Desculpem meus amigos americanos, mas a sociedade americana está profundamente doente, e não apenas por causa de Trump

Em um novo livro. Bob Woodward faz novas revelações surpreendentes sobre os últimos meses de Donald Trump na Casa Branca. Como uma sociedade pode ainda suportar um sujeito desses eu não entendo. Mas, os EUA também estão doentes por uma série de outros problemas, entre eles o racismo, o armamentismo e a violência, assim como a incompreensão de certas questões mundiais pelos seus mais altos governantes. O declínio já começou, pelo alto e por baixo, nas mentes sobretudo...

Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

 

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu, 

CNN Meanwhile in America, September 14, 20221

'I don’t want to be your friend anymore'

You’d think it impossible to be shocked anymore by Donald Trump. But Bob Woodward, the Washington Post legend, with a new sidekick, Robert Costa, has done it again.

 

In the new book “Peril,” the duo lift the lid on the final days of the Trump White House amid the trauma of the Capitol insurrection. The book, obtained ahead of publication by CNN’s Jamie Gangel, is packed with staggering revelations — and also digs in to the first few months of the Biden administration, including the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. 

  

Among the juiciest bits:  

  

— Gen. Mark Milley, the top US military officer, inserted himself into the nuclear chain of command, ordering that subordinates consult him before accepting any strike orders. This appears to be a stunning subversion of the US’s sacred civilian control of the military – committed, Milley says, to protect the world from an unstable President. 

  

— Milley and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a blunt phone call in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff tried to assure her that US nuclear weapons were secure. “You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time,” Pelosi said, referring to Trump, according to a call transcript. “Madam Speaker, I agree with you on everything,” Milley replied. 

  

— Then-CIA chief Gina Haspel worried the US was on the verge of a right-wing coup in November 2020, telling Milley, “[Trump] is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum." Haspel also worried that Trump might try to attack Iran. 

  

— Milley assured his Chinese counterpart in several phone calls that the US would not strike Beijing, after intelligence reports suggested that China believed Trump might target it to divert from the embarrassment of his election loss.
 

— According to Woodward and Costa, Trump screamed at Mike Pence after the vice president told him repeatedly that he had no power to change the election results. "You don't understand, Mike. You can do this. I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this,” Trump reportedly yelled.