Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Understanding the Trump Phenomenon


To my non-violent progressive friends,

You are being played. Your extraordinarily uncontrollable hatred against President Trump is hurting your cause in more ways than you understand. You may think you are winning, but you're not. While you complain about each of the president's lies, misstatements, alternate facts, etc., he is busy executing on his plan to 'Make America Great Again'. I mean this with all sincerity - stop falling for the same trap over and over and over again!! Every time you and your compliant media attempt to fact check each of President Trump's statements (like here), you enable the president to set the narrative and push more of the populace toward his side. Just follow this chart.


H/T to Scott Adams who has a simpler version of this (see his video here).

I would offer you more advice but you probably wouldn't listen to someone who isn't ideologically aligned with your views.

So, keep up the great work!

Sincerely,

Alan

Monday, February 13, 2017

President Trump Will Drain The Swamp (or die trying)

President Trump tweeted the following as a candidate for president:
“I will Make Our Government Honest Again — believe me. But first, I’m going to have to #DrainTheSwamp.”.
The importance of this statement can not be underestimated. Corrupt elected officials are a central cause for the continued failure of government to work for the people. While President Trump has been in office less than one month, his promise has been either disparaged or simply ignored by a majority of the mainstream media. For some of them, they interpret these remarks at the Republican National Convention (in Cleveland, July 21, 2016) as the commencement of an egomaniac dictator who puts himself on a pedestal above all.
'I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.'
I do not share this viewpoint and in fact believe that President Trump is uniquely qualified to be president because:
  • He has spent a majority of his life around politicians and understands them (probably better than themselves). 
  • He closely recognizes the myriad of issues and the severe corruption of the deep state / shadow government (see here, here and here) and has taken action. 
  • His career as a media figure and financier provide experience to fight the lies of the mainstream media (see here) and the faulty policies of the Federal Reserve (see here).
  • He most likely can not be threatened or bullied by anyone.
Although I don't agree with everything in these posts, I found the analogy to President Andrew Jackson striking: A New Jacksonian Era? Part I and Part II - The Burning Platform, February 12 & 13, 2017

Personally, I feel the military-industrial complex (term President Eisenhower used in his closing speech) should be renamed the financial-media-military-industrial complex. As much as I respect Congressman Ron Paul, he could never have won an election running against these forces and accomplish what President Trump has done.

For those awake to the corrupt nature of this financial-media-military-industrial complex, there may be some impatience as to why President Trump does not just release available incriminating information and lock up the 'bad guys'. The answer is complex but check this post on the Burning Platform for some insight.

A Game Of Chess - The Burning Platform, February 8, 2017
During the last 18 months or so I’ve heard a lot of talk about chess. This guy or that guy is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers or some mastermind is playing 3 dimensional chess, etc. I find it odd that these statements are made given that only a tiny percentage of Americans know how to play chess with that number sitting around 5% or slightly over 14 million people. This is too bad because if the population, as a whole, had a better understanding of chess then the actions of President Trump would make perfect sense.
...
Chess is a game where the number of possible positions rises at an astronomical rate. By the 2nd move of the game there are already 400 possible positions and after each person moves twice, that number rises to 8902. My coach explained to me that I was not trained enough to even begin to keep track of those things and that my only chance of ever winning was to take the initiative and never give it up. “You must know what your opponent will do next by playing his game for him.” was the advice I received.
...
First, we can all agree that Trump, if nothing else, throws a lot of punches. We really saw this in the primaries where barely a day could go by without some scandal that would supposedly end his presidential bid. His opponents and the press erroneously thought that responding to each and every “outrage” was the correct thing to do without ever taking the time to think whether or not they had just walked into a trap. They would use their turn to block his Twitter attack but he wouldn’t move that piece again once that was in play but, instead, brought on the next outrage – just like my coach instructed me to do.

Second, Trump is very vocal in what he is going to do. Just like I had my students announced to each other their plans, Trump has been nothing but transparent about what he intends to do. After all, announcing your plans only works if your position is unassailable. It demoralizes your opponent. You rub their face in it. Another benefit to being vocal is that it encourages your opponent to bring out his favorite piece to deal with said announced plans. This is a big mistake as any good chess player will quickly recognize which piece his opponent favors and then go take them.

Time has been the one area that our president is having problems. Executive Orders and Twitter Wars have pushed the opposition off balance but he has not been able to use this time to get all of his pieces into play. The Justice Department (his Queen) is still stuck behind a wall of pawns. Furthermore, only 5 of his 15 Cabinet picks have been confirmed as of this writing. Without control over these departments, the president can fight a war of attrition but he really can’t go on the offensive. In chess, I will gladly trade a piece for a piece if it means you have to waste your turn dealing with it. It isn’t a long term strategy if you do not have all of your pieces ready to go.

