Через пару дней, после…

После своего выступления, он продержался пару дней…

(CNN)In any normal White House, in any normal week, the ouster of the President’s political and ideological guru would signal a major course correction.

Though Steve Bannon has been a force of disruption in President Donald Trump’s tumultuous seven months in power, the now former chief White House strategist is unlikely to take the chaos he has fomented with him after being forced out of the West Wing Friday.
That’s because the most disruptive, unpredictable, outrageous influence in the White House is going nowhere, and he just happens to be the man in charge.
“Trump is still President and he is an uncontrollable force, we have found out,” said David Gergen, an adviser to four presidents, Democrats and Republicans.
“A lot of the chaos and spewing of hatred comes from him himself, not just the people around him.”
Ever since jumping to the President’s campaign a year ago, Bannon has been portrayed as a political flamethrower and the personification of the “America First” economic nationalism and populism that Trump rode to the White House.

On one level, his exit is a victory for the generals Trump has gathered around him, including John Kelly, his new chief of staff, and H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, who have battled to impose order and continuity on Trump’s governing process and foreign policy as pandemonium raged.
One administration was clearly not big enough for Kelly and Bannon.
And sources have told CNN that Trump had grown irritated with his chief strategist’s outsized media profile and reputation as the intellectual guardian of his political project.
Yet photos of Kelly, staring helplessly at his shoes Tuesday as Trump drew new equivalencies between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, told their own story.
Kelly may be able to impose order and to oust the most disruptive elements of Trump’s White House staff. But corralling the unruly President who resists discipline and control and who blurts out inflammatory statements and sets Twitter alight on a whim is another.
Bannon has often been seen as a link between Trump and the alt-right, nationalist sectors of his political base, that were particularly attracted to his rhetoric on immigration and tough line on Islamic terror during the campaign.

But Bannon, while clearly playing a role in laying out the ideological underpinnings of Trump’s worldview, was always more of a symptom of Trumpism than its cause. The President was lashing out against Mexicans and indulging in anti-Muslim rhetoric long before he officially joined the campaign.
And the most remarkable news conference in presidential history also made another point clear: Trump’s reticence in specifically singling out white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups was not the result of Bannon whispering in his ear — it was an authentic representation of his own core beliefs.
RELATED: A Trump meltdown for the ages
As a massive backlash grew against Trump, from business leaders, Republican senators and others, it became clear that his presidency itself was facing a huge crisis of moral legitimacy — a reality that the firing of a mere operative like Bannon, who has been at the fringes of Trump’s team during the President’s politically disastrous two-week “working vacation,” would do little to change.
After his ousting Friday, Bannon spoke to The Weekly Standard, making a pointed case that the Trump presidency that his brand of populist, right-wing conservatives helped make possible is now “over.”
“We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency,” Bannon told The Weekly Standard. “But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”
The departure of the rumpled chief strategist provokes questions that could shape the Trump presidency going forward.
One effect could be to consolidate the White House’s political message more fully under the control of Kelly and any future appointees.
His absence could allow Kelly and McMaster to rein in conflicting strands of Trump’s foreign policy. Bannon’s comment for example this week in an interview with the American Prospect that there was no military solution to the North Korea nuclear showdown undercut the President’s rhetoric and caused deep confusion among US allies in Asia.

