Imperialism Is Inevitable? Well, So Is Resistance to It (Director's Cut)

With Venezuela seized by the US, Trump and MAGA drops the mask on their brazen imperialism. It's as unapologetic as the neocons after Kabul and Baghdad fell. But do you remember what happened next?

Edited by Zeteo

I HAVE A LOT of disordered thoughts around the ICE murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis, beyond the short paragraph we published in Wednesday's edition right after it happened. Rest assured that when I can impose discipline and coherence upon myself, we will be dealing with both the execution and the stark political reality about Trump both lying about it and reaching for the language of terrorism—meaning an unarmed 37-year old mother who was very slowly maneuvering her car out of the way of the man pointing a gun at her—to justify it. 

But until then, here's my latest Zeteo column, about MAGA dropping the facade and embracing the imperialism that has always been formative to it. I wrote this one on Wednesday. They published it yesterday. By then, the enormity of murdering Renee Good had clearly exceeded the space I devoted to it in a column pegged to the Maduro kidnapping. We'll be pivoting early next week. But before we get to the column, I want to recommend revisiting this 2022 newsletter. It elaborates on the unity of U.S. foreign and domestic repression—"the imperial boomerang," as better writers have put it—in a manner that would have derailed my Zeteo column if I attempted it there.  

Finally, I initially headlined this column "Imperial Life in The Trumpian City," a nod to Rajiv Chandrasekaran's classic book about the U.S. citadel in Baghdad during the 2003-11 occupation. It's clear now that the hed just doesn't work—I would need to have made the column into a scene piece from Washington for the comparison to land—but I still kind of like the idea. Maybe for a different piece later on. 

OK, if you want the column, it's time to buy a subscription. See you on the other side.