Election 2024: Trump vs. Harris: From the Abyss.

By Richard C. Cook, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, American Geopolitical Institute. Author, Our Country, Then and Now (Clarity Press, 2023)

Two Elites?

In September 1862, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, fresh from routing the Federals at Second Manassas, crossed the Potomac River into Maryland and set up camp just outside the town of Frederick. The U.S. had entered the second year of the Civil War.

A few weeks earlier, Lee had repulsed General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. While McClellan was occupied with retreating back up the Chesapeake Bay to Washington, D.C., Lee and his generals moved overland to crush the Union force under Major General John Pope at the Manassas railway hub.

Then, with a forced march departing from Leesburg, Virginia, 35,000 Confederate troops forded the Potomac as their band played, “Maryland, My Maryland.” Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, communicating by courier back-and-forth from Richmond, figured that a knockout blow ending with an attack on Washington might bring recognition from Britain and France and so force the Lincoln government to bow to Southern independence.

But McClellan was able to regroup and give chase and, in a series of battles culminating on the farm fields bursting with corn along Antietam Creek outside the village of Sharpsburg, Maryland, the two armies fought to a stalemate. The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, where the 23,000 combined casualties—killed, wounded, and missing—made it “the bloodiest day in American history.” After waiting a day to see if McClellan would renew the fight, and finding, much to President Lincoln’s subsequent ire, that he would not, Lee then retreated back into Virginia.

The war would drag on for 2-1/2 more years before Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. But the people of Frederick and Washington Counties in Maryland had been noticeably indifferent to the excitement that raged around their villages and farms those days in the fall of 1862.

They saw the battle as a contest between two elites, neither of which cared particularly for the interests of the local people or their desire to be left alone to focus on bringing in the fall harvest.

In fact, after the war, the Mumma family petitioned the federal government for compensation due to the Confederates burning down their house during the battle. The family lost the case, with the government telling them it was the rebels who did it, not us. Fortunately, friends and family helped them rebuild.

Is what we are looking at today, with many commentators saying we are as close as we’ve ever been to another Civil War, just a contest between two elites, or even a single elite masquerading as two? Or, as sometimes seems to be the case, between two mobs (commandeered by those elites) that are egged on in not being able to tolerate each other, mobs that even portray each other as agents of the devil?  

Is there anything real at stake? Or is it the case, as Alabama’s Governor George Wallace said, when running for president against Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Republican Richard Nixon in 1968, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between ‘em”?

So let’s examine areas of both similarity and difference between the contenders.

Note that this analysis is based on substantive policy issues, not the trivialities of “identity politics” that people get so excited about. Honestly, Kamala Harris’s pedigree does not impress me as translating into national salvation nor does Trump’s three hours with Joe Rogan.

Social Differences?

There is obviously a difference between the two candidates in terms of the social profile they have attracted among the electorate. If the contest for U.S. Senate in Maryland between Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Larry Hogan is any indication, some of the distinction, at least, boils down to abortion. Alsobrooks appears to want to give women complete latitude in aborting their unborn children, whereas Hogan appears to favor moderate restrictions. That appears to be the foremost social issue between the two candidates, and it also appears to be a major difference in social policy between the two parties at the national level.

The likelihood that the number of abortions will probably be the same no matter who wins argues in favor of Governor Wallace’s formulation—“not a dime’s worth of difference.”

Economic Differences?

The most important economic issue that divides the candidates is that Trump favors the imposition of a high level of tariffs on imports. The purpose would be to restore manufacturing enterprise on American soil, with corresponding growth of factory jobs.

This would in fact be an epochal change that would affirm a Republican Party stance on protectionism that goes back to the origins of the Republican Party in the mid-19^th century. This was the time of the “American System” of economist Henry C. Carey which favored protective tariffs, a strong national currency, and government-sponsored infrastructure improvements. Restoration of the American System would strike a blow at neoliberal globalist policies by which the leaders of both parties have been shipping U.S. jobs abroad for at least three generations while investment in our own manufacturing and infrastructure has collapsed.

The trouble that Trump is not addressing is that higher tariffs would reduce or eliminate the negative trade balance by which the U.S. sends dollars abroad to be used as a world trading currency. Such a dynamic is a necessary element in providing the funding for the 800 military bases the U.S. has established in order to maintain its imperial hegemony worldwide.

With Trump’s tariffs, the U.S. would be moving in the direction of a retreat to “fortress America.” Kamala Harris has attacked Trump’s positions as “isolationism,” just as the Democratic Party globalists attacked “America First” Republicans prior to U.S. engagement in World War II.

Trump has been ingenuous on this issue in declaring that divestment of dollars by foreign nations, as BRICS may do, would be an act of hostility against the U.S., when such divestment would occur much more rapidly with high tariffs.

We would award points to Trump were it not for this elementary contradiction in policy. Also, Trump’s recent claims that he would eliminate the income tax is absurd, since tariff revenue could not possibly come close to being a replacement in funding the government.

