THE GREAT
DISAPPEARANCE
People I Wish Would
Go Away and Why
By Jack Random
During the reign of Augusto Pinochet of Chile individuals
who expressed opposition to his rule were often made to vanish. The disappeared became a euphemism for
mass murder. Over a thousand
dissidents were disappeared in Pinochet’s Chile between 1973 and 1981. Tens of thousands were disappeared by a
US backed military junta in Argentina’s Dirty War between 1976 and 1983.
[1]
As a man of conscience who is opposed to violence as well as
despotism I cannot advocate the kind of disappearing that Pinochet ordered and
the CIA orchestrated in the seventies and eighties but there are a growing
number of individuals on the political scene I would love to see and hear no
more. I do not wish them
harm. I just want them to go
away. I want them to live within
their own circles of friends and family and never to appear before any public
forum. If I could wave my hand and
be done with them I would do so.
First on my list is former President George W. Bush. In fairness, we don’t see a great deal of the former
president but when we do it reminds us that Donald Trump was not our first
systemic collapse in electing a president. The son of Poppy Bush took his rightful place at the podium
to eulogize his father and that should have been the end of it. We cannot allow ourselves to forget
what this man did as commander-in-chief and how he misled us into everlasting
war and quagmire in the Middle East.
That he himself was misled by his amoral vice president and a circle of
Neocons is no excuse. He was “the
decider” and his decisions led to disasters. We should not forget as well that his economic policies
nearly pushed us into a global depression. Go away, Mr. Bush.
Let that be the end of all Bushes.
You cannot rehabilitate a pile of rubbish.
In the spirit of bipartisanship,
next on my list is former Secretary of State and Democratic nominee for the
presidency, Hillary Clinton. Let’s add
Bill to the list for good measure and give warning to Chelsea that she’s not
far behind. Hillary may be
suffering under the illusion that – because she was cheated out of the White
House – people want to hear from her.
As one who firmly believes she was cheated by a collaboration of
nefarious elements, including Russian intelligence, Facebook and dimwitted
members of the Trump campaign, I can say without reservation that I do not want
to hear from her. Even with Russia
tampering and the complicity of social media, Hillary should have thumped Trump
like a dirty old rug.
She thought she could win
without a discernable message. She
thought she could get the working person’s vote by not being Trump. She thought it was enough to be a woman
against a misogynist. She thought
she could just show up with corporate money and buy her way to the top. It was not enough. Now go away and write another memoir
that no one wants to read.
Next on the list is Vice President Mike Pence. Here is a man who seems to believe he is welcome in any room
because he is not Donald Trump. I
have to concede: He is not Donald
Trump. He is a man so twisted with
fundamentalist venom that he fears being alone in a room with any member of the
opposite sex. He is man who refuses
to speak out against laws that would send doctors and women to jail for
terminating a pregnancy in the first two months of gestation. Mr. Pence is a primary reason Democrats
hesitate to impeach the president.
What if they succeeded?
What if Trump was removed from office? The notion that Pence would get the next Supreme Court
appointment must give us all pause.
Now we proceed to the heart of the matter: I would like to see disappear the
honorable Attorney General of the United States, head of the Department of
Justice and Obstructer-in-Chief, William Barr. Best known for his defense of Richard Nixon in the Watergate
scandal, Barr volunteered for his current role as the president’s personal
lackey with an infamous 19-page memo summarizing his opinion that the president
is above the law. As Nixon once
said: “When the president does it…
it’s not illegal.”
Barr spun the Mueller Report with the veracity of a spider
on steroids. To say that he
misrepresented the report is an understatement on par with declaring Native
American genocide a quiet resolution of conflict. Barr used the president’s terminology in stating his
conclusion that there was “no collusion” and implying no obstruction. In his testimony before congress he
displayed a thousand and one ways to avoid answering a question. Is he guilty of obstruction? Absolutely. Will he be held accountable? Highly unlikely.
Barr should be hauled out of the Justice Department, tarred, feathered
and transported out of town on a rail.
