I hear constant incredulous reactions to the actions of the Biden Administration that have created the horrible situation we find ourselves in in Afghanistan. Our citizens left behind, held hostage for political and financial gain by the Taliban, and subject to the worst of potential outcomes with torture and retributive murder in the traditional horrendous forms of the Taliban.
In early September 2021 on FOX News, host Julie Banderas of the Faulkner Focus interviewed Senator Joni Ernst. Ernst reacted to the Biden Administration negotiating with the Taliban terror organization while Americans were left behind in country at their mercy, abandoned by our military leadership. Ernst said that for Biden to entrust the Taliban is “ludicrous.” She added that she “doesn’t know what President Biden is thinking” by relying on the radical Islamist organization. “I don’t know what President Biden is thinking, and the fact that we allowed the country to fall quickly to the Taliban and not evacuate our American citizens and our Afghan partners is reprehensible.”
Former President Donald Trump, during a rally in Georgia recently, called the Afghanistan withdrawal stupid and incompetent. Sean Hannity recently called Biden incompetent.
And therein lies the problem—Ernst, Trump, and Hannity do not know what Biden is thinking—they don’t understand the true motivations for the disastrous manner in which we pulled out of Afghanistan. An American Senator, a former American President, and a famous conservative talk show host who have clearly not been able to ascertain the base motivations of the hard left in American politics, and can therefore not fully understand their policies and actions, lacking the base understanding from which one can truly understand and then intelligently push back hard with a clear eyed vision against the purposely destructive actions of the left. Ernst, Trump, and Hannity, along with the majority of Republicans in government, have absolutely no idea why Biden and our military leaders are doing what they are doing, and are therefore forced to blindly attribute his actions and those of our military leadership to ineptitude, incompetence, or senility, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with the underlying nature of and the actual reasoning for their actions.
The Latin phrase cui bono—to whose benefit—is always a reliable guide to understanding the ruling motivations of those whose actions seem strange and incongruous in light of the situation. Human beings make decisions and take actions solely to further their desired results, in order to arrive at a conclusion more suitable to the furtherance of their desires and goals. Senator Ernst, former President Trump, and Sean Hannity would be wise to more fully utilize this guiding phrase, and to work their way back intellectually, following the thread of leftist thought and activity through the last century to its clear expression in the current actions of the American left, in order to arrive at a more accurate picture of Biden and the hard left’s actions and intentions relative to the Afghanistan debacle.
Joe Biden was an American senator during the Vietnam War, a war meant to protect our South Vietnamese ally against the communist North Vietnamese army and their attempts to defeat and subjugate the free South. The North sought to overwhelm the South militarily and unify all of Vietnam under a totalitarian communist governmental structure. The South clung to their supportive alliance with the U.S., seeking to ensure that their country and people might remain free. When President Ford, under tremendous political pressure from Soviet organized American national protests, ordered our military withdrawal from Vietnam, he promised continued military aid in order to allow the South to fight the communists themselves. But then Senator Joe Biden and other leftist members of congress moved to cut off defensive aid to the South and left the South to defend against the communist North by themselves with little equipment nor ammunition sufficient for the fight. The American government promised to provide defensive aid as we pulled our military out of the country, yet leftist members of congress forced the cutoff of our financial support, leaving the South at the total mercy of the North, which was still heavily funded and armed by the communist Soviet Union and Communist China. President Ford went to Congress after this withdrawal and subsequent U.S. abandonment of the South to simply seek funding to evacuate our citizens and allies, but was opposed by Biden and others in congress. Biden stated that he opposed using U.S. forces temporarily to secure the evacuation—but how else was it to be accomplished, if not under the defense umbrella of American force? Ford was then forced to seek funding from private Christian organizations in order to avoid stranding our South Vietnamese allies in the fallen country where they would have been targeted by the communists and slaughtered. Joe Biden then publicly ridiculed the South Vietnamese refugees fleeing the defeat of the South, and withdrew congressional support from these ally refugees attempting to escape to freedom in the United States. Non governmental charitable organizations had to step up to provide the support necessary to sustain these freedom loving refugees whom the American leftists had abandoned to suffer, doing everything possible to make their lives dangerous and miserable. As opposed to the Biden Administration’s current day total support for immigrants from Latin America, who are historically inclined at a 70% rate to vote for his Democratic Party, the South Vietnamese citizens seeking to flee Vietnam would not be so inclined to vote for any leftist American candidate after gaining final U.S. citizenship, having fled similar murderous leftists in Vietnam. Therefore their value was found wanting, and they were treated accordingly.
