The Shadow of Collapse

On June 13, 2025, Israel launched a series of airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and infrastructure, escalating a decades-long proxy conflict into a direct confrontation. This unilateral action, reportedly conducted without U.S. military support but possibly aided by American intelligence, has thrust the United States into a precarious position, complicating President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a diplomatic deal with Tehran. Iran’s military spokesman claimed U.S. involvement, threatening a “severe response,” while the White House denied direct participation, emphasizing the protection of American forces in the region. This incident, unfolding against the backdrop of Trump’s domestic controversies—his extravagant birthday parade, ICE’s aggressive detentions of U.S. citizens and legal residents, and a broader erosion of democratic norms—reveals a convergence of personal, political, and global crises. These events reflect humanity’s collective shadow: the unacknowledged fears, hubris, and destructive impulses that drive division, systemic fragility, and moral decay. As the U.S. is drawn into this new war, the interplay of Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, systemic overreach, and global instability signals a perilous moment for democracy and the world.

Donald Trump’s leadership embodies the collective shadow—the repressed fears, insecurities, and instincts that shape societal behavior when left unaddressed. His rhetoric, which vilifies immigrants, minorities, and political opponents, projects these anxieties onto scapegoated “others,” a tactic rooted in the dictator’s playbook. Thom Hartmann notes that autocrats thrive by identifying an “enemy within,” a strategy Trump has employed since his 2016 campaign, targeting groups like “Mexican rapists” and later expanding to trans students, Black protestors, and Democrats. This mirrors historical patterns where fear of chaos or loss of control fueled division, as seen in Loyalists’ resistance to revolutionaries or Confederates’ opposition to abolitionists. Trump’s MAGA movement taps into these insecurities, amplifying polarization and stalling societal growth by refusing to confront its own flaws.

This shadow manifests domestically in Trump’s erosion of democratic institutions. His administration’s actions—defying court rulings, gutting counterterrorism programs, and redirecting FBI resources to pursue undocumented immigrants—signal a dangerous shift toward authoritarianism. Hartmann highlights alarming trends: Trump’s termination of 373 antiterrorism grants, a $545 million cut to the FBI’s budget, and the closure of the DHS’s Domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism Research Center. These moves weaken the nation’s ability to prevent attacks like 9/11 or the Oklahoma City bombing, potentially setting the stage for a manufactured crisis to bolster his flagging popularity. His “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement” Executive Order, which flirts with violating Posse Comitatus laws by involving the military in domestic policing, echoes historical authoritarian crackdowns, such as Hitler’s response to the Reichstag fire.

The June 13 attack on Iran amplifies these concerns. Israel’s unilateral strike, against Trump’s public calls for restraint, has placed him in a delicate position. His administration’s focus on protecting U.S. forces rather than supporting Israel militarily suggests a reluctance to escalate, yet Iran’s threats to target U.S. bases in the region raise the specter of broader conflict. This situation mirrors the “big, splashy attacks” Hartmann describes, where leaders exploit crises to consolidate power. Trump’s approval ratings, already low due to economic challenges like tariff-induced inflation, could benefit from a unifying external threat, as seen with George W. Bush post-9/11 or Bill Clinton after Oklahoma City. However, his dismantling of counterterrorism infrastructure leaves the U.S. vulnerable, raising questions about whether he might tolerate—or even orchestrate—a crisis to distract from domestic failures.

The Israel-Iran conflict also exposes the fragility of humanity’s complex systems. The April 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout, caused by a feedback loop in renewable energy inverters, illustrates how tightly coupled systems—like global energy grids or international alliances—can collapse under stress. The integration of renewables, intended to address climate change, inadvertently created vulnerabilities, mirroring the overreach of modern societies that assume mastery over nature and technology. This systemic fragility parallels the geopolitical risks of the Israel-Iran escalation, where a single miscalculation could disrupt global energy markets or trigger a wider war.

Trump’s policies exacerbate these vulnerabilities. His tariffs, intended to bolster American industry, have instead fueled inflation, pushing the economy toward recession. His admiration for authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu has destabilized international relations, emboldening aggressive actions. In Gaza, his recognition of the Golan Heights and the embassy move to Jerusalem fueled Netanyahu’s hardline policies. The June 13 attack on Iran, seen as a response to Iran’s nuclear advancements, risks further destabilization, with potential ripple effects on global oil supplies and regional alliances.

The billionaire elite’s response to this instability—retreating to fortified enclaves, technological utopias powered by advanced AI and energy systems, aims to shield the wealthy from resource scarcity and climate-driven displacement suffered by rising tens of millions of people. Yet, as Joseph Conrad’s An Outpost of Progress illustrates, isolation breeds its own collapse, as unintegrated fears and instincts resurface. The elite’s flight, like Trump’s scapegoating, avoids the interconnectedness of human fate, leaving the masses to face a fragmenting world of intermittent grids, surveillance, and eroding liberties.

