The Empire's Greatest Trick and 'Let Them Eat Cake' | Philip A. Farruggio

Philip A. Farruggio -- World News Trust

Aug. 23, 2018

In director Bryan Singer's fantastic 1995 film The Usual Suspects, the bad guy in the film was being interviewed by investigators. They had no idea that he was the villain they were looking for.

During the interview, he made the greatest statement: "The devil's greatest trick is making everyone believe he doesn't exist." Since the devil has always been associated with evil deeds, so our U.S. empire can wear that crown... or should I say horns.

Part two of this essay's title -- The Empire's Greatest Trick and "Let Them Eat Cake" -- has to do with the mindset of all empires and the super-rich who rule or profit from them. Before the French Revolution, so similar to the new Gilded Age we currently live in, the famous comment about the poor was Qu' ils mangent de la brioche. This was apparently spoken by a princess about the plight of the peasants who could not afford bread. Thus, she mentioned a brioche made from eggs and butter, which no poor person could ever afford to buy or make.

For as long as factual American history has been documented, the "powers that be," the super rich and their many minions, have tricked our populace into thinking that we are a democracy. Whenever a viable third party movement gathered steam throughout our 200+ year history, one of the other major parties either co-opted them, bought them off, or scandalized them.

Money talks and our Two-Party/One-Party system has always had lots of it to throw around. The rule of thumb has always been "The more you can spend to influence the suckers, the more they vote for you." Plain and simple. Of course, the embedded mainstream media and compliant public servants, AKA politicians, are always there to blow the trumpet for their super-rich handlers. Sad but true.

Then we come to the suckers, saps and lollipops who are led to the voting booth time and time again. Watching "The Donald's" carnival sideshow event last night in West Virginia, one of our poorest states brought this writer to that feeling of "quiet desperation." Looking at the crowds of working stiffs, some actually wearing hard hats, as they cheered this man and shouted "Make America great again," I actually felt so sorry for them... and me.

Trump and his administration, with aid from his party and many compliant Democrats, is strangling whatever is left of our labor movement... and our environment! The cuts to our safety net and the obscene militarism (with higher and higher military spending ) will see many of those in the crowd go down to their knees quite quickly. Why do so many believe him?

We have to understand that Trump got elected because of the anger many working stiff white Americans have had for the Democrats... but for the wrong reasons. Of course, if the Democrats had run "Donald Duck" against Trump, they would have won easily. It was the fact that one of the most despised politicians of this era ran against Trump. The suckers out there did not really care about Trump's BS and his distortions and untruths, when they had such an easy source of their disdain. Again, for all the wrong reasons.

Low- and middle-income working stiff whites should have cared about her warmongering, her sucking up to the Wall Street banksters and her support for any increase in military spending that came her way. No, she was the "Wicked Marxist Witch" who wanted to turn our nation into a totalitarian system. So, they believed the Reality show star and wanted the ' Swamp drained', the ' Wall built' and their jobs secured. Imagine how many bridges in Brooklyn Trump could have sold them!

For generations, the Democrats have had the panache of being "working class heroes," but never the substance. President Truman, a Democrat, signed off on the unnecessary and immoral action of dropping two A-Bombs on Japan. He also, later on, signed the worst anti-labor legislation imaginable, the Taft-Hartley Act. Truman signed off on the creation of a Central Intelligence Agency, without attempting to harness it in.

LBJ, a "Liberal Democrat," allowed the Military Industrial Empire to rage war in Vietnam, costing millions of deaths and billions of wasted dollars... except of course for the War Economy.

Democrat Bill Clinton signed off on the U.S.-led NATO destruction of Yugoslavia. He also signed the Welfare Act that strangled many poor families. Of course, his "piece de resistance" was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, thus opening the door for massive fraud and over-speculation by the Wall Street Banksters.

Democrat Obama sold the Kool-Aid of "Hope and Change" and then continued the phony Wall Street Giveaway... oh sorry, Bailout. Obama also continued the Deep State's imperialist designs in the Middle East, capped by the total destruction of Libya. Under him, a Democrat, the obscene military spending orchestrated by the Bush/Cheney gang actually was topped to over 50 percent of our tax money!

Now, anyone with any sane and rational mind should know that the Republicans have always represented the super-rich in the most overt fashion.They actually make no bones about it! Their logic has always been that as long as the super-rich continue to make fortunes, then the "trickledown effect" is in place. You know, "crumbs from the table" and all that.

Again, to out-macho" their cousins -- the Democrats -- the Republicans make war as foreign policy. You know, the adage from the Old West: "Shoot and ask questions later." They allow the corporate predators to have full reign and call it "The Free Market."

Bush Sr. and his son Junior should have been charged with treason for both their illegal and immoral attacks on Iraq, a sovereign nation. That party -- the Republicans -- is so entrenched in evil deeds for the few over the needs of the many, that their Karma builds each and every day.

Folks, this Two-Party/One-Party scam is what is destroying your lives, economically, spiritually and even physically. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice (and a zillion times) and shame on ME!!!"

PA Farruggio

Primary Season, August 2018

Philip A. Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn, New York, longshoremen. He has been a freelance columnist since 2001, with more than 300 of his essays posted on sites like Global Research, Consortium News, Information Clearing House, Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, Counterpunch, Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust, whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has an internet interview show, "It's the Empire... Stupid" with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.