UPDATE:

Since this article was first published (December 8), Obama has formally accused Moscow of interfering in the US elections on behalf of Donald Trump. These are serious allegations, the objective of which are ultimately to prevent Trump from acceding to the US presidency. What is at stake is tantamount to a “conspiracy” to manipulate the Electoral College vote on December 19.

According to Reuters:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin supervised his intelligence agencies’ hacking of the U.S. presidential election and turned it from a general attempt to discredit American democracy to an effort to help Donald Trump, three U.S. officials said on Thursday.”

The New York Times (December 15) focusses on Kremlin meddling. Donald Trump is tagged as “a Useful Idiot”:

Kremlin meddling in the 2016 election warrants further investigation, with an eye toward preventive or retaliatory measures. President Obama has asked the nation’s intelligence community to deliver a fuller report on its findings before he leaves office on Jan. 20, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing for a congressional investigation. The results of that inquiry should be made public, and the intelligence community should tell Americans as much as it can about the cyberattack and its goals. Mr. Trump’s reaction to the C.I.A.’s findings leaves him isolated, and underscores his dangerous unfamiliarity with the role of intelligence in maintaining national security. There could be no more “useful idiot,” to use Lenin’s term of art, than an American president who doesn’t know he’s being played by a wily foreign power. (emphasis added)

The objective is abundantly clear: denigrate Trump in the eyes of public opinion, convince the College electors NOT TO VOTE FOR TRUMP on December 19 because he is “sleeping with the enemy”, he is an agent of Moscow. This strategy is now officially confirmed by the outgoing president.

What is happening? Both sides are involved in lobbying the College electors. A power struggle is ongoing.

Several possible scenarios can be envisaged:

Trump will retain at least 270 electoral votes and accede to the presidency,

the Republican electors will shift their vote in favor of Hillary Clinton,

If neither candidate gets 270 College Electoral votes, the House of Representatives would “elect the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most Electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote.”

The article below first published on December 9 examines the various features of this “operation” which consists of media propaganda, anti-trump protests, disruption campaigns, etc.

My conclusion is broadly as follows: “Whatever the outcome “before” or “after” the Swearing in Ceremony on the 20th of January 2017, America is gearing towards a deep-seated constitutional crisis.”

Neither candidate serves the interests of the American people.

Both candidates are dysfunctional. Both Trump and Clinton could be the object of impeachment procedures.

Were Hillary to accede to the White House, she would be haunted by her criminal record; she would ALSO most probably be the target of an impeachment procedure.

Is the tendency (at some future date) towards the adoption of martial law and the suspension of constitutional government?

Michel Chossudovsky, December 16, 2016

* * *

While Trump has put together a right wing cabinet of generals, bankers and oil execs which largely conforms to the neoconservative mainstay of the Republican Party, the bi-partisan “entente cordiale” between Democrats and Republicans has been broken. The powerful corporate interests which supported the Clinton candidacy remain intent upon undermining Trump’s accession to the White House.

Global capitalism is by no means monolithic. What is at stake are fundamental rivalries within the US establishment marked by the clash between competing corporate factions, each of which is intent upon exerting control over the incoming US presidency. In this regard, Trump is not entirely in the pocket of the lobby groups. As a member of the establishment, he has his own corporate sponsors and fund raisers. His stated foreign policy agenda including his commitment to revise Washington’s relationship with Moscow does not fully conform with the interests of the defence contractors.

In contrast, Hillary takes her instructions from a panoply of corporate lobby groups including the defence establishment, the oil conglomerates, Wall Street hedge funds, etc. not to mention Monsanto-Bayer, which has generously funded her election campaign.

Divisions within the Corporate Media

Moreover, despite the persistent media campaign against Trump led by major US news chains (WP, NYT, LA Times, etc) as well as network TV, the president-elect has the support of a competing media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch which includes the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and the New York Post.

The American People are the Unspoken Victims

Needless to say, the American people are the unspoken victims of this clash between competing capitalist factions. Neither candidate is genuinely committed to “real democracy”. Both Trump and Clinton are largely serving the interests of the elites to the detriment of the US electorate. In turn, meaningful grassroots opposition to Trump’s right-wing racist social policy agenda has been “kidnapped” by an engineered protest movement financed and controlled by powerful economic interests.

