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Opinion: Trump’s North Korea Fear Mongering Is Bush Iraq Déjà Vu

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It is doubtful that there are any human beings on Earth who haven’t experienced the spooky phenomenon known as déjà vu. It literally means “already seen” and defined as a strong sensation that “an event or experience currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past.” Some people relate that sensation as little more than a feeling of familiarity, or a feeling of having “already lived through” something; even if it is only momentary.

Even though Americans, at least half of the population, aren’t the smartest mammals on the planet, they are certainly capable of remembering significantly traumatic events in their lifetimes. For many Americans, the Trump administration’s actions over the past couple of days should bring about a strong feeling of déjà vu that is not just momentary; it is a long-lasting and strong sensation of dread that as a nation we’ve “already seen” and experienced what is currently happening a little over a decade ago.

It has been less than fifteen years since the last Republican administration used fear mongering to embroil the nation in a senseless and costly war without provocation or a threat to America; a war that is still ongoing. Of course, during the Bush administration, the alleged threat was from Iraq’s tyrannical leader Saddam Hussein that the Bush warmongers warned were a day away from putting a mushroom cloud over an American city.

Now, and for the past couple of weeks, the Trump administration is warning that North Korea’s version of Donald Trump, Kim Jung-un, is a threat to America. It is a glaring déjà vu moment and an eerily frightening reiteration of Bush’s fear mongering about Saddam Hussein, only in Asia; a region that Trump’s close national security adviser Steve Bannon said was certainly going to be America’s next theater of war.

The frightening thing is that like the Bush administration, Trump’s crew entered the White House with designs on multiple major conflicts including the Middle East and Asia. For the memory challenged, the Bush administration planned on invading Iraq long before the terror attacks on 9/11, and for some reason, that fact is not raising any red flags nationwide or in the halls of Congress.

However, there are some Americans concerned about Trump and company’s war pre-production in the form of fear-mongering about the threat to America and its allies from an unhinged tyrant; in this case, there are two unhinged tyrants – Kim Jung-un and Trump.

According to a CBS News poll, most Americans (61 percent) believe that whatever perceived threat North Korea poses can be contained without military action; an equal majority are “uneasy” about Trump’s ability to handle the situation. It is noteworthy that over a quarter of Republicans are uneasy about Trump’s competence and if nothing else, at least 28 percent of Republicans are not memory challenged. No doubt they, like the majority of the poll’s respondents, are having that sensation that the experience currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past.

It is stunningly frightening that there is not a raging outcry from the people over seeing yet another Republican beating the drums of war. Even if one sets aside the cost in brave American troops who lost their lives, or their limbs, or their sanity, there is the immediate and long-term economic cost to taxpayers. It is estimated that Bush’s monumental blunder, a blunder that was pre-conceived and planned like Trump’s foray into Asia, will cost $7.9 trillion that will be going straight to the national debt.

A reasonable person might believe that Republican deficit hawks would be storming the White House to remind Trump that wars are not free – not in American lives, immediate war costs or the long-term national debt; but they’re not saying anything.

The real danger, and it is a real danger, is that the war plans according to Bannon go beyond war with North Korea; war with China is the real end goal. It is remarkable that unlike the Bush administration’s quiet plan to invade Iraq, Trump’s spokesperson Bannon had no qualms publicly forecasting the Trump administration’s war with China on more than one occasion. And there is no reason to doubt the serious intent of a war in Asia according to Trump’s stupid idea of provoking a madman with a nuclear arsenal.

Any American over the age of 20 should be experiencing a long and painfully strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past. Americans have seen this movie before and they know precisely how it ends. The difference in this remake is that both China and North Korea are not Iraq, and they both have robust nuclear arsenals they will not hesitate to use if they are attacked.

What should terrify Americans is that although the Bush invasion Iraq was a monumental cluster-f*ck that had the unintended consequence of creating ISIS, destabilized Syria and the surrounding region, and will cost nearly $8 trillion when all is said and done, Trump is orders of magnitude worse than George W. Bush. And, Trump doesn’t comprehend that he cannot wage war without congressional approval as evidenced with his deployment of American troops on the ground in Syria.

It cannot be stated enough the horrifying thought that Trump still wonders why America has a nuclear arsenal and doesn’t use it. There is no predicting what will play out with a Kim Jung-un type madman occupying the White House, but the feeling of déjà vu informs that it will not end well and may truly lead to mushroom clouds over several American cities.

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Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.