In the end it would appear that Trump is playing the kind of game that I was taught to play by my coach. His opponents are never given time to mount an attack. Their queen – the MSM has been removed from the board and their favorite piece – the Celebrities are locked in a war of attrition while Trump gets the rest of his pieces on the board. Remember, these are all Tactics but Strategy flows from Tactics. Sooner or later the Left will find itself in some terrible position and the Strategy to drain the swamp will present itself.
Another important dimension to add is that time is on President Trump's side. As more people in the United States engage in some critical thinking and conduct their own research, they will become awake to the existence of this financial-media-military-industrial complex. Viewership for alternative media sites like Infowars (see here), will continue to increase. An enlarged (not to mention enraged) populace who have a greater appreciation for the president's positions will also create an even larger base of populist support. There is no debate to this. President Trump is facilitating this awakening.

One of the challenges for President Trump, as evidenced by the numerous leaks, is the 'swamp' within his own administration.
This photo speaks volumes..I don't think Vice President Pence has read my blog!!



President Trump put his reputation on the line in full view of all Americans with his campaign promise to 'Drain the Swamp'. He even told Alex Jones during an interview "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.". The veracity of the alleged crimes (unspeakable in nature) by elected officials rumored over the past few months can be discussed in a separate post. If the allegations are true, I believe the Trump administration will pursue justice. Why? Because, if the Trump administration does block criminal investigations that result in no (or limited) prosecutions, President Trump will by default be a protector of these alleged criminals. And, in the future, if these rumored allegations are proven true (truth always finds its way out eventually), he will go down as a con-man and the biggest fraud in the history of the United States. For all of his documented personal flaws, I do not think that is his goal.

What I do think he is doing is navigating a slow and somewhat tedious process to restore a functioning government that represents the will of its citizens. His enemies include (but are not limited to) SJW, the Bush family, the Clinton family, the Federal Reserve, the DC political establishment, Hollywood, and the mainstream media. While some delusional characters actually believe a military coup is possible (i.e.Sarah Silverman calls for military to overthrow President Trump), the truth is that the military (along with local police, militias and just about all gun owners) fully back the president.

The bottom line is that President Trump will drain the swamp (or die trying). If he is cornered, he may pull a stunt like the Indiana Jones character from the famous 'Rope Bridge' scene and take his enemies down with him.



Tuesday, February 7, 2017

President Trump Is Not Acting Weak Towards Russia but Is Fighting the Deep State

President Trump was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with Bill O'Reilly and said "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

Hawkish Republicans were quick to distance themselves from President Trump's remarks:

Republicans seek distance from Trump's comments on Putin, US - ABC News, February 6, 2017
"Putin's a former KGB agent. He's a thug. He was not elected in a way that most people would consider a credible election," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told CNN's "State of the Union. "The Russians annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine and messed around in our elections. And no, I don't think there's any equivalency between the way the Russians conduct themselves and the way the United States does."

Added Sen. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, one of Trump's Republican critics: "There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom living nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defence of his cronyism.
Frank Brady from the Gate To Liberty blog penned an open letter, which I mostly agree with (aside from inclusion of Iran), in direct response to certain members of Congress including Senator McConnell and Senator Sasse.

An Open Letter Regarding Trump and Putin - Gate To Liberty Blog, February 6, 2017
Thank God for President Trump’s honesty.

In your coordinated weekend expressions of outrage over the President’s comments regarding Putin and Russia, you are correct about one thing: there is no “moral equivalence” between the conduct of Russia under Vladimir Putin and the behavior of the United States during the quarter of a century that has elapsed since the Soviet Union collapsed. Putin wins that contest every time and it is not even close.

Since then, the United States has violently overthrown governments and invaded, bombed, and occupied territories in more than a dozen countries stretching from the Balkans, across North Africa, throughout the Middle East and up into the Ukraine. During the same period, Russia has attacked no other nation despite a blizzard of propaganda to the contrary emanating from the bi-partisan U.S. War Party and its allies in Establishment media organs.

During the last 25 years, the United States has caused the deaths of more than a million people in sovereign nations that have not attacked us including hundreds of thousands of non-combatant men, women and children. This trail of bloody carnage runs through the former Yugoslavia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, the Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia, and Syria (among others) and continues to this day. In contrast, Russia has conducted itself with admirable restraint despite the most recent United States’ aggression in which the United States organized, funded, and directed the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically-elected government and inserted a puppet regime in its place in February of 2014. Senator John McCain and Hillary Clinton's Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, were intimately and directly involved in that putsch.

