Trump vs. the Democrats: Two reactionary factions fight over foreign policy
16 July 2018
Monday’s scheduled meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been preceded by a massive barrage of propaganda from the Democrats, their allied media outlets and the US intelligence agencies demanding that Trump intensify military pressure on Russia.
This campaign has centered around an indictment released Friday by US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of 12 Russian military/intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the servers of the Democratic National Committee and the email account of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta, and subsequently turning the emails over to WikiLeaks for publication.
The release of the indictment, which makes sweeping assertions but cites no evidence, is a cynical and transparent attempt by the US intelligence agencies, working with the Democrats, to reorient the foreign policy of the Trump administration towards geopolitical conflict with Russia.
This campaign has reached a hysterical frenzy, in which major TV stations and newspapers are warning that Donald Trump is about to sell out US national interests to Vladimir Putin.
The New York Times headlined its lead story Sunday, “Just Sitting Down With Trump, Putin Comes Out Ahead,” declaring “All [Putin] really needs to make his meeting with Mr. Trump a success is for it to take place without any major friction.”
Such claims are as preposterous as the underlying narrative about Russian “meddling” in the 2016 election. Trump, a representative of the rapacious and parasitic American financial oligarchy, has no intention of “selling out” US imperialist interests.
Rather, the bitter differences that have emerged in the run-up to the summit revolve…