GEOFOR: If you look at the U.S. sociology, then for the 9 months of this year, the rating of President Biden declined by 11 points. Moreover, 57% of respondents do not support the President, who, in fact, has not yet passed the midpoint of his cadence, (49% of them are categorically opposed – «I don't really support»). Only 42% of those surveyed support (of which only 21% of respondents « support very strongly») How dangerous will this melting popularity of the head of state be for the Democratic Party one year before the midterm elections?
Paul Craig Roberts: There is no doubt that Biden is unpopular. Many regard him as senile and incoherent. It is important to keep in mind that the evidence is strong that Biden was not honestly elected. His election occurred from strange and unexplained large swings in vote counts in the middle of the night in the “swing states” where Trump had substantial leads. For example, it is not plausible that a red state such as Georgia elected a Democrat President and two Democrat US Senators. Many experts provided proof that the election was stolen, but the media suppressed the evidence and the Republicans were powerless as the stolen election also cost Republicans control of the Senate. So nothing could be done about it.
Biden’s confusions and stumblings have become a joke and will prevent him from being the Democrat candidate in the next presidential election.
GEOFOR: Some Russian pundits express the opinion that the popularity of the Democrat President is undermined by three main factors: the economic policy of the Administration, especially in its taxation part; the crisis with the uncontrolled migration in the South of the country; as well as the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which has become a nightmare for the administration from the PR point of view. How fair are these estimates and what is your opinion on this? Plus, what could or should the President do under current circumstance in order to somehow resolve the issues and regain, at least, some of the lost popularity? Start a “small victorious war”? If so, where and against whom?
Paul Craig Roberts: The Biden regime’s acceptance of illegal entry by immigrant-invaders, and the regime’s suggestion that illegals who entered during Trump’s presidency and experienced family separation be paid large sums of money in “restitution,” has angered many voters against him.
Although there are super-patriots who resent the chaos of the Afghan withdrawal, most Americans are glad the 20-year attempted occupation is over. The public’s original support for the Afghan invasion was based on Washington’s deception that Afghanistan was somehow responsible through Osama bin Laden for 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Once the public caught on to the deception, support for the war evaporated. It was a war that served mainly the power and profit of the US military/security complex.
The troubled economy is due primarily to the decade-long policy of the Federal Reserve pumping massive liquidity into the economy in order to support the large banks, Wall Street, and the prices of financial assets, and to the Covid lockdowns and now the illegal vaccination mandates that are resulting in dismissals of non-compliant workers and the consequent breakdown in deliveries of goods and services. California’s environmental policy has contributed to the growing economic disorganization. The Democrat governor of California has blocked fully half of the US truck transport fleet from California for exhaust emission reasons. As a result ships cannot unload in the California ports, because the deliveries cannot be cleared from the docks.
It is Biden’s vaccination mandate that is undermining any remaining acceptance of his regime. It has become impossible to suppress the awareness of the deaths and injuries associated with the vaccine. When people witness hospital nursing staffs, firemen, policemen, and military resisting the “jab,” they understand that there is danger in the vaccine and become concerned about the coercion of the vaccination drive. If the election were held today, Biden would not get enough votes to count.
The military/security complex would welcome another war, as would the neoconservative policymakers in Washington. Russia and China seem to have blocked further US adventures in Syria and Iran. Washington would like to be rid of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and Maduro in Venezuela and grounds could be orchestrated for military interventions in Central and South America. But as both are portrayed as left-wing governments, the Democrat leftwing would oppose.
GEOFOR: In the Democratic Party itself – we, mostly, mean legislators - not everything is smooth either. There is no unity among the young radicals and the veteran centrists. This, in particular, is indicated by the debate around the national debt. The young stand for the implementation of social programs, at least in full, or even demand their expansion. And the veterans, not without reason, say that there is no money, and their emergence is not to be expected. That is, the moneys need to be printed. It seems that such a situation one year before the vote can also undermine the positions of the recent winners. If this is true, then to what extent?
Paul Craig Roberts: I do not think there is conflict between Democrats over social programs and the money to pay for them. The US has plenty of social programs. They have been growing steadily since the 1930s with a big extra dose in the 1960s. Democrat politicians tend to talk more than they act about raising taxes. The rhetoric sounds good to the lower classes, but actually raising taxes affects political campaign contributions. What the Democrats are doing is striving for one-party rule by eliminating Republican majorities in currently red states. They are relying on border-crossings and on elimination of identification to vote. The Biden Justice Department is challenging red state requirements of an ID to vote as a violation of the Voting Rights Act. The Democrats are also relying on Critical Race Theory taught in the public schools to convince white kids that they are racist because they are white and that they must make restitution for past white evils by supporting “people of color.” In other words, they are being indoctrinated from a young age to vote against their own race.
My conclusion is that Democrats are more unified around Identity Politics than they are divided by other issues.
GEOFOR: A question from the sphere of unscientific fiction: how real does the Trump-Biden duel of 2024 seem to you? Or will the Parties propose other candidates? Then who of the politicians from both parties do you recommend to observe with special attention?
Paul Craig Roberts: Biden is unlikely to be the Democrat candidate. Trump has far more support among Republicans than any other candidate. The Republican candidate will be Trump or whoever he gives his support. Florida’s governor DeSantis is a Trump favorite. Even some Democrats now understand that “Russiagate” was a hoax directed by the CIA/FBI to discredit Trump, and awareness of the FBI’s role in the so-called “Trump insurrection” is spreading. The leftwing of the Democrats have taken the party far out on limbs that disturb the average voter. They don’t like the anti-white propaganda, the monument destruction, the persecutions of Trump activists and supporters, the transgender policy that permit males to present as females and have access to female facilities and sports teams. They don’t like the non-gender pronouns. The crazed Democrat left is trying to pull off a revolution that many Democrats dislike as much as do Republicans.
GEOFOR: And the last question which we cannot pass by. Director of the CIA William Burns recently visited Moscow. Some in the USA say that his mission was to “warn Moscow” against “its buildup of troops near Ukraine's border closely, and to attempt to determine what is motivating Russia's actions”. What is your take on this visit and its outcome?
Paul Craig Roberts: I do not know why the CIA director visited Russia or why the Kremlin permitted the visit. If Burns gave any such warning, it is a reflection of Washington’s hubris. Andrei Martyanov has argued that the US military is out-classed by the Russian military, and Ukraine is on Russia’s border, not America’s. If the weapon systems Putin described awhile ago are actually deployed, the US is too much outclassed to give any warning to the Kremlin. The Kremlin would have to be poorly informed and poorly advised to pay any attention to a warning from the CIA.
What the Kremlin should take seriously is the CIA’s assassination of Putin. For reasons that make no sense, the Russian government has permitted the existence in Russia of Western-funded organizations that serve US and NATO interests. It is also the case that a substantial percentage of the Russian intellectual class is enamored of the United States. There are indications that even the current Kremlin only reluctantly gives up the dream of being integrated into the corrupt and dying Western world. Fanciful thinking can defeat realism, and the realism is that Washington would be pleased for Russia to lose a strong and capable leader.
GEOFOR: Thank you very much, Sir.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts – Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy, US economist and ex-assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration.
Serge Duhanov is a journalist, specializing in international relations and national security issues. Не worked as the NOVOSTI Press Agency's own correspondent in Canada (Ottawa, 1990-1992) and the US Bureau Chief (Washington, 1996-2001) of the newspapers Business MN, Delovoy Mir and Interfax-AiF.