Nancy Pelosi is the Right's greatest and most powerful enemy within Congress and at this point she's the one figure that could really lead the charge, the one person that has the power to pursue the January 6th coup attempt and to take down the collaborators in congress – wounding the party in the process.
And yet she's not. Why isn't she? Why isn't the Establishment
media aggressively reporting on this? Why aren't they coming after her and
challenging her tepid response and her lacklustre investigation?
If this matter is pursued and these treasonous congressional
representatives (and a few senators) are taken down, removed from office and
prosecuted – the Establishment (of which Pelosi is a part) fears civil unrest
and civil war.
And if civil war or even just large-scale political violence breaks
out, the American Empire will not likely survive it. The post-Cold War dream of
unipolarity is all but dead but the US wants to maintain its dominant position
as the most powerful country in the world. China is challenging that status and
as mentioned in another piece, the real transformative moment will come when
the dollar as the basis for global currency is challenged and dethroned. That
will mark the end of US hegemony. If the United States descends into civil war,
it will be a signal to Beijing to make its move and begin to replace the dollar
in the realm of international finance and the final break will come when the
petrodollar is rendered obsolete and replaced by a different system. The cracks
are already beginning to appear. China has sent clear signals about what it
intends to do.
At that point the American economy will be in decline and a
great deal of American wealth will evaporate as will Washington's ability to
project power on the international stage. The diplomatic and financial toolbox
will be largely empty, left only with rusty tools that are no more appealing
than what can be found elsewhere. It
will be catastrophic for America's ruling class and it will send shockwaves
across the economy. If the US is already in a state of civil war or unrest –
there's no telling what the end result might be. There are many possibilities,
many directions it could go. In desperation the US might launch a war.
Domestically, states would certainly begin to ignore the increasingly impotent federal
government. Many are already near the point of insurrection. You would start to
see secession and thus the end of the United States.*
As with the fall of Rome, the fall of empires is usually
complicated and does not result from one factor alone. But as it happens, the
blame and the resulting violence will certainly be spread around.
January 6th was a warning and a harbinger of
what's to come. It was just the beginning. Biden has clearly attempted to
distract from its implications and it was no coincidence that he encouraged the
rekindling of anti-China sentiment by his administration resurrecting the Wuhan
Lab theory – one without basis, but one (among a growing number) that projects
blame and anger in the direction of Beijing. This was a signal that he intends
to project US power (and the threat of violence) in the direction of Beijing
and unlike Trump and Obama, Biden has within his first year worked aggressively
to pursue this strategy.
War is an alternative, a means to arrest these degenerative forces,
to consolidate power and focus social energy and anger in the direction of an
enemy. It can also generate economic stimulus. But if the US is going to fight
a new series of wars, it had to end the ones it was engaged in and it has to
prepare the public (through propaganda) for what is to come. This is the moment
and this is why Afghanistan was abandoned, and January 6 is being swept under
the rug. Biden and Pelosi don't want to read the Rolling Stone story. It might
get mentioned. They might use these narratives in connection to political
campaigns, to stir up their base, and steer the Left (and the Sanders-led
pseudo-Left) back into the Democratic fold, but it's clear they don't mean to
actually pursue it.
The Libertarians have largely sided with the Trumpites. The
Republican Establishment has bowed to what they deem to be inevitable. The only
people left in the political mainstream to take note of this cover-up and the
role the media is playing in it is found within the actual Left. But the Left
is confused. Many if not most have been led down the garden path by Sanders and
Ocasio-Cortez. These pseudo-left political figures do little more than steer
these elements back into the Democratic Party, ever wooing them with false hope
and empty rhetoric. This same DNC machine is quick to label actual Leftists and
Left-leaning journalists as tools of Russia, cronies of Putin, and pawns of
China, because they dare to challenge to official narratives regarding US
foreign policy and the way the US Establishment wishes to frame its imperial and
economic narrative.
