Podcast # 38 – The Encroaching Darkness – Part One

My name is Mark Stevens.  I am talking today with Allan Colston. He is the author of The Last Days of Tolemac, which is a book dealing with prophecy and other end-time events.

For those listeners who may be new to this topic, this is another in the series “Signs of the Times”.  Welcome to the Podcast Allan. It seems like a long time since we last talked together.

It certainly does Mark. In fact, it has been far too long. But I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I should talk about today. And the thing that keeps occupying my mind is the degree to which things seem to be unravelling throughout the world.

I continue to be reminded of a conversation that I had a few years back with Scott Paton, who was my webmaster and designer of my Blog theme. At the end of that Podcast, which was entitled “The Age of Tyrants”, I offered a summary of the times in which we are now living.

Mark: I am interested to know what you had to say.

My assessment was as follows:

“And so, Scott, I guess I could sum all this up in the following words. We seem to be living in an age of tyrants, where an encroaching darkness is stealing across the planet, slowly swallowing up all the countries of the world, and enslaving good men and women everywhere as it does so”.

During that Podcast, I had focused on the events that were happening in Turkey, and the wave of repression that had spread across the country as Prime Minister (now President) Erdogan carried out his campaign of reprisals against anyone he accused of being involved in the attempted coup.

Since that time, many more countries have been swallowed up by authoritarian regimes, as their leaders have adopted tyrannical modes of government by brutally oppressing their citizens. In fact, they have gone to even greater lengths than before to silence their opponents.

So tyrannical leaders like Putin, Kim Jong-un and President Khamenei of Iran have been joined by people like Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, President Duterte of the Philippines, Mohammad Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, and now potentially, the newly elected President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.

These leaders have not only killed political opponents within their own countries, but to an increasing extent, they have begun tracking them down wherever they happen to be around the world, and then murdering them in ever more ghoulish ways.

You will recall how Vladimir Putin used special operatives to track down the former GRU military intelligence colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were living in the English town of Salisbury, and apply the deadly nerve agent Novichok to their front door. Fortunately, both survived.

Then there was the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of the current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. He was killed when he was attacked by two women at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, who spread another nerve agent, this time VX, on his face in February 2017.

And as I related in my last Blog post, President Erdogan of Turkey even tried to bribe former National Security Advisor of the U.S., Michael Flynn, to forcibly kidnap Fethullah Gülen from his retreat in Pennsylvania and fly him to the Turkish prison island of Imrali – a plot which also, fortunately, failed.

And then, perhaps worst of all, we have the recent murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the most brutal fashion at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul, by a squad of fifteen operatives who had flown in from Riyadh a few hours earlier.

In all of these cases the message conveyed by these dictators has been perfectly clear. You can run, but you can’t hide. And we will track you down wherever you happen to live. These countries cannot protect you, for we are not intimidated by them, nor do we fear their reprisals.

In fact, as the increasing numbers of tyrants all around the world show, democracy is in trouble all over the planet. People are assailed by fear. As history has demonstrated, tyranny is born out of fear. It is sustained by fear. It is ruled by fear, and it is ultimately destroyed by forces generated by fear.

Mark: So how do we overcome those fears?

Well, here lies the rub, Mark. These fears are not easy to overcome. This is not like the time of the Great Depression when President Roosevelt famously told the American people: “You have nothing to fear but fear itself”. These fears are very real. And they exist all around the world.

The basic underlying fear that people everywhere have is the fear of loss. It is the fear of losing their most prized possession, which is their cultural identity. It is the fear of having their very way of life overturned by intruders – those people who do not belong.

And we are seeing this happen all around the planet, as people everywhere are driven to escape their countries of origin, to try to find places of safety where they can live in peace. So, as more and more countries disintegrate into chaos, so more and more people are being forced to flee.

They are fleeing from poverty, unemployment, political oppression, civil war, religious discrimination, drugs and gang-related violence. Added together, these refugees have become a flood of humanity that has been washing over the planet, leaving hardly any country unaffected.

So we see migrants fleeing from failed states all across Africa trying to cross the Mediterranean to gain access to Europe. Refugees from the civil war in Syria trying to get into southern Europe through Turkey. Migrants from central America trying to get into the United States.

And just as understandably, there has been a counter-movement within all of those countries impacted by this influx, to close their borders and stem the tide of what they regard as illegal refugees. And this is where this fear plays into the hands of authoritarian leaders.

We have seen the rise to power of right-wing governments in places like Austria and Hungary, as a predictable reaction to Moslem migrants arriving from North Africa and the Middle East. Similar right-wing movements have even begun to undermine the coalition of Angela Merkel in Germany.

