Who Is Donald Trump?
Now that our newly elected president has quickly
and unceremoniously dropped all pretense of being opposed to the
neocon-neoliberal American Empire agenda, one has to wonder why the mainstream
media, led by The Washington Post and
The New York Times, seem to feel the
need to keep pounding away at him so viciously. His cabinet, with its Wall Street and
Goldman Sachs connections, looks just like what we would have gotten had
Hillary Clinton been elected, and so does his foreign policy. His United Nations ambassador, former
Marco Rubio supporter and Republican pro-Israel establishment darling, Nikki Haley, has
probably been more anti-Russian in her rhetoric and policy pronouncements than
was her Russophobic predecessor Samantha Power, while
her boss, Trump, has already done his predecessor one better in Syria by launching a criminal attack
against a sovereign nation based upon wildly improbable ÒgassingÓ allegations
that were no more substantive this time than they were when they were made when
Barack Obama was the president.
Indeed, TrumpÕs 180-degree reversal of course
from an America-first to the same globalist foreign policy against which he
railed in his campaign, whether it be in confrontation of Russia with NATO or confrontation of
China over North Korea, has been like a big pie in the face of many of the better informed
people who voted for him. They knew
all along that he had previously espoused ÒliberalÓ positions on social issues
like abortion and same-sex marriage, but they were willing to set aside his
apparent lack of any actual core principles because he was really the only
candidate in the field in either party who said the right things about the
invade-the-world, invite-the-world policies that have the country on the road
to ruin. Now he has made it
apparent that he never really meant any of it. He was only saying what he found
it necessary to say to garner votes; either that, or he was just playing an
assigned role all along.
The Accidental President?
Considering the over-the-top nature of much of
TrumpÕs political rhetoric, from his characterization of illegal Mexican
immigrants as ÒrapistsÓ in his candidacy announcement speech to his call for an
absolute ban on Muslim immigration and a return to torture in interrogation of
suspected terrorists, one really have to wonder if his initial intention was to
present himself as a serious contender for the presidency. Furthermore, his schoolyard bully-boy
insults of his political opponents in the Republican primary debates seemed
almost designed to alienate the members of what we might call Òpolite societyÓ
and to garner sympathy for those whom he attacked.
I donÕt think that itÕs at all far fetched to
suggest that Trump was not put up as a candidate who had any chance to win but
rather as something of a clown who would be the only one to give voice to
popular and legitimate positions on immigration, trade, and foreign policy. The purpose was to package attractive
ideas in the unattractive wrappings of real estate and casino mogul, reality
show star and publicity hound, Donald Trump, and thereby discredit them. One might argue that the tactic had been
used successfully before when the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy, burst
upon the national scene in 1950 with charges of widespread infiltration of the
government by Communists. The
charges were legitimate, but McCarthy had not previously exhibited much
interest in the subject and he and particularly his young subordinates, Roy
Cohn and G. David Schine, made their case in such a
way that the whole notion of Communist infiltration of the government ended up
being treated as an issue that had no merit.
Then something unexpected happened. The sympathy for the establishmentÕs
preferred candidate, the man against whom Trump directed most of his initial
crude put-downs, Jeb Bush, completely failed to materialize. Trump, in his Jeb-bashing, carefully
stayed far away from what we might call Roger Stone territory, but it turned out that
the Bushes are so unpopular that being rude to one of them in public turned out
to be not an unpopular thing to do.
Rather, with his brashness and apparent iconoclasm, and because the issues
he chose to run on are so popular, Trump found himself at the head of a popular
movement. Even the Joe
McCarthy-like treatment he got and continues to get from the mainstream press
helped him instead of hurting him, because they are probably even more
unpopular these days than the Bushes.