That leaves Christians. Of all people in this cultural milieu
it should be Christians that have discernment, that are not taken in by either
side. And so we would expect Christians to be speaking – at least quietly
speaking in a non-political framework among themselves, denouncing the Trumpite
movement and the insurrections, and also taking note of what's happening in
terms of the larger context. They should be exposing the media whitewash of
January 6, all the more as Christian imagery was employed by the rioters. And
we would expect leaders in the Church to be calling out those who profess
Christ and yet have become caught up and entangled in this struggle, all its
lies, and its sinful behaviour.
Is that what we find? No, we find that Christians have become
part of the FOX machine, partisans for Trumpism and are vocal in their defense
of the insurrection and the spread of disinformation – some of the
Christian-affiliated websites being among the worst of all. In fact, they
clamour for more confrontation and continue to encourage their flocks to sin.
As Christians we know that Beasts live and die, empires rise
and fall. It's to be expected and we are not among those who wail and lament
the fall of Babylon, even the monstrous American Babylon.
But alas, like it or not, we must take careful note of these
events as Trump's Chief of Staff and several of the congressional Republicans that
have been exposed as January 6 collaborators profess to be Evangelical
Christians. There's a Roman Catholic and some Mormons (which have long been
associated with Right-wing politics). They are of less concern but Bible-professing
Christians must be concerned about the Evangelicals involved. This isn't just
elections, lobbying, and bureaucratic maneuvers anymore. This is violence and
insurrection. It was one thing to wink and sigh at the misguided energies of
well meaning but misled people in the pews who have allied themselves with the
Right. A line has been crossed. You can no longer sit with these unthinking,
unrepentant people and take communion with them – or those supporting them.
They have fallen into sin and are condemned by the Scriptures. We need to call
them out, denounce them, command them to repent, and when they refuse – come
out from among them, because you can be sure they'll have the majority behind
them.
This is a moment in which Christian leaders cannot be silent.
I know there are those who dissent from the Trumpist agenda and certainly its
offensive style. And yet, they also seem afraid to speak out and denounce what
is grossly sinful conduct within the Christian community. If they challenge
these people they know the backlash is going to be ferocious and they'll pay a
price. They'll be blacklisted and their 'ministry' 'careers' will be ruined.
And so they remain silent. Church history has seen too many episodes like this.
It's time to speak up and help people understand where these folks have made a
terrible and indeed fatally wrong turn. They have substituted Zion for Babylon
and the ethics of Christ for Balaam and Lamech. They stand condemned and have
blood on their hands.
My question to Christians who remain silent, who are still in
churches that tolerate these people who openly or tacitly support and encourage
this behaviour is this – what will it take for you to speak out? How far can
they go before you act?
Elders need to be respectfully challenged. Celebrity
'pastors' need to be called out. The people are like sheep without a shepherd
and the wolves are running riot in their midst.
Lines have been crossed. The situation has changed. It's time
for discernment as the forces of chaos are at the Church's gate. These false
shepherds are opening the doors as we speak and decimation will result.
Deceived deceivers (2 Timothy 3.13), having a form of
godliness but denying the power thereof, they think they're serving God and yet
Satan is laughing, for they are his agents, doing his work. Tremble for them,
because their Matthew 7 moment awaits them – these workers of deceit and iniquity.
----
*Contrary to common Right-wing intuitions, states in many
respects are more powerful than ever, some possessing economies that exceed
significant countries around the world. State governments rely on federal funds
but for years states have pursued (largely in collaboration with and on the
behalf of the corporate sector) independent commercial negotiations and trans-national
economic policies – reaching overseas for companies to set up in their state
and invest. While restrained by international agreements like NAFTA and the
WTO, there is a growing movement among state governors to reform the nature of
federalism, especially when it comes to economic policies on a state and local
level.
The Trump non/chaotic-response to Covid-19 demonstrated this devolution
in spectacular fashion as governors 'stepped up' and quickly overshadowed the
federal government. And now during the Biden era, some state governors such as
Florida's Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott of Texas are pursuing independent
courses in open defiance of Washington.