And that of course brings me to Donald Trump, who has built up his entire business and political career by using fear as his “Trump” card. You may recall, Mark, just before his inauguration, we had a lengthy discussion in which I laid out what could be expected from a Trump administration.

Mark: I remember it well. In fact, I was reading it again just a few weeks ago. I must say you really nailed it with your predictions. Almost everything that you said then has turned out to be correct.

You flatter me, Mark. But I will admit that most of what we discussed at that time has turned out to be true. And although I don’t regard myself as a prophet, much of what I said could easily have been predicted, largely because Donald Trump has since done exactly what he said he would do.

Whether or not he is suited, or qualified, for the job of President of the United States, Donald Trump has at least proved that he has a genius for playing on the fears of others, and then turning this to his political advantage. And he has used his talent to gain the highest office in the land.

For example, he has tapped into the fears of rural and blue-collar Americans in a way that no other politician has been able to match. And he has done so right from the moment that he first announced his candidacy for President. Do you recall what he said as he stood on the escalator at Trump Tower?

Let me remind you. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing their problems with them. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people”.

This was a message that was clearly designed to resonate with all those living close to the border with Mexico, as well as with victims of violence, or of the drugs that are proliferating throughout the country. He even returned to this theme in his pitch just before the mid-term elections.

In fact, his campaign slogan was one that his followers clearly understood and acted upon. His call to “Make America Great Again” was a thinly veiled plot to “make America white again”, by focusing on the needs of white people, rather than those of Blacks, Hispanics, Moslems and other migrants.

He also promised to restore their former status and security, as well as their ability to guide their own fate, by assuring them that he would bring back those manufacturing jobs that had been lost as a result of globalisation, and what he called “stupid trade agreements” made by past administrations.

This of course was something that he was never going to be able to do, because the jobs that had been lost were the result of decisions taken by American multi-national corporations, to build new factories abroad where the price of labour was significantly lower than in the United States.

That ship left port about thirty years ago and is not about to return. Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk about Donald Trump is not so much about what he has or hasn’t done for those who support him. It’s about the way he has reshaped America, and the impact this is having on the rest of the world.

As you will recall Mark, at noon on January 20, 2017, Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington and took the official oath of office. Placing his hand on the Bible, he swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.

But what he has actually done since taking office is the complete opposite. And his actions have not only threatened the survival of the United States as the bastion of democracy, they have also undermined the security of the entire western world.

Mark: Well I must say, speaking as a Canadian, I am glad to be living on this side of the border.

Well said, Mark. Whether or not Donald Trump has ever read the American Constitution is a moot point. What is obvious is that the principles embodied by the Founding Fathers in this document are completely foreign to his way of doing things, and that he treats them with disdain.

Because Trump never had a proper education, and was never taught American civic history, he has never grasped the idea of the separation of powers, whereby the Federal government is divided into three separate but equal branches – the executive, the legislative and the judicial.

So when he assumed the office of president, he not only resented the idea of sharing power, but he actively resisted it. His idea of presidential power was based on examples of the strongmen that he praised so widely – men like Putin, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-un – who ruled by decree.

Not only that, but he has always been infuriated by anyone who dared to challenge his authority, or who criticized him, either privately or in public. The very idea of freedom of speech or the freedom of the press as guaranteed under the First Amendment, is anathema to him.  

So we see his invective against the press, and his continuing diatribe against media organisations like CNN, NBC, CBS and others, whom he accuses of being purveyors of “fake news”. He has even gone so far as to brand those who criticize him as “enemies of the people”.

And we are not just talking here about a smear campaign directed against his opponents. When Trump describes certain organisations or journalists as “enemies” of the people, the danger that this poses to democracy is that millions of his supporters firmly believe this to be true as well.

So instead of upholding the constitution by protecting the freedom of speech and of the press, he has split the country into two opposing camps – those who believe him, and those who believe his critics. But then that has been his mode of operation ever since he took office.

He simply picks an issue – any issue – and then turns it into a source of conflict whereby one side is pitted against another. A recent example of this was his specious issue with NFL players who “took a knee” during the playing of the national anthem at football games.

He does this partly to dominate the daily news cycle, or to divert attention away from something he would rather not talk about, or simply to stir up opposition. And, as anyone who has worked in the present White House will affirm, Trump has turned the place into a war zone.

To illustrate my point Mark, how many people do you think have left the White House staff over the course of the last two years, either as a result of being fired, or of being forced out as a result of fraud or some other illegal activity?

Mark: Well you’ve got me there, Allan. But there must be quite a few.

