Yonatan Zunger: Trial Balloon for a Coup?

By dianeravitch

January 31, 2017 //

Zunger is an engineer at Google.

This article is an alarm bell.

View at Medium.com

Read it and get active.

Be informed.

Categories Democracy, Trump

24 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Ellen Lubic says:

January 31, 2017 at 4:53 pm

When clicking on the link to Preibus telling why Trump purposely omitted talking about Jews on Holocaust Memorial Day, my computer washes out repeatedly. I am assuming that the Trumpsters are blocking this news item. How about others here? Can you read the article?

Much info is being scrubbed by Bannon from google and other search engines. Let’s try to report here on what we cannot find but know for certain was published by legit media sources. “SHUT UP” was Bannon and Conways statement to all the media…and these fascists are trying to squelch a free press in order to control all public info.

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- GregB says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 4:58 pm
  
  Ellen, the link works on my end, it’s a NYT story. As I wrote in the original post of this story yesterday, this all makes a little too much sense.
  
  Reply
- Ellen Lubic says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 4:59 pm
  
  Very frightening but plausible scenario presented here. The Trumpsters did indeed impose a coup.
  
  If State Dept has no leadership, and with or without a rapid appointment of Tillerson as the head of the Sect. of State., can Trump himself declare in an Exec Order that sanctions are lifted on Russia?
  
  We are in so much trouble.
  
  Reply
  - Ellen Lubic says:
    
    January 31, 2017 at 5:01 pm
    
    Thanks Greg…I only have this happen with Haaretz which cuts out quickly with a black screen. Now this report did the same. I keep restarting my computer, and all else seems ok, but these two sources repeatedly are washed.
Liz says:

January 31, 2017 at 5:21 pm

Trump’s words in a Fox News interview in February, 2014:

“You know what solves it? When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell, and everything is a disaster, then you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be, when we were great.”

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/11/2014-donald-trump-interview-hints-new-kind-special-relationship

Bannon’s words on being a Leninist:

“Lenin,” he answered, “wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/22/steve-bannon-trump-s-top-guy-told-me-he-was-a-leninist.html

So now we know what their goals are.

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- GregB says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 5:23 pm
  
  I know I’m a broken record: this is what “irrationalism” as policy looks like and it is a fundamental building block of fascism.
  
  Reply
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 10:13 am
    
    If I may correct your thought a little: “this is what “irrationalism” as policy looks like and it is a fundamentalIST building block of fascism.”
- jcgrim says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 11:12 pm
  
  They’re barbarians.
  
  Reply
Jon Awbrey says:

January 31, 2017 at 5:28 pm

Fred Klonsky —

https://preaprez.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/threat-level-deep-red-threat-assessment-seek-truth-from-facts/

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Laura H. Chapman says:

January 31, 2017 at 5:35 pm

This is a careful and well-sourced account of the cumulative moves that Trump and friends have been made in a few days and some of the benefits for those who are orchestrating events.

As Ellen notes, the scenario is all too plausible.

I received a forwarded email from a professor who specializes in the history of the GOP. She was alerting some friends the use of “shock tactics” to advance the GOP political agenda. That person asked not to be identified…but here are some of her observations.

Begin quote. What Bannon is doing, most dramatically with last night’s ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries– is creating what is known as a “shock event.” Such an event is unexpected and confusing and throws a society into chaos. People scramble to react to the event, usually along some fault line that those responsible for the event can widen by claiming that they alone know how to restore order.

When opponents speak out, the authors of the shock event call them enemies. As society reels and tempers run high, those responsible for the shock event perform a sleight of hand to achieve their real goal, a goal they know to be hugely unpopular, but from which everyone has been distracted as they fight over the initial event.

…..Last night’s Executive Order has all the hallmarks of a shock event. It was not reviewed by any governmental agencies or lawyers before it was released, and counter terrorism experts insist they did not ask for it. People charged with enforcing it got no instructions about how to do so. Courts immediately have declared parts of it unconstitutional, but border police in some airports are refusing to stop enforcing it.

Predictably, chaos has followed and tempers are hot.

My point today is this: unless you are the person setting it up, it is in no one’s interest to play the shock event game. It is designed explicitly to divide people who might otherwise come together so they cannot stand against something its authors think they won’t like…..

But because shock events destabilize a society, they can also be used positively. We do not have to respond along old fault lines. We could just as easily reorganize into a different pattern that threatens the people who sparked the event.

A successful shock event depends on speed and chaos because it requires knee-jerk reactions so that people divide along established lines. …If people realize they are being played, though, they can reach across old lines and reorganize to challenge the leaders who are pulling the strings…. This was Lincoln’s strategy when he joined together Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, anti-Nebraska voters, and nativists into the new Republican Party to stand against the Slave Power. end quote

This offers some perspective but there is clearly a difference between a shlooks like an unfolding coup (gutting all civil authority, threatening the media, firing government custodians of the law, inventing a self-serving last-facts, filling government posts with pay-to-pay patrons, and so on).

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Linda says:

January 31, 2017 at 5:54 pm

Intensification of privatization was a characteristic of Nazi Germany, in the lead up to WWII.
DeVos’ expansion of the Kingdom of God, through taxpayer supported Christian schools, make those in minority faiths more vulnerable. Charter school advocates, paved the way.

It’s no stretch to label the rich, from the financial sector, unproductive (2% drag on the economy) and, then, for their assets, to be viewed as attractive for the taking. The general public, learning of the 10-18% return Wall Street takes from the debt of the schools, for the middle class and poor, will fuel the rage.

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Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

January 31, 2017 at 5:58 pm

Impeach!