The Gaza war, intensified by Israel’s March 2025 offensive and culminating in the June 13 attack on Iran, underscores the collective shadow’s capacity for destruction. The deliberate targeting of civilians, destruction of infrastructure, and starvation tactics in Gaza—resulting in over 80,000 traumatic injury deaths and the highest per capita rate of child amputees—mirror historical atrocities like European colonization or King Leopold’s Congo. Trump’s policies, which emboldened Israel’s aggression, share responsibility for this moral decay, reflecting the psyche’s regression to a predatory state when societal constraints weaken.

Iran’s role in this conflict, through its support for Hamas and Hezbollah, further complicates the narrative. The June 13 strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear program, seen by Israel as an existential threat, but also risk escalating the proxy war into a direct confrontation involving the U.S. Iran’s threats to retaliate against U.S. bases highlight the interconnectedness of global conflicts, where Trump’s weakened diplomatic stance—evident in his strained relationship with Netanyahu—limits his ability to de-escalate.

Domestically, Trump’s lavish birthday parade on June 14, 2025, celebrating his 79th birthday, serves as a stark symbol of his narcissistic leadership. Held amid economic turmoil and international tension, the parade—complete with military displays and MAGA merchandise—violates military neutrality, as an anonymous senior officer noted, calling it “shameful.” This event, coupled with ICE’s aggressive detentions of U.S. citizens and legal residents, underscores Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. Reports of ICE “kidnappings,” where agents hide their identities and target individuals without clear legal justification, reflect a broader assault on civil liberties. These actions, justified under the guise of national security, mirror the tactics of fascist regimes that co-opt the military and silence dissent, as seen in Nazi Germany or Putin’s Russia.

The incarceration of citizens and legal residents, often without due process, aligns with Trump’s rhetoric of “enemies within,” targeting immigrants and political opponents. This strategy not only distracts from his failing policies but also fuels the societal polarization driven by the collective shadow. By projecting fear onto marginalized groups, Trump avoids confronting the systemic issues—economic instability, climate chaos, and global conflict—that threaten his grip on power.

The convergence of Israel’s attack on Iran, Trump’s authoritarianism, and systemic vulnerabilities signals a critical juncture. The collective shadow, manifested in scapegoating, hubris, and moral decay, drives these crises, but integration offers a path forward. Societies must confront their repressed fears—whether of chaos, scarcity, or loss of control—through collective action. This means resisting oppression, reevaluating unsustainable systems like global grids or militarized alliances, and fostering resilience through community and mental fortitude.

The elite’s flight to gated communities, then missile-silo luxury condos or islands—like Trump’s birthday parade or ICE’s overreach—represents a refusal to engage with this shadow, prioritizing self-preservation over collective survival. Yet, as historian Arnold Toynbee warned, civilizations die by suicide, not murder. The U.S. and its allies must prioritize diplomacy over escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict, restore democratic checks, and address systemic fragilities like resource depletion and climate displacement. Failure to do so risks a new dark age, where division and despair dominate.

On June 14, a pal wrote, “the most frightful thing so far, is Kristi Noem's statement that they [federal agents] are going to stay and liberate California from its so-called socialist government. You cannot liberate a city or state from its elected government. Even a few years ago, such a statement would have sparked outrage. Now it is lost in the noise.”

I rejoined, “I will never stop wondering how many people knew what was planned, long in advance, among them Trump, who alluded to ‘what's coming’ at least once, and this guy: (MSNBC Maddow blog) “Feb 25: Liberals, said Bongino, had been playing at revolution, and would now get a taste of the real thing. 'They're not ready for what comes next'.”

Thom Hartmann reports that, in LA and other cities across America, 35 journalists have been shot by so far, despite PRESS jacket, mike, cameraman (also shot sometimes); some injuries serious. I wonder how many Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Neonazis, etc. have recently been deputized, and are now Federal Agents--G-men, if you will? (short for unidentifiable, masked, heavily- armed "Gunmen" who roll up on people in teams, in unmarked vans, and kidnap them off the streets...as well as the Guard, ICE, etc. para/military, who move in to arrest & deport legal US residents (because the criminals are harder to locate, you see), after the local police have closed and cordoned off the area, their weapons often drawn and pointed at the gathered law-abiding citizens.

Trump went and watched Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. “The story of Les Mis is inspired by the June Rebellion, an 1832 insurrection by republicans against the authoritarianism of a newly established French king. No one is expecting a replay from Republicans in June 2025,” says The Guardian.

Characters in the musical include Jean Valjean, who is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread then seeks redemption, and Inspector Javert, who is obsessed with law and order and hunts Valjean without mercy. One reporter asked Trump whether he identifies more with Valjean or Javert. Trump, having as little clue about the names of the main characters in the play as he did about the contents of the Old & New Testament when asked once about his favorite Bible verse, couldn’t answer, although anyone who knows the story or even comprehends the first three lines of this paragraph knows that Trump has a hard-on for Javert. He must have been sad when Jalvert, having been saved by the man he’d pursued relentlessly for years, throws himself into the Seine River, unable to live in a world where his black-and-white sense of justice is shattered. By the end, Trump must have thought that the musical sucked and Valjean was a sucker. The last lines wouldn’t have made any sense to him—Valjean, dying in a convent, finds redemption and serenity, singing, “To love another person is to see the face of God,” as he passes into the afterlife.