Watch The Shadows

Trump moves the US into the Axis of Evil column

Late on Saturday Trump sent out a post that seemingly came out of nowhere: an old photo of him with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with the caption “Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!”

It was baffling, a non sequitur, which at the time seemed embarrassingly like someone recalling better days.

It was actually the opening for one of the most dangerous things Trump has done.

The following evening Trump announced that he considered North Korea a much better friend than the democratic, long-standing ally South Korea.

The US had been about to take part in Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two annual military exercises held by South Korea and the US to show a united front against any North Korean attack on its neighbour.

Instead Trump said: “Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America…but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”

Trump went on to point out that South Korea had refused to take part in his illegal and pointless war with Iran — “while somewhat unrelated (?)”.

The world has become numb, if not completely exhausted, by every single thing Trump has done. Even in that context, the announcement that the US is now closer to what George W Bush described as the Axis of Evil than it is to the forces of democracy should be shocking.

Trump still has people making excuses for him. He’s just trolling, he doesn’t mean it. They should know better. Even if you take the line that it’s only words, it’s still incredibly dangerous.

We’ve seen many times that stupid things Trump has said have real world repercussions. His attacks on Canada have damaged trade and destroyed tourism. His attacks on NATO have emboldened Putin.

When you’re the President of the world’s last superpower, what comes out of your mouth is seen as policy. You don’t need to act.

North and South Korea are still officially at war since the 1950-53 conflict. It’s a frozen one, but it’s sustained by the US alliance with South Korea which is seen as a deterrence to the nuclear-powered North Korea. The Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1953 commits the US to defend South Korea against external attack.

The US offers “extended deterrence” including its nuclear umbrella, meaning any attack on South Korea could trigger a US nuclear response. Combined military exercises like Freedom Shield show readiness to the North Korean regime and how well South Korea and the US work together. It’s also seen as balancing Chinese influence in the region.

Trump has now put at risk the lives of the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea and the entire balance of power across East Asia.

The North Korean regime has always been erratic and Kim Jong-un is no better. Kim has been racing ahead to develop nuclear weapons capabilities that could strike the US and regularly threatens America and the South. (A first strike on America by North Korea was the basis for Annie Jacobson’s disturbing book Nuclear War: A Scenario based on her interviews with senior US military officials who suggested it was the most likely scenario.)

If Kim thinks the US will no longer back South Korea — whether it will or won’t — all the calculations have changed.

On the surface, Trump’s announcement makes no sense. It only weakens America’s strategic aims.

We can, if you want, thunder straight into conspiracy theory territory here. Except in the world we’re now in, one of power bases and sects that operate behind the scenes of the primary colour razzmatazz of everyday politics, it might simply be theory.

A lot of sensible people shy away from anything that might have the whiff of conspiracy. There’s an element of shame there. They don’t want anyone thinking they might be like the uneducated MAGA/QAnon/Reform conspiracists of the last decade who lack the critical analysis to tell fact from fiction.

That conceit might give them the psychological comfort that they are the better people. It also might not be healthy.

Reality tells us that the world has become untethered. It makes no sense any more, not by the standards that we all clung to before 2015. That’s been achieved with astonishing speed by Trump and those across the world who march to his drumbeat — or rather march to the drumbeat of those who pull Trump’s strings.

These days we’re all swimming in shark-infested waters. Occasionally we might think we glimpse a shadow sweeping by beneath us. If we ignore it because there is no evidence the next thing we know is that our leg has been chewed off and we’re thrashing in the churning crimson water of a feeding frenzy.

Watch the shadows.

I’ve written before on here about how Trump is not an American. He’s part of a transnational power cult of authoritarian leaders, oligarchs and criminals that owe no allegiance to the country that elevated them and who help each other out at every turn. That’s because they have a shared aim to strip away laws, both domestic and international, and cultural norms, anything which might be used to prevent them from doing exactly what they want to do at any time.

Trump doesn’t care about America. Putin doesn’t care about Russia. Orban didn’t care about Hungary. Bolsonaro didn’t care about Brazil. Musk says he cares about what he laughingly calls “western civilisation” but the civilisation he dreams of is one where he’s free to plunder. It’s not even White Supremacist. It’s one where a very small group of extremely wealthy Whites can be Supreme.

They’re the Vampire Class, sucking the life-blood out of the people beneath them. They want populations weak, powerless, unprotected, sick, hungry. Then they’re no threat.

But let’s not consider conspiracy theories. We can just look at what Trump has done to America in 18 months:

• Firing multi-million dollar missiles into sand and rock in a pointless war with Iran that could never be won, a strategy that has left the US weapons stock so depleted it cannot fight another war for years

• Stripping away vaccine protections that leave Americans at risk of serious illnesses that have been all but eradicated in other parts of the world

• Slashing the disease early warning system at the CDC

• Removing food protections that have led to accelerating food crises involving cyclospora-contaminated lettuce, beef and eggs

• Allowing US bases in the Middle East to be destroyed

• Weakening NATO

• Driving away allies all over the world through a crazed tariff policy

• Allowing Putin free rein to attack Ukraine and threaten Europe

• Firing experienced military officials

• Destroying morale in the navy

• Demanding changes to aircraft carriers that would throw them back to the last century in terms of effectiveness

I haven’t even touched on his attacks on the Constitution and the rule of law, the assault on American citizens through a violent ICE and more.

Failure, devastating failure everywhere you look. America weakened on all fronts. His only success is the amount of cash he’s siphoned into his family coffers.

When you look at the list, the only explanations that make sense are that he’s either the most incompetent leader in the history of the entire planet or that the dismantling of America is the plan.

And it’s entirely possible that both may be true.

There is no evidence here that can provide any definite answer. But one thing is certain: complacency will allow him the space to keep doing whatever it is he’s doing. The pattern now has been set and he’s not going to stop.

Everyone must be vigilant.