I think Trump is a very smart man, especially knowledgeable in political affairs and governing authority of the head of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. Marco Rubio did not impress me as a loyal supporter of Trump's vision during his Rep. Nat. Convention speech; and I don't know how he legislated in the Florida legislature prior to coming to the U.S. Senate. But the men and women whom Trump has brought in close to himself, and, also, to his family---Tucker C., J. D. Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon, R. F. Kennedy, Jr., maybe Tulsi Gabbard, and very much, perhaps, David Sacks, and Peter Thiel---these people are high end technology performance leaders in their custom build fields. I think that these persons will be his kitchen cabinet family alongside his blood-bond family. And for the areas of big concern other than earth exterminating wars, I believe Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Food, Big Education, and Big Social Media (Facebook, Google, Amazon Cloud, Youtube, Adobe, Microsoft Cloud)
are the dragons that must be slain unto death. Hoping and praying: the third election victory of this President paves the way for everyone who is a part of his team will complete the job with flawless execution.
In fact, you know Trump hates Marco Rubio as much as he does Haley because I believe the rumor about him becoming Secretary of State.
How else are you going to get RINO “Little Marco” and his really big Manila Envelope Quotient (MEQ) out of the Senate and replaced by someone who will actually work with Trump, rather than against him on the big legislation that needs to get passed in 2025?
Promote him, keep him on a short leash about reforming Foggy Bottom, and let him grandstand on CHY-Na. And if he doesn’t do what’s asked of him? “You’re Fired!”
Marco wasn’t much of a RINO this election cycle as he was in the previous two. Trump might be missing a solid advocate in the Senate. Perhaps Rubio was banking on a Trump win and potential appointment as to why he quietly supported.
The problem with this idea--get these people out of the Senate/House and replace with good people--is that Trump actually has almost no influence at all over the replacements. Even, for example, Lara Trump, who's being talked up as a replacement for Little Marco. Lara did a terrific job for the campaign, a really important job, but what do we actually know about what her substantive positions would be?
Fair enough. But replacing a known-bad actor with an unknown may be rational, under some risk assessment. Loyalty is very blatantly the key factor with the Don, and maybe he figures he can just keep firing til he gets a good one.
And then there's the other idea, that a cabinet appointment could come with a "short leash". I can't evaluate how realistic that is either.
Earlier this year, some one writing or being interviewed explained that the DoD does not have lost/unidentified expenditures. Instead, the Defense accountants aggregate pools of monies from official line item covered costs, and distribute the un-identified $ pools' to their selected "special causes"---like, the immigration NGO's of the United Nations, of U.S. religious organizations (all denominations); like the bio-weapons' development and testing
Thank you, and I agree with you. But it's also the result of Pentagon accountants, generals et alia, intentionally hiding the disbursement of Congress appropriated funds for use toward purposes which the Pentagon does not want to be known by the American taxpayers.
"During the campaign I argued that, despite the $100 million from Miriam Adelson, Trump would not necessarily be a prisoner of the Anglo-Zionists."
Counter-intuitively, maybe the best payback Trump could give Adelson for her $100mln would be to save Israel from its worst impulses, avoid an existential Middle Eastern war, negotiate a peace, and in fact, insure Israel's survival.
I think that, for $100M, they expect a little more than empty gestures. And I'm pretty certain that they hold quite a bit of collateral too, and not just for Trump.
My point is that $100mln may turn out to be a small price to pay if Trump can avoid a Middle Eastern war which could annihilate Israel. I know Miriam and Netanyahu and his boys are expecting something different. They may have to be grateful for their survival.
I understood your point. But if that's not what they thought they were buying, then why would they be satisfied? It doesn't matter to them what you or I consider "good", and I'm not convinced that they're thinking of their national interests in terms of mere survival. At least, not yet.
Did you understand my point about collateral, especially regarding Congress?
I think I've conceded they may have thought they were buying something else (US war v. Iran), but if Trump negotiates survival, they may be grateful. But I've also already said that.
