I have never been a supporter of or followed conspiracy theories. I have always considered that life has a random element that not even the most twisted brain in the world can condition. I grew up and was educated around the conspiracy theory about the multiple and possible assassins who carried out the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I followed the creation of the Warren Commission and, later, the report issued and presented by the then president of the Supreme Court of the United States, Earl Warren. A judge who served in an era in which his position was truly respected, and when modifying or eliminating the judicial system at will was not part of the presidential agenda. In his report, he concluded that Kennedy’s assassination, as difficult as it may be to believe and refuting all kinds of conspiracy theories, was the responsibility of a single man named Lee Harvey Oswald.
This Saturday, while watching Donald Trump’s appearance live in Butler, Pennsylvania, it was incredible to compile the series of images and moments that I captured in my mind. First, there was the automatic and unfeigned gesture of former President Trump touching his ear. A few seconds later, there are already photographs in which he can be seen with his face pressed to the ground and his hands together, as if he were praying or probably that this was his end. But the image that most remains engraved in my mind is the photograph in which, with the United States flag waving in the background, Donald Trump raised his fist implying that he will never give up. Without a doubt, this is a historic photograph that will endure for a long time, and if before this attack there were already those who assured that Trump’s return to the White House was a matter of time, there is very little doubt that after what happened this prediction is true. Trump’s fist represents the indomitable American spirit and its ability to never give up.
For now, let’s leave this fact here and let everyone interpret it as they wish. Let me say in advance that it is not my conviction nor do I see any evidence, except for the comments of some of the attendees at the event who admitted the fact that we are facing a conspiracy, if not to assassinate Trump, at least to warn him of where he cannot continue.
On January 6, 2021, a lot happened in Washington, DC, but the most important was the decision by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the military not to follow any instructions that would violate the US constitutional order. It is no secret to anyone that the so-called Deep State – that is, the CIA, the FBI, the intelligence services, the secret police and others – does not count Donald Trump among its favorite characters. Trump has laughed at them, ridiculed them and even called them incompetent. But, more importantly, all defensive doctrines and the entire history since the end of World War II of US defensive doctrine have been ridiculed by former President Trump on two fundamental principles. First, he argues and defends that no one has to be defended. Second, his position that others should also pay for their own security and this should not fall solely on the responsibility of the United States.
Nobody knows what will happen from here, but I fear that Saturday’s attack – which for me was one – had a message that was intended to be conveyed. What I don’t know is whether the final recipient of that message, Donald Trump, will understand it and follow it. In any case, just as his friend Putin has recommended him and used him many times as an example of what a competent and intelligent politician is, now without a doubt all crises – and here it is worth mentioning that in the political life of States there are no coincidences – are in one way or another related.
While the European Union is searching for its own identity amidst simultaneous upheaval between France, Germany, Italy and England – especially after the decision of the English to leave the Union – Viktor Orbán, the current president of Hungary, is on a peculiar tour that begins in Moscow and continues through Xi Jinping’s China. It is said that his objective is to find a solution to the war in Ukraine, but what is still unclear is why he did not approach his Western counterparts to achieve the long-awaited strategy to bring peace to the already prolonged and exhausting war on Ukrainian territory.
It is revealing that in the first week of the new Labour government in England, the most important piece of data that came out was the one that pointed out how much the war in Ukraine was costing the English people. This is something that, I fear, will not stop there and that will cause the people of Europe and the United States – with Trump at the head – to start to calculate what it costs to continue being involved in the war in Ukraine. But, above all, it will also highlight the cost of maintaining the model of collective security.
Trump does not believe in NATO or in the defensive scheme that currently gives the US Army the territorial distribution it has around the world. However, for the US Army and its top brass, these two factors do matter. It is very important to know that there is no room for surprises with Trump; we have all seen – starting with his subordinates, since he served and possibly will serve again as commander in chief – what he is willing to go to and do in order not to lose power or to regain it. If we add to that the fact that he has already been convicted in several trials and that he will foreseeably continue to be guilty of the ones he has left, Trump’s relationships may be anything but those that the so-called established order once thought or wanted.
Apart from the man who shot former President Donald Trump, I do not know if anyone else was involved – directly or indirectly – in the attack. What I do know is that the Deep State of the United States of America does not share Trump’s vision of how wars should be won or lost.
