Trump’s Plan for the United Soviet(!) of America

On numerous occasions, candidate – and now President – Trump has expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin, the Russian President’s leadership qualities and his own desire to work with him.

Cozying up to Russia is not a tradition in the Republican Party, where distrust of Russia has deep roots and the resurgence of the Russian military raises new concerns.

Why then did the new U.S. President want to, and succeed in, a very peculiar endeavor – “making Russia great again”? Why else did he acknowledge Vladimir Putin as an alter ego and practically make him the referee of the results of the U.S. election?

A superficial explanation would credit that situation to the diplomatic brilliance of Mr. Putin. After all, Putin was astute enough to stroke Mr. Trump’s huge ego by describing him as a “genius” during the campaign, although linguists disagree on the translation of the Russian term used (“colorful”?, “bright”?).

This has certainly been very helpful, but there are deeper reasons why Trump looks to Russia as a model.

Trump, a fan of Russian governance

Trump obviously loves Russia’s approach in terms of the electoral process: no need to quibble about millions of illegal voters.

Trump must also love Putin’s approach to managing the number of potential candidates at elections. Putin simply has them “locked up.”

Trump must also want that “his” American people become more Russian in character and spirit. The great thing about Russia, for Trump, is that the Russian population, which has never known democracy, knows and likes a good autocrat.

Russia is also a dream come true for Trump when it comes to his model of governance. Nobody in Russia is worried about judicial interference with the acts of the executive. In Russia, it is a perfect handmaiden of the ruler.

Judges in Moscow, if transplanted to his America, are also a dream come true for Trump. After all, they can be trusted to jail whomever the Kremlin chooses to.

Freedom of the press

Even better yet, they act in a reliably incompetent manner when it comes to to investigating any of the occasional murders of political opponents or journalists.

Speaking of journalists, Russia is also a model for media management: TV is the main news source for most Russians.

The government controls Channel One and Russia One – two of the three main federal channels – while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns NTV.

An international English-language satellite news TV, RT, is state-funded and aims to present “global news from a Russian perspective.” Nobody watching RT has worry about fake news, since all news is fake.

Relationship with neighbors

Russia is also a great example as a country that knows how to treat its neighbors in a muscular fashion, as attested by the cases of Georgia, Crimea and now Ukraine.

If only the United States could step up to the plate is to do the same with Mexico. The U.S. cavalry used to go after the Indians. It is high time to go after the “bad hombres” south of the border.

And what’s not to like about a country where women know their place? The Russian Duma recently voted a law that essentially condones the beating of wives by their husbands, as long as there are no concussions or broken bones. That is a surefire way, to quote one of the sponsors, to perpetuate “traditional Russian culture.”

But beyond today’s Russia, it looks as if President Trump, with his 1950s world view, sees the shadow of the Great Soviet Union. Therefore, let’s stop soft-pedaling the Mexican wall.

Building of the wall

All Americans must want for their country to emulate the Soviet Union. It’s a country that knows how to build a wall. In August 1961, it took just a few days to erect the Berlin wall over 100 miles, to protect East Germany against the “bad hombres” of the time i.e. the western fascists.

The official name of the wall was indeed the “antifaschistischer Schutzmauer,” the protective wall against the fascists, although western propaganda at the time (“fake news”) claimed that the wall was built to prevent East Germans from leaving the eastern bloc.

The Soviet Union is clearly superior to all the U.S. haggling about the cost. No need to ask for budget from Congress, just build it!

Last but not least, the Soviet economic model is particularly attractive: the Gosplan decided where the investments would be made.

The economic model

What a relief that would be to Trump’s thumbs. With a U.S.-style Gosplan, there is no more need to tweet about companies or to issue threats and orders.

The Soviets had their feet solidly on the ground. Their economy was made of steel and bricks and mortar (it does not appear that President Trump or his trade team knows anything, or at all cares, about the role of services or the internet in today’s economy).

Soviet wisdom also extended to the fact that there was no need to worry about trade deficits. There was no real trade with much of the rest of the world.

In short, let us all rejoice to regain the paradise by making the USA great again — the United Soviet of America, that is.