Now with the phrase cui bono—to whose benefit—firmly in mind, who exactly were Joe Biden and other leftists actually helping by voting in congress to leave the South vulnerable to their eventual physical defeat? What were they trying to accomplish? Were they supporting the long standing American tradition of aiding and standing with those who fight against totalitarian regimes in order to maintain their common freedoms? Clearly not. If they had been, net benefit would have then flowed from the United States government to the freedom loving South Vietnamese people. But it did not. Or were they rather standing in support of the world wide communist movement, seeking to support and provide aid to the communists attempting to subjugate a freedom loving people? Within the framework of cui bono their actions were clearly aimed at stranding the freedom loving South Vietnamese, forcing them into subjugation under the communist regime and hindering any fleeing South Vietnamese citizens from finding a safe haven, all of which only provided a net benefit to the communist North.
After our withdrawal and then complete abandonment of the South, the North imprisoned 1,100,000 South Vietnam citizens in re-education camps, eventually working to death, starving, or shooting 168,000 of them, due directly to the actions of leftist U.S. citizens who promoted anti-war demonstrations—forcing our military withdrawal—and leftist members of congress who then withdrew our remaining financial support for the South and her fleeing citizens. These same leftist members of congress then said nothing about the subsequent slaughter. Cui bono—to whose benefit—instructs us clearly as to which side these Senators were actually on.
Now in the current case of Afghanistan, if any member of the American government were inclined to support our traditional ideal of fighting terrorism and protecting Americans from being terrorized, would they then seek to abandon America citizens to the mercy of those who are committed to institutionalizing such terror and oppression? For whose benefit—cui bono—would any American president withdraw our military while Americans were still in country and then abandon these American citizens to the mercies of the Taliban terrorists? For whose benefit would any American administration abandon a fully functioning Bagram Air Base near the Chinese border to be abandoned and therefore not remain a functioning asset in any future conflict with Communist China, but instead to fall into Chinese hands as it already quickly has, and then to potentially be used against us in a future war?
The actions of the Biden Administration officials and military leaders were clearly not meant to protect American lives, values, and interests in Afghanistan. The resultant benefit of their actions flowed directly to the Taliban and to China, whose benefit the administration clearly sought over the welfare of American citizens and our allies. For those with eyes to see the reality of the situation, it is clear that this administration has abandoned their duty to support and protect America and her citizens, favoring those devoted to terrorizing, attacking, and eventually breaking down our society. But for what ultimate reason would they do this?
The leftist Barack Obama was mentored by a man named Frank Marshall Davis, who was at the time on an F.B.I. watch list for those who were to be immediately arrested in case of war with the communist Soviet Union This fact strongly suggested that Marshall had led the F.B.I. to believe that he would actively aid and abet our communist enemy during a potential war. Obama never denied his relationship with Marshall, but rather confirmed it in his book Dreams from my Father, and never disavowed Marshall’s communist position nor the communist positions of his own declared Kenyan father and American mother.
When Obama became president, he carried out a purge of hundreds of generals and flag officers who were not ideologically aligned with his leftist beliefs, and replaced them with those who were so inclined. Hence we have a military leadership now in place that will generally tow the leftist political line. This same political leadership has accepted Biden’s policies and actions in Afghanistan by pulling out our troops and leaving our citizens and allies at the mercy of our sworn enemies. Cui bono? Clearly to the benefit of our Taliban enemy, but there is more to the story, more peeling of the onion to be done.
Joe Biden is hardly without his communist connections. His initial Senate campaign was financed by the Council for a Livable World, which was later shown to be a Soviet communist initiated and financed organization.
In e.mails gleaned from the Hunter Biden laptop, Joe used the name Peter Henderson, not his own. Henderson was a character in Tom Clancy novels who was a senate aid who then became a Soviet K.G.B. agent. Now what could possibly prompt Biden to use the name of a Soviet spy as his own?
Antonio Gramsci was the leader of the Italian Communist Party at the time of Stalin. Inspired by the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, Gramsci sought to foment a similar revolution in his native Italy but failed miserably and was imprisoned for 20 years for his efforts to subvert the Italian government. During his incarceration he sought to understand the reasonings for his failure and to find remedies to be employed by future communists in the overthrow of Western democracies, focusing primarily on the United States. He surmised that the Italian government was impervious to overthrow because of the cultural institutions that served as its pillars of support—the church, the courts, the educational system, the military, and the Italian family. He suggested that if these institutions had been torn down ahead of time it would have destroyed the foundational pillars of the Italian government, effectively allowing it’s overthrow. He then surmised that such targeted future attacks on the pillars of any Western government could lead to its overthrow, including that of the United States.
Traditionally in America since the inception of the communist ideal introduced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, the American left and the Communist Party USA had sought violent revolution as the sole means to overthrowing the U.S. government and to convert our traditional governmental system into a communist state. But as in the times of Gramsci in Italy, these attempts failed miserably due to the same supportive institutions holding up the American government. A new framework and strategy was in order in their consideration of American overthrow, and the American left turned to the teachings of Antonio Gramsci.
