![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/survivedeepstate.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBy our calculation, it took just 76 days for President Trump to get on board with the Clinton-Bush-Obama agenda.<\/p>\n
Now there can be no doubt where he\u2019s headed. He\u2019s gone Full Empire.<\/p>\n
Not that it was unexpected. But the speed with which the president abandoned his supporters and went over to the Deep State is breathtaking.<\/p>\n
Worst Mistake<\/strong><\/h3>\nAmong the noise and hubbub of the election campaign, there was one message coming from the Trump team that was music to our ears.<\/p>\n
Middle East wars?<\/p>\n
He was against them, he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed to have opposed the 2003 attack on Iraq. He said it was one of the \u201cworst mistakes\u201d the country ever made.<\/p>\n
As for further involvement, why waste American lives and American wealth on wars you can\u2019t win?<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica First,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This was a refreshing position. It put the Republican neocons and Establishment Republicans against him; many went over to Hillary rather than risk giving up their think tank grants and consulting fees.<\/p>\n
A 2013 poll showed 52% of Americans thought the U.S. should \u201cmind its own business internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the elite gained power and money from foreign wars; they weren\u2019t going to give them up. Non-entitlement spending in the swamp goes largely to cronies in the military-security industry.<\/p>\n
Pudgy Pentagon<\/strong><\/h3>\nBut Donald Trump promised a \u201cnew foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
No more trying to be the world\u2019s policeman. No more fighting other people\u2019s battles\u2026 and making things worse. No more wasting American money and American lives on foolish, unwinnable wars.<\/p>\n
Ending America\u2019s pointless and unsettling romp in the desert would be a good first move.<\/p>\n
The bill for these misadventures is now said to be $7 trillion. As to Syria, Trump was typically direct. Don\u2019t attack the country, he warned Barack Obama in a 2013 tweet, or \u201cMANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But then, last week\u2026 the last great hope for the Trump administration blew up in Syria. Now the neocons are delighted. And the cronies. And the zombies, too.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the outlook: no real change to O\u2019care. No cutbacks in entitlements. No attempt to balance the budget. No belt-tightening at the pudgy Pentagon. (Instead, it will get more money.)<\/p>\n
And now this: The wars in the Middle East will not only go on\u2026 they will accelerate.<\/p>\n
For now, the U.S. is not only fighting terrorists. It is also fighting the people who are fighting the terrorists.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a perfect Deep State war: It is guaranteed neither to win nor to lose, but simply to go on indefinitely. This gives the insiders more and more of the nation\u2019s wealth to piddle away in absurd wars in preposterous places.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Congress adjourned. When it returns in two weeks, it will confront another crisis of its own making.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reports:<\/p>\n
Government funding expires on April 28, which will give Congress five days to unveil, debate, and pass an enormous spending bill\u2026 or trigger a government shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a mess,\u201d said Paul Brace, a congressional expert at Rice University in Houston, offering his own pessimistic view of the unified Republican control of the House and Senate so far under President Donald Trump. \u201cIt was so much easier when all you had to do was oppose Obama.\u201d [\u2026]<\/p>\n
House Republicans \u201chave differences of opinion. And they aren\u2019t just political differences. They are policy differences,\u201d said Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.<\/p>\n
It will be tough for Congress to come to terms with its budget. The debate will open old wounds and gouge new ones.Old Wounds<\/strong><\/h3>\nAlready, the federal budget deficit is expected to average $1 trillion a year over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump will want to spend more. We need to spend more on infrastructure, on the military\u2026 and to revive the economy\u2026 he\u2019ll argue.<\/p>\n
Many House Republicans, especially the idealists in the Freedom Caucus, will find it difficult to go along.<\/p>\n
Some will notice, cynically, that the whole program \u2013 including the attack on Syria \u2013 is little different from what Hillary had offered.<\/p>\n
Consumer prices are already rising, others will note. Besides, who wants to go back to his home district after having signed on to $30 trillion of U.S. debt?<\/p>\n
Others, the activists, will want to back Trump. The Obama years have been disastrous, they will say. The typical household is little better off than it was at the bottom of the last recession.<\/p>\n
Half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And there are 66 million working-age adults without jobs, they\u2019ll report.<\/p>\n
The feds must do something! Increase spending to stimulate the economy (and not coincidentally steer a few bucks to major campaign contributors and other important hacks).<\/p>\n
Runaway Locomotive<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe more financially alert among members of Congress will recognize that eight years of stimulus has done little to help the real economy.<\/p>\n
These realists will see a runaway locomotive headed to a dangerous curve.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll want to know how the feds will finance huge new deficits just as the Fed tightens interest rates.<\/p>\n
But the shrewdest among them will call their brokers.<\/p>\n
The highest stock prices since the dot-com crash are based on the belief that, somehow, Team Trump will push through a corporate tax cut, leaving businesses with more after-tax money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d they will say to themselves.<\/p>\n
They will want to get out of the stock market before other investors catch on.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: <\/strong>The “Deep State” is more dangerous than ever.<\/p>\nIt already controls just about every aspect of American life… from health care to education, from the food on our tables to the never-ending war on terror.<\/p>\n
