Near the end of his presidency, Dwight Eisenhower found out that the military had lied to him. They told him that the Soviet Union had as many as 1,500 intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. Billions of dollars would have to be allocated to close the “missile gap;” defense contractors would have to hire thousands of employees, and the salaries of their chief executives would rise dramatically.
The upper echelon of our military officers had lied. Among them was Curtis LeMay, who was the running mate of George Wallace, an unrepentant segregationist who blocked the door of the University of Alabama to prevent two Black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from entering the university. President Kennedy sent the National Guard, and Wallace relented, but he continued to support segregation.
But eventually, the truth came out: The Soviet Union had exactly eight ICBMs, and four were down for maintenance. So they had four, not 1,500. The United States had about 100 ICBMs. So there was a missile gap, but in our favor.
Eisenhower was outraged. His own military had lied to him, and he considered it akin to treason. He didn’t want to disclose the exact numbers, which were classified; but he wanted to warn the country of the perfidy of its military, which had shown beyond the shadow of a doubt that they couldn’t be trusted.
So in his farewell address, given on January 17, 1961, he warned the American people to “beware of the military-industrial complex.” It was the closest an American President had ever come to telling us that the government couldn’t be trusted. Here’s what he said:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
President Biden gave his farewell address a few days ago, and the parallels to Eisenhower’s address are chilling. But Biden doesn’t warn of dangers inside government. Anyone who watched the insurrection of January 6, 2021 is painfully aware of those danger posed by Trump and his minions. But we know that half of the country didn’t watch the news videos of the insurrection, and Fox refused to cover the January 6 Committee hearings. In fact, according to CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/politics/cnn-poll-republicans-think-2020-election-illegitimate/index.html), as much as 70 percent of Republicans and Independents (i.e. Republicans who are ashamed to admit it) believe that Trump won in 2020. They believe this because they haven’t seen the massive evidence to the contrary. And they haven’t seen the evidence because they refuse to look at it. That’s called “willful ignorance.” It’s one of the Republican ways of lying.
President Biden delivered his farewell address, and it also included a warning. Here’s what he said:
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
“Powerful forces want to wield their unchecked influence to eliminate the steps we’ve taken to tackle the climate crisis, to serve their own interest for power and profit,” Biden said. “We must not be bullied to sacrifice in the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren.”
“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”
For years, Trump claimed that there existed within the government a “deep state” of radical leftists bent on turning the United States into a Communist dictatorship. But there never existed the slightest shred of proof of a deep state. He lied to instill fear in voters, and since half of voters make no attempt to find out if they’re being lied to, they believed him.
President Biden’s warning isn’t based on unverified claims; you’ve also seen the takeover of the one percent. Thirteen billionaires have been tapped to join Trump’s administration. Three of them – Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, Linda McMahon as Education Secretary, and Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary – are among Trump’s cabinet nominations. Another four billionaires are to be ambassadors.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has been sharing power with the President-elect even before moving into the White House. He spent $277 million of his own money to back Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election. He was named the head of the “Department Of Government Efficiency” by Trump. There is no such department, and one can only be created by an act of Congress. But Musk is a major holder of DOGE crypto currency, and the publicity that his ersatz naming to the ersatz department has caused the value of his crypto holdings to soar.
Trump’s choices to manage the nation’s affairs come from the richest 2,000 human beings in this country. I’m sure they’ll represent Trump’s views; I’m equally sure that they will completely ignore the needs of the American middle class.
We’ve been warned; the next step is the mid-terms in 2026. Show up and be counted.
This post was originally published on here