An important clue as to who Trump really is is to be found in what the mainstream media chose to
emphasize in their attacks upon him and, even more important, the possibly very
important negative things about him that they have consistently chosen to
ignore. In the first category, the
big one has been that Trump and his supporters are bigoted and racist. Trump played into those charges with his
characterization of illegal Mexican immigrants in his candidacy announcement
speech and his call for a blanket prohibition on Muslim immigration, and later
with his claim that a Mexican American judge would be biased against him in a
case involving Trump University because of the manÕs ethnicity. The media went further with the
characterization by calling attention to the fact that he had the support of
such dubious white nationalism advocates as Jared Taylor, Richard B. Spencer, and David Duke and by publicizing the ginned-up disruptions often led by black
people, which they mischaracterized as legitimate Òprotests,Ó at TrumpÕs
political rallies. The manner in
which Trump was painted by the mainstream media is well encapsulated in this short BBC clip from the web site of Pamela Geller.
What They DonÕt Report
The media gave no emphasis at all, however, to
the fact that Trump had the enthusiastic support of such a notorious Israel-first Islamophobe
as Ms. Geller, however, as well as someone like former left-wing radical David Horowitz, another putative
ÒconservativeÓ with a similar Zionist agenda to GellerÕs. Certainly we heard no call from the
press or from the Democrats for Trump to ÒdisavowÓ support from such
people. Neither did they give any
publicity at all to the ringing endorsement that Trump gave to
Benjamin Netanyahu, injecting himself into IsraelÕs domestic politics on the
right-wing, most Palestinian-oppressive side, back in 2013, long before Trump
was a presidential candidate in this country.
As much as the press would seem to want to
discredit him, the failure of the press and TrumpÕs other opponents to give any
publicity at all to the ÒBattle of the BillionairesÓ and the ÒimpromptuÓ wrestling match in which
he engaged with WWE head Vince McMahon, also in 2013, is quite remarkable. ItÕs really hard to think of anything
that makes Trump look more like a phony and a fraud, whose promises and threats
alike are completely empty and without meaning, than these episodes with the
professional wrestling king, McMahon.
But think of it. How often have critics of the modern
American political system called it Òone big professional wrestling match?Ó It really wouldnÕt do to let the public
in on the fact that the bunch of politicians that our controlling criminal
elite allow to wield the illusion of power—at least ever since John F.
Kennedy was assassinated—are really nothing more than just so many professional
wrestlers putting on a show of opposition to one another.
Donald Trump and the Mob
Speaking of our ruling criminal elite, one would
have thought right off the bat that TrumpÕs biggest vulnerability would have
been his connections to organized crime.
He built buildings in New York City and he owned casinos, after
all. One hardly needs to be a
scholar to know that the New York construction industry and the casino industry
are almost synonymous with organized crime. Concerning the matter, David Marcus of The Federalist has this to say:
Trump
was building his eponymous empire of hotels, casinos, and high rises in the
early 1980s in New York City and Atlantic City. In both places, the
construction industry was firmly under the thumb of the mafia. And in both
places there are literally concrete connections between La
Cosa Nostra and
TrumpÕs lavish projects. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston,
who has covered Trump for decades, has written a very useful list of
questions for Trump. Many focus on his ties to the mob. In addition in his 1992
book, ÒTrump, The Deals and the Downfall,Ó author Wayne Barrett lays out a slew
of suspicious dealings and associations.
Writing his article in late July of 2016,
Marcus, who is clearly a strong left-wing opponent of Trump, seems puzzled as
to why the press is not picking up on this potentially huge scandal lurking in
TrumpÕs past:
As one of a handful of people within reach of
the most powerful office in the world Donald Trump must explain why so much of
his early career is peppered with appearances by powerful underworld figures.
Had Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, or Scott Walker bought so much as a used car from a
known mafioso, it would be
front-page news. Trump bought a piece of land for $1 million from the son of
PhiladelphiaÕs former mafia Don, and used it to launch a gambling empire.
It isnÕt only Trump who has a responsibility
here. The news media, which is enjoying his playful romp through electoral
politics, needs to wake up on this story. Trump isnÕt just fooling around this
time. He wants to play in the big leagues, and in the big leagues they play
hardball. The major investigative news outlets in this country with the
resources and wherewithal to seriously scrutinize TrumpÕs ties to the mob need
to start doing so, sooner rather than later.
But they didnÕt and they havenÕt and if Marcus
is going to hold his breath waiting for them to get onto this story heÕs going
to be a goner pretty soon. Our
controlled press would much prefer to chase the phantom of TrumpÕs collusion with
the Russians rather than his verified collusion with known mobsters like the
late Roy Cohn—yes that Roy Cohn.
