In the following seven-minute video, Glenn "responds" to a critique of the Trump administration, written by Chris Hedges and sent to him by a listener. I'm a bit confused by the response, though ... it seems as if Glenn thinks that Chris Hedges supports the continuation of the empire. Chris's admonition is not a lament for the end of the empire, it is more a warning to <i>pay attention to and to influence what will replace it.</i> I think Glenn should have Chris on his show to make himself more familiar with his work. I think they have a lot of points in common. <media href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tECFRBWU76w" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/tECFRBWU76w" source="YouTube" width="560px" author="Glenn Greenwald" caption="Trump DISRUPTING the DC Status Quo Should be Celebrated"> While I think Glenn is right to be optimistic that things are going in a more peaceful direction, I think Glenn is taking too jubilant a tone, not at all considering that the Republicans and Trump don't exactly have a good track record of being anti-war and pro-government-reduction. They have a terrible track record of it. I'll believe Trump is heading in the right direction when we actually see a reduction in the military and homeland-security budgets, which are ginormous. I think it's correct to consider everything with <i>cautious</i> optimism, since the Trump administration is saying and doing some things that will rein in some of the excesses of empire. The Democrats are just as wrong to lament the end of the empire (they mostly don't even understand that there is an empire, so they have no idea that they're lamenting the end of it).