Marine Major General Smedley D. Butler (Jul7 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), was the most decorated Marine in U.S. military history. He is the only Marine to be awarded the Marine Corps Brevet Medal as well as two Medals of Honor.
His book War is a Racket (1935) is summarized as:
“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
I spent 33 years and four months on active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.
A “racket” is best described as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of a very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.
I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1910-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil [now Exxon] went its way unmolested.
Hearing of Trump’s trumped up war on Venezuela and hostile intent on other countries, Butler kicked open his coffin, clawed through six feet of dirt and barged into the Oval Office confronting Trump:
Butler: “Trump! WTF do you think you’re doing? You ran as a conservative but you’re acting like that flaming Liberal Democrat (and fellow New Yorker) Franklin D. Roosevelt! Is it true you briefed the CEOs of Exxon and the other oil companies about your grandstanding in Venezuela and didn’t even mention it to your own Congress – the only branch of government with war making powers? Is that true?
Trump: (caught looking in a golden mirror combing his hair) “You guys from the other side of the veil just won’t leave me alone will you? (see: Dialogues with the Dead this site).
Butler: “You know, Trump, you are absolutely right. Talking to you is a waste of time. You corrupt capitalists give capitalism a bad name (see: Corporate Cannibals and Political Piranhas page this site). I won’t waste my time trying to convince you of your gross misinterpretation of President James Monroe’s Doctrine – and how you are just pissing off your closest allies.
Just know this, your schizophrenic policies, your life of debauchery, lack of character and integrity, your greed and pride is being weighed by the Accountant and you are found wanting.”
Butler: “By the way, there’s a fellow waiting outside your door to see you.”
Trump: “Who is it and what does he want?”
Butler: “He says his name is Dante’. He’s been sent here by his Boss to “conclude some business” you did with him while you attended Wharton. Do you still want to see him? He seemed a little hot under the collar as well. Steam was rising from his shirt. He hinted about his Boss – the word count on this document is “666.”
Nobody lives forever.
See also:
Trading with the Enemy: An Expose’ of the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 by Charles Higham, 1983 in which, among many treasonous acts, Standard Oil (Exxon) smuggled a critical chemical of aircraft fuel to the German Luftwaffe enabling the Germans to blitz London.
Dagger in the Heart: American Policy Failures in Cuba by Mario Lazo, 1970
The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America by David A. Stockman, 2013.
Dante’s Inferno by Dante’ Alighieri, 1321