When it became clear that the communist Soviet Union was slaughtering its own citizens to the tune of 30,000,000 human souls who would not acquiesce to the communist ideal, it became a terrible branding problem for American communists. How could they effectively rail against the oppression by the ruling class when the Russian government had been overthrown by a violent communist revolution purportedly to reverse this oppression, and then this revolutionary regime proceeded to oppress and murder in ways rarely seen before in human history? Clearly a rebranding was in order if their communist beliefs were to be held in any regard in the U.S. So traditional American communists formed a new movement, calling it the New Left, attempting to separate themselves from the Old Left and its slaughters, and formed an organization to represent its tenets, calling it Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS. Their founding manifesto the Port Huron Statement attempted to maintain communist ideals and policies while deftly distancing themselves from the U.S.S.R., which served as a horrible reminder of what communist policies actually yield in any society when instituted. It was a classic rebranding and propaganda campaign and not in any way an actual renunciation or change of heart in regards to communism—only an attempt at a change in public perception to minimize resistance, and in leftist strategy as to how to accomplish their desired revolution.
So a complete rebranding and redirecting of their entire strategy was carried out. Separating themselves from the clearly also communist Soviet Union and turning to the strategies of Antonio Gramsci, the New Left set their sights on the destruction of every supportive institution holding up American society and the American government. Communist West German student movement leader Rudi Dutschke coined the term “the long march through the institutions” to explain the teachings of Gramsci and their application by the left in their approach towards America and other Western democracies.
When we look back to the actions of the Biden Administration in Afghanistan, withdrawing our military while withdrawing air and logistical support for the remaining Afghan national army and stranding at minimum hundreds of American citizens—cui bono? Well certainly the orthodox Muslim forces benefitted. But why would an American leftist want the benefit to accrue to such forces? Acting in this way strengthened a stated enemy of the U.S., and how could this benefit the Biden Administration? The phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” comes immediately to mind. Since the American left has been traditionally and is still to this day committed to the breakdown of all supportive American institutions, would not any enemy of any American institution be at least their temporary friend? Which institutions suffered because of the Biden Administration’s actions and in what way might that be of benefit to our enemies?
First of all the American military suffered greatly, demoralized badly at the wasting of their member’s lives in defense of Afghanistan, and at being prevented from officially initiating rescue missions for American citizens, effectively leaving them behind to their fate at the hands of the Taliban. This clearly disillusioned military members, and will subsequently hinder recruitment into the American military and encourage early retirements. Therefore, one of Gramsci’s prescriptions is fulfilled—the weakening of the American military. This is the clear answer to cui bono. What American man or woman now wants to serve in a military that leaves its members behind at the mercy of our enemies? Military enrollment will plummet subsequently, which clearly aids both our orthodox Muslim enemies, and our traditional enemies throughout the communist world, as they will be relatively strengthened militarily in relation to the U.S. and emboldened to spread their destructive forms of government relatively unopposed.
But what other benefit accrues to the “long march through the institutions” by the Biden Administration’s actions? The demoralization of the American public in general certainly comes to mind. The American people and our military have always committed to never leaving our people behind subject to harm in foreign countries. Now the Biden Administration has forced the realization on the American public—we now indeed do leave Americans behind at the mercy of our enemies. And this has cut at the resolve and pride of the American public and caused a widespread state of demoralization.
Yuri Bezmenov, a high level Soviet defector to the United States, stated that one of the goals of the worldwide communist movement is to demoralize a target society in order to weaken it and hasten its overthrow. If the New Left in America is indeed using the playbook of Antonio Gramsci, seeking to further the long march through American foundational institutions—breaking down the moral strength and resolve of those inhabiting these institutions—would not the current actions relative to Afghanistan be a clear furtherance of this agenda? Would not the question of cui bono be therefore effectively answered? And because the left now controls the levers of the democratic vote in America—through ballot harvesting, mailing ballots to deceased citizens and those who did not request them, and then sending their operatives to collect these ballots and fill them in with their leftist candidate’s name without fear of an identification requirement—why should they care that they are operating so brazenly in their long march? There is no counterbalancing political force for them to now be concerned with—they effectively control the voting process, silencing just enough opposing voices from democratic representation in order to win elections and maintain control.
The key to wisdom is understanding the base motivations of all involved in any equation. Fully understanding their reasonings is the primary requisite regardless if these reasonings are clearly and honestly stated, partially obfuscated dishonestly, or entirely hidden by carefully crafted propaganda.
I would posit that the Biden Administration, being now an extension of the New Left in America—fully supporting and benefitting historically communist regimes and the enemies of the U.S.—considers all of their actions through the lens of Gramscian political philosophy—how can our policies and actions further the long march through the institutions that uphold American society and government in order to ultimately accomplish their destruction?
This is the prism through which any clear eyed person must comprehensively evaluate actions by this or any other hard leftist administration. I offer this lens through which to view the actions of today’s Biden administration, as opposed to the naïveté that pervades the analysis of those such as Senator Ernst, former President Trump, and Sean Hannity—who offer us nothing fully useful in their analysis of our actual national predicament, but only further our national confusion, clouding our vision and obscuring our true path forward.
American Renewal