If Americans were really bad, she says, they would not have to be deceived and manipulated into going to war.  She concludes that the fact that they are deceived and manipulated means that it is not their fault.  As Caitlin puts it, "We must be vigilant in directing our anger at the manipulators and not the manipulated. It's always the conman's fault, never the victim."  Thus does she absolve Americans for any responsibility for the massive crimes their country has committed against other peoples.  https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/06/22/the-fact-that-americans-need-to-be-deceived-into-war-proves-their-underlying-goodness/

This will go down well with most Americans as long as it only applies to the US.  But what if she made this same case in behalf of the Germans during the Third Reich?  She would be thoroughly denounced and demonized.

The column is not one of Caitlin's best.  It is always more comfortable to blame others than ourselves.  Before writing this column, Caitlin might have benefitted from recalling the old adage: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."