Added to this is the fact that U.S. continuation of globalist economics spells endless war and national suicide without either side offering a real way out, so that again, Governor Wallace wins—“not a dime’s worth of difference.”

Foreign Policy Differences?

Trump claims that had he still been president the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel would never have broken out. While president, however, Trump oversaw the arming and training of Ukrainian forces by NATO that eventually provoked Russia into invading when Ukraine began to bomb Russian speakers in the Donbas region. Now the U.S. and NATO are suffering a calamitous defeat in their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine for which Trump helped lay the groundwork.

In the Middle East, Trump’s actions while president in moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and in ordering the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani likely emboldened Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza that instigated the widening conflict between Israel and the Axis of Resistance. Israel now may be on the verge of annihilation by the people it has been terrorizing for the past 75 years.

Behind the Axis of Resistance is the regional power of Iran, and behind Iran are Russia and China. The U.S. cannot defeat this coalition without bringing on a nuclear holocaust. Neither Trump/Vance nor their pro-Israel backers Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard have any more of an answer than do Harris/Walz.

The only workable answer is to embrace the concept of a multipolar world which the U.S. thought it would never have to face when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1989-91. Could Trump pull this off? Not if the U.S. foreign policy establishment has anything to say about it. And it’s not just the Neocons. It’s everyone whose livelihood depends on U.S. imperial hegemony that is about to go down the drain. And it’s also the massive power of the Israel lobby.  

It was this drive for global military conquest that the Rockefeller dynasty’s Council on Foreign Relations foisted on us at the start of World War II, embodied in the post-war National Security State, and that is still being enforced today by the U.S. military and Deep State Neocons. Breaking their power over the erstwhile American republic is a big job.

We’ll award Trump points for good intentions, but we’ll take them away as we remember how easily war mongers like Nicki Haley, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, etc. wormed their way into power during Trump’s previous administration.

Plus there’s no sign at all that Trump can escape the Zionist zombie influence or even wants to. We vote for Governor Wallace—again.

What Are They Ignoring? Banking and Finance

The U.S. banking and finance system has become increasingly unregulated over past decades to the point where the financialization of our economy has led to catastrophic inflation, major shortages of affordable housing, destruction of the middle class, and the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of hedge funds like BlackRock and  the billionaires of the financial elite.

No society in history has survived the kind of explosive discrepancy of wealth under which the U.S. is suffering today. Empires have died as a result.

Behind this superstructure of wealth disparity is the omnipresent usury-based banking system overseen by the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, the only thing that keeps the bankrupt federal government afloat is direct purchase by the Fed of Treasury bonds. This “money printing,” aka “QE,” was the Obama administration’s chosen tactic of “kicking the can down the road.”

It involves the utilization of these Treasury bond purchases and their addition to the Fed’s balance sheet to pay the government’s bills, primarily for the weapons industry and such necessary spending as social security. The Fed also adds to its balance sheet mortgage-backed securities, a practice aimed to conceal the still-high levels of home foreclosures left over from the Great Recession. The same method was used to finance the Trump/Biden COVID relief payments.

Neither Trump/Vance nor Harris/Walz has anything to say about reform of the failed financial system except for a few handouts that Harris would provide to a small number of first-time buyers. Trump’s proposals to reduce taxes are typical Republican election-year fare that if done would increase the federal deficit, bring on more QE, and be offset by the resulting inflation. The ideological justification for these shenanigans goes by the cutesy moniker of “Modern Monetary Theory.”

For more information, see my book Our Country, Then and Now which explains Dennis Kucinich’s 2011 NEED Act that would provide a sound indigenous currency for the U.S., pay down the national debt, and bring jobs and investment home.

Neither party gains points for this further tumble, leading to another vote for the wise Governor Wallace.

What Are They Ignoring? “Vaccination” Genocide

The COVID “plandemic,” marked by release of a virus weaponized through gain-of-function research followed by administration of a dysfunctional “vaccine” that is causing millions of excess injuries and deaths worldwide, took place under President Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed.” Trump supposedly knew nothing of what was being done behind the scenes by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Department of Defense, Big Pharma, and the captured government regulatory apparatus, but that is cold comfort for a world population under assault.  

What is shaping up to be the worst public health catastrophe, and possibly the largest known genocide, in history, took place on Trump’s watch. These policies were then adopted in every respect by the Biden/Harris administration, which shares responsibility with Trump for the still unfolding disaster.

Despite the fact that Trump appears to be giving lip service at least to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” proposals, there is no indication that Trump has even thought about pulling the plug on the use of mRNA “vaccines” or coming up with a program of treatment for the millions who have been harmed.

Suffice it to say that Biden/Harris/Walz have totally ignored public health in any of its multitudinous aspects, including the chronic illness epidemic and the explosion of vaccine-caused autism, much less addressing the COVID genocide. They are completely the creatures of the Deep State and Big Pharma, plus the seepage from the WEF’s “Great Reset” and the grab of national sovereignty by the WHO.