Propaganda

A carefully coordinated operation is ongoing. The propaganda ploy emanating from the outgoing Obama government and the pro-Clinton faction of the corporate media consists in relentlessly accusing Moscow of having interfered in the election campaign on behalf of Donald Trump. This initiative is supported by major corporate lobby groups (including defence contractors and oil conglomerates) which are behind Hillary’s hawkish foreign policy agenda.

At the height of the election campaign Trump was portrayed by the US media as “an agent” of the Kremlin, a modern Manchurian candidate.

The Obama administration on Friday officially accused Russia of attempting to interfere in the 2016 elections, including by hacking the computers of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations. The denunciation, made by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, came as pressure was growing from within the administration and some lawmakers to publicly name Moscow and hold it accountable for actions apparently aimed at sowing discord around the election. “The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations,” said a joint statement from the two agencies. “. . . These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process.” (WP, October 7, 2016)

Former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leo Panetta intimated that Trump is a threat to National Security.

Vanity Fair November 1 2016

The Atlantic October 8 2016

Is Trump “in bed with the enemy”? These are serious accusations allegedly backed up by US intelligence which cannot be brushed away.

Will they just be forgotten once Trump accedes to the White House?

In the wake of the November 8 election, the media has toned down its Russian agent Manchurian candidate discourse. It has nonetheless continued accusing Moscow of having interfered in the US elections in favor of Trump, not to mention the campaign against “Fake News” directed against the alleged pro-Russian independent media.

The underlying project to disrupt the Trump presidency consists of several coordinated and interrelated processes including:

the media smear campaign against Trump,

the engineered anti-Trump protest movement across the US, coordinated with media coverage, petitions, with the objective to disrupt;

the vote recount in three swing states,

the passing of H.R 6393: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which includes a section directed against so-called “pro-Moscow independent media”, in response to Moscow’s alleged interference in the US elections in support of Donald Trump;

The Electoral College Vote on December 19, which includes a process of co-optation of Republican Electors with a view to triggering Hillary Clinton’s accession to the White House.

If the Electoral College Vote fails to prevent Trump’s election, continued protests and media smears against Trump would take place in the months following his accession to the White House.

The Disruption of the January 20, 2017 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony is also envisaged

The possibility of an impeachment procedure could be contemplated during the first year of his mandate.

This initiative consists in highlighting Moscow’s alleged intervention in the US elections through the hacking of the Democratic party’s CDC. While Moscow was not involved in the hacking, the release of CDC emails by Wikileaks revealed extensive fraud in the conduct of the Democratic primaries by the CDC against Bernie Sanders and in favor of Clinton’s candidacy.

This media operation describing Trump as a Russian stooge in all likelihood emanates from sectors of US intelligence which are supportive of the Clinton clique acting on behalf of powerful corporate interests. What is at stake is the conflict between two competing factions of the corporate establishment.

The MSM plays a pivotal propaganda role. It provides a pro-Hillary coverage of the election recount, it intimates that the republican Grand Electors should, in the interests of democracy, not cast their vote for a candidate who has links to the Kremlin. What this campaign intimates is that Trump’s alleged relationship to Moscow consists in an act of treason.

And Lady Gaga applauds.

Dirty Politics

Meanwhile, ” Treason” has become a talking point on social media, a petition has been launched by California Sen Barbara Boxers on Change.org, one of the organizations involved in engineering the protest movement:

Heavy.com

These are serious allegations, which involve one of several possible outcomes:

1. The propaganda campaign together with the other components of this operation (vote recount, Electors College, protest movement, anti-Trump petitions) are used as a means to discredit Trump and attempt to derail his access to the White House.

While the ongoing vote recount is unlikely to change the outcome (see below), the Hillary faction is intent upon shifting the Grand Electors Vote.

2. If the latter strategy fails and the electoral college vote confirms Trump’s election, will the campaign portraying him as an instrument of Russia continue after his accession to the presidency?

Either the campaign is repealed and forgotten or the president is impeached on charges of treason.

In other words, the dominant elite faction which supports Hillary is intent on either derailing the inauguration of Donald Trump prior to January 20th or initiating an impeachment procedure at a later stage.