Your point re collateral is a bit obscure (at least in terms of standard use of the English language), but I guess you are suggesting that the Israel Lobby has plenty of ways to control Congress and Trump, which makes them vulnerable to extortion and blackmail. I guess this has become conventional wisdom. But it looks to me like Trump, a second term President who cannot be reelected, might just defy conventional wisdom.
There are always both carrots and sticks in play, as well as affinity. For Trump I imagine it's mostly affinity and favors, but who knows.
In any case it's an extremely powerful lobby even above-board, and I don't imagine that Epstein was the only guy in his business either. Merely having an R majority in the Senate doesn't, by itself, put me at ease. Maybe Congress doesn't matter to foreign policy as much as the Executive does now?
Or perhaps President Trump 47, as a one-term President, with a powerful grudge against the Uniparty, a huge set of stones, no future electorate to please, and the gleam of immortality in his eyes will simply say FU to conventional wisdom and use his "affinity" with Israel to save them from self-destruction.
I have argued elsewhere that he will need Vladimir Putin's assistance to draft terms which are acceptable to Iran, as well as Israel. Its a tall order.
Its beyond the scope of this reply, but careful observers will have also noted that Putin has for quite some time argued (convincingly, to me) that US/NATO's "my way or the highway" form of international dispute resolution is unrealistic, if honest assessments of the power of other countries and blocs are made. What Putin has said is, in effect, "We really need a new and realistic security architecture in Europe. As you can see, this one which the US is trying to impose really doesn't work."
I would suggest that one can't separate European security from Middle Eastern security, or East Asian security for that matter. So global peace and security are inextricably intwined and I think Trump, if he really fancies himself a peace president, has his work cut out for him.
I believe I've read somewhere that Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, has said that Trump should win a Nobel Peace Prize if he can pull it all off and bring peace to Ukraine, Palestine and the world.
Tulsi Gabbard resigned as DNC Vice Chair in 2016 because Debbie Wasserman Schultz was rigging the election to ensure Hillary won -- as Liz Warren, Donna Brazile and WL all showed.
Imagine fighting for your country and then having pro-war cretins like this impugn your loyalties:
Quote
Aaron Rupar @atrupar
Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tulsi Gabbard: "There's no question I consider her someone who is likely a Russian asset."
Ha! To say “tu es une nouille” is what kids or people who know each other would say - it’s not a strong condemnation! Calling someone “bête” (no offense to animals) is much stronger. Re Debbie and her flowing ramen-like ringlets, she might be able to find a “coiffeur,” so omnipresent in this country (in spite of the huge number of people who are “mal coiffé,”) near the Gare du Nord, an area known for its ethnic diversity and “pick-pockets!”
Ah, sounds sort of like how "You are a goofball" was used many years ago in the U.S.
I don't have enough hair left to worry about “mal coiffé.” On the other hand, I know from experience you don't need to go to the Gare du Nord or an "ethnically diverse" neighborhood to be pick-pocketed in Paris. All you have to do is get on the Metro.
When it comes to Trump, it seems to me that a lot of people either overestimate, or underestimate, him. I read that he plays four dimensional chess. I don't know. He does know how to get under the skin of his opponents.
As for me, I don't think he is a stupid man. He gets a lot of credit for being elected twice (or thrice, see 2020) to the presidency. If his second term is successful, or not, he has opened the eyes of our countrymen to the power of the Deep State, the dishonesty of the legacy media, and the failure of Republicans and Democrats since at least the first Bush presidency.
I believe that he knows that he has a lot of enemies and he needs people he can trust. Some of his picks won't be confirmed.
One thing I do like about him is that he gets it how bad our country is. I should say in my opinion he gets it. I don't see any insiders who have his courage, his ability to take the slings and arrows, etc.
So, yeah. N-dimensional chess for some value of N. I actually find this somewhat realistic, but I'm certain that there are other factors at play. I guess I'd better restock the popcorn. It's going to get complicated.