Some pretty strong hints are to be found in the
article behind that ÒRoy CohnÓ link, which is primarily made up of a long excerpt
from the late Michael Collins PiperÕs book, The New Jerusalem: Zionist
Power in America. Here is a sample:
Everyone knows, of course, about TrumpÕs
gambling operations and of the wide-ranging links of the gambling industry to
organized crime. But the story is much bigger than that. In his own memoir, The
Art of the Deal, Trump proudly described how in 1987 he bought his first casino
interests when he purchased 93% of the voting stock in the Resorts
International gambling concern.
What Trump doesnÕt tell his readers is
what the late Andrew St. George reported in The Spotlight on October 30, 1978
(and in the previous September 25, 1978, issue): Resorts International was
established and controlled by front men for the Rockefeller and Rothschild
families and their ÒenforcersÓ in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its
allied intelligence agency, IsraelÕs Mossad.
What made the report so explosive was that
this newspaper pointed out that the illegally rigged casinos were being operated
with the collusion of ÒrespectableÓ politicians, law enforcement officials,
Wall Street financiers who floated loans to finance the gambling resorts and
the high-profile gambling resort operators themselves.
---
In 1987,
upon the death of longtime CIA front man James Crosby, the nominal head of
Resorts International, up-and-coming young New York real estate tycoon Donald
Trump stepped into the picture and bought CrosbyÕs interest in the gambling
empire.
Trump soon
became a household name, with his colorful personality and his insistence upon
naming a variety of luxury hotels, apartment houses and other commercial
ventures after himself. But while the name ÒTrumpÓ appeared in the headlines,
the names of the real movers behind Resorts International remained hidden from
public view.
One can connect a few more dots by going
back to my review of
The Money and the Power: The Making of
Las Vega and Its Hold on America by Sally Denton and Roger Morris, especially
the section, ÒMedia Front Men?Ó We
discuss the longtime close association between organized crime and the CIA, but
go further to show how the association also involves the major news media, The Washington Post in particular. Not mentioned in that article is the
fact that Jeff Bezos, the man who ostensibly bought the big money loser from
the Graham family, has a $600 million contract to provide certain computer services to the CIA.
So insofar as The Post is representative of the mainstream news media, they are no more likely
to start writing about TrumpÕs mob ties than they are about whatÕs really
behind the devastating U.S. heroin
death overdose epidemic. Even less should we expect to see them
writing about where Jewish organized crime and virulent Zionism come together
with Trump, in the person of his powerful son-in-law, Jared Kushner. We
should not forget that on TrumpÕs first day in office he went over to CIA
headquarters where he made a warmly received speech to some 400 employees of
the agency.
Donald Trump and Christopher Ruddy
The article linked to above on Kushner suggests
that Trump has changed now that he is in office, having been taken over by his
Jewish mob-connected son-in-law.
Certainly, as we note at the beginning of the article, Trump has
certainly radically changed his policies in the foreign realm from those that
he ran on and probably got him elected.
My experience with longtime Trump crony and Newsmax
CEO Christopher Ruddy suggests to me that these two New Yorkers are very
similar people, that although both can exhibit a chameleon-like ability to
change political coloration and positions, they remain the same people that
they have always been.
When Ruddy came along several months after the
death by gunshot of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, Jr., those of us
who had seriously looked into the case wanted very much to believe that he was
different from the other journalists.
He gave every indication that he, in contrast to virtually the entire
journalistic community, was actually interested in investigating the case and
was not just content to parrot or even amplify the government line. He became the face and the voice of the
opposition, the point man for what Hillary Clinton called the Òvast right-wing
conspiracyÓ that was Òout to get the Clintons,Ó but like the coyote chasing the
road runner, never managed to get them.
As of 2014, though, as we quote from Businessweek in our article, ÒDouble Agent Ruddy Reaches for Media Pinnacle,Ó ÒHe has become friends with Bill and Hillary
Clinton and wonÕt rule out supporting Hillary for president in 2016.Ó He has also been a big contributor to
the Clinton Foundation and has traveled internationally with them on their
airplane.
