{"id":22507,"date":"2017-01-13T18:36:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T23:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=22507"},"modified":"2017-01-13T18:36:19","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T23:36:19","slug":"chris-hedges-on-trumps-naked-kleptocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=22507","title":{"rendered":"Chris Hedges on Trump\u2019s \u2018Naked Kleptocracy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/avbooth\/item\/chris_hedges_on_trumps_naked_kleptocracy_20170113\">Chris Hedges on Trump\u2019s \u2018Naked Kleptocracy\u2019\u00a0<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Truthdig contributor\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/staff\/chris_hedges\">Chris Hedges<\/a>\u00a0recently made an appearance on the RT show\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/shows\/watching-the-hawks\/373404-gitmo-fascism-obama-us\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cWatching the Hawks\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to analyze the future of American politics under President Trump. Right off the bat, Hedges is asked what he sees as \u201cthe most compelling or intriguing aspect of this election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtter blindness of the Democratic Party,\u201d he answers. \u201cAnd I would have to add the Republican elites, epitomized by Jeb Bush and others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hedges, who\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/report\/item\/donald_trump_the_dress_rehearsal_for_fascism_20161016\">once characterized<\/a>\u00a0the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as a choice between\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/simple.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neoliberalism\" target=\"_blank\">neoliberalism<\/a>\u00a0and fascism, expands upon the ideological forces at play behind Trump\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n<p>The Americans who voted for Trump \u201cpicked a faux-populist,\u201d Hedges says. \u201cThey picked a figure who\u2019s a con artist, who told them what they wanted to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for the incoming Trump administration, Hedges believes it will be \u201ca naked\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kleptocracy\" target=\"_blank\">kleptocracy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hedges, referencing his Truthdig column \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/report\/item\/con_vs_con_20160619\">Con vs. Con<\/a>,\u201d notes that Trump is a con man\u2014but his way of deceiving the American public is more \u201cnaked\u201d than that of the political establishment.<\/p>\n<p>Hedges states that, moving forward, he doesn\u2019t believe the Democratic Party will recognize its blind spots. He argues, for instance, that Sen. Chuck Schumer \u201cis the go-to guy if you want Wall Street money in the Democratic Party\u201d and that Schumer \u201cepitomizes all the characteristics that the electorate turned against.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President-elect Trump, Hedges continues, won\u2019t be able to stand up to these establishment forces because Trump is \u201cmalleable and easily manipulated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just don\u2019t see him having either the experience or the fortitude to stand up against the deep state,\u201d Hedges says. \u201cAnd let\u2019s be fair, Obama didn\u2019t either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also discusses the faux-threat of Russia and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/eartotheground\/item\/journalists_cry_foul_as_washington_post_publishes_20161127\">the growing \u201cnew McCarthyism\u201d<\/a>\u00a0here in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Hedges is questioned about the future of the American political system: Is there anything to be hopeful for?<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Hedges on Trump\u2019s \u2018Naked Kleptocracy\u2019\u00a0 Truthdig contributor\u00a0Chris Hedges\u00a0recently made an appearance on the RT show\u00a0\u201cWatching the Hawks\u201d\u00a0to analyze the future of American politics under President Trump. Right off the bat, Hedges is asked what he sees as \u201cthe most compelling or intriguing aspect of this election.\u201d \u201cUtter blindness of the Democratic Party,\u201d he answers. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9035,14685,7844,2957,7970,8114,694,8738],"class_list":["post-22507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-chris-hedges","tag-chuck-schumer","tag-donald-trump","tag-kleptocracy","tag-mccarthyism","tag-rt-news","tag-russia","tag-truthdig"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22508,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22507\/revisions\/22508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}