Naïve optimists enjoy dissecting every US election as though it represented a civilisational turning point. In the aftermath of these midterm elections, the headlines are ablaze with predictions of a major geopolitical upheaval. For those proclaiming victory in the hope that Washington will suddenly become more benevolent with the arrival of a new majority, it is time to rein in their enthusiasm. Counting on the outcome before the votes have even been fully counted is a chronic mistake: the colour of America’s democratic façade may change, but the empire’s underlying machinery remains intact.
Why is this status quo so immovable? Because in the United States, real power resides neither in the White House, nor at the heart of Congress, nor beneath the gilded ceilings of the Senate. Whether the president is Trump or Biden, the occupants of the Oval Office are merely the temporary faces of a doctrine dictated by a genuine deep state. At the centre of this architecture of influence stands an organisation with formidable financial and political power: AIPAC. This immensely powerful Zionist lobby, a major pillar of US foreign policy, transcends partisan divisions. It sets the red lines, steers military budgets and aligns Washington’s diplomacy with its own strategic interests. Faced with this structural force, campaign promises systematically evaporate when confronted with the realities of political funding.
Political analysis
Beyond these circles of influence, the very nature of the American presidency imposes a cynical reality. History has shown that every US president has an almost visceral need for “his own” war in order to establish his legitimacy, unite a divided nation and prove to the world that he is a good sheriff. Moreover, America’s military-industrial machine has a structural need to manufacture enemies, real or imagined, to justify maintaining an economic and military superpower that is sometimes little more than a fiction.
These American primary elections, then, will have been nothing more than yet another exercise in democratic diversion. The political actors may change, but the script remains written in advance by the powers behind the scenes. To hope for Washington to adopt a more humane course is to engage in wilful blindness. The sheriff will continue to enforce his law, not for the common good, but to satisfy the demands of a system that survives only through conflict and loyalty to powerful lobbies.