Trump's support for Israel, and Bibi in particular is, if not sincere, then a very long con with plenty of "verisimilitude". And I think we all have some idea how many strings that beast can pull.
Interesting analysis here on what Trump is doing. I find this reminiscent of the strategy that Richard Nixon used when he got into office. Pretty much intended with Henry Kissinger to run all foreign policy from the White House for the most part bypassing the secretary of state, which was William Rogers.
The most important breakthroughs using that strategy was dealing with the Soviet Union and then dealing with China. Perhaps Trump is taking a page from the Nixon era and intends to run all foreign policy from the White House using back channels and such to diffuse the world situation and avoid war.
Now, if that’s what the strategy is, then I would support that , that means people like Rubio, waltz, Hegspeth are pretty much nothing but window dressing as you say to appease not only the donors but the deep state and the pro war people i.e. the military industrial complex.
This also begs the question is Elon Musk going to be a sort of roving ambassador without portfolio being the back channel to some of these places to make all this work? That might be a brilliant move. We will have to see.
Thanks Mark you are really doing us a service here in demystifying all of this.
You mention the Russians smiling ear to ear. They are right - there are no realists in Trump’s picks. They are all fantasists and fanatics. Russia, Iran, China have reality on their side. Until the US comes to terms with that reality we will continue to score own goals right and left. I believe that the global power of the US is actually at its lowest right now. If Trump’s neoziocons push for war now it will be an absolute catastrophe for the empire. If Trump is successful at restarting manufacturing in the US the war will be far more dangerous and devastating to all parties and the chances of the empire prevailing / extending increases. I can’t tell which to hope for. Is it better for the war to happen now and the empire to be soundly defeated? Or is it better for us for the empire to prevail? One is good for mankind, the other is good for me as an American.
Surber had a post yesterday that talks about a number of the issues around the Trump appointments which Mark has treated the last few days. It has some interesting points and references. Among them:
"Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to call a recess to let Trump’s appointees start their jobs immediately. On Inauguration Day, Vice President JD Vance as President of the Senate, can call a recess. Trump then appoints Gaetz and company. Formal confirmation can come later. The deal likely was cut during the campaign because at one rally with Gaetz on stage, Trump announced they had a secret they would divulge after the election."
"Trump’s voters have issues with the federal government and Trump’s appointments reflect the grievances from the people who live outside the DC cocoon. Charlie Johnston tweeted, “I have noticed an important theme to some Trump appointments: he is appointing people to head agencies that victimized them. Tulsi Gabbard will head the agency that put her on a terrorist no-fly list for endorsing Trump. Matt Gaetz will head the DOJ which tried to railroad him over what was almost certainly an extortion scheme. Pete Hegseth will head the DOD, in which a bunch of woke generals ridiculed his book on reforming the military. Interesting thing. In these cases, Trump will NOT have to prod these appointees to act: occasionally he may have to restrain them. This version of Trump is dead set on reforming the bureaucratic Deep State."
I think Trump is a very smart man, especially knowledgeable in political affairs and governing authority of the head of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. Marco Rubio did not impress me as a loyal supporter of Trump's vision during his Rep. Nat. Convention speech; and I don't know how he legislated in the Florida legislature prior to coming to the U.S. Senate. But the men and women whom Trump has brought in close to himself, and, also, to his family---Tucker C., J. D. Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon, R. F. Kennedy, Jr., maybe Tulsi Gabbard, and very much, perhaps, David Sacks, and Peter Thiel---these people are high end technology performance leaders in their custom build fields. I think that these persons will be his kitchen cabinet family alongside his blood-bond family. And for the areas of big concern other than earth exterminating wars, I believe Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Food, Big Education, and Big Social Media (Facebook, Google, Amazon Cloud, Youtube, Adobe, Microsoft Cloud)
are the dragons that must be slain unto death. Hoping and praying: the third election victory of this President paves the way for everyone who is a part of his team will complete the job with flawless execution.
