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According to several recent news reports, the two major Donald Trump foreign policy shifts last week were the handiwork of Marco Rubio, the President’s Secretary of State and (acting) National Security Advisor. As with all neocon plans, they will be big on promises and small on delivery.
First up, according to Bloomberg it was Rubio who finally convinced President Trump to take “ownership” of the U.S. proxy war on Russia, and for the first time place sanctions on Russia. Up to this point President Trump chose to portray himself as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. But with this move against Russia’s oil sector he can no longer credibly claim that this is “Joe Biden’s war.”
The Trump move followed a confusing few weeks since the Trump/Putin Alaska summit in August. After that meeting, Trump dropped the neocon position that a ceasefire in the Russia/Ukraine war must occur before any peace negotiations. It was a sign that Trump was looking more realistically at the war. He also said he did not think Ukraine would win, which is pretty obvious.
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A surprise call to Vladimir Putin the day before Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was to arrive in town just over a week ago reinforced that position and Zelenskyy left Washington empty-handed. He was seeking Tomahawk missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory.
Then out of the blue President Trump last week announced through his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the U.S. would be sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies until Russia declares a ceasefire in the war before negotiations. That won’t happen, but what it does mean is that Rubio and the neocons have successfully gotten Trump to step on the escalation escalator. That is what they always do. It will be much harder to back down now.
At the same time, the U.S. Administration was jumping deeper into the Russia/Ukraine war, a long-time neocon dream was suddenly back in play. Although in Trump’s first term a “regime change” operation was attempted against Venezuela, it failed spectacularly. But the neocons have long dreamed of overthrowing the Venezuelan government – they almost got their way back in 2002 – and suddenly after several weeks of extrajudicial murder on the high seas in the name of fighting the drug war, President Trump announced that land strikes on Venezuela would begin soon.
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He did mention that he might brief Congress on his plans for war on Venezuela, not that Congress can be bothered to care much one way or the other.
The neocon old guard that still dominates Washington foreign policy is taking a victory lap. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was on the Sunday shows beaming over the conversion of “no regime-change wars” President Trump to “regime change wars” President Trump.
The Saddam Hussein WMD factories of 2002 have become the Nicolas Maduro cocaine and fentanyl factories of 2025 – and once again the neocon war lies are amplified by the U.S. mainstream media and transmitted to the American people. A new disaster is in the making. The “global war on terror” has been rebranded the “hemispheric war on narco-terror” and the US military industrial complex is rubbing its hands in anticipation of a windfall.
After John Bolton’s disastrous stint in the first Trump Administration, promises were made that the second Trump Administration would be neocon-free. Instead, the neocons are back. Unless President Trump wakes up soon, the neocons will destroy his second term… and maybe the country.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.
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3 comments
This talk of sending Tomahawks to Ukraine is embarrassing bluster. Ask your A.I. of choice about how many we have in inventory that can be spared without seriously jeopardizing our own capabilities….estimates range from about 20 to 40, and the Russian anti-missile defense systems can reliably take down about 30-40% of them. That is a joke in terms of what it can do to shift the tide of the war. We have been using them faster than we can replace them for several years now. Putin knows this, and the only reason he doesn’t publicly laugh in our face over this threat is to keep from hurting Trump’s ego and causing him to up the ante to something much bigger. But now that we are looking for a fight in Venezuela, those T-hawks would be more effective in that battlespace – not that I am advocating for that.
As I long suspected and am now thoroughly convinced; Trump is nothing more than a puppet and Trojan Horse of the NWO/JWO. He has endorsed trash like John McCain and now Lindsey Graham. He loves the war mongers. We are in for a rough ride. No, I don’t think for a minute that things would have been better, or even good, under Joe or Kamala. They all play for the same team and help in the destruction of our country in their own special little ways. Trump is embracing the Biden economy, keeping it alive and well with ever-increasing grocery and utility prices. Gas hangs in the same zone of fluctuation it did when Biden was in office, here between about $2.59 and $3.00 a gallon, mostly in the upper half of that range. “Drill baby drill”, my big ole hairy ass!
His AG Bimbo, like Barr and Sessions in his first term, was selected to accomplish nothing meaningful and/or lasting for gun owners. A step forward and a step or two back. Any good done is purely for show and designed to be temporary, until the next RINO or Democrat takes office.
It was never “Joe Biden’s war.” It was, and will always be, Ron Paul’s butt buddy Putin’s war.
One thing ol Ron is right about, Trump is a putz who is easily influenced by the last person he hears from, although at this point in his mental decline it’s not clear that he comprehends what they are saying.
“The price of things is coming down” –Stable genius Trump
“Drug prices are coming down 1500%” –Mathematically challenged Dementia Don