There was a moment when the air tasted of revolution. Trump embodied the rage of millions of Americans exhausted by lies, endless wars, powers pulling strings from Washington shadows. He was the “savior” who would sweep everything away. The propaganda echoed everywhere: “The system is collapsing, wait and see.”
But those working in journalism since the Nineties already knew. The President of the United States is an actor managed by the Pentagon. Always has been. The Pentagon dictates the choices. Trump didn’t betray anyone—he simply performed the script assigned to him. The surprise isn’t his “transformation.” The surprise is that anyone still believed otherwise.
The peace mirage and the war factory
Trump spoke of military budget cuts, fifty percent reductions, eighty billion saved, NATO withdrawal. “Make America Great Again” was supposed to mean investing in American infrastructure, healthcare, forgotten citizens. Perfect script for voters tired of wars.
The 2026 budget deposited in May revealed reality: education, healthcare and social aid slashed mercilessly while the military-industrial complex receives 113 billion more and intelligence pockets another 43 billion. There was no betrayal. There was only the end of electoral theater and the beginning of real management, what the Pentagon had always planned.
Even Elon Musk remained stunned, but only because he too had believed the fiction. The system didn’t collapse because it wasn’t supposed to collapse. It simply strengthened itself using Trump as a megaphone for its needs.
The Epstein list and programmed impunity
The promise to publish the Epstein list was pure electoral propaganda. The pedophile financier’s scandal had revealed illustrious names—from Bill Clinton to Prince Andrew, from Bill Gates to David Copperfield. Trump had sworn to shed light on that network.
The result was predictable for those who understand the mechanisms: absolute silence. No investigations, no trials, no truth. The only sacrifice was Epstein’s wife, sentenced to twenty years. The rest evaporated because it was meant to evaporate. The Pentagon and intelligence services protect their power network, they don’t dismantle it at the request of a passing president.
The powerful’s impunity didn’t survive—it was administered with the usual efficiency.
Ukraine: the peace farce
Trump had sold himself as the “peacemaker” capable of resolving war with a phone call, promising peace in twenty-four hours. His supporters finally saw a president who would stop the American war machine.
It was a campaign illusion. Months later, the war continues because the Pentagon needs it. Trump’s phone calls were as irrelevant as predicted. The lobbies feeding the conflict aren’t “lobbies”—they’re the civilian arm of the same Pentagon managing Trump. Ukraine funding continues because it’s part of American military strategy.
The president doesn’t decide war. War decides the president.
Gaza and Iran: the order executor
Trump’s closeness to Netanyahu isn’t his personal choice. It’s American foreign policy dictated by the Pentagon and applied by any sitting president. The Gaza declarations—evacuating the Strip to build luxury hotels—were the Trumpian version of a strategy already written in Defense offices.
Recent escalation confirms the script: after a “phone call” between Trump and Netanyahu, Israel directly bombed Iran. The timing isn’t coincidental because there’s no coincidence. It’s the American military timeline proceeding according to plan, using Trump as the public face of decisions made elsewhere.
The machine managing the actor
Trump hasn’t changed, wasn’t blackmailed, didn’t discover he was weaker than expected. Trump is simply executing orders every American president receives from the Pentagon since 1945. The difference is he does it with more theatricality, making the fiction more evident.
Those working in information since the Nineties have watched this scene repeat with Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. Opposite electoral promises, identical management. The Pentagon doesn’t change strategy based on who wins elections. It adapts communication to the character of the moment, that’s all.
The bitter lesson we never learn
Those who cheered for Trump believed in the possibility of real change. But real change would require dismantling the Pentagon, not electing it under another name. American military power doesn’t run for election because it already commands whoever wins.
The lesson is always the same, but every four years we forget it: the President of the United States is an actor, not a decision-maker. His electoral promises are the campaign script, his policies are the management script. Both written in the same Pentagon offices that have controlled America for eighty years.
Trump didn’t betray anyone. He simply finished playing the revolutionary’s part and started playing the president’s. Same actor, different script, same direction.
Real power no longer hides. It simply chooses better actors to represent it. And we continue applauding the performance, mistaking theater for reality.