American identity is key to understanding U.S. geopolitics

Go back to 2015. In the politically placid Obama years, the trends seemed logical, forwarding-looking, and strategic. America was pivoting to Asia, for China's rise was clearly a much greater threat to U.S. power than whatever might happen in the Middle East. It was signing a nuclear deal with Iran, for to have balance in …

Despite Trump, America is still going to rival Russia

Helsinki was, by virtually every American political measure, a disaster.  Only the Trump base - the very people he need not convince - were unaffected.  Their commitment to Trump is a fascinating phenomenon in and of itself, as is Trump's willingness to preach to this particular choir even at the expense of actual governance. But …

The Many Scenarios of an (American) Republican Civil War

(This post originally appeared at American Politics Made Super) The Many Scenarios of a Republican Civil War In August 2016, I was penning an article titled “The Coming Republican Civil War.” The premise was simple: after a self-inflicted Trumpian defeat in November, the party of Lincoln would tear itself asunder assigning blame and shedding factions. But Hillary …

Trump, The American Caligula, Is A Gigantic Waste Of Time For The United States

One ruler had a penchant for gilded palaces, poorly-executed jokes, financial irresponsibility, and nepotism. The other was a Roman emperor who thought about making his horse a consul. Is Jared Kushner the American equivalent of a horse-consul? Perhaps it’s Sean Spicer? Kellyanne Conway and Betsy DeVos both feel right as well. This comparison isn’t just …

Why Russian resets keep failing

In short, if it wasn't one thing, it would have been another. It didn't have to have to be a gas attack; it could have been a stray Russian shell in some Ukrainian city; a dead exiled opposition leader on the streets of a Western capital city; a major hacking attack against a critical American target; …

America Has No Deep State, And Egypt Helps Prove It

It's become the phrase of the week: the Deep State, a cabal of anti-Trump ideologues seeking a coup against a democratically-elected president hiding within the warrens of the CIA, State Department, and any other agency that can be labeled as "shadowy."  The reputed "Deep State" is the boogeyman of the Trumpistas frustrated that their president is …

The B+ Presidency of Barack Obama

The faded signs of "Hope and Change" still linger in the attics and closets of millions of Americans.  I still have my old campaign t-shirt; I worked the phone bank in 2008 in Arizona, where ubiquitous caller ID screens let people decide if they were going to thank me or shout at me before they even …

The Middle East in the Age of Trump

  (A billion apologies for the delay!  I'm upstate New York and being near a computer has been a bit difficult.  Also, there's also an issue uploading images, so this update will go without until I can fix that when I return to Brooklyn!) We should of course discount rumors that Trump will be deposed …

The Geopolitics of President-elect Donald J. Trump

What, exactly, does President-elect Donald J. Trump believe?  From 1987 until 1999 he was  a Republican; that year, he changed to the nearly defunct Reform Party, an obscure New York City legacy party.  He then became a Democrat from 2001 until 2008, when he switched back to the Republicans again. Meanwhile, simply in the past …

What the fuck just happened in America?

The blog originally began with a simple vision: complicated foreign policy analysis stuffed with swears to soften the otherwise indigestible material.  As the years have worn on, I've largely dropped that approach. But I feel we deserve the old way today. So let's start to dig through the rubble and figure out what the fuck …