The American Establishment doesn’t Trust Anyone, especially their own President

President-elect Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the intelligence community Friday morning, blaming it once again for leaking an unverified report containing compromising and salacious allegations about him to the media and citing the Russian government as proof that the dossier's allegations are false. [Politico]

The reality of democratic governments is that they are manipulated and controlled by powerful interests within, or even outside, the country. In the case of America, the political system is firmly in the hands of the Capitalist class, which has strong direct connections with America’s political and administrative institutions. Over the decades, these institutions have become fully aligned with Capitalist interests, and their basic planning changes very little from one administration to the next. American Presidents may differ in ideological and political opinions, and each President has his own unique inclinations, approach and priorities, but these are developed well within the framework of American establishment thinking.

Donald Trump has few ideological opinions and is populist in thinking but close examination of his statements shows that Trump accords fully with existing and developing establishment thinking, presenting this in his populist style, for example:

• China: The establishment policy has been to engage, but at the same time confront China. Obama publically emphasised engagement such as in the economy, while at the same time making strong efforts to challenge China indirectly, as in the South China Sea. However China has only become stronger as a result. So Trump is openly attacking China in order to confront China directly.
• Russia: The establishment policy under Obama already took initial steps in collaborating with Russia, most notably in Syria. But Obama did this privately and continued to attack Russia in public. The establishment now wishes to take this policy much further by using Russia against China. Hence Trump is now publically talking about engaging Russia.
• Muslim Ummah: The establishment policy is to attack Islam and Muslims, using all means available. But publically, Obama’s statements were conciliatory towards Muslims in order to try to win pro-Western ‘moderates’ within the Ummah. This policy is failing, the Ummah is reviving and is close to escaping the American empire. There is no point in being conciliatory now and, in any case, there are no significant so-called ‘moderate’ forces left in the Ummah, only some ‘moderate’ faces who have no real support on the ground. Therefore, Trump is openly attacking Islam.
• Immigration: The establishment knows that the problem of ‘illegal immigrants’ has to be solved. At the same time, trying to remove 11 million illegal immigrants from the country will lead to economic collapse, as immigrants are from the most productive people for the economy. Therefore, Trump is modifying his anti-immigration statements to making them anti-Muslim, which is fully in accordance with establishment policy.
• Monetary policy: The American Federal Reserve has been following a policy of attempting to strengthen the American currency by raising interest rates over the past year, with the excuse that this is needed because of the fear of inflation. A strong American currency will wreak havoc in Europe and in third world countries, as capital floods towards America. Trump is fully adopting this approach and has in fact criticised Federal Chair Janet Yellen for not raising interest rates fast enough.
• Fiscal policy: Trump is pledging to vastly increase government spending, for example on infrastructure. This apparently contradicts establishment thinking because large Western government budgets are not sustainable in the long-term. However, examination of his infrastructure proposals shows that they actually involve little government money and more private sector funds. Therefore, Trump’s spending talk is only to increase economic optimism, which is necessary to allow for increased interest rates. This policy is already successful as investment trading in American markets indicates that better economic growth is expected.
• Trade: Trump has continuously made economic protectionist statements in his campaign. This is common with the ordinary people who see their jobs as having gone to foreign countries. Protectionism contradicts establishment policy; Obama worked hard to complete the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. However, the TPP was deeply unpopular amongst the people after Bernie Sanders aggressive campaigning against it and, at this time, protectionist talk is useful to intimidate China; Trump will easily compromise later on this point if needed. Already, Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, is saying he will refuse to raise import tariffs and so is committing himself to protect international trade.

So given this deep alignment with establishment thinking, why has Trump been suffering strong attacks from political institutions, such as the Democratic and Republican members of Congress, and administrative institutions, such as the American intelligence departments, which Trump himself described last week as a “political witch hunt” against him? The answer is that the establishment does not trust any American president and always manoeuvres other elements of the state in confrontation with the President as a check on him. Past presidents have suffered scandal, impeachment and even assassination when they have tried to stray from establishment interests.

The American establishment is in the process of demonstrating to Trump its vast power over him. The actions of Congress or the intelligence agencies are not because they disagree with him, but because they want to show Trump that the president is not the boss but has to continue to serve the establishment in office just as he had to serve the establishment during his election campaigning.

In truth democracy is a façade for the rule of man over man. The only way that man can liberate himself from slavery to his fellow man is to take his Creator as his only Lord and Master by re-adopting the rule of Islam. The Islamic State was previously in continual existence for thirteen centuries, and for most of that time as the global superpower, before it was eliminated from our world, our minds and even our history books. It is for Muslims to show the world a different path to the falsehood of democracy, by re-establishing the true Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" State (Caliphate) on the method of Prophethood.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Faiq Najah