Back in Dick Cheney's Day...
Or: How Trump and Cheney's dueling nature of dictatorship differed in the American Tradition
The Last Gasp of the Establishment… Or Was It?
For those of us who lived through Dick Cheney, the thought of Donald Trump was child’s play.
Cheney, who was the mastermind behind the response to 9-11 dating back to the late 90s and in his involvement with the Project for the New American Century, was easily one of the most conniving bastards in the history of organized satanism.
Cheney, and his propensity to lean towards dictatorial rule through his use of the Unilateral Executive Theory, was the subdural fungus that bleed through the Republican right after the end of Nixon and into that accelerated dark period known as the 80s.
Although Cheney’s roles in government shifted, moved, began and ended and ended and began again many times over, his influence amongst chief thinkers within the ultra-conservative corners of Washington never seemed to meander.
Known for his ruthlessness, he just lucky enough to be in Washington while President Bush was in Florida on the morning of 9-11 and took command on the situation with what was remembered as fierce cold-blooded determinism.
Cheney’s now famous quick thinking which led the United States through the opening moments of the attack, served as a forever hero moment for him amongst many Americans. They of course never realized that he was more than prepared for not only this moment but in the days soon after when America’s response zeroed in on oil pipelines, poppy fields and later Saddam Hussain who was target number one before the 9-11 even occurred.
Cheney, who throughout his eight years as “The Most Powerful Vice President in American History”, was later remembered as a sort of cannibal as he led the charge in devouring the basic freedoms of the United States under the Patriot Act in a manner that rivaled the rise of Nazi Germany after the Reichstag Fire.
Cheney, whose ties to Halliburton and DynCorp, lead the charge in Iraq, while his friends at Unocal took control of Afghanistan, was never really targeted for corruption in the same manner as his friend and mentor Donald Rumsfeld was. Rumsfeld, essentially taking the fall for the bloodshed in Baghdad while Cheney walked away unscathed.
Cheney, who made public announcements denouncing Donald Trump even though Trump’s policies weren’t too far astray from Cheney’s, suggesting that maybe there was some disconnect between Cheney’s friends in high places and Trump’s friends in low places, still appears regularly as an elder statesmen, apologizing for nothing in the same manner war criminal Henry Kissinger used to saunter around.
But while Cheney’s influence on the United States came from an underbelly of an old CIA, Leo Straussian, neo-fascist ideal that aimed at taking control of the USA from a hyper-compartmentalized, top-down apparatus, Trump’s goons appeared to be more grass roots oriented, obliterating any sort of progressive idea like something out of a George Wallace’s 1968 Presidential Campaign.
It was as if the Confederacy had returned under Trump, and Bohemian Grove’s Mandalay Camp was rolling their eyes at how redneck their asses were.
What would this mean within the deeper halls of power and smoke-filled backroom meetings where old, white men were still the reigning emperors? Could it mean that the attempted assassinations on Trump were in fact from a “higher-power”? A bold-faced reminder that the real rulers of the land were still unseen, autonomous and almighty?
Or would this mean that there would be more slithering within the Trump White House than anyone would ever really notice? It was already widely whispered that V.P. Vance’s chief benefactor was a mysterious Silicon Valley tyrant and Bildeberger, Peter Thiel.
Who, in fact, were the real puppeteers holding the strings over this Presidency?
Thinking or even understanding that Trump wasn’t the end all be all in global power was a bit of a mind-fuck. On one hand, perhaps, it was a relief; on the other hand, an even deeper, grim reminder that there were still shadows on the wall to wake up to.
Trump’s policies came like a slap in the face, while Cheney’s were far more looming and ominous. Trump went out of his way to be brash, annoying, caustic and vile. Cheney went out of his way to avoid loud noises; he gently let CNN broadcast them live during Shock and Awe.
The issues with Trump were plentiful. But from an old, crotchety, stubborn point of view, the most prickly things to endure was the complete erasure of everything we had gotten comfortable with after Cheney now being thrown up into the air under the mask of social policies.
It was one thing to endure the Constitution being torn apart and the country being split into two during a war that Cheney purposely lied to the public about in order soften the blow over starting it, but to now see Trump piss all over what was left of this country’s small and slow bleeding heart, was almost too much to bear.
It would take a helluv a lot more than RFK Jr’s promise of a healthier tomorrow to mitigate the carnage that Trump’s people had already began to wreck. If Cheney and Trump agreed on one thing, it was the spirit of the Unilateral Executive Theory and the dictatorial powers that it implies. Funny enough, it again displayed the chasm between the two approaches: Cheney’s method was a sophisticated sounding acronym (UET), while Trump’s method was outright Stalin-esque.
It’s safe to say these two men will never get along or see eye to eye. There’s also the added oddity that a lot of Trump fans hate Dick Cheney. They see him as part of a corrupt establishment that Trump will magically do away with. This of course is not the case. Because Trump has no idea where Cheney’s men are hiding.