By Sam Husseini / Substack

Trump was the opposable thumb of the establishment. He pretended to be against it, effectively logrolling with CNN, but effectively helped it grab more. Trump, a creation of Big Media, posed as a great critic of it. This took place during his presidency, see below, but it is taking place now in a different form. His railing against Big Tech likely makes many more trusting of Big Tech. He can raise a legitimate concern, but in a manner and with a background that is ironically functional.

The Hunter Biden laptop story is small compared to other major stories, but its suppression just before the election seems a reasonable concern. And it should be a real issue that Big Tech can skew information just before the public votes. To not deal with this seriously is to ask for perpetual October Surprise scandals and Wag the Dog scenarios. Trump talking about overriding the Constitution seems at best a counter-productive way of dealing with the issue — effectively securing the position of the establishment. Thus, even when legitimate issues are raised, Trump’s problematic manner actually facilitates the establishment narrative.

During his administration, Trump’s utility for the establishment was clear in terms of personnel. While Trump promised “America First” — he elevated some of the most notorious interventionists including Mike Pompeo, John Bolton and Elliott Abrams.

He posed as critical of NATO, calling it “obsolete” and “as bad as NAFTA” — but all the noise around that had the net effect not of the US leaving NATO and ending it, but quite the opposite. It resulted in getting European countries to spend more money on NATO, effectively making the military alliance more powerful.

Trump did things for the US establishment that no conventional president could have. He got out of various treaties the establishment wanted to get out of, but how? Trump, that’s how. He ditched the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and other arms control treaties; the Iran Deal — Biden seems in no rush to get back into. Trump actually facilitates maximalist US establishment designs as position of negotiating leverage; a sort of variation on Nixon’s “Madman” theory. The establishment long wanted to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. It seemed an untenable thing for a president to do — until Trump. Presto….ht

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