This geopolitical analyst from New York argues essentially that "the more things [appear to] change, the more they stay the same." This was my position before the election, but others like Pepe Escobar, F. William Engdahl, and Michael Hudson take the view that there is a strategic divide among the directors of the ruling capitalist class: the Trump faction (aka "Rockefeller" faction) wants to pursue policies that want to seduce Russia away from China (the old divide and conquer strategy). Gunnar argues for his position by writing:
Imagine the United States is a corporation. It thus has a board of directors (Wall Street). It has a CEO (the US President). The candidates for CEO and the CEO are all chosen by the board of directors merely under the guise of “democratic elections.” The CEO then implements the desires of the unelected board of directors, serving also as a spokesperson for the board and a representative of the board’s overarching agenda.We will have to wait to see what Trump's administration actually does with regard to foreign policy. Regarding domestic policy I don't see any substantial gains made by any sector of ordinary Americans, and most will lose. One thing is certain: the capitalist rape of the environment will accelerate.
This explains how, over the past 16 years from US President George Bush Jr. to now President-elect Donald Trump, singular agendas, including unending war in Iraq and Afghanistan, still rage and expanding confrontations with Russia, China, and Iran continue unabated regardless of who is president, and regardless of the alleged principles, political ideals, and campaign promises they respectively represented.
Rhetorically and ideologically, Presidents Bush Jr. and Obama could not have been any more diametrically opposed, yet the continuity of agenda from one 8-year administration to the other was almost seamless.