Quite a few is right. Since he took office, a record number of 141 people have left. And of these, more than half were high-ranking staff – including people like Michael Flynn, H.R. McMaster, Rex Tillerson, Tom Price, Gary Cohn, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, Rob Porter, Sean Spicer and a host of others.

Most of them have gone on record as saying that the White House has become a toxic place to work, not only because of the stubbornness and stupidity of the president, but also because of his well publicised paroxysms of rage, some of which have been known to persist for days.

These departures have spawned a whole series of best-selling books, whose titles speak for themselves. Titles like Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, Fear by Bob Woodward, Media Madness by Howard Kurtz, It’s Even Worse Than You Think by David Cay Johnston, and Everything Trump Touches Dies by Rick Wilson, to say nothing of Unhinged by Omarosa Manigault Newman.

It is hardly surprising therefore that this conflict within the White House has led to extreme partisanship within Congress, as well as in the country as a whole. America is more divided today than it has ever been before, and this poses a significant threat to its survival as a democratic state.

You may have heard the story associated with Ben Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of America, who, when approached by a group of citizens asking him what sort of government the Constitutional Convention of 1787 had created, reputedly replied: “A republic, if you can keep it”.

We all know the quote, often (but mistakenly) attributed to Thomas Jefferson, saying, “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance”. But whatever its origin, its truth cannot be denied. Unless we the people are always alert to the dangers posed by authoritarian rule, our democratic form of government can easily be lost.

If there should come a time when a large proportion of the American people comes to distrust the media, believing that what they read in the press or see on TV is “fake news”, then all hope of maintaining a free democratic society will be lost. And that time may not be far off.

And then of course Mark, there is America’s standing in the world. From being the unquestioned leader of the free world, and the premier defender of democracy throughout the west, Trump has reduced the nation to a laughing stock abroad, as we saw during his recent speech at the United Nations.

Mark: I was going to ask you about that. What do you think of his policy of “America first”?

I’m glad you raised the subject, Mark. Again, because Trump has never studied world history, and has never bothered to review American foreign policy since the end of the second world war, he remains blithely unaware of the crucial part played by the western alliance in preserving the peace.

As we have seen, he has no time for multi-lateral alliances with foreign governments, especially among western countries. In fact, he has systematically insulted western leaders, and undermined the work of organisations like NATO and the G-7.

Wherever possible, Trump has used the power of his office to withdraw from agreements like the Paris Climate Accord and the Joint Nuclear Agreement with Iran, believing that America was better off charting its own course of action and abandoning its former allies.

So we see China stepping in to fill the vacuum in the Far East, and Russia taking control of the Middle East. The most recent conference that was held to decide the fate of the Syrian province of Idlib involved four countries – Russia, Turkey, France and Germany. The United States played no part.

And during the recent ceremonies held to honour the fallen on the 100^th anniversary of the ending of the first world war, we had the question being raised by President Macron of France, as to whether it was now time to form a European army, since they could no longer rely on the United States.

All these signs point to America’s growing isolation in the world, and the degree to which western countries have begun to go their own way is an indicator that there has been a serious breakdown between themselves and the U.S., something that was quite unheard of before Donald Trump took office.

And then there has been the bizarre “bromance” between Trump and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. After their meeting in Singapore, Trump returned to the U.S. with a modern equivalent of Neville Chamberlain’s famous “peace in our time” declaration, shortly before the outbreak of WW2.

The latest reports coming out of North Korea do nothing to validate Trump’s conviction that the country is on the path to full denuclearisation. Instead, they suggest a hardening of their position, and that nothing further will be done until America first agrees to remove all international sanctions.

So although the threat of nuclear conflict between the U.S. and North Korea may have diminished in rhetoric, it has not gone away. And given the history of inflammatory outbursts between their two leaders, there is no guarantee that this issue will not suddenly explode once again.

As I say Mark, we are living in dangerous times, and the administration of Donald Trump seems to be more of a symptom of the breakdown of international order, than of any hope of making the world a better place – let alone restoring America to its former “greatness”.

Mark: And what do you think of Donald Trump as a leader?

As I pointed out, one of the things that Trump likes to bang on and on about is what he calls “fake news”, which turns out to be anything that he happens to disagree with. What makes this supremely ironic, is that he himself is the very epitome of everything that is fake.

There is absolutely nothing about the man that is genuine. Practically everything that he says or does is a fraud. And the remarkable thing about this is that his supporters neither seem to notice or care. Even his face is a disguise, with his dyed hair and his orange-coloured make-up.

According to the official medical report released by the White House in January of this year, President Trump stands 75 inches in height (6’ 3”) and weighs 239 pounds. This has proved to be yet another announcement that has been greeted with wild guffaws around the planet.