A LOL article:
The boys in our liberal school are different now that Trump has won
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4278863/posts
OMG, an epidemic of masculinity!
MPATA !!!
Make
Patriarchy
A
Thing
Again
I have visions of a future where men are masculine, women are feminine, as we were created.
That’s good.
Luongo has another take on the neocon appointments:
https://tomluongo.me/2024/11/12/thats-bait-chumming-the-media-waters-doesnt-work-like-it-used-to/
Quoting:
In fact, you know Trump hates Marco Rubio as much as he does Haley because I believe the rumor about him becoming Secretary of State.
How else are you going to get RINO “Little Marco” and his really big Manila Envelope Quotient (MEQ) out of the Senate and replaced by someone who will actually work with Trump, rather than against him on the big legislation that needs to get passed in 2025?
Promote him, keep him on a short leash about reforming Foggy Bottom, and let him grandstand on CHY-Na. And if he doesn’t do what’s asked of him? “You’re Fired!”
Marco wasn’t much of a RINO this election cycle as he was in the previous two. Trump might be missing a solid advocate in the Senate. Perhaps Rubio was banking on a Trump win and potential appointment as to why he quietly supported.
The problem with this idea--get these people out of the Senate/House and replace with good people--is that Trump actually has almost no influence at all over the replacements. Even, for example, Lara Trump, who's being talked up as a replacement for Little Marco. Lara did a terrific job for the campaign, a really important job, but what do we actually know about what her substantive positions would be?
Fair enough. But replacing a known-bad actor with an unknown may be rational, under some risk assessment. Loyalty is very blatantly the key factor with the Don, and maybe he figures he can just keep firing til he gets a good one.
And then there's the other idea, that a cabinet appointment could come with a "short leash". I can't evaluate how realistic that is either.
Mega Geopolitics @MegaGeopolitics
BREAKING: The Pentagon has just failed its 7th audit and says it cannot account for what its $824B budget is spent on.
Earlier this year, some one writing or being interviewed explained that the DoD does not have lost/unidentified expenditures. Instead, the Defense accountants aggregate pools of monies from official line item covered costs, and distribute the un-identified $ pools' to their selected "special causes"---like, the immigration NGO's of the United Nations, of U.S. religious organizations (all denominations); like the bio-weapons' development and testing
Defense dept needs CPA's.
Thank you, and I agree with you. But it's also the result of Pentagon accountants, generals et alia, intentionally hiding the disbursement of Congress appropriated funds for use toward purposes which the Pentagon does not want to be known by the American taxpayers.
Saw that. Yeah let’s give them the same amount this next budget cycle.
How about congress appropriate half that for starters and then they come back for more if they need it with an actual business case.
"During the campaign I argued that, despite the $100 million from Miriam Adelson, Trump would not necessarily be a prisoner of the Anglo-Zionists."
Counter-intuitively, maybe the best payback Trump could give Adelson for her $100mln would be to save Israel from its worst impulses, avoid an existential Middle Eastern war, negotiate a peace, and in fact, insure Israel's survival.
I think that, for $100M, they expect a little more than empty gestures. And I'm pretty certain that they hold quite a bit of collateral too, and not just for Trump.
https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/342026/trump-says-israel-used-to-rightfully-control-congress/
Survival would be a bit more than empty.
My point is that $100mln may turn out to be a small price to pay if Trump can avoid a Middle Eastern war which could annihilate Israel. I know Miriam and Netanyahu and his boys are expecting something different. They may have to be grateful for their survival.
I understood your point. But if that's not what they thought they were buying, then why would they be satisfied? It doesn't matter to them what you or I consider "good", and I'm not convinced that they're thinking of their national interests in terms of mere survival. At least, not yet.
Did you understand my point about collateral, especially regarding Congress?
I think I've conceded they may have thought they were buying something else (US war v. Iran), but if Trump negotiates survival, they may be grateful. But I've also already said that.
