{"id":46428,"date":"2019-12-04T15:24:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T19:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=46428"},"modified":"2019-12-06T16:48:48","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T20:48:48","slug":"trumps-rejection-of-american-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2019\/12\/trumps-rejection-of-american-hypocrisy.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Rejection of American Hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was overseas on a missions trip in a developing country when the U.S. invaded Iraq. It was eye opening, because it meant my introduction to the war consisted of watching foreign television on screens in restaurants and fielding questions from non-Americans. I was a teenager, and I didn\u2019t question the conservative politics my parents raised me on, but I also didn\u2019t forget this experience.<\/p>\n

The moment that made the biggest impact on me was when a woman asked me why the U.S. was invading Iraq to take its oil. I was shocked. I was shook. This was not true, I told her. The U.S. was not invading Iraq for its oil. I probably said something about weapons of mass destruction, but I know I was firm on one thing\u2014it was simply not true<\/em> that the U.S. was after Iraq\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

It was not until some years later, in college, that I studied American imperialism. I learned that the number of countries the U.S. has invaded is long. Very long. And I learned that the U.S. has often involved itself militarily in other countries for self serving reasons. To say the least.<\/p>\n

In other words, the question I received about the U.S. invading Iraq for its oil was, shall we say, valid<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I remember Iraqi oil being talked about in the first few years after invasion. Some argued that we should seize the oil and sell it and pocket the proceeds, as payment<\/em> for the costs we incurred invading the country, a perverse suggestion when you really think about it. Others arguing that we should do no such thing, that it would confirm anti-American ideas and claims about the U.S.<\/p>\n

I knew what they were talking about. I remembered the question I\u2019d received, halfway around the world. The question that had so confused me.<\/p>\n

All of this has come crashing back in recent months. Wave a look at this tweet by Aaron Rupar<\/a>, a journalist at Vox who helpfully broke down Trump\u2019s comments at yesterday\u2019s NATO meetings:<\/p>\n

Trump on the Kurds: \u201cWe have taken the oil. I\u2019ve taken the oil. We should have done it in other locations, frankly, where we were. I can name four of them right now, but we\u2019ve taken the oil \u2026 our great soldiers are right around the oil where we\u2019ve got the oil.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there\u2019s this bit too<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Trump, during bilateral with Merkel, on the Turkey-Syria border: \u201cMaybe someday they\u2019ll give me credit, but probably not \u2026 that border is a mess for long time. We pulled our soldiers out and took over the oil. We have soldiers where the oil is \u2014 that\u2019s the way I like it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump has been saying some version of this ever since he first started trying to save face after inviting Turkey to invade Syria in October. Yes,<\/em> he let Turkey invade another country and drive Kurds from their homes, but don\u2019t worry\u2014he got the oil! I\u2019m sorry \u2026 what?! When did that<\/em> become our objective\u2014our reason for being there? But then\u2014well\u2014that may be the wrong question.<\/p>\n

Last month, President Bashir Al Assad of Syria said the following<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I tell you he\u2019s the best American president. Why? Not because his policies are good, but because he\u2019s the most transparent president.<\/p>\n

All American presidents commit crimes and end up taking the Nobel Prize and appear as a defender of human rights and the \u2018unique\u2019 and \u2018brilliant\u2019 American or Western principles. But all they are is a group of criminals who only represent the interests of the American lobbies of large corporations in weapons, oil, and others.<\/p>\n

Trump speaks with transparency to say \u2018We want the oil.\u2019 This is the reality of American politics since the Second World War at least. \u2018We want to get rid of this person\u2026 We want to provide a service in return for money.\u2019 This is the reality of American politics. What do we want more than a transparent foe?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ouch.<\/em><\/p>\n

As I read these words I think about myself as a teenager, standing in a field near a mission school on another continent, my mount open in bafflement as I tried to comprehend what has just been said to me. I think of myself, responding almost automatically, insistently. No, no! I said. It isn\u2019t about oil!<\/em><\/p>\n

I think of myself in a college classroom several years later, reading Chalmers Johnson\u2019s\u00a0The Sorrows of Empire\u00a0<\/i>and wondering whether maybe\u2014maybe<\/em>\u2014it might have actually been\u00a0about the oil.<\/p>\n

Which is better? A world where we have lofty ideals but don\u2019t always\u2014or even usually\u2014live up to them? Or a world in which we stop pretending to even have<\/em> lofty ideals? I\u2019m honestly not sure. In the first scenario, reformers have a set of common verbally stated ideals they can appeal to. But then, what added harm does the hypocrisy of claiming ideals and not living up to them cause?<\/p>\n

I remember when President Obama was elected, the response we saw around the world. Finally, a president who would do things differently. Hope and change. Historians will likely spend a long time hashing out his actual record, of course, but still. There was something real there. Some hope.<\/p>\n

Going from that to this\u2014Trump\u2019s dispensing with any effort to even pretend<\/em> our involvement abroad is about protecting things like human rights\u2014it feels like whiplash.<\/p>\n

My children and I have been talking a lot about empire, lately. I\u2019m not completely sure why. Maybe because Thanksgiving led to conversations about colonization, and the origins of our own country. Maybe because we\u2019ve been watching The Crown, and I have to stop and explain about Rhodesia, or Egypt, or why her royal tour took Queen Elizabeth to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve told my children that the United States, too, is an empire. I\u2019ve talked with them about what that looks like, about what it means. Empire<\/em>. There\u2019s so much contained in one little word. Perhaps being more honest is a good thing, a la Trump\u2019s comments. But then, there is a difference between being honest about what is, and claiming that what is is right and good. These are not the same thing.<\/p>\n

Which, then, is better? Hypocrisy, or blatant and unashamed wrongdoing?\u00a0The hypocrisy involves a failure to acknowledge what we are actually doing\u2014the reality that we are violating our ideals. Trump\u2019s approach, in contrast, does<\/em> involve an acknowledgement of what we are actually doing abroad\u2014paired with a rejection not of this violation, but of the ideals<\/em>. This, surely, is the worst of all worlds.<\/p>\n

For my part, I try to hold together two things\u2014a knowledge of what we actually are, and a belief in what we could be\u2014an acceptance of reality, and a stubborn adherence to our stated lofty ideals.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which, then, is better? Hypocrisy, or blatant and unashamed wrongdoing?\u00a0The hypocrisy involves a failure to acknowledge what we are actually doing—the reality that we are violating our ideals. Trump’s approach, in contrast, does involve an acknowledgement of what we are actually doing abroad—paired with a rejection not of this violation, but of the ideals. This, surely, is the worst of all worlds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":46437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[777,568],"class_list":["post-46428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-channel-politics-blue","tag-donald-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump's Rejection of American Hypocrisy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Which is better? 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