WEST POINT (Rooters agency) – Speaking at the US Military Academy, the President today told cadets that they should “never bet against the United States of America … [because] the United States has been, and will always be, the one indisputable nation in world affairs. That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come.”
Bookmakers contacted by Rooters said they had no knowledge of anyone taking bets either for or against the United States. Nevertheless, political analysts say the President’s words are worthy of analysis, and they are working on it.
One analyst called attention to the following part of the President’s remarks: “When a typhoon hits the Philippines, or schoolgirls are kidnapped in Nigeria, or police gun down unarmed Black people in Missouri, or masked men occupy a building in Ukraine, it is America that the world looks to for answers, and the United States is and remains the one indisputable nation.”
These words, the analyst suggested, could be read to mean something like “We don’t have a clue about what to do.” If the USA had no proposals about what to do on a problem, he said, there could be no dispute with the country’s non-ideas, making us indisputable.
However, another analyst pointed out that it isn’t really possible to bet against (or for) a non-existent position or idea. Therefore, the President must have had something else in mind. This analyst added that the President’s further remark – “That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come” – is not the sort of remark a politician makes after saying “I don’t know.”
The second analyst argued that therefore the President was being more positive: he was, politely, telling the rest of the world to stop arguing with us or take the consequences.
This interpretation, the second analyst said, was supported by the President’s remarks several months ago to a meeting of the American Survivors of the Legion of Death: “Even countries that criticize us, when the chips are down and they need help, they call us. That’s why the United States is and will remain the one indisputable nation in the world.”
These words, the analyst said, clearly refer to the idea that you don’t argue with people that you’re asking for help. In short, they mean something like: “We’ve got the money, and if you argue with us about anything, we won’t give you a nickel.”
A third analyst largely agrees with the second, but adds that there are further reasons not to dispute with the US: “We might send in the drones.”
News From Somewhere 