Still, given Trump’s tendency to ad-lib his way through foreign policy crises, any control that Kelly and McMaster do manage to exert on national security policy is always going to be tenuous.
With chaos reigning in the White House, Trump has struggled to attract new blood to his team, following regular rounds of staff bloodletting. Perhaps, with Kelly running a tighter ship on military discipline, that could change.
“Gen. Kelly is getting control of the staff, now we will see who he can attract in,” Republican political consultant Rich Galen said on CNN.
For months, the conventional wisdom in Washington has been that Trump would be loathe to let Bannon go because he fears his slash-and-burn political tactics could be turned back against the administration itself.
But there is also anxiety among those who work in the intellectual engines of Trumpism that Bannon’s demise could see the President transformed into a more traditional, moderate politician. This would be especially the case if Bannon’s exit leads to more power for Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House economic supremo Gary Cohn.
Bannon’s former home, the conservative website, Breitbart, was quick to declare war on the Trump administration following Bannon’s firing.
The group’s senior editor at large Joel Pollak warned that Trump could share the fate of another outsider candidate who disappointed his followers and turned into a liberal: former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Steve Bannon personified the Trump agenda. With Bannon gone, there is no guarantee that Trump will stick to the plan,” Pollak wrote.
His comments were a signal that any softening of Trump’s political persona would spell trouble for the White House
“I think they are going to go to all-out war with what they perceive to be the West Wing globalists and really go after Jared and Ivanka and Gary Cohn and Don Jr.,” said Kurt Bardella, a Republican strategist and former Breitbart executive.
It did not take long for Bannon to end up back at Breitbart. The website said Friday evening that the man it described as a “populist hero” had returned to the company as executive chairman and had already chaired an editorial meeting.
His new perch will allow Bannon to pursue the feuds he waged inside the West Wing and license to push his key issues, including a crackdown on what he sees as China’s trade abuses and the economic plight of white working-class Americans.
“I think that Bannon is going to try to paint the narrative that the person that his audience voted for has been co-opted by these West Wing globalists,” Bardella said.
Still, a White House ally of Bannon told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond on Friday, that the now former chief strategist did not want to go to war with Trump.
“That’s not where Steve’s head is at,” this source said. “He’s been fighting for the exact same things that the president has been fighting for.”
The source quoted Bannon as saying “I want (Trump) to succeed.”
That could lead to Bannon going hard after his former enemies in the West Wing, but staying publicly loyal to Trump — in a way that would allow him to emerge as a private counselor for a President, who is known to trawl a wide range of former associates and colleagues for advice, and support.

Отсюда.

Администрацию лихорадит и Трамп сдает своих одного за другим.

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Про страхи. Про Россию и Америку…

Любопытно…

SOFIA, Bulgaria — There is something mystifying about the American obsession with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, its military involvement in Syria and its meddling in elections abroad may help explain some of America’s sense of alarm. But they fail to explain why liberals in the United States are so much more vexed by Russia than they are by, say, the growing economic power and geopolitical ambitions of China, or the global ideological challenge of radical Islam or the sheer craziness of a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Russia suffers from demographic decline and arrested modernization. Its economy is overdependent on exporting natural resources. Its population has one of the highest percentages of university-educated people but the lowest labor productivity in the industrialized world. And although Mr. Putin is a strong and ruthless leader who enjoys popular support at home and celebrity status abroad, Russia’s institutions are corrupt and dysfunctional: Russian bureaucrats spend much of their energy fighting one another over money and power and have no time to cooperate. And Russia’s future after Mr. Putin — whenever that may come — is anybody’s guess.

Was it not just two years ago that President Barack Obama called Russia a “regional power”? And is it not true that even today most experts concur that while Moscow is an aggressive military power interested in counterbalancing America’s influence in the world, it is no traditional “rising power”? As the eminent American historian Stephen Kotkin wrote last year in Foreign Affairs, “For half a millennium Russian foreign policy has been characterized by soaring ambitions that have exceeded the country’s capabilities.” It is no different today.

And yet despite all of this, Americans are mesmerized and terrified by Russia. Is it simply that for liberal America, “Russia” is a code name for “Donald Trump”?

As for many of the great questions of our times, an explanation can be found in Russian classical literature. In this case, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella “The Double.” It is the story of a government clerk who winds up in the madhouse after meeting his doppelgänger — a man who looks like him and speaks like him, but who displays all the charm and self-confidence that the tortured protagonist lacks. The doppelgänger in Dostoyevsky’s story does not drive the protagonist insane just because they look alike but because he makes the protagonist realize what it is he doesn’t like about himself. And such it is with the United States and Russia today.

The Soviet Union terrorized the West for most of the 20th century in part because it was so radically different. There was ostensibly no God, no private property and no political pluralism. America could be Sovietized only by losing the war against Communism. Mr. Putin’s Russia, by contrast, frightens Americans because they know that the United States and Russia should be very different, but many of the pathologies present in Russia can also be found in the United States. What disturbs liberal America is not that Russia will run the world — far from it. Rather, the fear, whether liberals fully recognize it or not, is that the United States has started to resemble Russia.