Your point re collateral is a bit obscure (at least in terms of standard use of the English language), but I guess you are suggesting that the Israel Lobby has plenty of ways to control Congress and Trump, which makes them vulnerable to extortion and blackmail. I guess this has become conventional wisdom. But it looks to me like Trump, a second term President who cannot be reelected, might just defy conventional wisdom.
But if I've missed your point, please explain.
No, that's entirely fair.
There are always both carrots and sticks in play, as well as affinity. For Trump I imagine it's mostly affinity and favors, but who knows.
In any case it's an extremely powerful lobby even above-board, and I don't imagine that Epstein was the only guy in his business either. Merely having an R majority in the Senate doesn't, by itself, put me at ease. Maybe Congress doesn't matter to foreign policy as much as the Executive does now?
Or perhaps President Trump 47, as a one-term President, with a powerful grudge against the Uniparty, a huge set of stones, no future electorate to please, and the gleam of immortality in his eyes will simply say FU to conventional wisdom and use his "affinity" with Israel to save them from self-destruction.
I have argued elsewhere that he will need Vladimir Putin's assistance to draft terms which are acceptable to Iran, as well as Israel. Its a tall order.
Its beyond the scope of this reply, but careful observers will have also noted that Putin has for quite some time argued (convincingly, to me) that US/NATO's "my way or the highway" form of international dispute resolution is unrealistic, if honest assessments of the power of other countries and blocs are made. What Putin has said is, in effect, "We really need a new and realistic security architecture in Europe. As you can see, this one which the US is trying to impose really doesn't work."
I would suggest that one can't separate European security from Middle Eastern security, or East Asian security for that matter. So global peace and security are inextricably intwined and I think Trump, if he really fancies himself a peace president, has his work cut out for him.
I believe I've read somewhere that Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, has said that Trump should win a Nobel Peace Prize if he can pull it all off and bring peace to Ukraine, Palestine and the world.
Like another future $100M donation to the next Republican Presidential candidate if war can be avoided...
You do understand that they fund both sides as a matter of course, right?
Miriam Adelson was the funding topic.
Exactly.
I found this article from American Conservative interesting.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-zelensky-and-putin-whos-happy-and-whos-not/
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald
Tulsi Gabbard resigned as DNC Vice Chair in 2016 because Debbie Wasserman Schultz was rigging the election to ensure Hillary won -- as Liz Warren, Donna Brazile and WL all showed.
Imagine fighting for your country and then having pro-war cretins like this impugn your loyalties:
Quote
Aaron Rupar @atrupar
Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tulsi Gabbard: "There's no question I consider her someone who is likely a Russian asset."
No one listens to what the outcast former DNC chair has to say anymore.
Except for fans of the cut and perm that stylists call "the ramen noodle".
Quelle coïncidence! In French, a “nouille” or noodle, is a stupid person.
So I guess I best not employ the American idiom "Use your noodle" among the French? I never tire of learning! :)
Ha! To say “tu es une nouille” is what kids or people who know each other would say - it’s not a strong condemnation! Calling someone “bête” (no offense to animals) is much stronger. Re Debbie and her flowing ramen-like ringlets, she might be able to find a “coiffeur,” so omnipresent in this country (in spite of the huge number of people who are “mal coiffé,”) near the Gare du Nord, an area known for its ethnic diversity and “pick-pockets!”
Ah, sounds sort of like how "You are a goofball" was used many years ago in the U.S.
I don't have enough hair left to worry about “mal coiffé.” On the other hand, I know from experience you don't need to go to the Gare du Nord or an "ethnically diverse" neighborhood to be pick-pocketed in Paris. All you have to do is get on the Metro.
Thanks for the elucidation!
When it comes to Trump, it seems to me that a lot of people either overestimate, or underestimate, him. I read that he plays four dimensional chess. I don't know. He does know how to get under the skin of his opponents.
