Psychedelics and Trump's Delta Force Imperialism

You heard of the Hashasssins? Meet the Iboganeers...

Last week, Tucker Carlson’s guest was alt-right MAGA influencer Mike Cernovich (transcript of their conversation here). Carlson and Cernovich spent the first half of the podcast discussing why the United States might as well be an empire, and the second half talking about ayahuasca.

Here’s my question. What is the connection between the first half of the podcast, and the second? What is the connection between Trump’s Delta Force imperialism, and psychedelics?

MAGA used to be an isolationist movement - against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; against the Neo Cons, NATO, Davos, and the New World Order; against support for Ukraine; and (for some folks like Carlson) against US support for Israel.

But then came Venezuela - send in the Delta boys, and it’s all over in an hour! Which is about the limit of Trump’s attention span.

Suddenly, President Trump has decided what he wants his second term to be. Screw domestic politics and the sluggish economy, let’s go ten-pin bowling, and each month knock down another government. Venezuela, then Cuba, then Iran, then Greenland. Strike!

Carlson and Cernovich can get behind that. Here are some snippets of their conversation:

Cernovich: I feel like we’re always stuck between this false dialectic of you either do nothing or ‘boots on the ground’…Whereas I’ve always been a fan of the Trump approach, which is ‘use Delta’.

Carlson: [In Venezuela] They’re kind of keeping the [Chavista] structure in place but making sure it’s pro-American, that seems like a much wiser approach.

Cernovich: The problem that everybody, the neoliberals and even some people on the right, have is they don’t understand that you needed a strong man like Saddam Hussein to keep all these religious sects together.

Carlson: Maybe what we saw two days ago is the beginning of a period where like, okay, we’re an empire, we’re embracing it.

Cernovich: That’s my hope is, you know, American imperialism. Because I believe we’re a just and moral people. I believe we’re a Christian people.

Carlson: Obviously I’m totally opposed and have been since Iraq, since 2003, to anything like this. On the other hand, I’m thinking to myself maybe—well, maybe I’m not in charge of history. And maybe it’s just time to accept the reality of it. We run at least half of the world. So maybe what we’re seeing is people just embracing what was already true and not fighting against—I hate the idea of having an empire, but we do, right? So maybe that is what’s happening. I don’t know, I’m trying to figure it out…Empire, just roll with it, be an empire.

Then they spent the second hour of the podcast talking about ayahuasca, and how Mike Cernovich had been saved by his multiple ayahuasca experiences; how he has been introduced to the reality of spiritual beings, demons and angels; how God had spoken to him through ayahuasca, how although ayahuasca is forbidden by Christianity it had made him a better Christian.

As usual, Carlson expressed some scepticism of psychedelics - don’t they open you to the demonic? Yes, said Cernovich, you can encounter demons, but ayahuasca gives you the strength to resist them and turn to the light. Do people ever have bad or damaging experiences, asked Carlson, like a friend who killed himself after taking LSD? Sometimes people can get addicted to chasing the cosmic download, replied Cernovich.

Listeners to Carlson’s podcast may have wondered, WTF does plant medicine have to do with American Delta Force imperialism?

Let’s get into that, after the paywall, along with some other links that caught my attention, including new studies on psychedelic retreats, AI mystical experiences, Dr Gul Dolen on psychedelic imprinting, and Delta Forces’ new sonic weapons.