Mounting proof of a North-South security world

A very specific form of Fortress America

Jim Nuttle illustration from “America’s New Map”

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The writing on the wall seems clear enough: Disengage militarily from the world and recast the military toward domestic “threats” (thus the requirement of eliminating all “woeness” that might prevent that re-purposing).

Trump 2.0 makes a series of broad promises that speak to a strategic mindset more North-South in orientation than East-West. Those who think Trump’s return signals the implausibility of what I’m preaching in America’s New Map have got it completely wrong: his return only highlights the shift from “over there” Cold War thinking to “down there” climate-changed thinking.

Americans are just deluding themselves if they think otherwise.

I mean, when Trump declares America to be “occupied,” he’s not talking Russian or Chinese or Iranians or North Koreans. His definition of Red Dawn is very different: Latino immigrants coming in uncontrollable numbers.

An invasion!

And Latinos (and Global Southerners in general) coming in uncontrollable northward flows … that’s the future I’m working. You can pretend that makes me a globalist intent of swapping out White voters for Brown ones, but that’s just your fear talking. The 2024 election punctures that myth completely with its Latino re-alignment (completely unsurprising for any student of American history who knows that the last-in immigrants often morph into the most vehement nativists — out of sheer preservation and a chosen hatred of the over there they so loathed that they packed up and left).

In short, Trump promises to pivot towards domestic issues, emphasizing immigration and national security over foreign engagements.

Witness the list of priorities:

• Withdrawal of troops and end of military involvement: Trump promises to bring U.S. troops home from overseas conflicts, ending wars like Ukraine “in 24 hours." There is an easy logic to this appoarch: As far as the American public is concerned, a war “ends” the second the US walks away. Then it just becomes some “conflict” over there.

• Domestic threat focus: Trump plans to redirect military resources and attention towards “domestic threats,” particularly immigration. National Guard troops at the border, invoking old laws to facilitate mass deportations, using military troops to go after domestic opponents … all this reflects a shift in focus from international conflicts to domestic enforcement. The real enemies are in for it now!

• Immigration policies: Trump plans to implement stringent immigration restrictions, including mass deportations and increased border security measures. His administration's approach may involve significant military support for local law enforcement to manage migrant flows and — of course — pull off any mass deportation. Storm troopers filling up cattle cars with vermin that need to go! What can possibly go wrong?

Trump's promises will trigger serious resistance:

• Congress: Any attempt to cut military support for Ukraine or alter U.S. foreign policy significantly will face bipartisan opposition in Congress, particularly from pro-Ukraine factions within Trump’s own party.

• Europe: This won’t be so much resistance as accommodation leading to significant and rapid evolution of a new Europe-wide security identity sans US. Not a bad thing but a distinct power-loss for us that many realists will sorely miss in the struggles ahead.

• Arab Americans: They will have a hard time living with the free hand Trump allows Netanyahu regarding the elimination of Gaza and the annexation of more and more of the West Bank.

• Cold Warriors: Strong foreign policy factions will thereupon push for a more heightened Cold War-like stance against both Russia and China.

• Axis of Evil types: Will push for similarly tougher, more aggressive stances against Iran (viewed as weak and vulnerable) and North Korea (the usual troublesome package now elevated to “heartland” dynamics with its involvement in Ukraine). Rest assured that Bibi won’t rest until Iran’s theocracy is overthrown.

• Latin Americans: Who now realize that Trump wasn’t kidding about mass deportations and other aspects of Fortress America. The parallels to Jews in Germany once the Nazis swept into power are suitable paralyzing. Yes, yes, just go about your business and keep your head down.

• Latin American governments: Who now feel that much more targeted by Trump’s immigration policies and the continued/heightened(?) war on drugs (the “fentanyl wars”?). Their acquiescence is required for any mass deportation, no?

• Libertarian forces: Who, like Rand Paul, will have a VERY hard time stomaching the use of US military forces on US soil.

• Liberal and libertarian domestic forces: Who will mount huge resistance to the sort of law-bending/rewriting/breaking activities Trump’s administration will inevitably resort to as part of its immigration crackdown.

• Human rights organizations globally: That will all target Washington for its “rogue nation” abuses. Prepare the ICC warrants now.

• Industries that have long thrived on abusing undocumented workers: They’ll be sure to let Trump know about their pain, and what US treasure will be required to them off.

• Game-changing new crises overseas: Putin has just been super-empowered, as has Netanyahu. Don’t think for a minute that Xi hasn’t noticed regarding his deadline to retake Taiwan by 2027.

All in all, a serious can of worms.

But note: NONE of this addresses the underlying force creating all this North-South friction — namely, climate change.

Per the Trumpian worldview, that entire problem-set needs to be entirely discredited and shelved — sacrificed to the promise of drastically cutting energy costs across the United States.

The craziest part of all this? Most within the GOP leadership know this is a fool’s errand because there is no plausible economic way-ahead supported by this nativist-explosion-seguing-into-some-sort-of-White-Christian-nationalism/Cultural Revolution.

It simply does not compute economically.

Frankly, this is the sort of navel-gazing strategic stupidity that we have long associated with “surrender monkeys” like the French: an absurd idealization of culture that, Amish-like (or Salafist jihadist-like), one seeks to preserve in a time capsule (This far in progress and no further, I say unto you!).

This strategic mindset is thus entirely un-American, unable to hid its kernel code of preserving the supremacy of White Christianity within our Union. The only way to do that is to stop growing as a nation and union, which means we get strategically smaller and more irrelevant by the year.

Plenty of Americans are happy to embrace this path: this acceptance of Big Brother at home (authoritarianism) so as to keep away a seemingly scarier global Big Brother (the “globalists” [almost all Jews, let’s admit!] who control all!).

The alternative to all this is just too scary. I mean, what will we be forced to evolve into amidst all this tectonic change? Nobody quite knows!

Thus, it is safer to retreat into our past, where you don’t need a scorecard to tell who’s who.