Calls to impeach the new president will grow louder as various pundits make their case, filling the coffers of mainstream publishers. But it would be surprising if they led anywhere, as I show in three examples of the new normal. Hopefully, fascism 2017 is less about making war than about making money.

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What's All the Hullaballoo?

"Presidents cannot accept gifts or business from foreigners. It's against the 'emoluments clause'," so said a knowledgeable MSNBC contributor Tuesday night, after President Trump warmly congratulated Turkey President Erdogan for winning a referendum that will give him almost unlimited power for the next seven years. He is being raked over the coals, not so much for applauding an authoritarian, but one in whose country he has business interests in the shape of twin towers. But what's all the hullaballoo? What about the Saudis and other unsavory rulers whom we may not 'congratulate' but whom we support to the tune of billions of dollars and lethal aid against their enemies -- who are not necessarily our enemies.

Let this not be read as a defense of Donald Trump: it is simply an enieme condemnation of the mainstream press for thinking it's doing its job by citing an obscure law.

A hundred days into the Trump Presidency, Americans should be clear about one thing: far from being an outlier and an exception, Donald Trump has simply taken what has passed for governance to a whole new level, doing what our rulers have always done under the table or cloaked in solemn robes, openly, affirmatively, gleefully, even, telling us it's good for us, even if it doesn't make America great again. It's the new normal, and we'll have to get used to it: the Trump family aligns foreign policy with its business, while the generals make war on anyone who disagrees. After all, wasn't it Henry Ford who said 'What's good for General Motors is good for America?"

P.S. As I wrote yesterday, under Henry Ford's rule, it is now perfectly okay for our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to lobby for relief from Russia sanctions so his 'former' company, Exxon Mobile, can participate in a lucrative deal to drill for Russian's Arctic Oil.

P.P.S. An if you're wondering how much further the new normal can go, seek no longer: Today, April 22, RT reported that Ivanka Trump -- aside from selling stuff in China -- is now considered the ideal woman. 'Medical' institutes are claiming they can turn Chinese beauties into Nordic beauties, maybe thanks to some ancient Chinese alchemy. And when the American President's daughter becomes the Middle Kingdom's Barbie Doll, it may be time for those of us crying in the wilderness over our country's crimes against humanity, to pick a sunny spot and retire with a couple of good books to await the inevitable.

Authors Website: http://www.otherjonesii.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:

Born in Phila, I spent most of my adolescent and adult years in
Europe, resulting over time in several unique books, my latest being Russia's Americans.

CUBA: Diary of a
Revolution, Inside the Cuban Revolution with Fidel, Raul, Che, and Celia
Sanchez

Lunch with Fellini,
Dinner with Fidel: An Illustrated Personal Journey from the Cold War to the
Arab Spring

America Revealed to a
Honey-Colored World

A Taoist Politics: The
Case For Sacredness

I began my journalistic career at the French News Agency in Rome,
spent two years in Cuba finding out whether the Barbados were Communists before
they made the revolution ('Cuba 1964: When the Revolution was Young'). After
spending half a decade in Eastern Europe, and a decade in the U.S., studying
Global Survival and writing speeches in the Carter State Department, I wrote
the only book that foresaw the fall of the Berlin Wall AND the dissolution of
the Soviet Union ("Une autre Europe, un autre Monde'). My memoir, 'Lunch
with Fellini, Dinner with Fidel', tells it all. 'A Taoist Politics: The Case
for Sacredness', which examines the similarities between ancient wisdom and
modern science and what this implies for political activism; and 'America Revealed
to a Honey-Colored World" is a pamphlet about how the U.S. came down from
the City on a Hill'.