Just to be clear, I am no peacenik. I believe defense of the nation is the Federal Governmen's primary responsibility. I am a veteran of five years active duty service with the 1st Cavalry Division, the 7th Infantry Division, and the XVIII Airborne Corps. I am a small businessman and the father of five grown children, two of whom were career military men. I despise Marxism, Socialism, and collectivism of all sorts and for most of my life have considered myself to be a conservative Republican. That self-identification ended when I finally realized that the Republican Party and the Washington Defense and Diplomatic establishment had been subverted by an insane empire-building neoconservative cult during the Clinton administration.

The hypocrisy that underlies your constant efforts to demonize Russia and Iran is disgusting and transparently obvious. For murderous thugs like you who have been constant cheer leaders to Washington’s bloody banditry and are implicit in it to presume to lecture the President of any other country about his conduct is enough to make one vomit. I only hope the American people awaken quickly enough bring you and your fellow war criminals to justice before you ignite the Great War you are working so hard to foment.
Both President Trump and Mr. Brady must be familiar with General Smedley Butler who spoke and wrote about the ones who actually benefit from war in 'War is a Racket'
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

“WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one
international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the
losses in lives.”
President Trump laid out his agenda very clearly in his inauguration speech:
We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world -- but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.
We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones -- and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.
President Trump knows that most wars fought by the United States over the past fifty years (probably longer) have provided absolutely no benefit to its citizens and have caused unnecessary death and destruction around the world. This is a bitter pill for some on the right to accept - especially ones who still think the Iraq war was justified. Most of them will come around - hopefully soon. Those on the left are basically hypocrites (see here) and have no credibility.

President Trump is aware that Russia can be an effective ally against ISIS. In addition, he is trying to use Russia to counter economic and military threats (not likely) from China and Iran. It does not advance the United States' interests nor does it help obtain friendship and goodwill by calling the Russian president a killer.

Importantly, on the president's agenda is the dismantling of the deep state / shadow government that I've repeatedly discussed (see here and here). This process will result in disclosures which will surely shock the American public (everyone else around the world will not be shocked - I promise).

We have already gotten a glimpse of these disclosures.

Pro Trump Democrat Turns On Obama's Policy Of Arming ISIS - January 29, 2017


Declassified DOD Release - March 10, 2015 - page 5
If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).
ISIS Coverup: US Centcom Accused Of Lying To President, Congress, Public About Airstrikes, Ground Fight - Zerohedge, November 22, 2015

Hackers trace ISIS Twitter accounts back to internet addresses linked to Department of Work and Pensions - Mirror Online, December 14, 2015

ISIS, Al Qaeda And The CIA: The Documented Connection - Zerohedge, December 17, 2015

We can be sure that there will be more disclosures to come out that will put President Trump's remarks in the proper perspective.

Friday, February 3, 2017

MSM Acknowledges Existence of Deep State

The Washington Post had a somewhat shocking article (for them) where they acknowledged the existence of a "deep state" (also known as a shadow government) existing in Washington.

Is Trump fighting the ‘deep state’ or creating his own? - Washington Post, February 1, 2017
It's just the second week of the Trump presidency, but it's time to think about the "deep state" in America.

It's not far-fetched to suggest there is a "deep state" in Washington. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower looked at the nexus of the Pentagon and arms manufacturers and coined the phrase the "military-industrial complex." Today's observers also point to the collusion of corporate interests and D.C. power brokers as the true guiding hand in American politics.
..
The Trump White House already seems to be at war with what it would say is the "deep state:" thousands of federal government bureaucrats faced with the awkward reality of working for a president who campaigned loudly against Washington officialdom and promised to "drain the swamp" when in power.
A "deep state" is a subversive force that can be a direct threat to any democratically elected government. Unfortunately, this deep state has often acted in its own best interests and not in the best interests of its citizens (see here).

To counter the deep state, President Trump has been proactive.

Trump assembles a shadow Cabinet - Politico, January 24, 2017
The White House is installing senior aides atop major federal agencies to shadow the administration's Cabinet secretaries, creating a direct line with loyalists who can monitor and shape White House goals across the federal bureaucracy.
While most President Trump supporters would agree with his attempt to counter and overtake the deep state, a fair question one may ask is whether this potentially new Trump deep state will still exist once President Trump is no longer president.