Thus both parties sink deeper into negative point territory on the public health front, though Trump has a chance to redeem himself to some extent through RFK, Jr.’s possible role in his administration, but only if he smashes the Big Pharma/DoD mRNA “vaccine” cult into oblivion. I’ll believe that when I see it and maybe not even then. You called it, Governor Wallace.

What Are They Ignoring? Societal Collapse

The symptoms of societal collapse within the U.S. are everywhere: the border crisis and the millions of illegal immigrants, nonstop inflation, likely vote stealing, decline in human fertility, chronic illness, iatrogenic disease, growth in violent crime, government grift, explosion of “lawfare,” overregulation of the food supply, censorship in violation of the First Amendment, illegal drugs and addiction, sexual immorality and human trafficking, etc. The list goes on, pointing without question to the existence of a FAILED STATE that is increasingly a danger to itself and the rest of the world.

An analogy that presents itself is the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the eve of World War I: a conglomeration of diverse regions without a unifying ideology or cultural identity, held together only by the person of an aging Emperor whose uncertain role in guiding public affairs resembles that of today’s fraudulently dysfunctional U.S. presidency.

In Austria-Hungary, once the force of that centralizing institution broke down under the pressure of war and corruption, the entire imperial edifice came crashing down, leaving the chaos of a multitude of different states that became the Central Europe of today.

The U.S. may experience a similar type of crash, with neither Trump/Vance nor Harris/Walz having a comprehensive program that can prevent or resolve it.

Again, both sides lose points, because in fact we are now in an abyss of national decline. Trump/Vance at least bring a glimmer of recognition of what must change though without a program of how to do it. Thus the wise Governor Wallace again rules.

Conclusion

At the same time, my personal inclination is to go with Trump, because I identify with the America-first demographic and my own "hillbilly" roots.

But he is going to have a lot to prove, very quickly, and he's off to a bad start with his overtly pro-Zionist stance.

So I'll have a few people mad at me either way. But such is life.

There is now every indication that it will be Russia that draws the line through Europe that renders NATO obsolete by establishing a new security architecture balancing East and West. It is also Russia, backed by China, that is offering to mediate a peaceful settlement in the Middle East which recognizes the legitimate interests and aspirations of all participants, while an impotent American dinosaur fumes on the sidelines side-by-side with a smoldering Israel.

This change in the configuration of world power may have been sparked by the Biden administration’s economic, military, and moral collapse on multiple fronts, but it is also the result of a sea change whereby the empty financialization of Western enterprise has given way to the concrete harnessing of energy and productivity by the growing BRICS+ community that Russia is spearheading.

Ultimately, post-World War II U.S. hegemony is collapsing in full view of the entire world. The U.S. has tried to keep the lid on with its 800 military bases and multiple fleets on the high seas. But this has devolved into a high-stakes game of “Wac-a-Mole” whereby the U.S. runs around from crisis to crisis against opponents with interior battle lines who enjoy an ever-increasing advantage from every type of high-tech and asymmetrical warfare.

All things considered, Governor George Wallace’s summation that “there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between ‘em” might actually capture the realities of the 2024 presidential election. This is because in the crisis we are now in, given the evil war mongering and lawfare of the Deep State and the greed and profiteering of Big Pharma, BlackRock, the Zionists, the Neocons and the globalist bankers, we can rightfully ask whether either candidate could, if elected, make a single unhampered move in a positive direction.

As an aside, exactly the same collapse is taking place in Europe, due to EU regulations that force member states to be constantly bailing out their own failed banking system, resulting in stagflation, hyperinflation, the war against Russia in Ukraine which threatens to spread, and growing civil strife between pro-EU neoliberal governments and “right-wing” nationalist movements.

The pressure is building both in the U.S. and in Europe. In fact, the respective tea kettles are letting out large whistling sounds. Whatever the outcome, intelligent people may wisely choose to hunker down, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Take care; just don’t let them talk you into taking the “vax.”

Richard C. Cook is co-founder and lead investigator for the American Geopolitical Institute.  Mr. Cook is a retired U.S. federal analyst with extensive experience across various government agencies, including the U.S. Civil Service Commission, FDA, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary. As a whistleblower at the time of the Challenger disaster, he exposed the flawed O-ring joints that destroyed the Space Shuttle, documenting his story in the book “Challenger Revealed.” After serving at Treasury, he became a vocal critic of the private finance-controlled monetary system, detailing his concerns in “We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform.” He served as an adviser to the American Monetary Institute and worked with Congressman Dennis Kucinich to advocate for replacing the Federal Reserve with a genuine national currency. See his new book, Our Country, Then and Now, Clarity Press, 2023. Also see his Three Sages Substack at

and his American Geopolitical Institute articles at https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/category/agi/.

“Every human enterprise must serve life, must seek to enrich existence on earth, lest man become enslaved where he seeks to establish his dominion!” Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943), translation by Posthumus Projects Amsterdam, 2014. Also download the Kober Press edition of Bô Yin Râ’s “The Book on the Living God” here.