In the official photograph of world leaders attending the G-7 summit earlier this year in Quebec, Donald Trump is seen standing next to Justin Trudeau, who is known to be 6’2” in height. Yet Trump is clearly shorter than the Canadian Premier.

Anyone who has seen a photo of Donald Trump playing tennis can see how he billows out of his trunks. And if he is not as tall as he claims to be, then even a weight of 239 pounds would make him obese by BMI standards. But that would come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with his diet.

In a book written by his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, his customary lunch consisted of two Big Mac hamburgers, two Filet-O-fish, French fries and a chocolate milkshake. Add to that his preference for diet cokes, sometimes as many as a dozen a day, and one can see why he is in trouble.

Any 72-year-old who consumes up to 2,500 calories a day, including more than 3,500 milligrams of sodium, cannot be headed for a good outcome health-wise. And then there is the matter of his psychological health, or as some would say, his sanity. Incidentally Mark, do you know how his father died?

Mark: No, I can’t say that I do. 

His father Fred died in 1999, at the age of 93, from pneumonia. But for the last six years of his life, he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Because of this, many people today have begun to wonder whether Donald is already beginning to show early signs of this condition.

YouTube is full of videos where he seems to be lost, unaware of what he is supposed to be doing, rambling on incoherently, or of making glaring errors, such as the time when he visited the town of Paradise, site of the recent California wild-fires, and repeatedly referred to it as “Pleasure”.

No other President in the history of the United States has been guilty of so many mental lapses. Had they happened to anyone else, they might not seem so bad. But when they are associated with the leader of the free world with the keys to the nuclear codes, then all of us have reason to be alarmed.

What makes his claims of “fake news” so laughable, is that he continues to bolster his arguments with facts that are blatantly and demonstrably false. Again, this hardly seems to bother his supporters, who would be incensed if these same “facts” were to be advanced by someone like Hillary Clinton. 

The Washington Post has kept a running record of these lies. In August of this year, they issued a report indicating that in the 558 days since he had taken office, President Trump had made 4,229 false or misleading claims, and that this tally was growing exponentially larger by the day.

Media commentators have devoted endless hours dispelling these false claims, but to little avail. What they have yet to realise is that, unlike any previous President, Donald Trump is impervious to these charges, because he has no moral compass, and therefore no basis for evaluating “truth”.

“Facts”, in his world, have no fundamental meaning, and he himself attaches no value to them. Ever since he launched his business career, he has been content to say anything that crosses his mind, as long as it advances his position or validates his argument.

As an example, just before the mid-term elections, he said things like – the Republican Party is planning a 10% tax cut for all middle-income earners – or the Republican Party will safeguard the health of everyone with a pre-existing condition, when there was absolutely no factual basis to what he said.

So the extent of the Republican tax cut, or the size of the crowd attending his inauguration, is based on what he thinks, rather than what the facts show. And when asked by a reporter during his election campaign why he said things that were plainly untrue, Trump replied: “I just don’t care”.

And this goes to the heart of the problem in dealing with Donald Trump, and why his political opponents and the media have been driven to distraction. He comes up with false statements, and when challenged, either doubles down or denies that he ever said them or changes the subject.

Clearly, there is nothing in the history of the United States that has prepared the American public for a man like Donald Trump. But if I can use a play on words here Mark, there has at least been a “precedent” for this president. Have you ever heard of a man by the name of H.L. Mencken?

Mark: No Allan, I can’t say that I have.

Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist. He was born in 1880 and died in 1956. He was a man of many talents, not least of which was that he was a satirist, meaning that he used humour, irony and exaggeration to ridicule people, especially in matters of contemporary politics.

Anyway, back in July of 1920, Mencken wrote the following prophetic lines:

“As democracy is perfected, the office (of the Presidency) represents more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron”.  

Why I consider this comment to be prophetic is that shortly before he was fired, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was accused of referring to Donald Trump as an “expletive-deleted moron”. And although Tillerson refused to admit to having said this, he also never specifically denied it.

So if Tillerson is right Mark, and there finally is a moron in the White House, then perhaps it is time for the official acronym for the President Of The United States to be changed from POTUS to MOTUS !

But on a more serious note, we need to ask ourselves the question: how did the people ever come to elect a man like Donald Trump in the first place? Was this just chance, or was it part of some grand cosmic design? I hope to answer this in Part Two of our discussion.

Mark: You have been listening to Allan Colston, author of the book The Last Days of Tolemac.  We do hope you will join us next time when we continue our talk on this important subject. Allan Colston can be reached by Email at tolemac@shaw.ca 

This entry was posted on Friday, September 6th, 2024 at 1:46 pm and is filed under AUDIO, Signs of the Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.