It was the Kremlin that for the past two decades tried to explain away its problems and failures by blaming foreign meddling. Now America is doing the same. Everything that liberal Americans dislike — Mr. Trump’s electoral victory, the reverse of the process of democratization in the world and the decline of American power — are viewed as the results of Mr. Putin’s plottings.

For liberal Americans, Russia is — rightfully — a frightening example of how authoritarian rule can function within the institutional framework of a democracy. Russia’s “managed democracy” provides a vivid illustration of how institutions and practices that originally emancipated citizens from the whim of unaccountable rulers can be refashioned to effectively disenfranchise citizens (even while allowing them to vote).

Russia also embodies what politics can look like when the elites are completely divorced from the people. It is not only a highly unequal society but also one in which rising inequality is normal, and a handful of very rich and politically unaccountable rulers have managed to stay on top without having to use much violence. The privileged few do not need to dominate or control their fellow citizens; they can simply ignore them like an irrelevant nuisance.

It may take a while before working-class Americans start to realize that while the American economy is dramatically different from that of Russia, the technological revolution led by Silicon Valley could in time tilt Western societies toward authoritarian politics in the same way that an abundance of natural resources has made Mr. Putin’s regime possible. Robots — not unlike post-Soviet citizens — are not that interested in democracy.

For many years, Americans were able to look at Russia and its social and political problems and see a country stuck in the past, perhaps someday to develop into a modern country like the United States. But that’s no longer the prevailing attitude. Now, whether they realize it or not, many Americans fear that when they look at Russia they are looking at the future. What is most disturbing is that it could be their future, too.

Ivan Krastev is the chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, a contributing opinion writer and the author, most recently, of “After Europe.”

Отсюда.

Перевод на русский.

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Учения Морской пехоты США в русской деревне. Секретный фельетон

Немного веселого…

Dear Mom!
Нашу роту завтра отправляют на полигон Кэмп-Леджен, что в Северной Каролине. Там раньше готовили морских пехотинцев для наших победоносных войн в Ираке и Афганистане, а теперь будут готовить для победоносной войны с Россией. Эти рашенз совсем обнаглели: они вмешались в наши выборы, а также отняли у Юкрейн остров Крит, как нам рассказал наш капрал Джонс. Мы потренируемся, а потом покажем этим алкашам, что такое Корпус морской пехоты США.
Как приеду на место, обязательно тебе напишу.
Твой сын Коди.

***

Dear Mom!

Вот мы и прибыли на место. Тут кругом лес. Это хорошо, так как все русские тоже живут в лесу, как нам рассказал наш капрал Джонс. Посреди леса стоит настоящая вилладж.
Она раньше была иракская, а теперь ее переделали в русскую, только кое-где остались пальмы. Но капрал Джонс сказал, что у русских на Черном море тоже есть пальмы, так что все в порядке, ведь скоро мы будем и там. Недалеко от вилладж стоит казарма, где разместили нашу роту. Завтра нам пообещали сюрприз, и я тебе о нем обязательно расскажу.
Твой сын Коди.

***

Dear Mom!
Ого! Представь, у нас будет настоящая массовка! Оказывается, военно-морской департамент набрал русскоговорящих статистов, чтобы они изображали русских солдат и мирных жителей вилладжа. Кстати, по-русски “вилладж” — это “дьеревна”.
Все будет как в настоящем голливудском блокбастере! Твой сын теперь Брюс Уиллис! Правда, круто?

Статистов около тридцати, все эмигранты. Водители, строители, продавцы, айтишники, пара преподавателей, несколько женщин, а одна даже с маленькой дочкой лет пяти.
Для кого-то сто баксов в день — хорошие деньги, а кто-то пошел просто из любопытства.
На мужчин надели русские куртки из ваты, сапоги и пилотки со звездой, а женщин нарядили в широкие цветные юбки и закутали в большие платки — все как в настоящей России. Мы с парнями просто обхохотались, глядя на этих клоунов.
Завтра у нас начинаются тренировки. Обязательно расскажу о впечатлениях!
Твой сын Коди.

