MAGA FANTASIES AND NIGHTMARES

By Jirair Tutunjian

 

Since President Donald Trumps’ 2016 election campaign, the MAGA belief has insinuated into our consciousness with an annoying persistence.

MAGA: Make America Great Again.

What do MAGA adherents mean by “great” and when was the era when America was great, according to them?

America made the international scene in a big way during the First World War. After licking its post-war wounds in the Twenties, it was hit by the Great Depression. Barely out of that decade-long tragedy, America entered the Second World War. In the immediately post-war years, America was preoccupied by the House of UnAmerican Activities and “exposing” communists.

1950 ushered the Korean War (1950-1953). U.S deaths? 36,574

1955-1975: Vietnam War. U.S. deaths: 58,220

1958: Marines landed in Lebanon

1983: Invaded Grenada

1986: Bombed Libya

1989: Invaded Panama

1990—1991: The Gulf War

1999: The Kosovo War. Bombed Yugoslavia. Casualties? 2,000

2001-2021: War in Afghanistan. About 2,500 members of the U.S Army were killed. Afghan dead? 176,000.

2008-2011: Iraq War. Close to a million dead.

1953: The Americans toppled Prime Minister Mossadegh of Iran. The following year they were responsible for a coup in Guatemala.

Let’s not forget the 65-year blockade of Cuba and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

There was U.S. military “interference” in Syria, Somalia, Laos, Lebanon, Yemen…These and other military actions which resulted in rampant domestic inflation in the U.S. and an increase in U.S government’s debt to $11.8 trillion.

The U.S assassinated Patrice Lumumba, president of Congo Léopoldville; Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic; President Sukarno of Indonesia, and was responsible for assassinations in South Vietnam, for the slaying Cuba’s Che Guevara in Bolivia, and Chile’s Commander-in-Chief. During the Salvador Allende rule. There were numerous attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. Libya’s Moammar Kaddafi was another victim of American action. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton crowed: “We came, we saw, he died,” referring to the death of Kaddafi. Earlier on another Secretary of State (Madeleine Albright had said the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis “was worth it.”

More: The execution of Saddam Hussein and the assassination of scores of leading Iranian leaders. U.S. intelligence services aid to Israel in the assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. America’s attack on Iran.

There were other coups and assassinations of anti-American leaders. However, there is no proof of American involvement.

Let’s not forget the millions of civilians who were injured in these U.S. military actions.

Let’s not forget the millions who became refugees as a result of these wars.

And let’s not forget the social unrest in the United States since the Fifties. The assassination of the Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King, the attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan….

Add to the above America’s financing of the Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, turning a blind eye to settlers killing West Bank Palestinians and stealing their land.

So, what does the “great” in MAGA mean? Does it mean great stupidity, great appetite for terrorizing the world, superb ability to produce unhealthy, fattening and chemical infused packaged food? Amazing knack for producing TV pap and fodder 24/7.

Do “things go better with Coke”?

Do MEGA supporters mean 75 years of wars, assassinations, invasions, coups, rampant inflation, crime, prolonged and severe social unrest, the concentration of wealth in a few hands, politicians in the pay of lobby groups and the deterioration of standards and of the social fabric?

Maga means big in Greek. Perhaps MAGA stands for mega folly.