You know, Propublica.com is rapidly becoming one of my “go to” sites for information. They are non proit, have great sources and present their information bullshit free. If I ever get rich and infamous, I’ll probably support them.
And once again, Propublica doesn’t disappoint. In a new article, they have obtained documents, texts, and e-mails from a US House committee that shows that when it comes to Don Cornholeone, it isn’t just his personal avarice you have to worry about. It’s the personal avarice of the shadow puppet masters who influence him, especially if they have foreign connections.
Bsck in 2016, when Trump had sealed up the nomination, and was readying his convention speech, one of his senior advisers on the Middle East was Tom Barrack, a heavy donor, and all purpose scumbag, who just incidentally had long standing business ties in the Middle East. Trump was readying a major speech involving sharing nuclear energy secrets with certain Middle East countries. Trump’s then campaign chairman Paul Manafort, another walking Trojan with a full load, shared a copy of the speech draft text with Barrack.
Will wonders never cease? Barrack promptly shared the draft text with an unnamed foreign business associate in the region, asking him for his opinion. The source was impressed, but thought that His Lowness should add in another line or two, praising the “powerful princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.” Because there’s nothing a bunch of filthy rich, repressive oil shiekhs need more than a nice case of the warm-and-fuzzies, don’cha know?
When Barrack received this foreign input into possible future American foreign policy, Barrack of course immediately forwarded the information to Manafort, with the suggested wording. Barrack himself seemed well aware that he was sticking his toes into a very muddy ethical pond, since he closed his text with “This is probably as close as I can get, without crossing a whole lot of lines.” But what the hell, what are moral responsibilities and national sovereignty when a few extra shekels are at stake?
Manafort, probably with visions of dirty kickback sugarplums dancing in his head, pondered the situation seriously and judiciously, told the speech writer to throw in the Saudi approved lines, and the day before the speech sent Barrack a final draft, telling him that “The language you want is in there.”
This is how American foreign policy is bought, sold, and bartered in the age of Trump. Am I the only one, or are we starting to see a picture emerge here, like in one of those old magic 3-D picture puzzle books? Apparently, in the Trump White House, the only thing that isn’t for sale is the Roosevelt desk, and that’s because it’s listed as a national treasure.
We already know, thanks to Robert Mueller, about Paul Manafort desperately trying to leverage his position in the Trump campaign to “make us whole” with his newly cuckold Ukrainian comrade Oleg Deripaska. And now we know that Tom Barrack was more than willing to use his influence with Trump, through Manafort, ro influence American foreign policy for his own personal gains.
So, the problem isn’t just Trump’s personal avarice and greed, in wanting to turn the United States treasure into his own personal ATM, it appears now that we have a shadowy cabal of largely unknown miscreants, ready to use their ability to whisper sweet nothing into Emperor Numbus Nuttus’ ear, to influence US foreign policy, quite possibly with serious negative consequences for US national security, just so that they can turn a dirty dollar with every tin horn despot with an agenda. What a way to run a railroad. Let’s hope that those House committees keep digging, because this is dangerous.
To know the future, look to the past. before the insanity of the 2020 election, relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, and the general election, to see how we got to where we are. Copies of  President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange are available as e-books on Amazon, at the links above. Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy, President Evil III: All The Presidents Fen
Any member of Mar-al-Ego should be suspect, especially those who joined after, say, 2014. (Think of the people influencing the VA who were members.)
Minor point here – Trump is using the Resolute Desk; that’s the famous one everyone sees in the Oval Office. There is a Roosevelt one and a few others named after Presidents but the Resolute is the most famous and I might say most gorgeous one. It’s an amazing piece of woodworking.
Thanks and appreciate you.