If you've read very much of my stuff, especially The Sex.Com Chronicles, you know I'm a big fan of the view that life "is a ground of endless contention." And while my litigation philosophy has shifted in the last twenty years, I remain partial to the belief that si vis pacem parabellum, "if you seek peace, prepare for war." Behind this advice lies a frank assessment of the potentially villainous nature of a jealous neighbor. If you have a good enough situation that you wish to preserve in peace -- farms, fields, peasants, their yearly produce -- somebody is going to take it from you, so you had better plan on how to thwart their attempt, or your peace will become theirs.
A Failure of the Imagination
The Tao Teh Ching sagely observes, "Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it." For a quick pitch for my protection skills at a business lunch, I rephrased this as, "Nothing goes wrong until something goes right," which is to say, no one will bother to steal your stuff if it's worthless, but once it acquires value, you need to get it insured. Which leads to the next aphorism -- "It's too late when the blood is in the water." In other words, if you weren't prepared for war, you're going to get rolled when it breaks out "unexpectedly." Case for my services, made.
Applying this philosophy to the conflict of the day, the "defenders of democracy" underestimated the danger of a fascist takeover of the nation, and find themselves quite without weapons. They acquired no weapons, and the blood is in the water. They are chum, Trump is a shark, and the law of the aquatic jungle will prevail. They were taken by surprise in an unexpected war. Consider Trump, by contrast. He told us he'd choose electrocution over being eaten by a shark. He does not go down because he failed to anticipate danger. In his fantastic realm, he makes strategic choices, including about how to die! But Democrats thought they were immortal. The Party could never disappear. Its weak, cringing role in U.S. governance would never be totally eliminated. They never realized that the Republicans could assume that role, and Democrats could just disappear. Maybe they'll all end up on the Gaza Riviera. Or someplace in Bukele's prison empire.
Now as heads spin and coats turn (I'm talking to you, Chuck Schumer), people are wondering how this could have happened. I think in the CIA, they call it "a failure of imagination." What's that mean? According to information retrieval, "In the context of CIA-speak and statecraft, a 'failure of imagination' refers to an intelligence or policy failure resulting from an inability to anticipate or conceive of unconventional threats, scenarios, or adversary tactics. It's often used to explain why government agencies fail to predict major geopolitical events, terrorist attacks, or strategic surprises."
Defenders Who Suffer No Casualties May Find their Loyalty Questioned
Ah, yes, that would be it -- "a failure to anticipate unconventional threats, scenarios or adversary tactics." Who'd a thunk it? Trump was an unconventional threat, so his purported adversaries should have war-gamed some unconventional scenarios and adversary tactics. I say "purported adversaries," because whenever a defender caves to threat, you have to suspect them of being traitors from the outset, in sympathy with the adversaries, mere straw defenders unworthy of the name of warrior. You know -- "If you fought, why didn't they kill you?"
Gyatrul Rinpoche once told me a story. He said, "In Tibet, there were three monasteries known for having perfect Vajrakilaya practice. When the Chinese came, they didn't even try to get them to surrender. They just smash!" For emphasis, he smashed he fist into his palm with a vicious smile that turned to a chuckle of sincere amusement. He said no more. Just planted it in my brain that on this path, sincere devotion could be a ticket to martyrdom -- and why would you want anything less? If you hadn't already died to all hope of worldly life, why were you in the monastery, anyway? Now, I realize it was probably his way of asking me, "Charles, are you ready to die for your practice?" It's often taken me twenty years to comprehend the meaning of his words.
Are 2000 Year-Old Strategies Actually "Unconventional"?
