“Rules based international order” my very fat arse

I learn a lot from Heather Cox Richardson’s astonishing “Letters from an American.” It’s a brilliant, concise exercise in public education which everyone should be listening to every day.

And I totally get why she is painting the Trump regime as unhinged and extreme (because… checks notes… it is).

But the constant invocation of the post-1945 “rules based international order” (see here) is beginning to get on my tits.

There are many MANY examples one could give, but for now

1953 – deposing the Iranian government and installing the Shah, for the oil (Operation Ajax)

1954 – making Guatemala safe for the United Fruit Company

1973 – toppling Allende

1980s – endless assaults on the people of Nicaragua in order to “destabilise” the Sandinista government

And on. And on. And on.

(And yes, the Soviets were assholes too, obvs – but that’s not the point).

Sure, Trump and Miller aren’t different (there’s no effort at pretence, for one thing), but we also need to admit that the “rules based international order” looks very different outside the Dumbbell world.