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- Uncle Albert's Nephew says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 9:02 pm
  
  Pence is his impeachment insurance.
  
  Reply
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 10:15 am
    
    Pence is the fundamentalist xtian caliphate impeachment insurance.
GregB says:

January 31, 2017 at 7:27 pm

Any questions left?: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-kkk-white-nationalists-happy_us_5890edb7e4b0c90eff00a2a8?

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moeone2015 says:

January 31, 2017 at 9:46 pm

I hope the people in the Rust Belt (Rust Bucket) states are happy with what they have caused. Good luck to them to get what they thought they were going to get.

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- Sereia says:
  
  January 31, 2017 at 9:57 pm
  
  It’s not that simple. In the Midwest, I have sisters who despise Trump and a brother-in-law who voted for him. Please have more understanding and compassion and less prejudice towards the “other” (in this case, people who live in a different place than you do), because doing so plays right into the hands of the Tyrant.
  
  Reply
  - moeone2015 says:
    
    January 31, 2017 at 10:06 pm
    
    I stand corrected. Apologies. It is just frustrating that the popular vote was for Clinton and we end up with Trump. Again, my apologies.
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 31, 2017 at 10:38 pm
    
    Seriea,
    
    I make no apology for opposing Trump. I don’t feel it necessary to empathize with those who voted for him. Some were fooled by his lies. Some were motivated by grievances. Some were bigots. All of that is irrelevant. What matters is that he is not competent to be president and he threatens world peace and the lives of many people.
  - Linda says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 8:26 am
    
    I also live in the Midwest. I am unwilling to forgive those family and friends who voted for Trump. Their votes reflected selfishness and ignorance. And, while Trump voters will suffer consequences, from the policies of the alt-right, all of us will be made to pay. Trump’s voters denigrated the great sacrifices made for this nation over its 250+ year history.
    I have only condemnation and contempt for the voters who turned over, to the next generation, a nation, led by a man, who said, during the election, “To the victor go, the spoils”, “grab women by the p—y”, a man who has, as qualification, multiple corporate bankruptcies, which left creditors impoverished, a man who takes money from the gambling industry, an industry that produces nothing but soul-depleting distraction, a man who used race-baiting, a man whose lies are so egregious that they can’t even be spun to a semblance of truth.
    For those Trump voters, now feeling embarrassment, I’m crying a river. THEY MADE the world suffer.
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 10:22 am
    
    Unfortunately Linda, too many Trumpistas are still blinded by the glittering golden patina THEDonald exudes (and it amazes me that so many Americans can be so in love with that exuded golden patina). Some have begun to have buyer’s remorse but most are still of the “give him a chance” attitude. They say “Oh, give his policies a chance to work”. Yep, and let’s give the fox time to clean out the hen house-and then go get some eggs to cook for breakfast tomorrow. Bon Appetit!
  - Linda says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 11:35 am
    
    Duane,
    Currently, Trump voters (the ones who aren’t mentally ill) are rationalizing the Trump presidency. But, they are beginning to worry. They’ve built a veneer of legitimacy for their voting. It’s chipping away. There’s no guarantee they won’t do the same thing again at the mid-terms.
  - GregB says:
    
    February 1, 2017 at 11:44 am
    
    File this under the “Send In the Clowns, Isn’t It Rich?”: (from freakoutnation.com)
    
    Syrian-American Trump Voters Shocked That He Banned Their Relatives
    
    Matt Osborne
    January 31st, 2017 Immigration, News, Politics, Syrian Refugees
    
    Dr. Ghassan Assali and his wife Sarmad voted for reality TV star Donald Trump. But now the Allentown, Pennsylvania family is reeling after relatives who worked 13 years to come to the United States were turned away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
    
    “I understand he wants to make America safe,” Sarmad tells the local NBC affiliate. “We’re all on with this. I definitely want to be in a safe place. But people need us and we need to be there for them.”
    
    Altogether, six of her family members had sold everything they owned, obtained visas and green cards in advance, and expected little trouble as they were Orthodox Christians rather than Muslims.
    
    But while Trump’s order seemed to focus on Muslims, ICE shut the door on seven nationalities, including Syrians. “Two security guards were waiting for them,” Assali explains. “They took them. They said, ‘Are you Syrians?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Come with us.’”
    
    Tawfik Assali had expected to see his mother again for the first time in three years. “I was one hour away from hugging her,” he says. She was returned to Damascus before lawyers for the ACLU and other nonprofit agencies won a court injunction that only protects travelers detained in the United States.
    
    Now sitting in Damascus with not a penny to their name and their visas revoked, the six Assali family members face a daunting challenge in fulfilling their American dream.
    
    “Lawyers from the ACLU of Pennsylvania, HIAS Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of the families,” NBC 10 reports. A GoFundMe campaign has also been set up to help them with expenses.
    
    Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: Pennsylvania was one of the three states that swung the Electoral College to Trump in the first place.
    
    “Why?” Sarmad Assali now asks Trump. “Where is your human side to send somebody to a war zone?” But it’s not like Donald kept his intentions secret during the campaign.
    
    Almost from the beginning of the race, Trump spoke of Syrian war refugees as a “Trojan horse” for terrorism. “We cannot let them into this country, period,” he said, echoing the same comments in his debate with Hillary Clinton.
    
    During a Rhode Island rally, Trump told supporters to “lock your doors” to Syrian refugees. He also tweeted about his intentions to bar Syrian immigration several times.
    
    Too bad the Assalis weren’t paying attention.
DEzerov says:

February 1, 2017 at 10:26 am

CNN is now using the term “coup” as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/opinions/bannon-trump-coup-opinion-ben-ghiat/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial

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