on the House Rules Committee, which voted to move ahead with a vote on April 20 on Johnson's four bills, gave Johnson their unanimous support.

This unity flies in the face of the growing the growing opposition in the general population to U.S. support for both conflicts.  Polls have found nearly three of four Republican voters oppose spending more on Ukraine, while there are burgeoning protests among Democrats against Biden's support for Israel.  Adding to the overall volatility within the  electorate is the deepening concern that the wars may blow up into a full world war, with nuclear implications.  The deadly missile attack by Israel against the Iranian consulate and the subsequent Iranian retaliation shows that the concern over World War III is real.

Johnson also alienated Trump loyalists when he pushed through the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was set to expire on April 19.  Trump called on Republicans to "kill the bill."  Johnson broke a tie vote on a Republican amendment to end the use of warrantless wiretaps, voting  in favor of the practice, continuing its use to allow spying on Americans for two more years.  In opposing FISA's reauthorization, Trump pointed out that the Obama intelligence community had used wireless warrants to bug his campaign, in search of non-existent evidence of Russian support for his candidacy, which was at the center of the "Russiagate" allegations which undermined his presidency.

"Christian" Fundamentalists Weigh In For War

In the midst of these legislative battles, Reverend John Hagee, the chair of Christians United for Israel, flew into Washington to spearhead a lobbying effort to support Israel.  More than 250 evangelical leaders joined him in this "fly-in" to Washington, which included a meeting between Hagee and Johnson, who is a self-identified Christian fundamentalist.  At a rally before his meeting with Johnson, Hagee said the Iranian missile attack on Israel is "prophetic", citing his delusional explanation of the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, which Hagee interprets as the foretelling of the Battle of Armageddon. 

In his view, which is widely-accepted among the more rabid of self-described Christian fundies, the return of Jesus Christ will be preceded by a war between "Gog and Magog", a precondition for which is the return of the Jewish people to Israel.  In this battle, all but 144,000 of the world's Jews will perish, with the survivors being those who accept Jesus as messiah!  For this to occur, he preaches, Christians must support Israel.  We "don't need to de-escalate....Hamas needs to be wiped out."  He called on his audience to "hit Congress like a bulldozer -- We want them to bless Israel."   ****

While this "blessing" is greatly desired by Netanyahu and his war cabinet, it also increases the pressure on Donald Trump to back away from his opposition to the neocon wars which he has denounced as the policy of the "Deep State."  It also puts the Republican Party supporters of Permanent war into an embrace of their supposed opponents, the Democratic Party War Hawks allied with Biden.

It means further that the hopes for a reasonable debate on principles in the 2024 election campaign have been dashed, and that the turmoil of the last decade will continue to threaten the world, as the permanent war faction is likely to maintain its control over U.S. policy.

****For a better understanding of the role of "Christian fundamentalism" in U.S. history, see Lyndon LaRouche's statement from 2001, republished in Executive Intelligence Review, linked here.

For a longer historical review, see this author's article, published in the Executive Intelligence Review in February 2005, linked here.

UPDATE:
U.S. Congress Votes For "Endless War"

April 22 -- In an emergency vote for President Biden's supplemental war budget, the U.S. Congress demonstrated once again that its majority accepts the delusion that maintaining the "Sole Superpower" military status of the U.S. is good for the country.  The vote occurred after the $95 billion allocation for Ukraine ($61 billion), Israel and Taiwan had been bottled up by Speaker Mike Johnson for several months.  Johnson, a Republican who became the leader in the House by promising fellow Republicans he would not allow more funds for Ukraine unless a bill was passed to make funds available to close the southern border, had collaborated with his pro-Trump colleagues to block the funding.

Then, in an about-face last week, he announced he would separate the funds for three wars into three separate bills, which were then passed by substantial margins.  While Democrats and the pro-war media are saluting Johnson for his "courage", his some of his pro-Trump colleagues, who made him Speaker because he said he opposed more money for Ukraine, are moving to oust him, as they did former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last October.  They note that not only did he shift his stance on Ukraine funding, but nothing was done to fulfill the promise to close the border.

Johnson also pushed through the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which had been used to spy on Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.  Johnson personally voted to break a tie on an amendment opposing warrantless wiretaps, ensuring that it remained in place, despite marching orders from Trump to "kill the bill."  When asked why, despite such opposition, Congress reauthorized warrantless spying, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading War Hawk, told Fox News, “We’re at war! They’re coming to kill us all!”

Johnson's change of mind -- if it was a change at all -- may have resulted from a full-court press by pro-war operatives desperate to keep the proxy war going against Russia and Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.  The media has been filled with stories about the collapse of Ukraine's army, and doubts among some western leaders that the war could be won.  Instead of moving for negotiations, officials in the Biden administration and NATO demanded that funding continue for the war, to "bleed Russia."

Among those pressuring Johnson were Republican national security hawks and Biden officials, who provided "high-level intelligence briefings."  One of those "advising" him was leading neocon Mike Pompeo, former CIA director.  He was also targeted by Christian evangelicals, who conducted a "fly-in" to Washington of 250 members of the Christians United for Israel.  Its leader, Rev. Hagee, called on those gathered to "hit Congress like a bulldozer", so that their "blessings" will be bestowed on Israel -- blessings in the form of at least $14 billion, a steady flow of weapons and political cover.  Hagee met personally with Johnson, a self-professed Christian fundamentalist, to make sure the funds for Israel were included.

Johnson also met with Trump in Florida, to brief him on his plans.  Despite Trump's well-known opposition to the war in Ukraine, Johnson said he agreed with his plans.  Asked for a comment, Trump said only that he considers Johnson "a good guy."

Following this organizing drive by neocons, Johnson, who in May 2022 had been one of 57 Representatives who voted against funding the war, announced "I believe Xi (President of China) and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil."

The media showered praise on Johnson and Congress for showing “responsible bipartisanship” for war.  No doubt the billionaires of the Military-Industrial-Financial Complex who profit from these wars, and fund the election of these bipartisan warmongers, are happy.