Apart from today’s post on Gaza, it’s been more or less a month since I’ve posted to peacefare.net. Some may wonder why. Yes, I’ve been working on revising my 2019 book, From War to Peace in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Ukraine. The new edition is due at the publisher, again Palgrave Macmillan, at the end of 2026, for publication in 2027. I’ll do a much deeper dive on the Middle East and Ukraine, in addition to updating the Balkans material. That requires a lot of reading and thinking.
But that’s not the only reason for my silence. It is just difficult to know what to say. My personal circumstances are fine. But the country I grew up in, served for 21 years, and owe my 80 years of good fortune to is not. It is retrogressing and weakening.
No, we are not more polarized than ever before. Anyone who tells you that has not lived through, or remembered well, the 1950s (remember McCarthyism?) or the 1960s (Vietnam, civil rights?). Political violence was worse in 1968 (MLK, RFK, Malcolm X). But the polarization is more aligned with political parties today.
Political violence is indigenous to the US. It is who we are. Police and vigilante violence against immigrants and racial progress is endemic. The Federal government is now backing it wholeheartedly and ignoring most of it, which is consistently on the right:
The reason political violence is so far down this year is clear. The right is in power, so has less complaint and fewer targets. Besides, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is doing most of what the right was doing in the past.
Two weeks ago the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show from ABC was the daily trauma. The network was reacting to criticism from the Chair of the Federal Telecommunication Commission. He denounced what Kimmel had said about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a young right-wing organizer and spokesman. This is what Kimmel said:
We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
This is not, as most of the coverage would have it, a snipe at Charlie Kirk. It is a criticism of the MAGA reaction to his assassination. Judge for yourself whether it is an accurate characterization:
Still almost nothing is known at this point about the alleged assassin’s beliefs and motivations. The FTC chair is using the regulatory power of the Federal government to limit criticism of the President.
Here’s a challenge: what president in the past 50 years who has used his authority in this way? We are arriving in an unknown place.
The same is true for foreign policy. Trump’s tariffs have offended most of the world. They have hit India hard, pushing the world’s fifth largest economy into the arms of Russia and China. The US Navy has sunk unarmed boats from Latin America alleged to be carrying drugs, without producing any evidence. Brazil has defied Trump’s efforts to save his fellow seditionist Bolsonaro from accountability.
Trump is canceling security assistance to the Baltic countries as well as Ukraine, even while spouting pro-Ukraine talking points. Russian President Putin is stiffing Trump’s mediation efforts. Much of Asia is rallying to China’s side. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are doubting whether the US will help defend them. The leadership of the US military sat silent (and disapproving) while President Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth harangued them.
We still have big advantages. Two wide oceans protect our coasts. A big and fairly free economy provides a lot of opportunity for people to prosper. The US military has the resources and deployments that enable it to act worldwide.
But let there be no doubt. the President is weak: his approval/disapproval is 39%/56%. He is under 50% on all the major issues: inflation/prices, jobs and the economy, guns, immigration, and crime.
Trump’s America is a place where freedom of speech is in doubt, right-wing violence is now the government’s responsibility, and friends can’t rely on support. What more could go wrong?
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This is certainly not the America we envisioned as 18 year olds graduating from High School with all the opportunities awaiting us in the future. I fear for our grandchildren.