***

Dear Mom!
Это было просто здорово! Три наших взвода ворвались в эту дьеревну с трех сторон как ураган. Мы быстро положили мордами в землю десяток статистов со списанными нерабочими АК, рассредоточились и приступили к зачистке. Двое стояли по бокам, я выбивал дверь, быстро бросал в дом две гранаты, отбегал, после чего парни выпускали внутрь по обойме через окна.
Женщины-статистки кричали по-русски “Спасите!”, все было в дыму, звучала какая-то русская музыка и сильно воняло навозом. Господи, и как эти русские живут в таких условиях? Да они просто свиньи!
В общем, развлеклись мы здорово. Капрал Джонс для хохмы дал очередь холостыми над несколькими статистками — они испугались, а мы чуть животики не надорвали от смеха.
Твой сын Коди.

***
Dear Mom!
Сегодня мы отрабатывали тактику антипартизанской борьбы. Мужчины-статисты попрятались, а мы должны были их найти. Чтобы не терять время и не обыскивать воняющие навозом дома, капрал Джонс предложил отличную идею. Мы согнали всех статисток в сарай и через громкоговоритель объявили, что если статисты-“партизаны” через три минуты не выйдут, то мы подожжем сарай.
Никто не вышел.

Тогда капрал Джонс привел девочку-статистку, отобрал у нее плюшевого мишку, отрезал ему голову тактическим ножом и крикнул, что девочка следующая.
Мне кажется, ма, что Джонс перестарался.

Девочка расплакалась, и тут вышел один статист — какой-то щуплый тип в очках. Он молча подошел к нашему капралу и врезал ему в челюсть прикладом списанного нерабочего АК. Приклад, как оказалось, еще работал вполне исправно. Прекрасные белые зубы нашего капрала блеснули на солнце и упали примерно в двух метрах от того места, где рухнул сам капрал.

Мы все стояли как громом пораженные, ма. Взять и ударить вооруженного двухметрового морского пехотинца США по лицу мог только дикарь без чести и совести. А тут еще та девочка подошла к бесчувственному телу капрала и пару раз радостно пнула его ногой по ребрам. Где они их всех набирали — в джунглях Сибири?
Бойфренд нашего капрала взвизгнул, выхватил свой кольт, заряженный боевыми патронами, и стал стрелять в щуплого. Но не попал, так как из-за слез у него потекла тушь.
Зато изо всех щелей на нас кинулись статисты с каким-то страшным криком “Рра!” — или “Юра!”. Я не успел толком расслышать, так как что-то сильно ударило меня по каске, и я потерял сознание. Когда очнулся, было уже темно и никого рядом не было. Буду выбираться с этой проклятой базы. Напишу тебе завтра, а то мой планшет уже мигает и что-то тревожно шевелится в кустах. Мне страшно, ма. Я хочу домой, в Калифорнию.
Твой сын Коди.
***
Dear Mom!

Товарищ ефрейтор запаса поставил меня в наряд по туалету, и у меня есть минутка, чтобы тебе написать. Служу я хорошо. Капрал Джонс тоже в порядке, он стоит на тумбочке и громко кричит “Шмирно!”, если в казарму входит товарищ старший лейтенант запаса или товарищ старшина запаса.
Весь день у нас теперь расписан по минутам. То покраска травы, то подметание дорожек кисточками для бритья, то строевая подготовка с песнями. Я уже выучил песню: “У солдата выходной, пуговицы в ряд”.

Один из трех взводов всегда окапывается на плацу. Норматив пять минут, окоп в полный профиль, кто не укладывается — идет надувать колеса хамви без насоса. Но это все равно лучше, чем накачивать ручным насосом танковые катки, чтобы танк ездил мягче.

У меня для тебя хорошие новости! Командование Корпуса морской пехоты, наконец, заканчивает секретные переговоры со статистами, и нас всех отпустят в обмен на подписку, что статисты никому не расскажут, как тридцать гражданских взяли в плен двести морских пехотинцев. Им еще пообещали заплатить, а той девочке подарят трех плюшевых медведей и пять кукол Барби. Она, кстати, подружилась с капралом Джонсом и часто носила ему конфеты, когда он плакал на своей тумбочке. Русские оказались добрыми людьми — мы все живы и здоровы, спасибо им за это.
Так что скоро у меня дембель! Я уже стал пришивать к камуфляжу позолоченные аксельбанты и доделал дембельский альбом.
До скорой встречи!
Твой сын, дух первого месяца службы, Коди.

РИА Новости

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