The Pariah States of America

Exporting ignorance, greed, racism, and misogyny

There have always been two versions of the United States of America.

Top row: An America founded on ignorance, hate, fear, and tyranny. Bottom Row: An America built on democracy, justice, equality, fairness, freedom, and hope.

One version is the United States as an aspirational beacon of self-governance, democracy, justice, equality, freedom, and hope.

The second is our reality cast by racism, misogyny, greed, violence, ignorance, and the worship of wealth.

Since our inception the United States has endured internal struggle and strife, ebbing and flowing toward what the framers, recognizing that we were flawed from the beginning, deemed “a more perfect Union”.

Despite our domestic conflicts, we have generally projected the concepts of democracy, justice, equality, fairness, and freedom to the rest of the world.

In less than three months the criminal-elect Trump, his South African billionaire sidekick Musk, the pretend hillbilly Heritage mascot Vance, and the criminal enterprise formerly known as the Republican Party have dismantled the aspirational version of the United States. In record time they are cementing a version constructed upon the worship of wealth, inequality, and white male supremacy.

The Trump administration elevated a group of incompetent, corrupt, inexperienced cultists to “lead” critical agencies. Their nominations were “rubber-stamped” by a GOP seduced by the thought of absolute and perpetual power, instead of respect for the rule of law and governance. These confirmations “greenlit” the criminally corrupt and incompetent Trump administration to initiate and continue their rapid domestic assault on the rule of law and due process, on the education system, voting rights, climate, science, journalism, immigrants, and fundamental equality.

Now, unsatisfied with destroying the concepts of democracy, justice, equality, freedom, and fairness internally, they are now working to export ignorance, hate, fear, greed, and injustice to the rest of the world.

These actions are beyond insanity. “We are hate-filled racists -and you should be too!” is the official new doctrine of the United States. A nation no longer embracing the rule of law, however, now espousing the doctrine of “There are no rules for the powerful.” Want a beachfront resort in Gaza? Ethnically cleanse the region. Want Crimea? Just take it. Greenland is suddenly strategic? The hell with the fact we have diplomatic agreements and a military base there -it’s now ours and if you disagree, we will just take it. Sign our treaty or we will bomb you (while we abandon treaties at will -because our word, our commitment means nothing). Don’t want to become our “51st State? -we will destroy you economically until you do.

I cannot think of any nation that will regard the United States as a stable trade or defense partner for generations. If there are future elections and a respected diplomatic leader establishes a federal government predicated on the principles of democracy, justice, and equality -other nations will simply consider it to be an exception while waiting for the next incompetent and criminally corrupt regime to revoke and destroy.

Whether trade agreements or allied defense the criminal-elect has rapidly destroyed the reputation of the United States as a stable, reliable partner.

Trade: https://www.reuters.com/world/china-japan-south-korea-will-jointly-respond-us-tariffs-chinese-state-media-says-2025-03-31/

Defense: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/rare-meeting-without-us-ally-western-army-chiefs-meet-show-ukraine-unity-2025-03-11/

GOP: No longer a political party, now a criminal enterprise.

The GOP could have voted to impeach Trump twice during his first term crime wave. Members of his first term Cabinet were actively discussing the invocation of the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because of the patterns of Trump’s criminal actions. With few notable and courageous exceptions, they remained fearfully silent -and criminally complicit in the violent, insurrectionist January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, incited by Trump, Flynn, Hawley, and others. Their fealty is manifest in supporting the elevation, not of leadership, but of saboteurs intent upon destroying each vital government agency for which they are responsible.

Regardless of the color of your hat, at least pay attention to the gleeful presence of billionaires like Musk, Thiel, and others writing checks and trading democracy and justice for tax cuts and loopholes. While the Tesla protests continue, they are not a reflection of the vehicle, the protests are an indictment of generations of GOP tax cuts and loopholes for the already obscenely wealthy which has led to the evisceration of democracy, justice, and basic fairness in the United States. The offshoring of massive accumulated wealth, the purchase and consolidation of media entities to replace the flow of evidence-based facts with propaganda and disinformation, and the outcome -a divided and conquered society has fueled intentionally misdirected anger in the United States -shifting the public outrage from greed-fueled power-mad billionaires to refugees, dreamers, DEI, LGBTQ+, scientists, teachers, books, and community organizers.

Whether you are MAGA, conservative, liberal, or unaffiliated with any political party or doctrine, we are now all at risk. The stakes are much higher than the price of eggs.

After the horrific lessons of isolationism, nationalism, and the rise of right-wing extremism which led to the 20th-century World War did any reasonable person expect that the American people would elect and elevate a criminal to the highest office in the land? That any of us would be writing of a regime trading the thought of global stability and territorial integrity for military threat, fear, and hatred. And make no mistake about the 21st century World War to which we are headed through colossally ignorant foreign policy. When any nuclear-capable nation has its proverbial “back to the wall” all of humanity will quickly be on the brink of extinction.

We are 62 years beyond what Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. powerfully described as “The Fierce Urgency of Now”. This is a time for courage. This is a time for bold leadership that transcends political party.

This is a time for action, not words.

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