As for me, I don't think he is a stupid man. He gets a lot of credit for being elected twice (or thrice, see 2020) to the presidency. If his second term is successful, or not, he has opened the eyes of our countrymen to the power of the Deep State, the dishonesty of the legacy media, and the failure of Republicans and Democrats since at least the first Bush presidency.
I believe that he knows that he has a lot of enemies and he needs people he can trust. Some of his picks won't be confirmed.
One thing I do like about him is that he gets it how bad our country is. I should say in my opinion he gets it. I don't see any insiders who have his courage, his ability to take the slings and arrows, etc.
Will his presidency be a success? I hope so.
Don't forget that one comment that slipped out at a rally a while ago..."I've been preparing for this my whole life!" How about that?
I missed this:
"recall Elon’s public humiliation by Netanyahu and the rest of the Zionists"
So, yeah. N-dimensional chess for some value of N. I actually find this somewhat realistic, but I'm certain that there are other factors at play. I guess I'd better restock the popcorn. It's going to get complicated.
Trump's support for Israel, and Bibi in particular is, if not sincere, then a very long con with plenty of "verisimilitude". And I think we all have some idea how many strings that beast can pull.
Interesting analysis here on what Trump is doing. I find this reminiscent of the strategy that Richard Nixon used when he got into office. Pretty much intended with Henry Kissinger to run all foreign policy from the White House for the most part bypassing the secretary of state, which was William Rogers.
The most important breakthroughs using that strategy was dealing with the Soviet Union and then dealing with China. Perhaps Trump is taking a page from the Nixon era and intends to run all foreign policy from the White House using back channels and such to diffuse the world situation and avoid war.
Now, if that’s what the strategy is, then I would support that , that means people like Rubio, waltz, Hegspeth are pretty much nothing but window dressing as you say to appease not only the donors but the deep state and the pro war people i.e. the military industrial complex.
This also begs the question is Elon Musk going to be a sort of roving ambassador without portfolio being the back channel to some of these places to make all this work? That might be a brilliant move. We will have to see.
Thanks Mark you are really doing us a service here in demystifying all of this.
You mention the Russians smiling ear to ear. They are right - there are no realists in Trump’s picks. They are all fantasists and fanatics. Russia, Iran, China have reality on their side. Until the US comes to terms with that reality we will continue to score own goals right and left. I believe that the global power of the US is actually at its lowest right now. If Trump’s neoziocons push for war now it will be an absolute catastrophe for the empire. If Trump is successful at restarting manufacturing in the US the war will be far more dangerous and devastating to all parties and the chances of the empire prevailing / extending increases. I can’t tell which to hope for. Is it better for the war to happen now and the empire to be soundly defeated? Or is it better for us for the empire to prevail? One is good for mankind, the other is good for me as an American.
Very, very good post, Mark! Thank you.
Surber had a post yesterday that talks about a number of the issues around the Trump appointments which Mark has treated the last few days. It has some interesting points and references. Among them:
"Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to call a recess to let Trump’s appointees start their jobs immediately. On Inauguration Day, Vice President JD Vance as President of the Senate, can call a recess. Trump then appoints Gaetz and company. Formal confirmation can come later. The deal likely was cut during the campaign because at one rally with Gaetz on stage, Trump announced they had a secret they would divulge after the election."
"Trump’s voters have issues with the federal government and Trump’s appointments reflect the grievances from the people who live outside the DC cocoon. Charlie Johnston tweeted, “I have noticed an important theme to some Trump appointments: he is appointing people to head agencies that victimized them. Tulsi Gabbard will head the agency that put her on a terrorist no-fly list for endorsing Trump. Matt Gaetz will head the DOJ which tried to railroad him over what was almost certainly an extortion scheme. Pete Hegseth will head the DOD, in which a bunch of woke generals ridiculed his book on reforming the military. Interesting thing. In these cases, Trump will NOT have to prod these appointees to act: occasionally he may have to restrain them. This version of Trump is dead set on reforming the bureaucratic Deep State."
https://donsurber.substack.com/p/this-will-be-settled-in-recess