Call the FBI?!!!!!!

I'm willing to bet there isn't another country in the world where a citizen -- much less a candidate for the highest office, or his family members -- is expected to call the FBI when approached by a citizen of an 'adversary' country.

I've lived in half a dozen countries in the course of my now long life, and I learned to speak the languages of most, following the news.  Never have journalists -- or politicians -- claimed it was incumbent upon a citizen to report overtures from foreign countries to the special services.

America, of course is different.  We're 'exceptional' because we ride high on the wings of democracy -- higher, needless to say, than any other country.   And our exceptionalism gives us the right to tell the rest of the world (mostly consisting of 'deplorables') how to live and what to die for.

 

Cafeteria in St. Petersburg

What our politicos never admit is that what birthed this country was rejection of the Other: The template for our relations with other nations was set in the mold of our relations with a distant, all-powerful king, and official America is always suspicious of the motivations of other rulers.  One of Donald Trump's unforgivable sins has been his ("naive") contention that it's better to get along with other nations rather than picking fights, or even simply telling them how to behave.  Personally, I voted for Jill Stein, but I think the US has a better chance of avoiding a nuclear exchange under the leadership of someone who would rather make deals than make war -- even if some leaders other than Vladimir Putin and France's new, young president, Emanuel Macron, would shun the three-ring circus atmosphere of the current White House.

My next post will try to explain what neo-liberal European leaders like Macron see in Trump.