In his latest warning, Doug Casey\u2019s longtime friend and colleague Bill Bonner exposes how the cronies behind the Deep State have pushed the world to the brink of an irreversible disaster.<\/p>\n
But Donald Trump promised a \u201cnew foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
No more trying to be the world\u2019s policeman. No more fighting other people\u2019s battles\u2026 and making things worse. No more wasting American money and American lives on foolish, unwinnable wars.<\/p>\n
Ending America\u2019s pointless and unsettling romp in the desert would be a good first move.<\/p>\n
The bill for these misadventures is now said to be $7 trillion. As to Syria, Trump was typically direct. Don\u2019t attack the country, he warned Barack Obama in a 2013 tweet, or \u201cMANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But then, last week\u2026 the last great hope for the Trump administration blew up in Syria. Now the neocons are delighted. And the cronies. And the zombies, too.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the outlook: no real change to O\u2019care. No cutbacks in entitlements. No attempt to balance the budget. No belt-tightening at the pudgy Pentagon. (Instead, it will get more money.)<\/p>\n
And now this: The wars in the Middle East will not only go on\u2026 they will accelerate.<\/p>\n
For now, the U.S. is not only fighting terrorists. It is also fighting the people who are fighting the terrorists.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a perfect Deep State war: It is guaranteed neither to win nor to lose, but simply to go on indefinitely. This gives the insiders more and more of the nation\u2019s wealth to piddle away in absurd wars in preposterous places.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Congress adjourned. When it returns in two weeks, it will confront another crisis of its own making.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reports:<\/p>\n
Government funding expires on April 28, which will give Congress five days to unveil, debate, and pass an enormous spending bill\u2026 or trigger a government shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a mess,\u201d said Paul Brace, a congressional expert at Rice University in Houston, offering his own pessimistic view of the unified Republican control of the House and Senate so far under President Donald Trump. \u201cIt was so much easier when all you had to do was oppose Obama.\u201d [\u2026]<\/p>\n
House Republicans \u201chave differences of opinion. And they aren\u2019t just political differences. They are policy differences,\u201d said Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.<\/p>\n
It will be tough for Congress to come to terms with its budget. The debate will open old wounds and gouge new ones.Old Wounds<\/strong><\/h3>\nAlready, the federal budget deficit is expected to average $1 trillion a year over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump will want to spend more. We need to spend more on infrastructure, on the military\u2026 and to revive the economy\u2026 he\u2019ll argue.<\/p>\n
Many House Republicans, especially the idealists in the Freedom Caucus, will find it difficult to go along.<\/p>\n
Some will notice, cynically, that the whole program \u2013 including the attack on Syria \u2013 is little different from what Hillary had offered.<\/p>\n
Consumer prices are already rising, others will note. Besides, who wants to go back to his home district after having signed on to $30 trillion of U.S. debt?<\/p>\n
Others, the activists, will want to back Trump. The Obama years have been disastrous, they will say. The typical household is little better off than it was at the bottom of the last recession.<\/p>\n
Half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And there are 66 million working-age adults without jobs, they\u2019ll report.<\/p>\n
The feds must do something! Increase spending to stimulate the economy (and not coincidentally steer a few bucks to major campaign contributors and other important hacks).<\/p>\n
Runaway Locomotive<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe more financially alert among members of Congress will recognize that eight years of stimulus has done little to help the real economy.<\/p>\n
These realists will see a runaway locomotive headed to a dangerous curve.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll want to know how the feds will finance huge new deficits just as the Fed tightens interest rates.<\/p>\n
But the shrewdest among them will call their brokers.<\/p>\n
The highest stock prices since the dot-com crash are based on the belief that, somehow, Team Trump will push through a corporate tax cut, leaving businesses with more after-tax money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d they will say to themselves.<\/p>\n
They will want to get out of the stock market before other investors catch on.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: <\/strong>The “Deep State” is more dangerous than ever.<\/p>\nIt already controls just about every aspect of American life… from health care to education, from the food on our tables to the never-ending war on terror.<\/p>\n
In his latest warning, Doug Casey\u2019s longtime friend and colleague Bill Bonner exposes how the cronies behind the Deep State have pushed the world to the brink of an irreversible disaster.<\/p>\n
The more financially alert among members of Congress will recognize that eight years of stimulus has done little to help the real economy.<\/p>\n
These realists will see a runaway locomotive headed to a dangerous curve.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll want to know how the feds will finance huge new deficits just as the Fed tightens interest rates.<\/p>\n
But the shrewdest among them will call their brokers.<\/p>\n
The highest stock prices since the dot-com crash are based on the belief that, somehow, Team Trump will push through a corporate tax cut, leaving businesses with more after-tax money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d they will say to themselves.<\/p>\n
They will want to get out of the stock market before other investors catch on.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: <\/strong>The “Deep State” is more dangerous than ever.<\/p>\n It already controls just about every aspect of American life… from health care to education, from the food on our tables to the never-ending war on terror.<\/p>\n In his latest warning, Doug Casey\u2019s longtime friend and colleague Bill Bonner exposes how the cronies behind the Deep State have pushed the world to the brink of an irreversible disaster.<\/p>\n