Am I advocating people taking justice into their own hands? No, Mr. Barr, I’m simply sharing a
vision of justice for your amusement.
Next and most prominent on my
list of wishful disappearance is the honorable Robert Mueller, Special Counsel assigned to
investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Of all the mealy mouthed and cowardly
testimonials the Special Counsel’s report will have a prominent place in
history. Despite a mountain of
evidence collected over the course of two years the honorable Mr. Mueller could
not draw a conclusion because a Justice Department policy forbade him. Had he made his position clear he
should not have taken the job in the first place.
In declaring Trump and his
associates – most notably Donald Jr. – innocent of conspiring with a foreign
power for nefarious purpose because they were too stupid to know what they were
doing, Mueller should be remembered as the man who made ignorance an excuse for
breaking the law and betraying the founding principles of democracy.
Trump and his minions were
blatantly guilty of conspiracy with the Russians and a consistent pattern of
obstruction in full view of all Americans and Mueller failed to do his
job. To top it all off, he refuses
to testify in an open hearing before congress because he feels it might be
perceived as political. It is
political you fool! It was always
political. It is also a matter of
justice and possibly the only way to the right the wrongs of your
timidity.
In his latest public appearance
Mueller announced his retirement and reiterated his firm stand on why he will
not, would not and could not take a stand. He becomes the latest conspirator in Trump’s campaign to
obstruct justice.
Mueller will go down in history
as a coward of the highest magnitude and one who utterly failed his country at
a critical time. He may also go
down as Trump’s lackey. Time will
tell.
The list of those I’d love to see saunter into setting sun
of public discourse would not be complete without all the Neocons who should
have disappeared with the younger Bush administration but somehow have found a
home with a president who promised an end to dumb wars in the Middle East – of
course he didn’t say anything about Latin America. Most prominent in this group are national security advisor John
Bolton and Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo.
If there is anyone more hawkish than Pompeo it is
Bolton. He served the younger Bush
as Ambassador to the United Nations.
He was there when the Bush administration manufactured a case for war
with Iraq in the wake of the 9-11 tragedy. He was there when Colin Powell sanctified the weapons of
mass destruction travesty. He was
there when the CIA failed to topple the popular Chavez regime in
Venezuela.
Like Bolton, Pompeo never saw a war he didn’t like and never
saw an opportunity for war he wouldn’t take. Pompeo has presided over the dismantling of the nation’s
diplomatic corps. Who needs diplomats
when you have an unlimited war budget?
The final entry on this list – though it could on forever –
is anyone and everyone in the Trump family circle.
Let us begin with son-in-law Jared Kushner, the supposed wunderkind who
was charged with peace in the Middle East, solving the opioid crisis,
administering government reform, negotiating relations with Mexico and China,
accomplishing immigration reform, balancing the budget and everything else his
father-in-law could not be bothered with.
If the Donald wins reelection with a little help from his friends in
Moscow, he will no doubt appoint Jared to the Supreme Court.
Let’s not let that happen. Let’s say goodbye, Jared! One good look at the financing behind the infamous building
at 666 Fifth Avenue and you’ll be on the next flight to Qatar! Goodbye Donald “I’m too dumb to commit
treason” Junior! Goodbye,
Melania! “I don’t really care, do
you?” Goodbye Ivanka! You couldn’t be bothered with family
separations or abortion rights or sweatshop labor to produce your clothes.
Goodbye, Donald!
We have had many bad presidents in this country’s history but none as
eminently unqualified as you. We
can only hope to mitigate the harm.
Let’s broker a deal with the Southern District of New York: Resign your presidency, take a vow of
silence and you will not spend your remaining days in a country club
prison.
Jazz.
[1] A People’s History of the World by Chris
Harmon. Verso Press 2008.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF
THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES AND THE FOUNDER OF CROW DOG PRESS. HIS COMMENTARIES HAVE
BEEN PUBLISHED AT DISSIDENT VOICE AND COUNTERPUNCH. NOTE: THIS ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED AT OP ED NEWS.
