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Dennis Donovan

(28,796 posts)
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 08:03 AM Tuesday

Raw Story: 'Breaking a country': Analyst claims Trump's tactics are straight out of Iraq

Raw Story - ‘Breaking a country’: Analyst claims Trump’s tactics are straight out of Iraq

Adam Nichols
February 4, 2025 7:56AM ET

President Donald Trump's whirlwind first few days in office have hit America with a “shock and awe” campaign that has startling similarities to George W. Bush’s policies in Iraq, a New York Times columnist wrote Tuesday.

After vastly dismantling the nation’s government, Bush put in place “right-wing apparatchiks, some barely out of college” — and left the nation a destabilized mess, wrote Michelle Goldberg.

/snip/

“The first days of the second Trump term have a distinct Coalition Provisional Authority vibe,” her article stated.

“For those lucky enough not to remember, the Coalition Provisional Authority was the administration that George W. Bush and his team put in place after charging heedlessly into Iraq, convinced that it would be easy to remake a government about which they knew next to nothing.

“It was full of right-wing apparatchiks, some barely out of college, who were given enormous responsibilities. Six people initially hired for low-level administrative jobs after sending their résumés to the conservative Heritage Foundation were assigned to manage Iraq’s $13 billion budget. A social worker who’d served as director at a Christian charity was put in charge of rebuilding the health care system.

/snip
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GoreWon2000

(1,188 posts)
2. W's theft of 2000 election made tRump possible
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 12:29 PM
Tuesday

Not surprisingly, the NYT ignored the unconstitutional and anti-democracy way that W gained the White House.

keep_left

(2,662 posts)
3. I remember that. Many of the kids sent were the failchildren...
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 02:23 PM
Tuesday

...of the neocons from the Bush administration as well as the right-wing foundations and "think" tanks. I recall that Garrison Keillor had a few bon mots when it came to the disastrous Iraq reconstruction attempt. Keillor excoriated "the gilded corporate socialism of the right-wing think tanks" which served as "a make-work jobs program for the otherwise unemployable children of those who ran them".

jalan48

(14,651 posts)
5. Trump or someone like him has been coming for awhile. Reagan, Bush Sr and Jr got away with some bad shit.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 07:54 PM
Tuesday

They never were held accountable and our democracy was weakened.each time it happened. Trump is the one to finally push it over the edge.

uponit7771

(92,325 posts)
8. **"PLEASE** Listen to Ezra Kleins video here
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 08:12 PM
Tuesday

Trump is mostly shock and awe to wear you out and give him power

Pat attention to what he does not what he says

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