3. Concurrently, an engineered and coordinated protest movement against Trump has been ongoing since November 8. In fact it started on the evening of November 8 prior to the announcement of the election results. The organizers of this movement are acting on behalf of powerful elite interests. People are misled: the protests are not been led on behalf of the genuine concerns of Americans who oppose Trump’s right wing racist agenda.

The protests have all the appearances of a “color revolution” style op in support of Hillary’s candidacy. The media also provides a biased coverage of the engineered protest movement. The organizers and recruiters are serving the interests of powerful corporate lobby groups including the defence contractors which have placed their bets on Hillary’s foreign policy agenda.

The Catch Phrase is “Disrupt”. The Objective is “Disrupt”

In turn, the Disruptj20.org website is calling for the disruption of the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, 2017:

#DisruptJ20 is supported by the work of the DC Welcoming Committee, a collective of experienced local activists and out-of-work gravediggers acting with national support. We’re building the framework needed for mass protests to shut down the inauguration of Donald Trump and planning widespread direct actions to make that happen. We’re also providing services like housing, food, and even legal assistance to anyone who wants to join us.

The Vote Recount

With regard to the vote recount in Pennsylvania, the procedure is in a legal deadlock with Green Party leader Jill Stein. Moreover, with a lead of of 71,000 votes, it is highly unlikely that the recount will change the outcome. Latest figures following a partial recount give Trump a 44,000 lead in Pennsylvania.

In Wisconsin and Michigan, the margins are much smaller, but in the event of a recount in favor of Hillary, the number of Grand Electors would be insufficient to shift the vote tally in favor of Hillary. The latest reports confirm that the Vote Recount Strategy will not in any way modify the outcome of the election.

The Electoral College Vote on December 19th is therefore Crucial Hillary would need 38 Republican Grand electors to win the White House. The Democratic Party and its attorneys are already envisaging an engineered procedure involving the co-optation of the Grand Electors. An upstart group of Electoral College voters have formed a political non-profit organization to fund a campaign to deny Donald Trump the presidency. The paperwork filed Tuesday with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office creates a “527” group, which can raise unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and labor unions for political activities. (Denver Post, November 30, 2016)

Petitions have been launched, protests are envisaged with extensive media coverage: The Change.org petition, requests the “”Electors of the Electoral” College to cast their votes on Dec. 19 for Clinton because “Mr. Trump is unfit to serve … Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE [sic] and should be President.”

Yet an aura of secrecy prevails as to what is being planned behind closed doors. The Trump faction and its powerful corporate sponsors are also strategizing with a view to securing the Electoral College vote. The media has been silent on the matter.

We are nonetheless dealing with a corrupt political system. The stakes are high.

Are the Electors being co-opted? Are they being bribed?

A number of Democrats have reportedly agreed to break with tradition and vote against Donald Trump when the Electoral College meets on December 19 in an unlikely attempt to block his presidency. At least half a dozen Democratic electors are preparing to lobby voters in other states in an attempt to keep the Republican out of the White House but, more significantly, also to undermine the legitimacy of the institution. The voters, who are mostly former Bernie Sanders supporters from Washington state and Colorado, are pushing for other electors to ignore their oaths by voting against Mr Trump. (Independent, November 22, 2016)

In turn, the media is calling for the Electoral College to prevent Trump from acceding to the White House:

“We as Americans can use the very procedures built into our constitutional system to avoid the inauguration of a man who has proven since election day that is he unfit to be president of the United States.” (Huffington Post, November 26, 2016)

Towards a Deepseated Constitutional Crisis?

It is difficult to predict the outcome: Both the Trump and the Clinton factions are overseeing the Electoral College vote. Are they talking to one another?

The Clinton faction is intent upon disrupting Trump’s accession to the White House. Will They Succeed?

Whatever the outcome “before” or “after” the Swearing in Ceremony on the 20th of January 2017, America is gearing towards a deepseated constitutional crisis.

Neither candidate serves the interests of the American people.

Both candidates are dysfunctional. Both Trump and Clinton could be the object of impeachment procedures.

Were Hillary to accede to the White House, she would be haunted by her criminal record; she would ALSO most probably be the target of an impeachment procedure.

Is the tendency (at some future date) towards the adoption of martial law and the suspension of constitutional government?