Back to strategic considerations. What "unconventional scenario or adversary tactic" did Trump use? One I read about when I was seventeen, in Thomas Merton's translation of The Way of Chuang Tzu, on page 68 of which appears the following story:
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Gee, Trump's method of government takeover -- having been discussed in a 2000 year-old Chinese text -- seems not so unconventional, after all. Take note, Tien Khang Tzu was the Attorney General, aka top lawman, and what an Attorney General can do, a man who controls the Attorney General can do. And there's no question that, after Roberts' immunity decision, Trump enjoys a vast but nebulous area of action free from criminal sanction, which immunized his collusion with Asst. US Attorney Jeffrey Clark to steal votes and the Presidency by exerting unlawful, fraudulent influence over state authorities in the 2020 elections. That ruling alone has legitimized the castration of the Department of Justice as an independent entity, the defenestration of hundreds of AUSAs for no sin worse than putting criminals who attacked the Capitol in jail, and the sudden creation of a cadre of DOJ lawyers who fear lying to federal judges less than they fear saying "no" to Donald Trump.
The Blitzkrieg Philosophy
Now, an excellent historical example of an authoritarian takeover by an unconventional force was the Nazi takeover of France, and the installation of the Vichy collaborationist government in Southern France. This vital, strategic move gave Germany, a land-locked state, warm water ports for their U-boats to slide out into the English Channel under cover of the waves, and sink troop and supply convoys. Focused on the strategic aim, guided by a new vision of mechanized warfare, the Nazis wasted no time on pillaging, looting or destroying useful infrastructure. They did not seek out and destroy the enemy, prolonging the engagement in search of total domination; rather, they avoided major artillery emplacements, using lightly armored but heavily armed, fast moving armed troop transports, cruising past the French heavy artillery -- the vaunted Maginot Line -- straight into the heart of Southern France. The advance columns would secure radio stations, newspapers, telegraph operations, and government offices as a matter of priority, installing their own technology and communications people (Musk & DOGE) and recruiting local traitors, establishing collaborationist governments in each province, and moving on to the next. Panzer Leader Heinz Guderian later explained in his biography that Germany knew it was behind in manpower and technology, so it had to excel in speed and organization.
Gen. Guderian, who, a few years later would see his men dying in the snows of Stalingrad, led the Panzer tank divisions, whose tanks he helped design, and whose crews he personally trained. The Panzers, with their specially designed cannon -- the famed .88 millimeter -- and powerful engines, tore through the Ardennes forest, crushing opposition, and swiftly reached the goal of the English Channel. The unvarying tactics applied -- speed and intensity -- gave this method of war its name -- Blitzkrieg / Lightning War.
Using Blitzkrieg tactics, Germans minimized casualties and established the Vichy government lead by George Pétain, thus preserving the excellent French administrative state and civil servants, while making them loyal to Germany. Vichy / Nazi propaganda portrayed the defeat of the French government as the fault of democracy and communism, while glorifying Pétain as a national savior. There is no need to kill willing servants, and willing Pétain and his lackeys were, collaborating with the transport of over 40,000 children said to be "Jewish," who were shipped to concentration camps, and giving the Germans full control of Southern France until near the end of the war. When abduction, torture and murder were required, the Gestapo could be deployed, aided by the "Milice," the Vichy Secret Police. If the Allies hadn't invaded Europe and defeated the Nazis, their descendants would be sunning swastika tattoos in Provence.
It's a Wrap
So there you have it. The analogies to Trump's lightning takeover of government are apparent. He is wasting no time engaging with authorities who can be ignored because they are too slow to respond, and will be entirely neutered when he takes effective, read -- financial -- control. His technological forces seized the true centralized controls in the US government -- the mainframes that comprise the "ropes, locks and bolts" to which Chuang Tzu refers -- that actually, not in political theory, control the primary issue: Who writes the checks around here? A little chat with the Gestapo, and by the end of the day -- DOGE writes the checks.
Trump's too stupid to run a computer, but that stupidity is the intelligence that lets him know he needs a safe cracker to bust a lock and get the loot. Mice-men like Musk who were pissed on by their powerful fathers are always going to be easily manipulated by a little flattery from a dominant male. And Wall Street shills like Chuck Schumer are always ready to play Petain, saving the nation by giving it away. Reading history might not help us avoid it, but it does help us see that villainy repeats itself, and perhaps we, the virtuous, should get a fucking clue and yes, prepare for war before the blood is in the water.