Where was the old truth-seeking, current Trump buddy Ruddy back
in May of last year when Trump made the statement that there was Òsomething
fishyÓ about the Vince Foster death?
If ever there was anyone who knows the truth of those words, it is
Ruddy. Did Ruddy have his friendÕs
back? UhÉno. Like the fox in the famous Uncle Remus
tar baby story, ÒBrer Chris, he lay low.Ó To my knowledge, there was not a peep
from Ruddy personally, but his ÒconservativeÓ news organ Newsmax
joined the baying hounds of The
Washington Post, CNN, and their ilk, screaming outrage. Newsmax
spotlighted the Washington Post op-ed
piece that I believe Hugh Turley and I have pretty thoroughly demolished
respectively with ÒVince FosterÕs Indignant but Curiously Unconcerned SisterÓ and ÒSheila
Anthony Defends Her Changed Foster Story,Ó and Newsmax further referenced
scurrilous, indefensible attacks on Trump for his remarks by Jake Tapper of CNN
and MSNBCÕs Joe Scarborough.
A normal person, particularly a supposedly vindictive person
like Trump is painted to be, one would expect would be upset at this apparent
knife in the back by Ruddy on the Foster issue. Instead, as we saw in that C-Span interview of Ruddy, their relationship seems to be closer than ever these
days, with the Clinton-schmoozing Ruddy even having been invited into the Oval
Office for a get-together with the president. TrumpÕs critical observations on the
Foster case, it turned out, were just so much pre-wrestling-match bluster to
get the partisans worked up, which, in the final analysis, was all that RuddyÕs supposed ÒinvestigationÓ of the case amounted to,
as well. Had Trump been serious and if he had
really wanted to respond with real effect to those who had attacked him over
his Foster remarks, all he had to do was to call attention to the attachment to Kenneth StarrÕs report on Vince FosterÕs death, ordered put there by
the judges who had appointed Starr, that completely destroys the conclusion
that Foster committed suicide.
Instead, he announced that he would have nothing further to say on the
Foster case unless some Ònew evidenceÓ came to light, when, in fact, the best
evidence he had was the old evidence that the supposedly hated press had, to
their eternal discredit, universally ignored.
Perhaps there is a connection to TrumpÕs ultimate reticence on
the Foster case and the unpublicized
fact that Foster spent his
last weekend along with Webster Hubbell at the estate of Nathan Landow on MarylandÕs Eastern Shore. Landow is a
major political contributor to the Democratic Party whose nomination to be
Ambassador to The Netherlands once ran aground when his joint casino
investments with the Gambino family and the Meyer Lansky organization came to
light.
In my ÒDouble Agent RuddyÓ article I argue that Ruddy has never been the person that he has been presented
to be. Particularly in his role as
founder and CEO of Newsmax, it is clear to me that he
has never been anything more than a front man. Who he is likely fronting for is found
in this passage from the article:
Maybe the answer is to be found in
an important bit of information that is left out of the Businessweek article. They tell us
that Ruddy studied abroad at the London School of Economics, which is unusual
enough for this 12th child of a policeman and a homemaker, but they
fail to tell us where else he has studied abroad, at Hebrew University in
Jerusalem. Imagine that. Businessweek says
that Ruddy comes from a
Catholic family that didnÕt regularly go to church. Did the mother, perhaps, take them to
the synagogue, instead?
ItÕs not just because of RuddyÕs studies in Jerusalem and the conventional
pro-Israel neocon politics of the Newsmax web site
that I
raise the question. Once I happened
to make some rather routine critical comment about Israel, and RuddyÕs sharp rejoinder in disagreement really surprised
me. He seemed to take what I was
saying about Israel personally. I
recently ran across an observation by Professor Kevin MacDonald that reminded
me very much of how Ruddy reacted at that time: ÒI have encountered many liberal, politically correct Jews who react
vociferously (almost violently) to the most innocuous comments about any topic
related to Israel or Jews.Ó
Now take another look at the close relationship
that Ruddy has with Trump and at TrumpÕs own close
relationship to hidden and not-so-hidden Jewish power. Ruddy and Trump look to
me like they are fronting for the same people.
David Martin
May 12, 2017
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